thanks for that Cola, that is really interesting. so, what is Auntie Margaret lomi lomi compared to Temple style?
Autie Margaret lomi lomi looks pretty much like your average massage, only the area being worked on is uncovered, none of the minimal draping often associated with lomi. Temple Style looks soooo different to your average massage, it's a great photo/video opportunity and gets lots of media/youtube coverage. Auntie Margaret lomi lomi is nowhere near as exciting to watch so it doesn't get the same level of coverage. It's the same reasons behind the standard photo of a massage seems to be a beautiful young woman, her face turned to the side with a blissful expression, a flower behind her ear and a few hot stones on her back, looks much more entertaining than a photo of someone with their face in the face hole and an oily back.
I'm sure Autie Margaret style lomi has it's powerful subtleties, but the few times I've had a lomi lomi treatment in Hawaii, I think they were all Auntie Margaret style and not what I was expecting, they were all pretty much your average Swedishy massage of varying quality (I didn't know there were different styles, so just had a few different treatments, I'd only experienced temple style before (though it wasn't called temple style) and thought that was what lomi lomi was and was expecting that would be what you'd get if you got a lomi lomi in Hawaii) This was 15years ago. I tried upmarket spas and local clinics and local home based practitioners, I was trying to experience the 'authentic' style.
Cola - thanks for the info. Your experiences seem to reinforce the massage descriptions in Nancy Kahalewai's book Hawaiian Lomilomi - which seem very similar to what most of us would describe as a standard 'Swedish-style' massage.
Following on from Maychang's initial query, I have seen various DVDs advertising Lomilomi (some of them quite expensive) but haven't purchased any, because I am not clear as to which, if any, of them teach 'Temple style' (which is what I would be interested in learning more of) and which of them simply teach 'Auntie Margaret' style - ie standard massage techniques which most of us will have learnt on our basic
training courses.
Regards
Alan
what is this "auntie Margaret" mention mean? I've never come across it today.
I had a discussion today about lomi lomi and peoples perceptions of what it is is very differing.
I perceive it to be the the long flowing strokes with forearms and hands but rhythmic. My colleague looked horrified and perceived it as a swedish with forearms.
As we are both going on the course, it seems with both want different things from the course.
The demo video on http://www.kauailomilomimassage.com/videos.htm (15MB) is Auntie Margaret style.
If you google Auntie margaret lomi you will gets lots of results. She was one of the first to openly teach a form of lomi lomi to non-Hawaiians, and a lot of the moves in that are familiar to temple style, but temple style has the 'flying' to move around the table.
The first course I did (which I much later found out was what gets called temple style) was a 6 or 7 day live in course. We literally did not touch a body for the first 4 days, it was all learning the foot work and arm moves and how to get around the table without a body being involved. I was getting a bit concerned I'd signed up for a dance class rather than a massage class for a while, eventually there was a body on the table and contact was made and it was massage, all done with the flying moves we'd been doing for days. I'dsay the first 10 days of training was all pretty much just the flying moves on various parts of the body. Higher levels covered more specific work and much of it looks pretty much like Auntie Margaret style.
hiya maychang was checking out lomilomi training and this forum came up...wondered if you could let me know the one you mentioned in march im thinking of taking a coarse in woverhampton in march wondered if thats it ?3 days compared to rosseles 12 day though it sounds ok
hiya maychang was checking out lomilomi training and this forum came up...wondered if you could let me know the one you mentioned in march im thinking of taking a coarse in woverhampton in march wondered if thats it ?3 days compared to rosseles 12 day though it sounds ok
No, I'm doing mine in April now, in Durham. its 3 days.