Ihm

Hi there

I have recently completed an IHM course and we were only taught how to do it with the client sitting upright. I would be really interested to learn a routine for laying down on a massage table. Would you mind sharing this information with me? I would be really grateful.

I actually had no idea you could do IHM with the client laying down. I love HP as I have learnt so many new things!

Love and blessings
xxx

My IHM teacher taught the traditional Indian Head Massage not the westernised version. This type of IHM is done sitting in a chair not lying down.

I can see the benefits of performing the treatment on the couch, but am a bit concerned about how we are Westernising this treatment.

An IHM should be simplistic, need no equipment and be able to receive anywhere. the massage is performed through the clothes with the client seated.

colleges have taken to giving the massage with the client undressed and a towel wrapped around them.

now colleges are teaching a body massage and terming it IHM.

...................just waiting for the onslaught of complaints etc.

Just remember how simple it should be.

I agree with what Daisychain wrote (above), some of the traditional treatements are being too westernised and some colleges seem to be cashing in on by teaching body massage and changing the name of it.

*Off to join Daisychain in Siberia, lol.:p

Sue xx

Hi ya everybody
(in the voice of Dr. Nick on the Simpsons - hi ya Nick)

I have been reading carefully everyone's threads about whether to do IHM on a chair or couch.

I agree with the idea that IHM is simple, easy, low cost, portable treatment on a chair. I learnt IHM several years ago for that reason.

I also feel that if a couch is available and that the treatment is more suitable for a client supine, then I will do that.

Client care is more important than labels and so called authenticity!

I teach ITEC IHM and show the seated routine to the students for the exam and case studies, but at the end of the course show them how to work clients on a couch and futon mat.

The key here is flexability. I treat people is festivals, clinics, and homes. One of my learning disabilities clients sits on the sofa and I have to adapt to that suitation.

Also a lot of people have neck problems that may be more suitable for couch based treatments. After all, postural muscles have to keep the head up!

While I am typing, I would recommend the Tibetan Acupressure Head Massage as a 1 day CPD course for IHM practitioners if you wish to do it couched.

Best Wishes

Dave

Hi Everyone,

I'm afraid I agree with Daisy Chain and Enchanted Moonbeam and believe that you should retain as much authenticity as possible when doing a treatment otherwise it would all become very confusing.
Yes, you should be able to adapt for certain clients but if you change the way a therapy is practiced altogether then surely it becomes a different therapy (or is it just me that's confused?) and where do you draw the line?
Surely that is why we train in different therapies/disciplines so that we can offer the client the most appropriate treatment for them?
Personally I always practice IHM seated and would be disappointed if I went to a salon and they asked me to lie down as if that's what I wanted I would have booked for an upper body, face and scalp massage which is surely what you are giving them!
As a practitioner of body massage on a couch and IHM I personally find that giving a seated massage is a very different experience for the client and I know that when my clients book an IHM that's what they expect.
I would be interested to know how those performing the massage on the couch describe their treatment on their website, leaflets etc without it sounding like just another upper body massage as surely that is all you are really giving them? (which is very different from an IHM massage in IMHO!!).
Yes, flexibility is important but why not just offer them a body massage in the first place if you feel lying on a couch being massaged is the most appropriate therapy for the client?

Client care is more important than labels and so called authenticity!

Sorry Reiki Pixie but I can't agree. Authenticity and labels are important as many of these therapies are based on thousands of years of knowledge and whilst they do change and adapt (not always for the best) the essence should still be the same. By saying authenticity doesn't matter is dismissing all the knowledge and experience these therapies are built on. Many therapists try to stay true to the authenticity of a therapy as they believe that the therapy is effective in its own right and it is very egotistical of us to think that we know better and change a therapy to suit our own beliefs.
My client care is always the most important thing and the best way I can look after my client is to offer them a therapy I believe will work without the need for any changes. Yes, I do adapt(slightly) and combine therapies when I feel it is necessary but this is on an individual basis and not something I make a habit of.

Anyway, rant over, anyone wishing to have their say please feel free!:p

Hi ya Relaxed1

Of course people love labels and if I was given a client a IHM and included Thai or Indonesian techniques (which I often do) I would tell them why (because it is a more effective treatment).

As for authenticity, I do question that IHM in the form practised in the UK is that ancient. I have no problem with the head aspect with Ayurvedic oils, but the neck, shoulder, upper body and upper arm stuff - wasn't that added on? If you look at page 7 of Nerendra Metha's Indian Head Massage book he says "...that the therapy would benefit by extended to include not only the head, but also the neck, shoulders and upper arms".

Isn't there also Ayurvedic treatments called Shiroabhyanga, Shirodhara, Picu and Shirovasti for the head that are performed on a couch.

Cheers

Reiki Pixie

Hi Reiki Pixie,

Yes, of course IHM has been westernised to include extended massage but I think that is the crucial part, the upper body massage is an extention but the essence of the therapy is the same. Correct me if I'm wrong but IHM is based on simple head and hair grooming and massage techniques performed seated by family members and barbers in India using appropriate oils?
Therefore the therapy we are carrying out is authentic in that respect but has now been extended to provide more benefit to the client. The main focus of the therapy should be a simple treatment focusing on the head and hair moves.
On this thread several therapist have mentioned the positives of doing the massage on the couch as being better for back massage etc. which IMHO is not the point of an IHM.
I just can't see any authenticity in doing an upper body, head and face massage on a massage couch. Apart from massaging the head it has no other bearing on the traditional teachings of IHM.
As for Narendra Mehta, he states himself that his teachings are only based on traditional IHM and the type he teaches is his own trademarked version, although I believe he does teach the course as seated!?

As for the other Ayurvedic treatments you mentioned, they are very different from IHM and I don't see how they can be compared.

This is only my opinion of course but if anyone can explain to me how their couch massage is authentic to a traditional IHM as described above and not just another body massage then I'll be happier and I'm now going to join the others in Siberia!

Hi ya Relaxed

The head massage part of Nerendra routine is traditional, but the neck, shoulder section isn't. That is why I quoted straight from his book.

Of course you can do IHM on a couch, it's easy peesy. All the frictions, hair tugs, pressure points, pluckings, squeezing etc can be done. Oiling the hair is also easy, apart from oil can go every where if you are not careful.

If the same results with the same techniques can be achieved, it's genuine. I rather give my clients a choice in how they wish to receive their treatment - seated, couched, matted, anti-gravity boots from the ceiling if they like, if it achieves good outcomes.

Best Wishes

Dave

Hi Dave,

If you are basing your treatment on the same techniques then that's one thing but the point I and others (I think) are trying to make is that alot of people practicing and teaching IHM are not putting the emphasis on this technique. As I said just by reading some of the threads it seems to me that some people are using the couch to put emphasis on things like giving a good back massage etc.

I'm afraid though (and it's nothing personal! :o) we'll have to agree to disagree, as you said there are already therapies that provide for head massage on the couch so I don't see the need to offer IHM on a couch. I also still have the feeling that by changing the traditions of a therapy you are no longer practicing a true IHM. Yes, before you say it, you are using the same techniques to acheive the same results but I just feel that you may be offering an effective head massage that pleases your clients (not a bad thing) but you have lost the main roots of the therapy and to me this is important not just for IHM but many other therapies. Call me old fashioned but I think tradition is often under-rated and progress not always for the best (must be the Scots in me, we like our tradition LOL!!).

I always carry out my IHM on a seat and often have clients falling asleep and many clients return time and time again and have never had a complaint. I have also had couch massage clients state that this is a much more relaxing treatment and therefore I am happy to continue this way.

Anyway, whatever you and your clients are happy with is important to you and I'm glad you care so much about them :).

Truce???? :food-smiley-004:

Susanne x

Hi ya Susanne

Yes, it has been a good debate. I sure plenty of people have been reading this and come to their own conclusion.

As you may gather, I'm not one for tradition, and time will tell as it has that habit.

Have a good evening

Dave

Hi Dave,

Don't like tradition?? I could tell you were a rebel!! :dance:

Susanne x

One IHM call I went to showed us an old black & white Indian movie ('40s? '50s?), with the champissage man singing his song (Bollywood style before it was called Bollywood?) walking down the streen with his fold up chair, he'd unfold it and work on someone (hardly any oil, he just rubbed a bit in his hand like a barber does in movies ) and fold the chair up and move on. It was in Hindi, but our instructor was giving us a translation. Most of the moves were pretty much as per Nerendra Mehta's routine, there were even upper arm squeezes.

THAT's what IHM means to me.

I've learnt LOTS of different techniques, and I will use whatever works for the client in a treatment, pulling from any of the techniques I know, they'll get Thai, Hawaiian, MLD, Shiatsu, stones, Ayurvedic, whatever in a bit of a soup of a treatment, but that soup treatment, I would no more call a lomi lomi massage than I would call it IHM.
If someone books in for a lomi lomi, that's what they get; if someone books in for IHM, that's what they get; if someone books in for a generic treatment, they get whatever I do in that treatment which draws on a variety of modalities.

Labels ARE important. If I booked in somewhere for IHM and they told me to get undressed and get on the table, it would not be what I was expecting. I would think the person didn't know what they were doing. Maybe I wanted a traditional IHM because I didn't want to get undressed, since I have body issues, cultural standards, or whatever.

Is it if you only know IHM you want to be able to adapt it, to cater for all environments? And if you have a whole lot of modalities to draw from, you know there is no point mislabelling something, it just confuses people? you can adapt without having to call it IHM?

One IHM call I went to showed us an old black & white Indian movie ('40s? '50s?), with the champissage man singing his song (Bollywood style before it was called Bollywood?) walking down the streen with his fold up chair, he'd unfold it and work on someone (hardly any oil, he just rubbed a bit in his hand like a barber does in movies ) and fold the chair up and move on. It was in Hindi, but our instructor was giving us a translation. Most of the moves were pretty much as per Nerendra Mehta's routine, there were even upper arm squeezes.

THAT's what IHM means to me.

I've learnt LOTS of different techniques, and I will use whatever works for the client in a treatment, pulling from any of the techniques I know, they'll get Thai, Hawaiian, MLD, Shiatsu, stones, Ayurvedic, whatever in a bit of a soup of a treatment, but that soup treatment, I would no more call a lomi lomi massage than I would call it IHM.
If someone books in for a lomi lomi, that's what they get; if someone books in for IHM, that's what they get; if someone books in for a generic treatment, they get whatever I do in that treatment which draws on a variety of modalities.

Labels ARE important. If I booked in somewhere for IHM and they told me to get undressed and get on the table, it would not be what I was expecting. I would think the person didn't know what they were doing. Maybe I wanted a traditional IHM because I didn't want to get undressed, since I have body issues, cultural standards, or whatever.

Is it if you only know IHM you want to be able to adapt it, to cater for all environments? And if you have a whole lot of modalities to draw from, you know there is no point mislabelling something, it just confuses people? you can adapt without having to call it IHM?

IMHO You are absolutely right cola.

IHM is IHM. I experienced it in the 1960’s whilst in India and have been teaching and practicing it for many years. If we are going to give a body massage then we should advertise it at such. Not as IHM. If people wish to change the core details or direction of a therapy then they should call it something different. Instead of offering Indian head massage why not say that you are offering “upper body massage” or even “western head massage”

After all “western head massage© 2007” based on the principle of IHM would appear to be an honest and transparent way to go.

Phew!

I was starting to feel very lonely for a minute there, thanks Cola and Healistic, I couldn't agree more!

Is it if you only know IHM you want to be able to adapt it, to cater for all environments? And if you have a whole lot of modalities to draw from, you know there is no point mislabelling something, it just confuses people? you can adapt without having to call it IHM?

Yes Cola, from reading some of the threads and my own experience I think this is a very valid point.

Siberia suddenly feels a bit warmer and friendlier! :grouphug:

Hi ya

At last some evidence!

This is what I have been trying to drag out through debate.

It is very easy to make assumptions (that's a generalise comment) and believe such a thing about something because the tutor says so.

I'm going to use Cola's comments (if you don't mind) in my next IHM course intake. I feel as a tutor I have got to be as accurate as possible.

Thanking you all.

Dave

Hi ya

Just as an added point, did you know that 2 recent IHM books have added arm and hand massage to the routine. Is this still IHM?

One of these books is the new 3rd edition Indian Head Massage by Helen McGuinness. An excellent textbook but it does have that extended routine. Should I teach arm & hand massage or not?

Yours, the cheekest of pixies

Dave

Hi ya

Just as an added point, did you know that 2 recent IHM books have added arm and hand massage to the routine. Is this still IHM?

One of these books is the new 3rd edition Indian Head Massage by Helen McGuinness. An excellent textbook but it does have that extended routine. Should I teach arm & hand massage or not?

Yours, the cheekest of pixies

Dave

Hi Dave IMHO Yes you can teach any extended routine as I do, but I always say to my students, "There are many extensions in all holistic therapies and whilst they are not original they are beneficial to your client and you can offer them as an add on to your client”. An example would be to say to their clients “I offer traditional IHM and if you wish you can also have a hand and arm massage” etc etc. IMO you can offer many varieties within the field of Holistic therapy, provided that you say implicitly what you offer and are fully trained and insured to do so.

My only concern with the add-on’s is that it seems to be heading in the direction that each therapy is interlinking with each other. Whilst this in principle is a good idea, we do need to be sure that the training reflects that. An example would be the use of essential oils into a therapy without full training in their use and contraindications Etc.

The other side of the coin is, if you want to publish and sell a new book or course then all you need to do is to add a new move and bob's your uncle it becomes "New" and within a few months the traditional has gone. Why can't they just admit it and issue the book and call it “a new style of head and body massage”

Hi ya healistic

Thanks for your reply.

I think you hit the nail on the head (if you pardon the pun), how can you sell books, well you have a different twist.

My scheme of work this year is based on 5 x 10 hour weekend workshops, where the last weekend I'm going to go into extentions and variations to the routine. I don't think it's fair on students to pressurise them into extra stuff since they only have 30 minutes in the practical exam anycase.

As for books admitting a new style of head work, at least there is Head Massage by Rosalind Widdowson (not easy to follow but full of interesting ideas) and Dr. Wu's Head Massage (based on TCM). But understand what you mean.

Cheers

Dave

One of these books is the new 3rd edition Indian Head Massage by Helen McGuinness. An excellent textbook but it does have that extended routine. Should I teach arm & hand massage or not?

Personally I'd recommend waiting for thr fourth edition as by then you will be able to peform an IHM involving head, neck, face, shoulders, back, arms, hands and no doubt legs and feet.

There are still enough body parts left to probably bring out another couple of books after that!! :011:

Hi ya relaxed

Lots of laughter in the Pixie household. Good comment!

Cheers

Dave

Personally I'd recommend waiting for thr fourth edition as by then you will be able to peform an IHM involving head, neck, face, shoulders, back, arms, hands and no doubt legs and feet.

There are still enough body parts left to probably bring out another couple of books after that!! :011:

I have decided that I am going to teach what I am going to call Aromaology as a full time course.

I am just starting to put a course together based on the essence of aromatherapy and its use with Massage, IHM, energy healing, Reiki, colour, Reflex etc. © 2007

I've just received my first ever indian head massage. I have to say, I was expecting great things but was disappointed. First of all I had to lay down face up whcih surprised me. I was on the treatment couch with a towel over me and my shoulders and neck exposed. To do the sides of my head the therapist tipped my head gently while supporting with one hand and massaged each side. Although the treatment was nice, it didn't have the "wow" factor I expected. And it only lasted 25 minutes - I was expecting an hour. And I was charged £30. Not impressed.

Hi ya Jade

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy the head massage experience.

Personally I always discuss with my clients options of seated or couch or futon treatments. Did the person you went to have proper qualifications and experience? Did you know that there are also different ways of practising IHM? If you feel you like the idea of head massage, prehaps find another therapist. If you discover that head massage isn't for you, fair enough. It isn't everyones cup of tea, some people like foot reflexology and other people rather stick pins in their eyes. Some clients love Reiki, others think it's a waste of time.

Please don't dismiss this experience, but at the same time IHM for some hasn't got that 'wow' factor.

£30 sounds a lot of money (depending on where you live of course and where you went for the treatment), I'm sure you could get it cheaper and receive a better treatment. Someone working from home can be often better then a high priced spa or salon. IHM treatments are often 30 to 45 minutes rather than an hour.

Best Wishes

Reiki Pixie

Hiya all,
I must disagree with you once again Reiki Dave,

Shirobhanga is infact a SEATED Massages, as is INDIAN HEAD MASSAGE.

I have trained in many massage disciplines, and although I use these skills to add to a treatment that I am giving if I think it warrants it, I try and stick to the main principles of the treatment.

if you look at the pictures in narenda Mehta's book, IHM is performed SEATED.

I agree with many of the above comments, "why book an IHM if what you want is a back massage".

If I went for an IHM treatment and they asked me to either remove my top and cover myself if a towel, or lie on a couch I would walk away. If I book for an IHM I would expect an IHM not a mish-mashed intrepretation of what someone has cobbled together and given it the name IHM.

relaxed, healistic and cola, please join me in siberia, and we can given each other an authentic IHM, please bring your own chairs.

None of my clients are complaining about my eclectic style of treatment.

They keep coming back and recommend me to others.

Reiki Pixie

I was taught to do both seated then finish laying on a couch. You start seated doing the head neck and shoulders then lay the client down to do the face. The clients love it and it is a lovely relaxing way to end the treatment. If I were to do it in an office environment I probably wouldn't use the couch.

Calling all IHM newbies. Read this thread it's brilliant, it's like listening at the staff room door to your tutors having a ding-dong.

And Relaxed1 should receive an award for comment #48:047:. Read it from #1 though. It's a long thread but worth it!

Hoorah the therapy tutors of this world!:newangel:

IHM book

Hi ya

Just as an added point, did you know that 2 recent IHM books have added arm and hand massage to the routine. Is this still IHM?

One of these books is the new 3rd edition Indian Head Massage by Helen McGuinness. An excellent textbook but it does have that extended routine. Should I teach arm & hand massage or not?

Yours, the cheekest of pixies

Dave

It's the set text for our VTCT Indian Head Massage, which I'm learning at Daventry College!

just remember that Indian head massage is a traditional treatment performed with the client seated and fully clothed. Oil can be applied to the scalp.

Shirobhyanga is a seated massage with oils to the upper arms, neck, shoulders and scalp.

Having a massage lying down on the bed is having a massage.

:hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy::hippy: