If you decide to attend a Flagstaff Massage School, you will be faced with a challenge not issued by many such educational facilities. You will be asked to consider and then incorporate the traditional concepts of Eastern or Asian massage into your student module. This means abandoning your perception of massage as being a purely physical entity and embracing one in which physical awareness is an integral part of the healing process. It requires that you observe the skills and traditions of other cultures. It necessitates you learn how to practice Asian examples of massage such as Ayurvedic.
What Is Ayurvedic Massage?
Ayurvedic massage is a form of Asian massage therapy. It has been practiced for centuries in India. In this country, it forms one component of an overall system of healing and awareness. These concepts are applied to both the corporal and spiritual aspect that make up the human entity. Simply put, Ayurvedic massage, like most Eastern or Asian approaches, adopts a holistic approach to massage.
When learning about Ayurveda massage at a Flagstaff massage school, it is imperative to keep this particular characteristic in mind. When studying, a student will learn about the belief that everything is interconnected. In this particular concept, one specific topic will be of vital concern to the understanding of this type of massage. These are the doshas.
What Are the Doshas?
The doshas are the subtle energy force that acts to bind the corporal to the spiritual. Three in number, they tie the power of an individual’s consciousness to the corporeal form – the physical body. These are the energies that an Ayurvedic massage practitioner must learn to harness or tap into to help a client.
The three doshas represent the different elements in addition to the energies that are found within each individual. These doshas define the individual and make them a specific type when one dominates the others. The three types of doshas are:
1. Vata Dosha – This represents the element of air. It governs impetus and movement
2. Pitta Dosha – This represents the element of fire. It governs the powers of transformation as well as the production of piercing heat and digestion
3. Kapha Dosha – This represents the element of earth. It governs the characteristics of attachment, consistency and containment
By attending a class in Ayurveda massage in a Flagstaff massage school, you will be exposed to these diverse body types, learning how to recognize them in yourself and your client. You will also discover how to utilize this knowledge within the basic principles of Ayurvedic therapy and the larger context of Asian massage therapy. Furthermore, by learning about the Ayurvedic approach in a Flagstaff massage school, you will provide yourself with an increased understanding about the differences between Western and Eastern systems of massage therapy.
