The magic of marma
The Dusit Thani's Devarana Spa taps into age-old Indian wisdom to heal the body
The dry season can leave your skin parched and dull, and the gloomy weather can make you idle and lethargic. Devarana Spa at Dusit Thani Bangkok has just the solution for you. The spa’s recently added two treatments, Rudolf’s Favourite Body Scrub and Abhyanga Massage, help make your skin supple, and your muscle energised.
Inspired by Rudolf the reindeer’s favourite food, the body scrub uses mainly apples and carrots to give back glow and elasticity to the skin.
Apple, apart from its delectable crunchiness and sweet-and-sour taste, contains high vitamin C that can effectively and quickly brighten your skin. It also has malic acid that brightens, softens and soothingly rids the skin of dead cells and impurities.
Carrots, on the other hand, are rich in beta carotene that improves skin tone and colour. The carrots are also a good astringent that tightens pores, and reduce fine lines.
With apples and carrots combined, you get a high power, all-natural scrub that gently exfoliates and polishes the skin. The scrub contains no salt or any other grains, just the fibre from the fruit pulps, to ensure no excessive abrasion or rash after the use. They add a bit of pine essential oil to calm and soothe.
The 30-minute scrub costs Bt2,100. You also get one on the house with every purchase of 2-hour treatment.
Have a warm shower and get ready to be blissfully energised with the Abhyanga Massage. The treatment involves long, full strokes with palms occasional acupuncture pressure to dissolve the accumulated stress and toxins in the mind and body, leaving you totally relaxed and recharged after the session.
The therapist starts by slowly pouring warm oil of patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver (perennial grass originating in India) and grapefruit on your body, followed by long stroke massage and medium pressure to stimulate the circulation. The therapist then applies gentle but substantial pressure on the “marma points” throughout the body. Marma is a Sanskrit word meaning hidden or secret.
By definition, a marma point is a juncture on the body where two or more types of tissue meet. Marmas are vital centres or subtle energy fields on the body. They are storehouses of life breath pranic energy. A thrust or unusual throbbing on these parts can cause serious problems and eventually death. Marmas are not structural organs like liver, heart or lungs, but are sensitive areas located at the junctions of the muscles, bones, and nerves. The knowledge of marma is available in Ayurveda as well as in Kerala's martial art form, Kalaripayattu.
The marma technique can heal many diseases. There are 107 marma points on the body and these are similar to meridians in acupuncture and acupressure. The pressure applied on marma points is good in healing hypertension, neurological problems, stomach ache, gastritis and so on.
The idea behind massaging the marma points is to cleanse blocked energy in our seven chakras that is believed to often cause illness. The seven chakras spots are lined vertically from the top of our head, throat, chest down to the abdomen and tailbone, and each represents different parts from our emotional well being.
Abhyanga Massage helps increase circulation, especially at nerve endings, tone muscle, lubricate joints, increase mental alertness and stamina. These Ayurveda techniques also enhance deeper sleep at night and also promote a luminous complexion.
The massage costs Bt2,900 for 90 minutes, and Bt3,800 for 120 minutes.
BOOK A DATE
>> Devarana Spa is located at Dusit Thani Bangkok, on Silom Road. It is open daily from 9am till 10pm.
>> Call (02) 200 9999; www.DevaranaSpa.com.
