Hot Stone Massage – A Stone’s Throw Away
By Chris Turley
The word massage, which is the practice of manipulating the body or parts of it by the power of touch resulting to a therapeutic relief, has different origins depending on which country we are looking. It is the same in Arabic and Latin, massa but has two different meanings. It means “to touch, feel or handle” on the former and “mass, dough” on the latter. It is said, however, on the older etymology that it may have been from the Hebrew me-sakj which means “to anoint with oil”.
From the ancient civilizations-China dynasties, Roman gymnasium and Turkish baths, and even the old world of Greek, massage existed and still does, in one form or another. Massage therapy was introduced in the United States as a profession in 1917, apparently for the rehabilitation of the soldiers wounded in World War 1.
Fast forward to the modern world, massage therapy has also evolved. It’s no longer a simple form of touch but rather like an art which has many forms. Few of which are as follows (not in chronological order), choose wisely.
1. Swedish massage-it is the most common type massage therapy in the United States, if it is a medicine, then it is the generic name of it. This is done using long & smooth strokes, kneading and with the aid of massage oils or lotions. This is also recommended for those who will be getting a massage for the first time.