Indian Head Massage: Discover the power of touch - Narendra Mehta

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of tension. However, its effect is not just physical: it works on an emotional level too, calming the spirit, promoting relaxation and relieving stress.

      An ancient proverb states: ‘A happy mind is medicine; no better prescription exists.’ I have found results bear this out. People who come to my clinic feeling despondent, depressed, worried, tense, stressed and distressed leave in a happier and more relaxed frame of mind after just one soothing Indian head massage.

      

       ‘Regular head massage is wonderfully relaxing, enhances the health of the scalp and promotes the growth of lustrous hair.’ The Observer

      Indian head massage offers the means by which the individual can begin to get in touch with the healing potential within the hitherto unexplored regions of their inner being and thus become empowered to ensure their own well-being.

       THE HISTORY OF INDIAN HEAD MASSAGE

      Massage has always played an important part in Indian life, featuring in the earliest Ayurvedic texts that date back nearly 4,000 years. When used in conjunction with herbs, spices and aromatic oils, massage had an important medical function and could not only ‘strengthen muscles and firm the skin’, but also encourage the body’s natural healing abilities. Today, Indian infants still often receive a daily massage from birth to keep them in good health. From three to six years old, they are massaged once or twice a week, and after the age of six, they are taught to share a massage with family members on a regular basis. Massage then occurs across the generations as an integral part of family life. My own family is typical of many others in this respect.

      Indian head massage springs from this rich tradition of intergenerational family massage, and has been practised for over a thousand years. It was originally developed by women as a part of their grooming routine. They used different oils according to the season (coconut, sesame, almond, olive oil, herbal oils, buttermilk, mustard oil and henna) to keep their hair strong, lustrous and in beautiful condition.

      The benefits of head massage were not confined exclusively to women: barbers practised many of these same skills. They used to ply their trade by going to individuals’ houses, cutting men’s hair and offering ‘champi’ (head massage) as part of the treatment. In time, this became quite a custom: everyone, including royalty, would receive regular head massages from their own barber. Treatments differed from the massages performed by women in that the barbers were mainly giving invigorating scalp massages designed primarily to stimulate and refresh the individual, rather than to care for the hair. Echoes of this Indian tradition reached the West long before the practice itself in the form of the word ‘shampoo’, which comes from the Hindi word ‘champi’. Being ‘champi-ed’ meant having your head massaged.

      Massage skills have evolved through the ages and have been handed down from barber father to barber son in much the same way that the women in the family have kept the tradition of hair massage and grooming by passing it down from mother to daughter right up to the present day. In India nowadays, it is very common to go to a barber’s shop, receive a wet shave or haircut and have a head massage thrown in as part of the treatment. A word of warning: should you experience one of these massages in India, do ask your barber not to click your neck, which is a normal part of their head massage. Head massage can now also be seen in many other locations in India: on street corners, at markets and on the beach … so you can even experience a wonderfully relaxing Indian head massage with the rising or setting sun for company!

       THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN HEAD MASSAGE

      Like most of my compatriots, I grew up with head massage as an integral part of my daily life. As a child, my mother would give me a head massage with coconut oil and, as I grew older, it was something to be automatically experienced every time I visited a barber. I came to England to train as a physiotherapist in the 70s but was disappointed to find that the massage element of this discipline was being neglected. I then took a course in full-body massage and, not surprisingly, was still not taught any techniques involving the head. I was dismayed to discover that massage always stopped at the neck and nobody practised head massage – not even full-body massage therapists. No one had shown them how!

      I began to miss the therapeutic value of regular head massage and decided that I wanted to bring this therapy to the West. Experience had taught me that head massage could bring tremendous relief from aches and pains, not only in the head, but also in other parts of the body. Knowing this, I decided to introduce a system of massage to this country that would encompass the head and upper neck and bring relief to the many who suffer from aches and pains in those previously neglected areas.

      In 1978, I decided to return to India and research head massage wherever it was practised. In centres as far apart as Calcutta and Bombay, in the cities and in the countryside, simple head massage is widespread. Barbers in barber shops perform this service for their clients, you can find it on street corners, beaches and in family homes. However, although I enjoyed being worked on, I couldn’t help feeling that there was something missing in the massage. This type of simple massage does not get to the deep-rooted source of stress. So, although there was some improvement in my well-being following these head massages, the effects were too short-lived.

      During my experiments with head massage in India, I found that the methods used varied from person to person. The barbers would concentrate on my scalp, while my mother and her women friends focused on treating the hair. In addition, everyone who worked with me had his or her own individual technique, which had been handed down and developed through the generations. I decided that I would begin to formalize what I was experiencing and use the knowledge of my massage training to discover which part of my body reacted most positively to various moves. Because of my blindness, my other senses have become very finely tuned and I was able to concentrate with complete absorption on the effect the massage was having. By this means, I was able to devise a therapy that would bring the greatest relief to the multitude of problems concentrated in the head. I soon concluded that the therapy would benefit by being extended to include not only the head, but also the neck, shoulders and upper arms.

      Having formalized the techniques of Indian head massage, I wanted to pass the knowledge on to others. In 1981, while I was thinking about how to introduce this idea to the public, a friend suggested that I take a stand at the Mind, Body, Spirit exhibition at Olympia in London. By the end of the exhibition, over 170 people suffering from exhibition exhaustion, headaches and work-related stress had tried it out. They felt relaxed and recharged. Some people even attended more than once.

      My experience at the exhibition built up my confidence. I gained a great deal of experience in different types of hair and hair styles and I explored ways of revising my techniques to include massage that was suitable for every type of hair.

      The exhibition led to a wave of publicity and numerous magazine articles. As a result, many more people became interested in learning and practising Indian head massage. This gave me the idea of arranging courses, and the more successful of these were the weekend courses. These enabled me to teach my pupils slowly and allowed time for revision. These weekend courses continued with great success up until 1995. From 1995 I introduced a course which led to a qualification to practise head massage. This included weekend instruction plus home study, case studies and an exam so that I could recommend the qualified therapists to anyone with confidence. These courses are still continuing and remain extremely popular.

      Over the years at my clinic and at various exhibitions countless clients have allowed me to study the effect of my techniques in depth and to develop and expand them. One of the most important developments in my techniques was the

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