About Dermalogica's Thermal Body Stamp massage

The treatment is inspired from ancient Thai therapy used since the 14th Century, where practitioners utilised a warm cotton cloth containing herbs wrapped tightly in a bundle then boiled to make a hot herbal stamp. The herbal stamp was then massaged firstly onto the pressure points running along the meridians then over the skin as well as deep manipulations to aching muscle tissue.

The thermal stamp is then used to manipulate the ingredients into the skin working with intense hear to relax and soothe tight muscles. The thermal stamp with a mix of ingredients can treat a variety of skin and body concerns. The benefits of the thermal stamp include detoxification, re-mineralisation, anti-inflammation, anti-itching, soothing, stress reduction and exfoliation. The massage itself works upon the meridian lines throughout the body to help aid in its relaxation and rebalance.

Ancient thermalism

We can credit the Greeks and Romans for the development of body therapy. Body therapy was central to civilisation and heat was central to body therapy. Dating back to 500BC, an average citizen’s day was devoted to time spent in the thermae (Greek for heat). It was here that a progression of rooms visited would continually increase in temperature to heat the body. In the same way that Greeks and Romans used heat for body therapy, Turkish baths grew from the natural hot springs that have been renowned since ancient times for health-giving and therapeutic properties. Bathers often bathed in and drank from the waters to help ease digestive maladies, neurological and urological disorders and metabolic problems, as well as induce relaxation.

Modern day thermalism

From the Greek thermaes and the Turkish baths, we have arrived to present day, where the word spa, which originally meant “health through water”, is now synonymous with luxury and pampering. Often lost in the body therapy experience, is the importance of health of the skin. Buried in the most extensive body therapy menus are the actual skin benefits, which contribute as much to our health as the other activities found in the skin treatment centers.

Touch

In addition to heat, touch is another important aspect of the body therapy treatment. In the past ten years it has become increasingly more apparent that touch and touch deprivation are critical considerations for the health and happiness of human beings. Touch helps decrease stress and anxiety and the physiological and behavioural changes that accompany this decline in stress and anxiety result in more relaxed and attentive individuals.

We find ourselves in society that promotes minimal touch from the time we are children all the way through our adult years. While one may argue that adults need not be so concerned with growth and development, the factor of our general health and well being is definitely at stake. Our therapists can provide a critical form of touch that heals the skin and emotional stake.

Therapeutic benefits of touch:

• Decreases stress and anxiety
• Required for growth and development
• Part of communication and learning
• Comforts and reassures us
• Reduces pain and boosts the immune system
• Increases air flow asthmatics
• Required for emotional and intellectual development
• Affects brain waves, breathing, circulation and heart rate.