A blog about holistic therapies, personal development and feeling great! With my relocation to Australia looming, I took the opportunity to have one last quick weekend in Europe. I chose to go to Bratislava , Slovakia's capital, simply because I hadn't been there, and had read that it's Old Town was picturesque. True to it's word, it was indeed quaint and pretty. It was also fairly small, so by the end of my second day I thought I'd just about discovered as many new things in the old town as I was likely to.
By chance, however, I took a different route through the cobbled streets back to my hotel, and stumbled across a large sign that said Ayurvedic Massage Centre. Ayurvedic massage is something I'd read about, but had not yet tried. All I knew was that it originated in India and was more than just massage - it was an entire way of life that included massage, healthy eating and fitness. The owner, Mark, was helpful and happy to explain how he'd come to set up the centre.
He said he saw an opportunity to bring a different form of massage to Slovakia. Having looked around the city myself, I'd only seen Thai massage advertised. So - competition seemed pretty limited and he felt that with the increasing standard of living in Bratislava, people would be ready to pay for more exotic forms of pampering. He explained that he'd been to India some ten years ago and liked the ayurvedic style, and had in fact, just returned from India earlier in the week.
He had brought in massage therapists from the Indian state of Kerala, where ayurveda originated. The centre itself was lovely - granite floor everywhere, neutral tones, and dimly lit. He explained that the building was originally from the 14th Century, and he'd had a hard time doing the re-fit because there were so many heritage-related regulations.
He'd done a fantastic job though - it was calm, quiet and felt like a million miles away from the narrow little streets of Bratislava. He was kind enough to show me around the therapy rooms, explaining that the wooden massage tables were authentic ayurveda style. They looked enormous, and had a two-step wooden box for the therapists to stand on while they were massaging. Mark explained that Abhyangam is a popular ayurvedic massage that focuses on the body's seven different energy centres - called marma.
