Indonesian Traditional Massage – History, Types, and Techniques

Our body is the most important thing than any asset we have now. With the busy schedule of working or doing any other tiring activities, our body can poorly in a bad condition. Sometimes, even the people at young age can feel their painful muscles. And that can be annoying, especially if you are need to working on something later.

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Yes, all those things can be prevented by doing some sports for a while. But, for some people, they don’t have that much time to do exercise, because they got a lotof works to do. The simplest and the easiest thing to do as an alternative for that, is massaging. In Indonesia, there are some traditionl massages that the locals always trust to be the best medicine. And now, we’re gonna talk about it in this article of Indonesia Traditonal Massage. Here’s some facts of it :

History

Talking about the history of Traditional Massage, of course the traditional massage ain’t just suddenlty exists in society. Looking at the relief at Borobudur Temple, during the 8th to 9th century, in that relief the activity of massaging can be seen. The massage itself cannot be divide from the culture of China and other beneficial medical methods by India. When the Hinduism arrived in Indonesia long time ago, the Hindu priests introduced to the locals, the oil for doing massaging that made from natural ingredients such as vegetables and roots. And not long after that, the Buddhist priests also came to Indonesia, and giving new eduaction about Chinese medication.

During the era of Mojopahit Kingdom in Indonesia, The King Hayam Wuruk married beautiful woman from China. And through that relationship, the culture of China start spreading in the area of Mojopahit. Included inside, is the method of massaging that used by the King’s wife. The culture also brings anothe medical methods like reflexology and acupuncture.

The massaging actually also came from the Arab traders, when they doing transactions in Indonesia with the locals. The education about massaging keep increasing and found in certain areas in Indonesia like Java and Bali island. Those two islands were evolving or improving the massaging techniques. If you can see now, the massaging from Indonesia and China is really different, it’s because of the improveent that the Indonesian people themself did. They made two kind of traditional massage of Indonesia, like Pijir and Urut.

Now, Pijit or Pijat is actually the common massaging in here and can be done in any place of Indonesia. Because of it’s easyness, everyone can do a pijat themself, because it’s easy to do. This is like basic massaging. And the other, Urut, is more serious than this. Someone need to have some experience about Urut before actually pratice it to somebody. Urut is focusing on muscles, and not a simple massage at all. At least, the pratician should know about anatomy, and bone structure. Those knowledge can be added with the musle ways information and the efficient massaging spots.

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Benefits

Well, if you want to try a massaging, maybe this is the perfect time now because we want to tell you about all the benefits you can get from this ol’ Indonesian traditional massage. The massage can cure your diseases and can make your body more fresh after doing it. It can also reduce a lot of stress because of that relaxation.

And like you can see on Urut above, it can cure more serious diseases like cramps and injuries. Also, the praticiant will use some kind of hot oil and apply it on your skin where those muscles still hurt. Usually, they will require about an hour to do this Urut, or maybe more. In these days, it’s easy to find one, especially when you’re looking at internet, there are so many of them.

Types

Well, there are also some types of massage in Indonesia that you should know in order to distinguish one and another, and selecting the proper massage for you. Here’s six of the types of traditional Indonesian massage, starting from the reflection massage.

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1. Reflection Massage

In this first one. This kind of massage is usually so easy to find, because it exists even in some malls in Indonesia. Usually, this massage also involving the element of relaxation like the good smells from the candles, and also sometimes added with the slow music to make you more relax. Some points in your body will be free of tire, and once it’s done, you can have more fresher body than usual.

2. Bekam

Next one is Bekam. In this massage, usually they use a tool that used to sap the patient’s blood, the dirty blood out of our body. Basically tha’s what this massage does, taking out the dirty blood from your inner body. When the dirty blood finally came out, you can feel more healthy again because of the regenerated body stimulation. This massage also can cure some diseases like head ache, tooth ache, even eye problems.

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3. Urut

Urut, is kind or harder form of massage that involving pushin and holding some points in our body. Usually the people who really tired always order this Urut massage because it’s really efficient. Also, it comes with affordable price.

4. Baby Massage

The massage for the baby starting from 1 day old to five years old. This massage is usallu use more soft technique than any other massage on this list. It’s pretty useful for the baby, especially after they doing so much fun activities outside.

5. Pregnance Massage

And this is the massage for the pregnant lady of course. Anyone who want to pratice this massage  should know first about the anatomy of a pregnant woman, to prevent uncorrect actions.

6. Sport Massage

This one massage in here is usually for athlete. Usually they have it before going to the match, and can be useful to prevent cramps. Also, helping the athletes to clear their mind and by that way they can give their best actions.

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Techniques

There are basicaly three tecniques in Indonesian traditional massage, which are quite simple.

1. Percussive

Percussive or Tapotement, is the movement using hands. To do it it’s really simple, one can just face their hand downhard, and then calmly pushing toward a direction. The movement should be done repeatedly. Another alternative to do this is by using thumb. Just press the massage points with thumb, and do that with both hands.

With this technique, the patient can get more relax during the massage session. The stress is going out and the next step can be procedded.

2. Petrissage

For the next one there is this Petrissage. This one is the circling movement done by either tip of finger or by base of the hand. Starting from waist, and the going up to the shoulder. Don’t start that from the shoulder first, because it can make patient more tired. This movement is useful for smoothen blood circulation. Just don’t press to hard.

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3. Effleurage

And for the last one, is more smooth than the other towo. It’s basically like sliding both of your hands upward and downhard repeatedly. You can repeat this kind of massaging tecnique for about 4 minutes to be able to give relaxation effect to the patient.

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Development

During this day, the traditional massage of Indonesia also used for the athelete. Many said that this way is more efficient than using any other type of massage. In malls in Indonesia, there should be at least one massage venue that people can enjoy. With that way, locals can also who the potential benefits that Indonesian traditional massage has than any other massages exist.

That is our topic for today about the Indonesia traditional massage. Well, massaging in Indonesia is like another efficient medicine for us, because it can give such a great effect for our body. Usually when the people are in home, they usally ask their family member to do massaging, and this is pretty normal in Indonesia. Usuall the wife and husband do this, instead of going somewhere else to have a massage.

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But if you living alone in your city, you can always order the massage services by any time. Within this area, it’s pretty easy to get a service like that. All you need to do is to find the credibe and the best one of them all.