Curious about Rasa’s new Thai Poultice Massage? Boutique Manager Wendy Houseworth recently visited Gab for a session and writes about her calming and cheerful experience below. Thai Poultice Massage is on special this month at Rasa, and we’d love you to visit for your own experience.
I recently had the pleasure of receiving the Rasa Spa Thai Poultice session from a coworker, Gab Hoff, and immediately felt compelled to share the first hand experience of this quieting (yet cheering) session: For starters, this was the perfect session for a damp, foggy, upstate NY spring morning. For those of you who may not know, a poultice is an easy way to apply medicinal/therapeutic herbs to an area of the body. By placing these herbs directly on the skin you take advantage of both the skin’s natural ability to absorb the helpful properties of the herbs’ and the herbs’ natural ability to draw from the skin. This detoxifying blend of herbs (lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, orange and bergamot) is all about awakening your senses and calming your spirit; the aroma that instantly greets you as you enter the massage room is a mood altering experience, all on it’s own. The herbs used to create the poultice are intentionally selected and as you deeply inhale you can feel tension drift away…
*Lemongrass has many different positive therapeutic effects, but the primary use in this session is as a calming sedative; it gives one a sense of calm while restoring and revitalizing the mind and body.
*lemongrass should not be used during pregnancy
*Turmeric is believed to balance the three Ayurvedic doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha) and is typically used to cleanse and purify the blood and lymph tissues
*Ginger’s warming quality improves and stimulates circulation and relaxes the muscles surround blood vessels, and facilitates the flow of blood through the body.
*Orange Peel is used to treat water retention, colds, flu and nervous conditions. Some of it’s healing properties included: anti-inflammatory, anti-septic, sedative and tonic.
*Bergamot has cooling and refreshing properties and acts primarily as a tonic for the nervous system as it is invigorating without being over stimulating. The scent feels uplifting and balancing and can be helpful for anxiety, stress, tension, tension headaches and depression.
Rasa Spa Thai Poultice Massage features two scented herbal poultices that are heated with steam and then applied to the body at pressure points to relax the muscles and ease tension. This aromatic service begins with your therapist strategically applying warm poultices to help knead away any muscle tension in your legs, arms and back. In addition to increasing lymphatic drainage, improving blood circulation and conditioning the skin, the steamed poultices help to open up the body’s pores to deliver the deep medicinal heat, which aides in soothing muscle tension and joint stiffness.The gentle sweeping motion that the therapist uses to perform the session is rhythmic and soothing, yet invigorating due to the warmth of the poultice and as circulation/blood flow is increased. In this full body session the therapist includes gentle pressure and stretching, focusing on compression techniques and acupuncture points.As your muscles are stretched and relaxed you can feel them soften and become more warm and pliable. My therapist informed me that an important aspect of the Rasa Spa Thai Poultice massage is that it is energetically based. Gab said, “Once the body is relaxed and open, energy will begin to flow freely where it was once stagnant or blocked. We constrict our energy flow by holding tension in our bodies. Physical and/or emotional stress is the cause of this tension and through use of the Thai poultice it assists in moving energy along through the Sen lines (Sen lines are similar to the Chinese system of meridian lines used in acupuncture). During your Thai Poultice massage, as the energy moves along these Sen lines, you may experience warmth, tingling, or electric sensations. This is the life energy moving. We believe that once the energy begins to move, life is ultimately improved. We feel that the body, mind, and emotions all work together and directly affect one another.“
As my session wrapped up I was acutely aware of a softening within myself, of a sense of calm, of peace. I felt openness where stress and tension had existed prior to the session and a renewed awareness of the energy of life running its course through my body, and of each small glorious moment of this feeling as I continued through my day. As is encouraged by the Rasa Spa staff, I had allowed some time after my appointment to enjoy the private women’s sauna/showers and the co-ed tranquility room before heading back out into the suddenly lush and green spring morning.
I took my time and upon check out was greeted at the Guest Services area by a small bag, including the poultices that were used during my session along with a note indicating recommendations for how the poultice could be used at home.
“You’ll have about 24 hours to use the herbal poultices again, so it’s recommended you either soak with them in a hot bath later that night or use them the next morning in a steamy shower, breathing in their calming scent to help you relax before going to bed or jetting off to work the next day. You also have the option of freezing the poultices for later use!” – Gab
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