Massage Warsaw- Massage Therapy – Warsaw Acupuncture

Category: travel

  • Chinese Medicine in Nicaragua

    Leon is Nicaragua’s showpiece to the world.  A stroll down its cobbled streets takes you back to its glory days when the Spanish empire was one of the richest, most powerful in the world.  The Spanish came, saw, and refused to leave until they had decimated the indigenous population and plundered their wealth of minerals and metals.  While they were here they built monuments to their grandeur, symbols of their might and ego, carved out of solid rock that remain neatly arranged around the town centre.  The towering cathedrals, which could never be mistaken for simple churches, punctuate the city’s barrios: each cathedral dedicated to a different biblical event.

    Leon today is a must-see; a city highlighted and recommended in every traveller’s guide.  Travellers come to witness the colonial charm that remained after history ran its course.  Others use the city as a base for visiting the nearby beaches or for the “once in a lifetime” chance to toboggan down the side of a volcano.  More serious travellers take advantage of the city’s language schools and learn to hablar espanol muy bien.  Most don’t realise that in the city lies a real rarity that is hard to find anywhere else in Central America: a traditional Chinese medicine centre.

    The Chinese Medicine Centre

    The many services the centre provides

    Centro de Terapias Naturales y Orientales offers acupuncture, massage therapy, herbal remedies, Thai massage, chiropractic massage, lymphatic massage, and reiki.  The best massage I had in Central America was received here for a mere $14. There is an herbal dispensary selling supplements at very low prices.  A bottle of maca root that would normally sell for $20 in Canada, is only $2.50 there.  A bottle of dietary cleanse capsules that normally go for $25, sells for $1.50.

    The most interesting story, however, is not what the centre is, but why it is.  This Chinese medical centre exists because of the revolution.  The revolution had strong roots in liberal, intellectual Leon as evidenced by the many murals and monuments around town remembering the martyrs of the revolution.  In a show of empathy and solidarity with the people and their ideals, a team of Japanese came to Leon’s aid.  In the years they were here, they trained willing students the art of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and massage.  The director of the clinic and her husband were both in the first class of Nicaraguans to learn Chinese medicine from the Japanese.  It was this tiny grass roots group that carried on the tradition, spreading the knowledge to those who want to learn.  Today they offer  a one year course in acupuncture that can lead to certification.

    Centro de Terapias Naturales y Orientales can be a bit tricky to find.  The address is:

    Costado Noroeste UNAN Leon
    1/2 cuadra al oeste, Leon.
    Telephone: 2311-2955, or 8333-8747, or 8657-0643

     

    A mural dedicated to the 4 martyrs of the revolution

     

    A mural dedicated to the massacre of July 23, 1959

     

     

  • Working as a Massage Therapist in Guatemala

    Odds are that at some point in your life, you have stumbled upon a place that seemed perfect, representing some version of paradise.  Perhaps it was the climate, the sea, the ocean, or the people that you met, but the place inspired in you a longing to linger.  San Pedro de Laguna, Guatemala sits on the shores of the magnificent crater lake, Lago de Atitlan which is ringed by 3 volcanoes. The lake is a striking azure against a perpetually cloudless sky.  Sitting atop an extinct volcano, the area offers almost unobstructed 360 degree panoramic views of sunsets.  The population is mostly indigenous, and their native dress is a technicolour explosion of indigo, purple and red.  San Pedro has been slowing down travellers for decades and has developed a sizeable community of expats who have all decided this is the one place in the world they want to stay. San Pedro is special in that not only are there a plethora of reasons to stay here, there are also many ways to stay here.  Many foreigners have successfully opened hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, and spas.  San Pedro has also become a holistic centre in Guatemala, hosting a few spas and therapists that offer massage, steam, sauna, and other natural remedies.

    I had the good fortune of meeting Tami, an Israeli massage therapist living and working in San Pedro. She had been travelling and living overseas for 25 years.  You could safely say that she has wanderlust.  Tami was happily travelling the world when a friend invited her to spend Christmas in San Pedro.  For her, the mountains, lake, and work/life balance seemed ideal.  The expat community was also ideally suited to her.  She felt like she could be herself here, and quickly lost the desire to leave and discover the next destination.  She has been here ever since.

     

    The intersection near Tami’s clinic. Her sign is the yellow one. To find her, just ask around. Everyone knows her.

     

    Tami’s practice is located off one of the main pedestrian alleys.  At the intersection there is a cluster of restaurants and cafes and a yellow sign  pointing to Tami’s clinic.  A one minute walk down an alley leads to her clinic. Tami’s clinic offers Swedish massage, hot stone massage, reflexology, and healing with crystals.  She also teaches all these techniques in multi-day workshops.  Once you get to San Pedro, she is pretty easy to find, as everybody knows everybody.  To make arrangements ahead of time, you can visit her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tami-Massage-and-reflexology-in-san-pedro/176674989104195 or call her at 4225-7121.

     

    Sign for Tami’s Clinic

     

    The market in San Pedro is primarily made up of travellers who spend only a few days in town.  Serving transient customers changed the nature of her work.  Back home in Israel, she could easily arrange clients to follow a treatment plan of 10 weekly that would target and treat their ailments.  It was simple to build up a repeat client base and achieve results.  In San Pedro, the majority of customers are travellers that are only there for a solitary dose of pampering or therapy before leaving for the next town.  In these single treatments it is difficult to achieve real, lasting results.  However, sometimes, travellers are physically in such dire straits that they don’t have a choice but to stay and get regular treatments over a couple of weeks.

    Tami is fortunate enough to own her home where she runs her practice. Property ownership can be one of the trickiest parts of the equation.  Neighbouring El Salvador allows a maximum 49% ownership of real estate or business, meaning that foreigners can never have a controlling interest in their business.  Other countries, like Thailand, do not allow foreigners to own any real estate.  Ownership there means marrying a local or having trustworthy local business associates that have exclusive legal title to the business.  Luckily, Guatemala has more attractive laws which allow foreigners to own land and property outright without citizenship, residency or local investors.  Business permits are also fairly straightforward to acquire.  When you open a business in Guatemala, it is all legally yours.

    San Pedro offers a great combination of a developed expat community, a steady flow of tourists, favourable real estate and business ownership laws, but most importantly a beautiful, friendly, culturally fascinating place to live.  There are many other ideal locales around the world waiting to be discovered by you.  Keeps your eyes open, you never know when you will discover your new home.

  • Hand Pain: A Case Study

    Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala has many Spanish language schools and has a reputation in the country as the place you go if you are serious about learning Spanish.  The cost of study is quite surprising: U$60 for one week of intensive one on one Spanish classes (4 hours/day, 5 days/week, 20 hours total).  A home stay with a local family can be arranged for an extra U$70 (7 nights accommodation, 3 meals per day).

     

    I took classes at the Miguel de Cervantes School and was matched with my teacher, Miriam for one on one classes.  After learning that Miriam was having trouble with her hand, I offered my help over the remaining 3 days.  She accepted, and saw some dramatic improvements.

    Miriam was 55 years old at the time of this article.  5 years prior, she tripped and fell in the street, landing on her right hand.  During the fall, most of the impact centred on her right carpal bones and the metacarpals heads.  She also tore her left achilles tendon which was treated during 8 months of physiotherapy.  She never received any treatment for her hand.

    Before treatments started, she showed the following signs:

    • For the past 5 months she has not been able to close her right hand to make a fist.  With effort she could close her hand to roughly 25% of the way.
    • Her right third finger could not move more than 15 degrees in flexion or extension.
    • Her hand was very sore throughout the day as she did her chores.  She had trouble holding a spoon to stir for extended periods of time.
    • Her hand hurt after 5 minutes of writing.
    • She relied more and more on her left hand.
    • She could not raise her right arm more than 90 degrees (50%) in abduction.
    • Her right shoulder hurt her when she slept. She slept on her back.
    • She had been suffering from asthma for her whole life.

     

    Upon examination of her hand, I noticed quite a build up of scar tissue around the second, third, and fourth metacarpo-phalangeal joints.  There was very little joint mobility in her carpals and between her metacarpals.

     

    I gave her the following treatment over three days:

    • A combination of myofascial release, ART, and tuina focussed on the right metacarpophalangeal joints and tendons, as well as the LI4 acupuncture point
    • Joint mobilizations of all carpal, metacarpal and phalangeal joints of the right hand
    • Acupuncture
    • Ginger and honey tea to help with her asthma

     

    She also did the following home care:

    • A daily 10 minute hand soak in warm water
    • Wrist flexor and extensor stretches
    • Self massage of the forearms and hands
    • Appley stretches for her rotator cuff muscles
    • Finger walks on the wall to improve glenohumeral abduction

     

    After 3 days of daily treatments and home care, she had the following results:

    • She could close her right hand 100% into a tight fist
    • She could write for 1 hour without any pain in her right hand
    • She used her right hand for everything now
    • She could sleep on her side
    • She had less shoulder pain while sleeping
    • She could raise her hand above her head for 100% shoulder abduction
    • She was able to sleep through the night without being awoken by her breathing problems

  • Massage in Juayua, Ruta de las Flores, El Salvador

    The tiny mountain town of Juayua (pronounced hoo-wah-YOO-wah… kind of like Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman) has a little something for everyone.  There’s the mountain town itself which has a perfect climate, never too hot or too cold.  The mountain air is cool and crisp at night and far from sweltering during the day.

    Every weekend the town hosts the Fiesta de Gastronomia (Food Festival) with a lovely selection of sausages, steak, seafood, and treats available for very reasonable prices.  I had the steak and shrimp platter for $5.  El Impossible National Park, Santa Anna Volcano, and quite a few waterfalls are all in the area, making this town a perfect base for exploring, hiking, and other adventures.  You might find yourself staying longer than planned.  Luckily the town has a wonderful hostel: Hostal Casa Mazeta on 2nd Ave N has  charming hand crafted wooden furnishings, a budget dorm room, lovely double rooms, as well as Darren the every helpful British owner.

    Just down the road from the hostel is the massage clinic titled “Spa Massage” located on Calle Merseditas near the Super Selectos Market.  They offer  relaxational massage, shiatsu, or weight loss massage (they swear it works) for $10 for an hour.  They also offer foot reflexology for $6 for a half hour.

    I was treated by Anna Maria Lopez who gave me a 1 hour relaxational massage.  The massage was given in complete privacy, but without any drapings or coverings.  Anna Maria used a rose essential oil which offered lots of glide, but left me feeling a bit greasy after.  Definitely plan on having a shower after the massage.  Her pressure was moderate and never too much.  All in all it was a nice massage that treated the full body, starting with foot reflexology.

    Anna Maria is blind and studied in a one year program offered by the Red Cross in San Salvador that teaches blind people massage in a one year program.  She has been massaging for over 3 years.  When I asked her if she liked her work, she answered “Gracias a dios que si” (Thank God I do).  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  • Central American Photos

  • Master Sinchai Has Moved

    Master Ajarn Sinchai, a Thai massage therapist that offers courses on his own version of  Thai massage has moved his Chiang Mai clinic. You can find full details on his website.

     

    Here are the new directions:

    NEW LOCATION:
    1. Coming from Chiang Mai City, proceed towards Airport Plaza Mall via Mahidol or Wua Lai Road.

    2. Approaching the overpass before Airport Plaza Mall, turn left unto Highway 1141.

    3. Take Highway 1141, approx 3.5 Km (the elevated highway will be parallel to your right).

    4. At approx. 3.2 km, stay to your left so you can access the underpass turnaround

    5. Turn right under overpass and continue on Highway 1141 (opposite direction from which you came)

    6. Drive 2 Km. on Hwy 1141 Look for Athena Koolpurt Ville Building on your left.

    7. Turn left after Athena Koolpurt.

    8. Drive 0.7 km.  (Pass the Chinese Temple)

    9. Turn Left. Drive 100 meters. Ajarn Sinchai’s house will be on right side, House number 139/24.