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| Chavutti-Thai Massage |
| (pronounced: cha-vo-te-tie) |
The chakra and meridian lines in the body are massaged releasing blocked energy making you feel light, refreshed and energized. This full body oil massage begins with Traditional Thai twists and stretches design to open and relax your body. The practitioner then holds onto a rope suspended above their head and applies warm therapeutic oil with their bare feet using long deep rhythmical strokes (chavutti). |
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| The foot is actually more sensitive than the hand and is able to cover the full length of the body with each sweeping strokes from head to toes. |
| Chavutti originated in India as a massage for dancers and martial artists. Practitioners use their feet as they are even more sensitive than hands, though most feet I know are cased in shoes and have generous amounts of rough skin. |
| The founder Kingsley O. developed it combining the elements and benefits of two styles of massage, Traditional Thai Massage created 2,500 yrs ago in the Buddhist Temple of Thailand and Chavutti-Thirumal used to prepare the Kalari Martial Artists and Kathakali dancers of India. |
| Cost: |
| £45 per session |
| Testimonials |
"That was something! I felt like a dancer, so loose.
I am really impressed. The pain is gone, it would stand the stretch.
This is better than anything else I tried before, because it has the
stretches, which makes it more complete. Pressure was perfect. Nice
to be stretched before a massage". |
Dino, Massage Therapist (recovering from a very painful groin injury) |
"Wonderful, absolute brilliant! That is a good
intense massage. What I really liked that it was like an intense sports
massage. I feel it is really relaxing my muscles. The stretches are
like having a yoga class. If you let yourself go and trust the practitioner,
you can go that bit further. Fantastic, excellent. I feel very alive
and energised". |
Francesc, Reflexologist (who was nervous to start with that the stretches might hurt) |
"The three weekly sessions have taken my stress
away. I feel less rigid, feel much more flexible, relaxed. My shoulders
feel a lot looser. I feel much more revitalised now than when I started
the session. The shoulders were very tense to begin with". |
Mark, Gardener (also practicing martial arts) |
"That was really yummy! I feel more open, much
more flexible (if that is possible, as I am very flexible anyway).
My back is more open, usually it is very tight. I feel more relaxed.
I feel that my body wants to go further each treatment". Camilla, Massage Therapist (she had 3 weekly treatments and she loved them so much that she signed up for the course to learn the massage herself. |
| Go Ahead - Walk all over Me |
| Linsey Summers tries a foot massage and finds the experience healing (taken from Cornwall 24 April 2005, page27) |
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| The session starts with a more conventional Thai-based stretch, then a rope is used to balance while the feet do all the work. |
| I arrived at Delphiris' home in St Just feeling a little nervous at the prospect of the foot pummeling to follow. The massage room was scented, draped and warm, and a rope swung from the ceiling reminding me of the footwork to come. All my qualms were rubbed away, however, when the massage began. A CD of dolphin sounds played as Delphiris got to work. |
| Thai massage is often referred to as lazy man's yoga, and I can see why. I lay on a mat on the ground, fully clothed, as she stretched my legs, arms and back. I am a bit of a (now and then) yoga fan, so was pleasantly surprised that with Delphiris's encouragement, I could bend a bit further than I first thought without anything snapping, cracking or breaking. The experience wasn't like being stretched on the medieval wrack, but a note to the lazy yoga-ites -you will feel the limits of your bendy potential. |
| As the dolphins chattered, Delphiris left me alone in the treatment room to prepare for the Chavutti part. I flopped down on the mat, arranged my stretched-to-jelly arms on the warm towels and waited for the feet. |
| Lying face down, I was curious about what was happening. I felt Delphiris drip warm oil on my back. Then, using the rope for balance, she massaged each side of my body with her foot in long sweeping motions. As the foot has the weight of the masseuse's whole body behind it, Chavutti can be a very intense massage and Delphiris was careful to check the pressure was comfortable for me. This is a 100 per cent no torture zone, with none of the feared tap dancing on my spine. In fact, I couldn't tell if it was a hand, foot or knee that was doing the work. |
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Pulled, stretched and stood on. It sounds like some sort of medieval
torture, but these are the techniques of 
Many forms of massage tend to concentrate on one section of the
body at a time, the foot has the freedom to travel and Chavutti really
is a head-to-toe affair.