On the Rocks

Are you in need of something to help you relax, relieve muscle tension, or make you forget about your rough day? If so, then a hot stone massage, also known as hot stone therapy, may be the solution you have been looking for. The therapeutic benefits of a hot stone massage have been around for centuries. Ancient cultures and Native Americans used this technique to improve overall mental, spiritual, and physical wellness. Native Americans used hot stones to detoxify and to find harmony and balance. In some European cultures, hot stones or bricks were wrapped in cloth and placed over a person’s injury for relief. In China, hot stone therapy was used as early as 1500 BC as a method for relieving muscle aches and tension. Today, hot stone therapy is used much in the same way as it was centuries ago and for the same benefits. One session can help you to relax, release, and rejuvenate.

The technique provides a deeply relaxing, healing, detoxifying, and, some say, spiritual experience. Typically, the stones are smooth, black rounds of basalt in varying sizes heated in water to temperatures between 125 and 140 degrees. Warm stones encourage the exchange of blood and lymph and provide soothing heat for deep-tissue work. Cold stones are also used to aide with inflammation, moving blood out of the area, and balancing male/female energies. The alternating heat and cold of thermotherapy brings the entire body into the healing process, with a rapid exchange of blood and oxygen and alternating rise and fall of respiration rate as the body seeks homeostasis.









During treatment the stones are anointed with oil, allowing them to slide smoothly over the body releasing tension, stress and emotional fatigue. Also, the hot stones are placed on energy pathways. Some are covered with a towel and positioned to apply steady warmth and pressure along the spine and neck. Others are placed between fingers and toes and on the stomach and forehead -- key spots where energy flow can get blocked. Still others are used almost as an extension of the practitioner's hands to help go deeper into resistant muscle tissue. This requires less effort from the practitioner's own body and delivers healing warmth to the hands, benefiting the therapist, as well as the client.

Hot stone therapy relieves muscle aches and pain. The penetrating heat also helps to relieve pain associated with arthritis. It improves blood circulation keeping your heart healthy. The therapy also helps stimulates the flow of oxygen and nutrients helping your body to detoxify and heal. This helps create a calming effect on the nervous system increasing vitality. The end result is a feeling of overall good health.

Hot stone therapy is a wonderful treat for the body. It is very rewarding with lots of benefits. Hot stone massages can be found at almost every medical spa around the globe. This therapy is also offered at regular day spas and at vacation destination spa resorts. Everyone needs a break from time to time. Taking the time to get a hot stone massage is worth both the time and money. You will be able to relax, release, and rejuvenate. Reconnecting with you is priceless.