Indian Head Massage
Head massage is known in Hindi as Champ and has been with the Indian people for many generations. It concentrates just on the head and hair. Indian mothers would give a daily massage to their babies as part of a grooming ritual. They would stroke their hair as they grew to promote health and growth. The Champissage was part of every day life in the homes of many Indian women, and traditional Indian hairdressers would still use it today.
Indian Head Massage (I.H.M.), was introduced to the West by a man called Narendra Mehta from India. He trained in England in the 1970s as a Physical Therapist, he is also trained in Reflexology, Body Massage and Touch for Health. But through all this he began to miss the therapeutic value of his native head massage. On researching into various forms of massage, he decided to extend his known ancient native head massage to incorporate the shoulders, neck and arms and call it Indian Head Massage. His primary function for this was for stress relieve, yet over the years it's popularity has increased due to it's extensive therapeutic benefits.
Benefits of Indian Head Massage
Indian Head Massage helps stimulate nerve function and improve relaxation, bringing on an overall sense of calmness and well-being and an increases of alertness and concentration. It also helps to disperse toxins held in tense muscles, and help stimulate the circulatory and lymphatic systems. As you relax you breath deeper into the body supplying oxygen and vital nutrients to all cells. Some of the conditions Indian Head Massage helps to relieve are tension headaches; eyestrain; ear problems; neck and shoulder stiffness; sinusitis, scalp tension and mental tiredness.
What to expect
There are three stages to Indian Head Massage. In the first stage the area covered is the shoulders neck and arms. The second stage works on stimulating the head area, and the final stage works on the pressure points on the face and ears. Indian Head Massage is usually given in a chair. I personally start this way but when it reaches the final stage I ask the client to move onto the therapy table. I find this final stage to be deeply therapeutic and this way the client can relax fully and often drift off into a little catnap. The therapy on its own lasts about 35 minutes. It is ideal if you just want something quick to revitalize you and de-stress you at the same time.