What Are the Asian Massage Therapies?

Asian massage therapies refer to the types of massage therapies that originated in Asia. Most of these therapeutic massages were used as the only source of medical care during the Ancient times. Special oils and herbs are used on the body of the patient as complementary medicine during the massage therapy sessions of the Asian styles of massage.

Although most of the Asian massage therapies were inspired by the Ancient Chinese and Indian medicines, there are many oriental types of massage techniques that are originally developed by their country. Most of the Asian massage therapies applies harder pressure and uses extreme techniques on the patient during a massage therapy session.

Most of these massage therapies share the same principle of aiming for the meridian points that are located all over the patient's body in order to unleash the energies in the body that are commonly blocked due to many reasons. The Asians believe that the sole purpose of energy inside the body is to be the balancer of the health and wellness of a person. Energy realignment is done in order to improve the health, increase circulation, relieve stress, and activate the body's self healing capabilities. The energies are known in many different terms depending on the different countries of Asia. In China, energy flowing inside the human body is known as qi (chi), the Indians call energy as prana, sen is what they call energy in Thailand, and ki stands for energy in Korea and Japan. All of these are believed that they should pass undisrupted on the energy lines all over the body.

There are many different types of method used by Asian massage therapies; most of these are unique from each other while there are methods that blend two to three different methods to enhance their effectiveness. Below are some of the most popular and commonly used Asian massages all over the world:

Shiatsu - Japan is the pioneering country where this type of therapeutic massage originated and was developed. Shiatsu is a type of therapeutic massage that uses finger pressure on different pressure points to enhance the health, remove body pain, and relax the body. It is a celebrated practice that had many famous personalities tries it in Japan when it hasn't been yet introduced all over the world.

Thai Massage - a combination of Shiatsu, acupressure and Yoga which was originally from India and later on was developed and used in Thailand by monk practitioners. Shiatsu is the main type of massage therapy used with the aid of acupressure worked on the different areas of the body while passive yoga is used on the patient for the body and mind. Passive yoga is similar to yoga without the patient moving any single part of his or her body; instead the massage therapist moves the body for the patient. This in return helps the body and mind of the patient to relax. Thai massage therapist stretches the body of the patient in beneficial positions for a good circulation, release of muscle tension and calming of the body.