PURE MOVES THERAPIST SPOTLIGHT

Q&A with Andrew Mukhopadhyay

Andrew, as a massage practitioner and Naturopath you must know about this time of years hot topic… detoxing?
Sure! Detox is a way of giving your body a break from  chemicals like caffeine and alcohol, or sugars, wheat and dairy to even just taking a break from meat products – or all of the above.

There are many different types of detox programmes, some extreme, others not so. Depending on your level of toxicity, or level of programme you want to follow, one should seek good advice or help from people experienced in this field.

But does it work?
I believe cleansing your body by taking a break from substances that we know in the long run, with excessive use, can harm us. It can only be a positive step in our overall  health to detox from them.  The results can include many benefits, from increased energy, to better functioning organs and often enhanced mental health and well-being.

You are the therapist manager on a week-long monthly retreat programme that specialises in detox. How does therapy aid a detox programme?
When we detox in a physical way it usually brings a lot of emotions to the surface and this is where therapies that include emotional support like counselling and coaching, can be really helpful (for some essential) when “detoxing”. With physical therapies like massage and acupuncture the body’s own natural defences are helped to cope with the detox.  Massage itself is detoxing and helps speed up recovery time from injury.

Really?
Yes, research shows it helps to release tension and stress from the muscles by reducing inflammation and enhances cell recovery repairing micro traumas in muscles. In addition, it stimulates the lymph in its job of cleansing the body of toxins and aiding the delivery of nutrients. One technique that is very popular is the double detox massage that I offer. This is beneficial to people who are detoxing, but it can also help to promote a natural detox in the body.

What does that involve?
Double detox starts with an ear acupuncture – a French system working on 5 detox points. (For those who don’t fancy this idea we can use acupressure studs that are left for longer.) These points in the ear stimulates the body. The 5 points we work on are the liver, lungs, kidneys, sympathetic nervous system to calm the nerves and shin min which is a balancing point.

Next the abdominal area is massaged with warm oil. During the massage I go gently, slowly and gradually deeper, to help move along waste to work at relaxing the muscles where we hold a lot of tension and also to stimulate the vagus nerve in a positive way, which is linked to our emotions. If we have negative thoughts or trauma we feel pain and/or tension in our gut. When we meditate or feel happy, we feel better in our stomach area.  You may finish up there, however, most clients choose to complement the double detox treatment with a full body or neck, back and shoulder massage.

For more information about the treatments that Andrew offers click here to go to his page on the Pure Moves website which includes further information and contact details