Narendra Mehta - Indian Head Massage: Discover the Power of Touch

This book is dedicated to my wife, Kundan Mehta, for her continuous love, support and encouragement.

I have been totally blind from the age of one. From my clients point of view, my blindness is no drawback. Once youre seated in my chair, my fingers do all the seeing I require. I graduated in political science from Bombay University and have been practising bodywork for the last 25 years. I am qualified in body massage, reflexology, touch for health and oesteopathy. I now practise at two London clinics in addition to my own London Centre of Indian Champissage at the Eastern Health and Beauty Centre, 136 Holloway Rd, London, N7 8DD, telephone: 0171 609 3590, fax: 0171 607 4228.

I have described in this book a few simple and effective techniques for you to try out to see the efficacy of this wonderful therapy. I am sure you will be very happy with the result. The beauty of this therapy is that it can be used anywhere all you need is a comfortable chair, and a pair of warm, healing hands. I believe everyone has healing hands all you need is to follow the instructions carefully and allow the healing to flow. You will be pleasantly surprised by the result. Always start with light pressure, gradually increasing it as the recipient feels comfortable. Please do ask the recipient to let you know if and when your pressure is too heavy or too light, or if they are feeling uncomfortable in any way. Indian head massage is easy to give and a pleasure to receive. Have fun!

I feel proud to be able to bring this ancient therapy of Indian head massage to the West, and I feel sure that it will make a great contribution to the well-being of humankind. Today, at the London Centre of Indian Champissage, we provide treatments and educational training courses that help spread the therapy further afield. Since I have developed the techniques of Indian head massage to include subtle energy massage, and created the new therapy I call Champissage, its popularity has increased and more and more people are discovering that this therapy provides help for and relief from an ever-increasing range of symptoms.

I have already travelled through several European countries to teach Champissage, including Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Sweden and it has taken off in these countries with rapid success. In the near future, I plan to travel worldwide, especially to America and Canada, to promote this wonderful therapy further.

As a principle of the London Centre of Indian Champissage I am always interested to hear of any scientific research into the effects of this therapy on problems such as drug addiction, depression, insomnia, headaches and migraines, and stress, which are prevalent in our modern society.

Indian Champissage is the therapy of the future.

One treatment that is guaranteed to lift you out of the stresses of daily life and provide you with a real cure for those aching, tense neck and shoulder muscles is the ancient art of Indian head massage. Sounds different? It is. This book will teach you how to give superb massages to your partners, friends and work colleagues and to yourself.

You are a very special person if you can boast immunity to the pressures of modern-day living. Those who fall prey to stress often complain that tension is stored in the shoulder, neck and head areas. Indian head massage is guaranteed to relieve these feelings. The technique has been practised in India for over a thousand years, originally by women who believed that massaging their heads with natural vegetable oils kept their long hair healthy and strong. They were right. Massaging the scalp stimulates the flow of blood to the follicles, improving the supply of nutrients needed for healthy hair growth. Nowadays the most common cause of poor blood flow is stress-generated muscle tension. By helping to dispel such tension, head massage not only improves the condition of your hair, but also provides an invaluable treatment for stress-linked problems like headaches and eyestrain.

The traditional Indian head massage practised by women in India was restricted to the head and hair. However, I have extended the techniques to include the neck, shoulders and upper arms. Indian head massage is a safe, simple, yet effective therapy that not only promotes hair growth, but also provides relief from aches and pains. It is renowned for relieving symptoms of stress. Now you can learn these new techniques, which combine an ancient cultural tradition with the demands of modern living, to use at home.

The head, neck and shoulders are important energy centres within your body. If you are feeling stressed or angry, tension tends to accumulate. This tension can later show up as a stiff neck and shoulders, eye strain and sometimes even hair loss. Indian head massage involves working with a firm and gentle rhythm to help unknot blockages and relieve this uncomfortable build-up of tension. However, its effect is not just physical: it works on an emotional level too, calming the spirit, promoting relaxation and relieving stress.

An ancient proverb states: A happy mind is medicine; no better prescription exists. I have found results bear this out. People who come to my clinic feeling despondent, depressed, worried, tense, stressed and distressed leave in a happier and more relaxed frame of mind after just one soothing Indian head massage.

Regular head massage is wonderfully relaxing, enhances the health of the scalp and promotes the growth of lustrous hair. The Observer

Indian head massage offers the means by which the individual can begin to get in touch with the healing potential within the hitherto unexplored regions of their inner being and thus become empowered to ensure their own well-being.

Massage has always played an important part in Indian life, featuring in the earliest Ayurvedic texts that date back nearly 4,000 years. When used in conjunction with herbs, spices and aromatic oils, massage had an important medical function and could not only strengthen muscles and firm the skin, but also encourage the bodys natural healing abilities. Today, Indian infants still often receive a daily massage from birth to keep them in good health. From three to six years old, they are massaged once or twice a week, and after the age of six, they are taught to share a massage with family members on a regular basis. Massage then occurs across the generations as an integral part of family life. My own family is typical of many others in this respect.

Indian head massage springs from this rich tradition of intergenerational family massage, and has been practised for over a thousand years. It was originally developed by women as a part of their grooming routine. They used different oils according to the season (coconut, sesame, almond, olive oil, herbal oils, buttermilk, mustard oil and henna) to keep their hair strong, lustrous and in beautiful condition.

The benefits of head massage were not confined exclusively to women: barbers practised many of these same skills. They used to ply their trade by going to individuals houses, cutting mens hair and offering champi (head massage) as part of the treatment. In time, this became quite a custom: everyone, including royalty, would receive regular head massages from their own barber. Treatments differed from the massages performed by women in that the barbers were mainly giving invigorating scalp massages designed primarily to stimulate and refresh the individual, rather than to care for the hair. Echoes of this Indian tradition reached the West long before the practice itself in the form of the word shampoo, which comes from the Hindi word champi. Being champi-ed meant having your head massaged.