A masterclass for the mind, body and soul

Being a trainee massage therapist can leave you with sore hand muscles if you aren’t used to giving treatments. So, with beauty therapy students only just learning how to provide body massages and hot stone massages, the timing was perfect for them to receive extra expert advice.

A team from the Kerala Ayurveda Centre who are based in Walsall, Leeds and Leicester hosted a masterclass for Level 3 beauty therapy students.

Owner, Sarju Rai Kundalia and two colleagues outlined the principles behind ayurvedic treatments. These consist of a whole body healing system based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body and soul.

The therapists gave a demonstration on how to provide a neck and shoulder massage and then invited the students to practice foot and leg massage treatments on each other. With some of the students feeling their fingers and wrists start to ache after giving their treatments, ayurvedic therapist and Walsall College alumni, Joanne Shaw was asked how the professionals overcome this.

“We all stretch out our muscles after each session,” she said. “Keeping ourselves fit is important too. It makes you more capable and adds to your flexibility.
“It is of course about your massage technique as well. A professional therapist learns to flex their muscles a certain way and use of range of movements when treating a client.”

Joanne studied a massage diploma, anatomy and physiology, and fitness instructor qualifications at the college from 2001 to 2002 before becoming a therapist.

Student, Shabnam Siddique is keen to follow in Joanne’s footsteps.

“Reflexology and Indian head massages have always been in-demand – the centre proves this,” she said. “It makes me confident that I will get on well as a therapist once I’m qualified and have more experience.”