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Earth Stone Therapy

Earth Stone Balancing

 

If you are sluggish, it invigorates you.  If your immune system is weak, it will boost it, and if you are generally feeling run down, it will pick you up.  These stones transmit energy, and when placed on the body, they remove blockages, dissolve stress and bring harmony, neutralizing negative energies to balance over-stimulated areas.  Conversely, areas depleted of energy can also be re-energised, increasing lymphatic flow, removing toxins and waste products. 

 

 

Therapeutic uses of stones

 

The application of heat acts as a vasodilator, increasing circulation, increasing metabolism, increasing the inflammatory response (including a rise in leukocyte migration to the area), decreasing pain, decreasing muscle spasms, softening the tissues, raising body temperature, relaxing the muscles and the entire body.

 

The application of cold acts as a vasoconstrictor.  The immediate short-term effect of cold is stimulating.  The use of cold decreases metabolism, decreases inflammation, decreases pain, decreases muscle spasm, increases muscle tone and can also have an analgesic effect.  Cold applications can increase or decrease circulation, depending upon the specific temperature.  The colder the temperature, the greater the decrease in circulation. 

 

Contrasting heat (thermotherapy) and cold (cryotherapy) causes the blood vessels to alternate between dilation and constriction.  The overall effect is a dramatic increase in circulation.  The stones can be used for a full body massage or for spot work in certain areas of the body.  Combining essential oils at the same time can produce feelings of deep relaxation and wellbeing.  

 

At Illumine Me, we currently concentrate on the use of thermotherapy, (as opposed to cryotherapy) which means employing the therapeutic use of heat to promote a myriad of benefits including:  alleviating pain, promoting an increase of circulation with blood and lymph, influencing collagen fibres, muscles tendons, increasing flexibility and range of muscle movement, decreasing joint stiffness, relieving muscle spasm.  Hot stones also increase cellular metabolism, this allows oxygen rich blood and nutrients to be delivered faster and more efficiently to where the body needs it.  Endorphins are released during and after hot stone massage, bringing about a deeper state of physical, mental and emotional relaxation, far beyond the normal relaxation massage as it is warming and nurturing to the inner core. 

 

History of Earth Stone Therapy

 

Stones have been around as long as the Earth itself.  Hot and cold have been used alternatively in treatments.  Hot and cold stone therapy may be a newer treatment, but it is grounded in some of the oldest, most valuable, tried and tested therapies known to us.  It brings together all the extremes, so bringing about total balance: hot and cold, basalt and marble, black and white, relaxing and invigorating, sedating and euphoric, active and passive, vasodilation and vasoconstriction, so bringing about total balance.  

 

Wearing stones and laying stones on the body in patterns have also been traditional practices by many nations. 

 

The ancient Greek, Hippocrates, believed that hot and cold bathing should, and in fact was, an integral part of the ancient Greek routines and was combined with massage techniques. 

 

The ancient Chinese used heated stones over two thousand years ago, as a means of improving the function of internal organs.   

 

Hawaiian Kahunas go back hundreds of years where they used lava stones wrapped in leaves in their healing treatments, and the use of hot, flat pebbles to restore balance in the mind, body and spirit. 

 

In the Philippines, rough basalt stones are commonly used to slough off dead skin, whilst both the Japanese and Russians used hot black stones for their therapeutic benefits.

 

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