Articles & Features

ISLAND PARADISE - by Kelly Barer - Sunday Telegraph

When I announced that I was going off for a Hawaiin massage one evening several of my work colleagues snickered. "I hope you're good and prepared," one said. "I have one word for you - naked."
Then she laughed uproariously and refused to say anything more.
I was concerned. I love a good massage, but I must admit I'm one of those nancy girls who leaves their knickers on. I know, I know. A good masseuse needs to work the butt muscles and a pair of Bond's low-riders get in the way, but no matter how hard I try I can't help myself. I'm just not keen on the idea of getting all my gear off in the presence of a total stranger.
Accordingly I head to the Sydney Ka HUna Centre a little ill at ease, but the moment I walk in the door, I relax. Aromatherapy oils are drifting and the light is muted.

Despite being just metres from busy Oxford Street I can hear nothing but soothing music and the whispering conversation, and when massage therapist Nemara Hennigan welcomes me I feel 100 per cent comfortable.

down to the basics

Nemara gets me to fill out a questionnaire and then asks a few basic questions. How are you feeling? Am I concerned about anything in particular? Do I have any body worries?
I explain that I'm stressed and tired. I don't sleep very well at the best of times and this week has been worse than usual, but apart from that I'm completely happy. She makes a few notes and then ushers me into the massage room. Here I am to remove my clothes and then lay face down on the massage table. Maybe I'm more readable than I thought, but before she leaves the room Namara tells me not to worry.
"The sarong will cover your, well, bum," she says and I flinch just a little. I decide to take the plunge and once naked I climb onto the table. I carefully arrange the sarong across my backside and then Namara entrers the room. With one tug it's up between my thighs. My actual girly bits may be covered, but the rest of me is pretty much out there for all to see. The room is heavily heated so I'm not at all cold and the weird thing is, I'm not that worried either.

time to relax

The music goes on (soft Hawaiin sounds) and Namara gets to work. She lathers me in oil - so much that there are several moments when I worry I might shoot off the table, but thankfully this doesn't happen. She begins to work at my tense, knotted muscles and as she does so breathes in a heavy whooshing way. It reminds me of the sea, which relaxes me even further.

Unlike traditional massages, Namara uses her hands, forearms and elbows and she regularly moves around the table. The massage varies from deep to soft and it feels like nothing I've ever experienced before. I keep reminding myself I'm writing a story and must pay attention, but it's impossible to stay focused. I'm just so damn relaxed.
Eventually Namara asks me to turn over. She places the sarong between my thighs and over my crotch, but that's about it. By this stage I's so comfortable I could do without it altogether. Again, she works her way around my body, including my chest. She continues to breathe in a whooshing fashion and I drift in the most delectable state.

Eventually she moves to my head and places a warm towel across my eyes. She gently folds my arms across my chest, my hands across my heart, and tells me to rest and reconnect with myself for a moment. I stay on the table for a good five minutes and for the first four I cry quietly. I'm not sure why, but this massage has touched me in a way no other has and I feel nurtured and restored.

When I eventually dress and leave the room, Namara brings me a glass of water and asks me how I'm feeling. I want to hug her, but I'm not the hugging type. Instead I simply say I feel wonderful and then drift off home to bed, healing both inside and out.

THE DANCING MASSAGE - by Kelly Rae - Nova Magazine

Kelly Ray sheds her inhibitions and relaxes into the sweeping strokes og Kahuna Massage

There are some people who walk, some who lope, yet others who trudge or glide. However, the Kahuna therapist I saw recently seemed to spring into the room and almost bound over to me, hand extended. Swathed in a sarong and a tiny singlet, her brown skin luminesent, Andrea appeared an excellent advertisment for whatever Kahuna was doing for her.

I had heard a little something of Kahuna Massage before and, if this was true, I knew it was going to be different from the straightforward remedial Massage I was well acquanted with. "Two people massage you, your butt naked, they breathe great gusts of air and swoop around the room'. Needless to say, I wasn't sure what to expect.

Kahuna Massage originated in Hawaii, is thousands of years old and was oncetaught by the traditional Kahuna or "keepers of secret knowledge" to the young villagers as a way of assisting them access their natural wisdom and intuition. This was achieved by allowing the natural spirit to emerge and reside more fully in conscious awareness.
Kings would be massaged day and night in the "ancient temple style" until it was agreed that their mind, body and spirit were now in balance. (An undeniably pleasant way to reach enlightenment!)

Not unlike Yoga and many other traditional modalities, ancient Huna wisdom perceives the human composition as four defined bodies - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual and three minds - unconscious body mind, conscious mind of ego and intelligence, and higher mind of self knowing. Although some of the old Kahuna knowledge seems to have been lost in this world of changing and questionable values, it remains a strong tradition, passed down orally from generation to generation, and now emerging in the West.

I did indeed have to strip off. Earth Mother-self thought this was a great idea, so liberating really. Undeveloped, shyself, very used to strategically placed towels, lay face down on the table with a wee strip of a folded sarong between my bits and stared fixedly at the floor that was covered in assorted crystals and flowery leis. I willed myself to relax and get with the program. I tuned into the music and let this preoccupy me - I did find it useful as a sort of portal in which to escape from my shyness and present day concerns.

I also discovered the Kahuna therapist does indeed do lots of breathing and a great byproduct of this to me is that it eliminates the need for small talk, something that I find irritating in the brief hour I am giving to myself. According to Namara, based at the Kahuna Massage Centre in Paddington, the deep breathing facilitates great focus within the therapist and the ability to be "right here, right now" with the client. "It can also help send the client into an interior space and evokes the element of air and the vastness of the ocean," she told me.

You may hear Kahuna also referred to as Lomi Lomi massage, which literally means "to rub and roll". One of the delightful discoveries I had in my Kahuna massage was their method of long sweeping strokes, similar to Swedish massage but with more pressure, intention and an uncanny knack of locating your tight spots. Parts of your body feel as though they are receivingmassage at the same time as other parts, a testament to the effect of these broad strokes and a constantly moving, breathing therapist.

I asked Namara to explain her transformation from furniture maker to Kahuna therapist and it sounds as though it was love at first sight: "I went to the Mind Body Spirit Festival and came upon the Kahuna stall. Watching the massage was so beautiful, like watching a dance, and I didn't move for two hours. I looked at the people giving the massage and they seemed to have this genuine love flowing from them to the person on the table. Kahuna has changed my whole life."

And as for me? well, I think I trudged into the Kahuna Centre, but definitely floated out.

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