Pearl Escapes Guide to Healing 2019 - Massage, Meditation, Spa Treatments, Teachers, Practices and Places

By Pearl Howie

For thousands of years there have been healers, some working through massage, others through meditation, it’s the most natural thing in the world that we reach out and help each other through times of crisis.

Whatever you are looking for, wherever you are on your journey, this book contains almost 500 definitions of types of healing that the author has tried and tested. Whether you’ve never even thought of having a massage or are constantly on the look out for something new, there will be something here for you.

This is the Seventh Edition, expanded and edited over seven years to be the most complete resource for anyone seeking out healing, or for healers themselves.

With definitions, personal accounts, safety advice, useful tips on booking, how to behave and what to wear, this book answers all the FAQ about massages and spas around the world.

From Hawai’i to Japan by way of Morocco, from the ancient and bizarre to the most popular, this brings the world of healing to your fingertips.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780244780395

Book preview

Pearl Escapes Guide to Healing 2019 - Massage, Meditation, Spa Treatments, Teachers, Practices and Places

Pearl Escapes Guide to Healing 2019 - Massage, Meditation, Spa Treatments, Teachers, Practices and Places

By Pearl Howie

Copyright © Pearl Howie 2019

First Edition

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-244-78039-5

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Publisher: Pearl Escapes

Also by the Author

Camino de la Luna Series (self-help/travel)

(Available as full colour paperbacks and colour pdf eBooks with photos.  The first few audiobooks are out now.)

Japan Is Very Wonderful

free Feeling Real Emotions Everyday

Camino de la Luna – Take What You Need

Camino de la Luna – Unconditional Love

Camino de la Luna – Forgiveness

Camino de la Luna – Compassion

Camino de la Luna – Courage

Camino de la Luna – Truth

Camino de la Luna – Reconciliation

Other Titles

The Guide to Spa Breaks and Escapes from Pearl Escapes

Meditation for Angry People

The Wee, The Wound And The Worries: My Experience Of Being A Kidney Donor

Love And The Perfect Wave (romantic novel)

Video

Everything To Dance For

Pearl Escapes Mini-Guides

I used to get extremely burnt out in my old job and couldn’t even handle booking a hotel, flight or finding out what to do for a break.  I thought Wouldn’t it be awesome if someone would write a guide that gave you one perfect escape; the perfect hotel, spa, flight and restaurant.  So that’s what I did.

My mini-guides attempt to give you the hotel, spa, restaurant and the rest, just the bullet, the escape in a box I dreamt of when I first began Pearl Escapes:-

Ignacio Springs and Guerrero Negro, Baja, Mexico

Le Paz, Baja, Mexico

Sacromonte, Granada, Spain

Barcelona

Zadar, Croatia

Marrakech, Morocco

Paris

Little Italy In New York

London Spas and Massage

Bath Spa

Hong Kong

Yangshuo, China

Shanghai, China

Huangshan/Yellow Mountain

Beijing, China

Iceland

Brockenhurst, the New Forest

Florida

Key Largo

Clearwater

Orlando Convention Center

Naples, Florida, Big Cypress and the Everglades

Swimming With Wild Manatees In Crystal River, Florida

Chianciano Terme, Tuscany

Livorno, Florence, Viareggio

Spas, Escapes and Breaks in England (and in Wales)

The Lake District (Ullswater)

Las Vegas

Cozumel, Cancun, Mexico

Vero Beach, Florida

About This Guide

When I first started writing this guide on my website in 2010 it was to demystify the spa world, to understand the language of spas, to help people find their way in what was often a confusing business.  Confusing because a word means one thing in one country, quite another somewhere else and because words are translated from dozens of languages and often mistranslations become accepted – just as with any official language.  What I have learned on my travels, and yes, I can now say I have been all around the world exploring healing, is that it really doesn't matter.  They say 93% of all communication is not the words themselves; it is the body language, the tone, the facial expressions.  Someone who wants to listen and understand and give you what you need – healing, will be able to do it no matter what words are written on the spa menu.  A healer can just be with you, it is their presence, their energy that heals.  They don't even have to touch you.  And when you have spent time with a master of healing their energy stays with you.  In reiki they have a series of symbols drawn over you, which supposedly attune you so you can practice.  Is it that?  Or is it the energy of the master that helps focus our own scattered and often contradictory energy? Who knows?

But words and symbols do matter.  Why?  Because I just tried to watch a DVD I gave my brother for Christmas a few years ago, which, instead of the top rated film starring Jackie Chan I had chosen was the sequel with only a random Jackie Chan cameo.  The distributors, or someone, had changed the title – it wasn't what I ordered.  A symbol is important if it says no smoking near something flammable, your words are imperative if they are saying Yes or 'No".  Words and symbols are important if you suffer from allergies and need to make sure you are not going to be poisoned.  The words in this book are important if they help you find (or avoid) what is right or not right for you.

Two years ago I left everything and went walkabout, followed my heart literally around the world and experienced healing by people, masters and guides, the weather, the stars, the moon, the sun, the mountains, the tides, the animals, maybe spirit guides, and I experienced great challenges, and realised everything I did for this guide, all the times I told myself I was doing it for everyone else… it was all training, to be comfortable, to know my way around the world of spas because when the going got really, really tough, being able to go to a world class spa anywhere in the world and walk in like I owned the place, with the confident of the expert, the master… it saved me. 

I wish I could give you the perfect spa journey.  Sometimes a massage is not the answer.  I am writing down everything I know not only to help others, but also for myself, because it's too much to hold in my head and I have to come back and check things myself now.  But this guide is just a starting point, a little hand-holding to help you take the next step, whether that's your first ever treatment or whether you're looking for something mind blowing.  To find your perfect journey all you need is follow your heart, so when one of these descriptions makes your heart sing, go for it.

I have experienced all of the treatments in this guide personally– almost none were given as freebies or with the massage therapist knowing I would report on them (as with secret restaurant critics).  Where someone has given me the treatment knowing what I do, I've made a note of it in the review.

This guide to healing is in alphabetical order, because I originally wanted to demystify spas and the language of spas when I began, but following my own path through healing I ended up becoming a mystic; someone who understands that having faith in the mysteries of this world, trusting in what we cannot see, hear or feel tactilely is more important than believing everything we can see, everything we’re told, in short learning to trust intuition and instinct more than experience. 

I went from being a mathematician who couldn’t progress beyond a basic degree because I couldn’t bend my mind around quantum theory or imaginary numbers, to becoming so flexible with my mind and my reality that I could achieve the highest states of meditation easily, that I could transcend and become one with the universe, even with animals, with the stars and the moon, that I could commune with the heavens.  And as someone who has made that journey I am here to tell you something I believe, something important.  We are made human for a reason, this is an exhilarating state, because like animals we can breathe air, use muscles, enjoy sex, nurture babies, care for each other, but as awakened beings we can know we are alive, we can transcend our pain, we have even reached the point of being able to give each other our blood, our organs, to even, as happened this week, transplant a womb from a dead person to a live one so that a new child can be born into the world.  We are miracles creating miracles, to understand the human body like this, we are awesome.  And yet we also create weapons to kill each other, we hold death so lightly we use it in games, and our suicide rates are painfully high.  We are capable in each moment of creating heaven or hell.  I believe it all comes down to how we hold love, how we understand what it means to love and be loved, and for this I went back, back through thousands of years of healing and wisdom, and I went forward, walking through forests and over mountains, travelling on ferry boats feeling the pain of a loss of a TV character, trying to understand why it cut me so deep - and one day I understood, one day I could pull out all the pain I’d held inside me and release it, like blowing away a dandelion clock, one day I could let go.  One day I could say, I do not deserve this and know that no matter what anyone says or does it does not define me, that the logic that says I am my friends, my family, my relationships, my body, my job, my house… is flawed, because if we look at it closer we can see it doesn’t make sense.  And I can let go of the people who hurt me, the people who ignored me or said lies about me, I can forgive them and move on or go back. 

I once asked a person I know Do you know what love is?

And he said Connection. 

And I said No. 

I believe love is what psychotherapists are taught to give - unconditional positive regard, not to tell people they are right or agree with them, but to withhold judgment, that critical look, that well, I just think you should...  I use a mantra you are perfect and every step you take is perfect, and to know that doesn’t take away from my own perfection.  I can disagree with someone but we are both perfect, we just have different paths to take.  And sometimes their perfect step is to push me along my way, to send me in the other direction.  There are no false moves, no mistakes, it is all part of our learning journey.

And what have I learned?  I have learned, yet again, that we are not here to transcend the state of being human but to embrace it, to revel in it, to LIVE it.  We are here to enjoy life, to enjoy the pleasures of being human, to feel the pain that will no doubt come from the degeneration of our bodies (if we are lucky enough to live that long), from the loss of our loved ones (if we are lucky enough to survive them), to feel the curse of jealousy and hate (if we seem to be enjoying ourselves too much), and to experience exhaustion and burnout (if we give our all and burn too brightly), we are here to feel the physical pain of giving life to another if we are truly blessed to share our life force, or the bruises of getting down on the floor and playing with our children.  We are here to be gloriously, beautifully, exotically, chaotically human, to enjoy staring at all the colours and flavours of our different human ethnicities, to hear the music of all the human languages and accents, and for me to feel the traditions of thousands of years of healing through my one perfect body.  Hallelujah.

Desire is not the design flaw, desire is essential; to desire water, oxygen, food, sex, but desire is a powerful thing and we have to learn to hold it well, just as our ancestors had to learn how to play with fire.  Desire can destroy us if we let it run amok.  Five star spas and massages are essential sometimes, we need the pampering, the loving touch, we need someone to take care of us for our healing.  But as Kahlil Gibran said in The Prophet… Comfort comes in like a guest, becomes the host and then the master.

We have to know when we need support and when to let go of our crutches, when to leave our homes, our families, our countries, our religions, even our teachers.  To balance our desire for safety with our desire to explore.  To let go of our addiction and attachment to our comfort zone in order to pursue our dreams and be free.

This is what I have learned.  And I know that I am free to love the world by sharing as much of what I have learned as I can in words, as futile as they are sometimes, putting it into this book in alphabetical order, focusing on each experience, and also in choronological order in my other books; The Guide to Spa Breaks and Escapes from Pearl Escapes 2016 and my Camino de la Luna series, starting with Japan Is Very Wonderful and free Feeling Real Emotions Everyday for those who would like to follow my journey in the order it happened.

I hope you enjoy.

Let's go.

New In This Edition

Act of Power

African Traditional Massage – Leopard Mountain Safari Lodge, South Africa

Aloha

Ancestors

Animal Encounters

Apache Prayer

Aquatherapia Spa Center, Salamanca, Spain

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Ayurvedic Medicine

Aztec Dancing

Bellydancing

Bereavement

Bhutan

Biosauna

Borneo Signature Therapy

Breast Massage

Buddhism - updated

Camino de Santiago (also Caminante and Camino)

Camino Natural del Eresma

Cave Dwelling

Chi

Chichen Itza

Chief Albert Luthuli

Chronic Pain

Claridge House

Cold Water Swimming

Compress

The Daimon-zaka

The Dalai Lama

Depression

Dewa Om Kundali Back Salt Massage

Doe Bay Retreat

Don Miguel Ruiz – updated

Elizabeth Gilbert

Finisterre

Finnish Sauna

Flower Bath aka Mandi Bunga

Forest Bathing

Free Diving

Frigidarium

Full Moon

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Geomancy

Grief and Grieving

Grotta Guisti, Italy

Hammam Al Andalus, Granada, Spain

Hoʻoponopono

Hoshino and KAI Resorts

Howard Thurman

The Isle of Arran and Holy Isle

Japanese Gardens

Javanese Aromatherapy Full Body Massage

Juvenex 24 Hour Spa, New York

Kandyan Massage

Khenpo Tashi Phuntshok

Kona Wind

Kora

Kota Kinabalu

Kumano Kodo

Kurhaus

Kurhaus Cademario, Switzerland

Lucy Whittington

Malay Flower Bath

Mandi Bunga aka Flower Bath

Marianne Williamson

Maropeng, Cradle of Humankind, near Johannesburg, South Africa

Medugorje (Med-u-gor-iah), Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mindful Eating

The Mossy Forest, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Nachi Falls

Natural Swimming Pool

Nature

Nelson Mandela

Pain

Pema Chödrön

PheZulu

Pilgrimage – updated

Pinda

Plum Village

Pono (previously called pona in my book Camino de la Luna – Unconditional Love, sorry bad translation!)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD

Quileute

Rainforest

Recovery and Rest

Rehydration Salts

Retreat

Rumi

Ryokans

Sacromonte, Granada, Spain

Saline Contrast Pool

Salt Water Flotation Isopod

Samadhi

Sangoma

Satyagraha

Serra da Estrela, Portugal

Shaman – updated

Shinto or Kami-no-michi

Singing Bowls for Healing

Situlpawa or Situlpawwa

Snoqualmie Falls

Soak

Soweto

Spirit Animals

Steve Biko

Sucimurni

Sunrise

Suquamish Museum, near Seattle, USA

Taktsang Or Tiger’s Nest Monastery, Bhutan

Tenryuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan

Teotihuacan, near Mexico City

Toltec – updated

Treehouse

Ubuntu or Reconciliation

Vesak

Walkabout

Wat Pho or Wat Po

Wild Spaces

Wild Swimming

Yurt

Zulu

Bonus Chapters

A Place Has An Energy Or A Personality, A Style

We Go At Dawn (Why We Wake At 4 Or 3 Or 5)

Do Not Confuse The Raft With The Shore

By The Time You Read This It Will Be Gone

The Top Of The Mountain

Ha

The Inappropriate Touch

For me to travel

Just Be Yourself

Introduction

We can turn anything into heroin.  That's something I realised a few years ago (it's part of my philosophy – see below), well actually I nicked the line from Get Him To The Greek a deeply spiritual film starring Russell Brand (his character's addiction was yoga).  As I just read in a local magazine, meditation has been proven to be more effective than morphine at blocking out pain in some cases.  So we need to be wise when using different medicines, whether they are actual substances or just thoughts.  As I read once in Chelsea Physic Garden, there is no such thing as a poison or a medicine – it's all in the dosage (or even how we react).  We need to be wise about our choice of healing, our practices, how much, when and whose advice we listen to.  Something that has worked effectively and positively for a long time may suddenly not suit us – it may be time to quit a practice no matter what everyone else thinks about it, and that can be as hard for a yoga or a Zumba instructor as an alcoholic giving up booze.  It may mean a complete change of life, loss of customers, colleagues and friends and even, losing face.  But the freedom to choose our practices is as important as the freedom to choose our friends, our nutrition, our exercise, our massage – no matter what our peer group or society says.

I hope this guide helps you to find your healing – it's not meant to persuade you that you should do it all, or have a massage a month, or take up meditation, yoga or even free diving (I just get a bit excited about things I like – so please forgive me and make up your own mind).

I hope you follow your heart to find the right thing for you, that it gives you the energy and courage to follow your heart in your whole life and that you also follow your heart when it's time to stop and change direction.

Lots of love, Pearl x

Safety Advice

From my book free Feeling Real Emotions Everyday.

"Dear Fellow Traveller,

A word of caution before you enter this book.  Take it at your own pace.

Since I fell in love with massage in 2009 I’ve explored over two hundred unique practices and many other escapes.  I’ve had emergency medical treatment several times, twice for pedicures gone wrong and one I’ll tell you about in a moment.  I’ve been dehydrated, scarred, been left beaten and bruised and, of course, got lost. 

I’ve also taught thousands of fitness classes and had various sporting injuries.  I almost never have anyone have an injury in my class - we always warm up.  We have a saying any movement is good because the chance of serious injury is so slight compared to the benefits of any exercise.  When you get in tune with your body, you learn when to slow down, drink more water, walk it out or just stop, and then it’s even easier.  You learn when it’s safe to take three steps forward and when you need to just take one.

I’ve been blessed to have worked with some amazing healers, with traditions handed down through generations for thousands of years.  They know how to do these things safely.  The maximum amount of massage recommended at a time is two hours.  I’ve also had an experienced healer shake their head at the massage I had chosen and tell me No, you can’t take that – let’s do this instead. 

I had no hesitation in experiencing a traditional sweat lodge in Mexico, but I know people have died in other sweat lodges.  I loved fire walking but I know that people have been burned when attempting other fire walks.

The most common cause of death in the US is now overdose on prescription medication, including painkillers and anti-depressants.  Our modern way of life is killing us as surely as our modern diet.  It’s not working.  But when we try to reconnect with our ancient wisdom we have to be careful to treat that with respect and patience.

I have a book by my bed about native American healing (Listening With Your Heart – Wayne Peate).  It has a warning about using herbs without proper understanding and cites an example of a women’s group poisoning themselves when on a detox.  The other night I decided to make a blend of essential oils.  So much better for me than a chemical air freshener, right?  I woke up a few hours later, my lungs burning (thank goodness the windows were open).  A call to an emergency helpline and I was advised to get down to the hospital to be properly checked out.  I’m okay but still recovering.

The chemicals in herbs, plants and essential oils are just as potent as in a tablet, and just as deadly.

You cannot get fit in one day.  You cannot grieve in one day.  I once went to a five star spa thinking Wow, this will be like having a week’s holiday in a day.  Then could barely stay awake for the next week.  There’s a reason we need to take time out. 

When you open the door to feeling your real emotions it can be a lot to handle.  One step at a time is great progress.  This is not a quick fix.  This is a practice.  It doesn’t happen overnight (unlike asphyxiating yourself).  For the best practical guide to personal freedom please read The Four Agreements which is wisdom that is thousands of years old.  This book and my other books are just my experience of discovering ancient wisdom from my modern perspective.

Freedom can be scary and dangerous.  Leaving a life where you know the rules can feel like descending into chaos.  We yearn for freedom and then it terrifies us.  People who are released from institutions, whether marriage, boarding school, prison or even concentration camps have experienced such difficulty in adapting back to ordinary life that they have returned, reoffended or even committed suicide.

It’s hard for animals to adapt to being in the wild again (or in a safari park or reserve) when they’re used to being kept in a cage, but it can be done.  I believe we can adapt to freedom too, one step at a time."

My Philosophy

Every life is a miracle.

Every love is a miracle.

We are born in love, but then experience loss which causes us pain, pain we can't handle all at once, so we start to numb ourselves.  We take the things that were supposed to make our lives better and turn them into addictions, drugs that help us lose ourselves.

We can turn anything into heroin.

We're built to slowly deal with the pain and get over it, come back to our true selves, and we're doing our best but we need help, and too often when we ask for help we ask the wrong people or at the wrong time.  And we surround ourselves with people who think they need us to keep acting the same way, like walls we build to lock our fake selves in and keep out the freedom that comes when we recognize our true selves, that we are animals, that we are human, that we are love itself.

All we need to heal is to feel alive, to remember that our life is a miracle.

All we need to feel alive is to follow our heart.

The universe will do the rest.

Abhyanga

An Ayurvedic full body massage, this could technically be the name for a treatment I had at Salon Sensoriale in the Terme di Chianciano Spa in Tuscany, but at Jivita Ayurveda in Kensal Rise this is the actual name on the menu.

What differs from a regular full body massage is the heated oil and faster movements that are used, also special care is paid to your feet, which some full body massages ignore.  This means that even with a 50 minute treatment you can probably feel done by the end of an Abhyanga massage. 

The treatment at Jivita Ayurveda did seem to use harder pressure than the massage I had in Tuscany but that could be because my body was so much more tense.  As Megan, the therapist at Jivita Ayurveda, worked on each area I would be close to asking her to stop, then the second she stopped I wanted her to do more!

Another massive difference was that at Jivita Ayurveda I went for a special offer which included a Shirodhara treatment at the end of the full body massage, this made it the perfect experience for me as the massage relaxed my body and the Shirodhara relaxed my mind (and then got it working again).  See Shirodhara.

I do love the use of warmed oil in massage and it’s very hard to go back once you've experienced this (and also to go back to non-heated beds – yes this bed was heated!) 

I started, as with most massages, on my front, with my back and shoulders being worked over.  I could actually feel the tension and possibly air being released from my body as in a chiropractic session, before Megan moved onto my legs and then went for it on my feet.  This was some of the best footwork I have ever had, and I would absolutely go back for an Ayurvedic foot massage aka Padabhyanga or Reflexology here.

See also Ayurvedic Massage, Ayurvedic Medicine, Chiropractic, Deep Tissue Massage, Holistic Treatments, Padabhyanga, Paper Knickers, Prishtabhyanga, Shirodhara, Udvatarna, ILA and ILA Kundalini Back Treatment.

Act of Power

From my book Camino de la Luna – Reconciliation.  See also Zumba Fitness, Firewalk and Don Miguel Ruiz.

"Letting go of teaching Zumba was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but I never let go of being a Zumba Instructor, it’s been in my back pocket all along. 

When I was first reading don Miguel Ruiz, first struggling with the shifts in my life, in my mind, I realised almost everything I was practising was an act of power.  An act of power is something we use to reclaim power over ourselves, our thoughts, our limiting beliefs.  That’s why a fire walk is so powerful and so popular in coaching and healing events.  When I walked on fire it was an act of power.  The energy we built as a group, from the first moment of booking the ticket to the silence as we walked to the fire, building and building until crossing the fire was like breaking through an impossible barrier, like a rocket bursting through the earth’s atmosphere and suddenly being free in space. 

Once we’ve broken the barrier; the limiting belief, then the energy we put into maintaining that belief, that lie comes back to us and that’s how we keep building more energy, becoming capable of more and more.  We keep breaking barriers over and over again.  We do it individually and we do it for each other.  When one person runs the four minute mile, others follow, because it’s easier to believe that we are capable of doing something when we see another do it.  This is what a leader does.

Like a rider in the Tour de France, even in Zumba where there is no air resistance, when one person in a class does better it pulls everyone forward.  I remember realising it and repeating it over and over to my participants.  This is not a competitive class – even when we face off, even when we have a contest, this is a team sport and we spur each other on.  (And sometimes a prize helped too.)

In The Voice of Knowledge don Miguel Ruiz explained that to silence the ego, the little voice that says No, this is too scary we can listen to music without words or words in a language we don’t understand.  When he was young he listened to The Beatles, I’d been listening to music in Spanish having no idea why it helped. 

Then I listened to African music and the drumming, and then I did the moves of African tribesmen, warriors, all those moves that I’d been teaching, the ones that warriors did around fires to keep them healthy when they weren’t hunting, and perhaps to ward off the dark shadows that crept in at night.  Sometimes I even used music when I wrote, listening to opera or to film soundtracks.  I told myself I liked music without words I could understand because I was writing, but in truth it was carrying me safely past my ego.

So much of the learning I had done with Zumba was letting go of language, letting go of judgment, letting go of embarrassment and, of course, fear.  In the first session of the day, our master class with Beto Perez, I felt it so purely, but this time I knew what I was feeling.  As we danced, him teaching us non-verbally, copying his moves, mirroring, feeling the moves, our own, those around us, those on stage, I felt the incredible high, the wonder of it all, that we are one, that when we dance like this our hearts are one, that we are all connected, that we are love."

Acupressure

If you’ve ever liked the idea of acupuncture but didn’t like the idea of needles then acupressure is probably something to try.  It’s based on the same Chinese philosophy as acupuncture and Reflexology; that there are energy lines or meridians in the body that can benefit from manipulation.  It’s not that far from the concept of energy chakras, which is part of the basis of Reiki; a much more passive practice.

Sometimes also called oriental meridian massage, it’s a speciality of the Mandarin Oriental spas and indeed a key element of their signature treatment, which I’ve now tried in Hong Kong, London and Las Vegas.  (I preferred it in Hong Kong.)  Their Miami spa also has fantastic treatments but it has a relaxation room filled with hectic Miami ladies on their Blackberries, so think about making sure you have some relaxation time in a massage suite, massage cabana on their artificial beach, or even a spot on one of the loungers for post massage chillout.

Tui na is also another type of massage, very popular in China, which works along the same beliefs and may well be the same in practice.

By stimulating various key points in the body it is believed that the therapist can improve the flow of chi (universal energy) through the body and alleviate problems.

I must admit that sometimes it’s very hard to differentiate this type of massage from any other kind.  The only major difference I have noticed in acupressure full body massages is the way that the legs are often lifted and pressure is applied in a more forceful way (but always very pleasurable in my experience).  In the past I think there’s been a tendency for certain reflexologists to be a little aggressive in the pursuit of wellbeing, but I have to say that all of my Reflexology treatments, in the UK and China have been nothing but blissful.

For a first rate acupressure massage I recommend the Mandarin Spa, Hong Kong.

Other spas that offer great treatments:

Tian Spa, Park Hyatt Beijing

The Spa At Mandarin Oriental London

New Otani Osaka, Japan

See also Reflexology, Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Malayan Massage and Chi-Nei Tsang – Thai Abdominal Massage.

Acupuncture

I'm a huge fan of acupressure and Traditional Chinese Medicine in general, (especially after my trip to China), but even though I was brave enough to try cupping and Gua Sha I was a lot more cautious about where I was going to try acupuncture.  (In Japan many centres will not practice acupuncture on foreign visitors.)

During acupuncture very long, fine needles are inserted through your skin.  They can either be used to stimulate acupressure points, which are believed to relate to specific conditions or, in my case, used to directly stimulate the area where you have a problem.

I'd been having some problems with my back and when my GP suggested I try acupuncture I got serious about looking for a local practitioner (unfortunately my GP couldn't recommend anyone directly).  Then, when I went to visit a physiotherapist for my back I was delighted to find that she practised acupuncture too.  This is what I'd been looking for, a super clean clinic-style environment where I knew the therapist was highly trained and understood the issues I was having with my back.  After one session of physiotherapy I was already starting to feel better, so I was very excited to book in for acupuncture the next day.

As she inserted the needles she explained that they go deep into the muscle tissue, where my back muscles were aggravated and sore, and at a certain point my muscles would grab on to the needles.  I could actually feel this happening.  What did it feel like?  It felt like someone sticking needles in my back.  It didn't exactly feel painful, more like a pinprick and then a dull ache in my muscles.  It also felt, for want of a better word, a bit scratchy.

Once she'd inserted the needles she used the time to give my calves a little bit of sports massage.  It's interesting that during the physiotherapy appointment she'd mentioned that my tight calves from a previous injury could be aggravating the problems in my shoulders; it is all connected.

The sports massage was also quite intense and borderline painful, and I wasn't very happy with that (I've had too many luxurious massages which have helped my body to relax to believe that massage ever needs to hurt – see Deep Tissue Massage). 

When she took the needles out I was already starting to feel the effects; a little headache, nausea…  she explained that many people feel a sudden drop in blood sugar after the treatment.  Luckily there was a cafe next door and I went straight there for some tea and porridge with honey.  The weird thing was that I still felt as though the needles were in my back, as if...  someone had been sticking needles in my back. 

The idea is that the needles stimulate the body's healing mechanism and create the production of histamine, and yes, it felt like I had been stung.  I could also feel my right shoulder tightening up where the needle had been.

It was recommended to have a course of three treatments, but would it surprise you to learn that I didn't go back?  I was also advised not to have any deep tissue massage on my back for a while.  I did feel like something had been released.  I went home and did some of those houseworky jobs that involve beating the hell out of things.  I broke some stuff.  In fact I felt an overwhelming sense of anger... and then I went to sleep for 2 hours.  Afterwards I felt tearful, cranky and sore, but I did find other things feeling better over the next few days.

As I wrote in an article on my website Healing Isn't Always Pretty, but I do feel the acupuncture had a releasing and positive effect.  I just prefer my treatments a little bit more pleasurable.

I tried acupuncture at Pure Sports Medicine in Raynes Park, who I do recommend for physiotherapy.

See also Acupressure, Sports Massage and Deep Tissue Massage.

Addiction

Many of the practices and treatments in this book have been used to treat addictions of all kinds, however they in themselves can become addictions.  One of the most important results of stepping out of our comfort zones is that we are often stepping away from things to which we have become addicted, often without even realising it; alcohol, of course, caffeine, TV, even exercise and meditation, perfectionism, even reading…  I would hazard a definition of addiction as being anything we use to numb our feelings often.  Don't get me wrong, there are times that we need sedation, pain killers, distraction, because some things we cannot support – to attempt to do so would be like doing surgery without anaesthesia, but constant numbing prevents us from dealing with our feelings, from processing, from grieving and growing, moving forward with our lives, from living.  Survival sometimes requires sedation, but then we need to get on back to living again.

A great and highly enjoyable book about alcoholism, which helped me to understand addiction is Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes.

I also recommend My Good Friend the Rattlesnake: Stories of Loss, Truth, and Transformation – Don Jose Ruiz and Tami Hudman and works by Brené Brown.  See also My Philosophy (at the front of the book).

African Traditional Massage – Leopard Mountain Safari Lodge, South Africa

I was finally in Africa and, of course, wanted to try out the traditional, the tribal.  Arriving into Durban I rented a car and found a hotel spa offering traditional massage experiences in traditional African huts, with people in traditional dress, so I zoomed up the road to check it out.  I did not like.  Unfortunately this place, which I won't name, was gimmicky, noisy, rickety and a little bit cheap.  It was not it.  The whole place had been set up to offer a tourist experience similar to that offered by Native American casinos in the US (and, yes, there was also a massive casino there).  I couldn't get out of there fast enough and head back to Durban.

The next day I decided to take another chance and booked into Leopard Mountain Safari Lodge, a luxury game lodge – which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life (read Camino de la Luna – Reconciliation). 

24 hours later I was happy but wrecked, and the team organised my next night down the road in St Lucia with ease, and booked me in for a traditional African massage in their traditional African lodge.

Even though my eyes were closed I appreciated the windows overlooking the wilds of Leopard Mountain and my therapist was the real deal.  This is the kind of massage I seek out… I have no memory of time, of ritual, of technique, just the blurry memory of perfection, heaven, being delivered into a shaman's hands and her doing her magic.  One of my first massages, the one that got me started on this journey was in Morocco, the name of the massage was just massage and when a masseuse knows her craft it’s as simple and deep as that, it just works.

See also Ubuntu and Animal Encounters.

After Sun Treatment

See Sunburn Escapes at the end of the book.

Algae (Blue Lagoon)

Yes, one of the main ingredients in the miraculous water of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland is algae.  According to their researchers there are around 200 different microorganisms in the water (don’t be afraid – they’re all apparently benign or good for you) and 60% of these are new species, which may only be found in the Blue Lagoon.

It’s also one of the main reasons for that wonderful blue colour.

You can benefit from the algae just by relaxing in the water, or you can take it one step further with a self-applied algae face mask from the swim up cafe, or one of the signature algae treatments.  (Or by buying Blue Lagoon products to take home and use in your own bathroom!)

For more details visit www.bluelagoon.com/About-Us/Geothermal-Wonder/

Try this at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland or order products online.

See also Algotherapy, In Water Massage, Seaweed Massage, Silica (The Blue Lagoon), Thermal Spa, Volcano Scrub (The Blue Lagoon) and Waterfall.

Algotherapy

As you might guess algotherapy means the use of algae in treatments, however you might not guess that it also includes the use of seaweed – which can also be called Thalassotherapy, which is the use of seawater or seaweed in treatments.

See also Algae (Blue Lagoon), ishga, Seaweed Massage and Thalassotherapy.

Aloe Vera (Key West Aloe)

My research is not all wonderful spas; sometimes the healing I find is almost by accident.

My ex-boyfriend and I were snorkelling in Bahia Honda near Marathon (halfway between Key Largo and Key West) and he overdid it in the sun, getting some vicious sunburn on his shoulders.

I had no idea what to pick up to help his poor shoulders, so I asked the locals who recommended Solarcaine from the chemist.  This was pretty good for helping him put a shirt on, as it contains a pain killer as well as a hefty dose of Aloe Vera, but, even better for actually helping his body get over the sun burn, was the almost pure Aloe Vera (Aloe Max 100) we picked up from Key West Aloe which has many fantastic products based on high dose, high quality Aloe Vera.  I have never seen skin act like his did when I put the almost pure Aloe Vera on.

About 20 minutes after applying it his skin went white, like classic peeling skin, and then when he showered the whole lot just disappeared, unlike the kind of patchy peeling skin I am used to.

We had just bought a small sample tube of gel, so had to go back to the shop for a bigger bottle.  As I walked in the lady behind the counter just smiled and nodded Yup.  It really works.

If you are in Mexico and suffering from sunburn there are many places that offer products with extremely high doses of aloe vera or you may even be offered chunks of the plant, which you break in half and rub all over your body, as in the Temazcal, Cozumel.

If there ever is a next time I would also try their Comfortcaine, which contains Lidocaine – like Solarcaine.

See also Solarcaine and Temazcal.

Aloha

From my new book Camino de la Luna – Unconditional Love.

In the airport I was learning that Aloha means so much more, Hawaii still had so much to teach me.  …for some of us it is more than a greeting, but rather a life force that defines who we are and why we are here."

AAkahai – meaning kindness (grace), to be expressed with tenderness;

LLokahi – meaning unity (unbroken), to be expressed with harmony;

O’Olu’olu – meaning agreeable (gentle), to be expressed with pleasantness;

HHa’aha’a – meaning humility (empty), to be expressed with modesty;

AAhonui – meaning patience (waiting for the moment), to be expressed with perseverance.

A secret of Aloha is that a person cannot do one of the principles without truly doing all and if you are not doing one you are not doing any.  So to live Aloha is to be living all of the principles."

I felt like I was leaving just as I had woken up to Hawaii. 

It was like the last time I saw my ex, after a week together he realised he still loved me.  So often we only see things clearly as they end. 

So I drank the good Hawaiian coffee in Starbucks (it was really, really good), I bought chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and most importantly a sweetly scented, fresh orchid lei for my mum, the best present I could ever bring her, apart from me.

Aloha is more than a greeting or salutation.  It is a condition, a way of life, a mind set and an attitude.

Aloha is an action, not a reaction.  It is a natural response of respect, love and reciprocity, and not a contrived series of motions or expressions that have been rehearsed and perfected for a commercial expectation.

Aloha is to be in the presence of life, to share the essence of one’s being with openness, honesty and humility.  It is a way of being, a way of behaving, a way of life.  It is a commitment to being real.  It is a commitment to accepting others and giving dignity to who they are and what they have to offer.

Aloha is not a slogan, pitch line or monogram.  It is a spiritual principle that conveys the deepest expression of one’s relationship with oneself, the creative and life-giving forces, one’s family and community, and with friends and strangers.

To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable – that is Aloha.  All things in this world are two, in heaven there is but One.

Queen Lili’uokalani (1917)"

See also Pono, Hoʻoponopono and Native American Healing.

Amethyst Steam Room

Although the generic steam room is very common these days, a lot of spas are now adding a new twist with the Amethyst Steam Room.  This is essentially a normal steam room, but with