Heed the Call: Indian Head Massage

Laurie J. English , LMT, LCICI, NCBTMB

I was taking stock. What massage class to take next? Despite the mandatory state massage board CEU requirements, I wanted to experience something decadently different. What course would catapult my massage to the next level?  After months of evaluation, I realized that, hands-down, almost everybody loves a head massage.

Despite this epiphany, even after 10+ years as a professional massage therapist, I hadn’t really had any inspired head massage training. The head quickly became this potent reservoir of wow-power in my mind for my future clients.

I was smitten. It commenced innocently enough. The goal: a few stellar techniques to augment my table massage. So, I took an Indian Head Massage class. I discovered that the “head” in Indian Head Massage really referred to the back, the shoulders, the neck, and the arms. Yes, Indian Head Massage is actually a complete upper body treatment. Done traditionally, certain men practiced it through the barbering profession.

Most women used it at home for grooming and beautification. Although I learned a systematized technique called Champissage, I felt like Alice in the proverbial wonderland.

I knew there was something more than the soothing spa experience that I’d been led to fashioning it into. The trail of mystery beckoned. And so, I journeyed to India.In India, my experience of head massage was a wild ride.

The environment of India has erupted, bringing forth a specific style of head massage that mirrors the chattering monkeys, honking horns, and throngs of people that call it home.

Indian head massage is typically short. Five to ten minutes of invigorating upper body massage where you’ll find yourself being rubbed, beaten, slathered, spritzed, snapped and pummeled.

And, usually, you’ll pay you’re money gladly and come back repeatedly for more. It’s true, I had some head massages that I care not to remember. In fact, my scalp burned like fire after one of them so much that I couldn’t have it touched for three days from the inflammation.

Despite my few experiences of head-massage-gone-wrong though, I was addicted by the thought — and the feel — of it. How to capture the thrill of head massage and transport it back with me across the Atlantic Ocean to my home in New Mexico?I set up shop. Shop, at that time, was the front of the Ayurvedic-inspired Annapurna Restaurant in Santa Fe.

There you’d find me doing head massages while the pungent aroma of turmeric and chai permeated the ether’s. On the weekends, I did eight to ten hour events on the unsuspecting public, growing both my love and theirs for Indian head massage.

Shortly, I had a waiting list of clients. After almost two years of this, I came to various understandings about head massage, and the head, in particular.

Each head comprises a universe unto its own. There is no one-size fits all series of movements nor is there a standard amount of pressure, for instance, that will work for every head every time. There is no magic head massage bullet. However, upon applying the first two or three Indian head massage techniques you can get a good gauge for what will work for the particular head in question.

Indian head massage techniques, as I’ve written more about here ( http://www.champiusa.com/student-resources/champi-indian-head-massage-articles ), can be thought of in yin and yang terms. Unlike Swedish massage which veers more on the relaxing, Indian head massage is a teeter-totter balancing act of extremes.

Is Indian head massage the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the massage world? Yes. Soothing massage techniques are almost always followed by vigorous percussive and/or friction techniques. The body enjoys this. The muscles benefit.

To put the wonders of Indian Head Massage in a developmental framework, consider this quote from Jean Liedloff, author of The Continuum Concept:

“The fact that babies actively encourage people to treat them to excitement is indication that they expect and require action upon which to develop. A mother sitting still will condition a baby to think of life as dull and slow and there will be a restlessness in him and frequent promptings from him to encourage more stimulation. He will bounce up and down to show what he wants, or wave his arms to initiate a faster pace in her actions. Similarly, if she insists upon treating him as though he were fragile, she will suggest to him that he is. But if she handles him in a rough and off-hand way, he will think of himself as strong, adaptable, and at home in a vast variety of circumstances.  Feeling fragile is not only unpleasant but interferes with the efficiency of the developing child and later of the adult.”

The thrill and excitement of Indian Head Massage are natural wonders. Over the years,  I’ve incorporated more and more of this feeling of adventure into my table massage as well. Not only is it liberating as a therapist to provide a full spectrum of experience, but I witness my clients craving this knowing of themselves as “strong, adaptable and at home in a vast variety of circumstances.”

If you’re looking to experience this full spectrum of feeling yourself or perhaps even offer this unique wow-factor to your clients, consider heeding the call to adventure found in Indian head massage.

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Laurie J. English, LMT, RPP, LCICI, NCBMT, is a national trainer of Indian Head Massage. She has created numerous head massage classes including ChampiMassage, Mini-Samadhi, and Elemental Head Massage. She offers private sessions in Santa Fe, New Mexico and can be reached at 505.490.0591 or [email protected]. She is the founder of SpaNomad : Traveling Spa and Massage Training and ChampiUsa.

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