Tian Di Bamboo Massage: The Art of Massage with Bamboo

by Ernesto Ortiz LMT, CST

Bamboo is one of the must multifaceted plants in our planet. It has earned its reputation from its noble and soft appearance as well as its perseverance under harsh conditions. In the Orient, bamboo symbolizes strength, fertility, youth, prosperity and peace.

Bamboo is certainly one of the most versatile plants. It has spiritual, mythological and many practical applications. It is eaten, used in home construction and decoration, as well as for the creation of utensils and herbal remedies.

When I was in Bali about two years ago, I was walking one early morning in Monkey Forest in the town of Ubud. Monkey Forest is a park, a temple and the habitat for hundreds of monkeys that roam free and wild. It was around 6:30 am and there was no one there, just me and lots of monkeys. I noticed one of them rubbing a piece of bamboo against a stone. He was filing the rough edges and then... He started massaging his body with the stalk of bamboo!!!

My eyes opened so wide. But that is not all; another monkey came over, asking the one with the bamboo stick to work on him. He turned his back to him and bugged and bugged until the monkey with the stick started massaging him.

I said to myself, there is nothing more primal and natural that this! That vision stayed within me. And that was the original idea for the creation of the new style of massage. Tian Di Bamboo Massage, is a modality that I have been successfully practicing and instructing for more than a year.

Tian Di Bamboo Massage

Tian Di in Chinese means heaven and earth; this gives the meaning and primary objective to this therapy.

To develop this therapy, I have taken many concepts and basic principles from Traditional Chinese Medicine. As I was working on expanding this technique, I realized that it would be incomplete, if just bamboo is used for the session. What bamboo will bring to the surface needs to be removed from the body. This is why other techniques were added.

Tian Di bamboo Massage as a completed therapy is divided in three major segments: Massage with bamboo, Cupping, and Gua Sha techniques.

• Massage with Bamboo:
  
  

  I call the bamboo sticks Cho sticks. Cho is bamboo in Chinese. They are the first instruments we use in the Tian Di session.

  Bamboo is essential and unique because its walls are covered with silica. This creates an outer cover of tiny quartz like crystal matrixes that are activated when they encounter the right conditions of mechanical stress.

  The two main properties of quartz are Piezo and Pyro electricity. This is what produces an energetic charge, so unique that science and industry, as well as the metaphysical world, have been interested and using it for many years. Piezoelectricity is activated with pressure, and Pyroelectricity with heat. As we work, we apply pressure to the body with the bamboo stick and the friction that is created will activate the molecular structure in the silica... and bang!! We have a powerful tool that is charged and will create dramatic and permanent changes.

  For your clients, it is a new way of feeling. As they get worked on with the Cho sticks the energy that is contained within the walls of the bamboo is transferred to them, creating a series of unique and new sensations. Most people describe these as: tingling all over, feeling like the bamboo is bending and conforming to the body. It is amazing how hot the bamboo gets as you where working on me.

  There are many benefits for the practitioner as well. Using the Cho sticks minimizes stressing and straining the hands and fingers, while still allowing for deeply penetrating maneuvers.

• The Physical
  
  

  When we apply the piezoelectric principles to the body, the electrical and thermal energy activates peripheral circulation. Enhanced circulation will remove stagnant toxins and move blood throughout the body, heart and lungs, improving internal respiration. Oxygenated blood will return nutrition and healing aid to the cells and tissues of the affected areas. This enables your work to be deeper, to relax and realign muscle fibers without causing micro tears.

• Mental-Emotional
  
  

  Emotionally, this therapy provides a total sense of relaxation. Stagnant emotions will surface once the client feels relaxed, nourished, and has reached a point of trust. The love that we, as therapists, bring to the session will encourage them to freely release and process all their " stuff."

• The Spiritual
  
  

  Tian Di Bamboo massage will reach whatever level of spirituality you're at. If you don't connect with the Cho sticks on a spiritual level, if you don't bring that body/mind/spirit awareness to your session, two people are loosing, you and your client.

  It is not unusual that the effects of Tian Di therapy continue for days after the session. It is as if you have opened a portal and allowed the newness of the experience to enter and linger there.

Cupping and Gua Sha:

These techniques work more at a physical level. They come as an aid to finish the work done with the Cho sticks. They suction and sweep away what has surfaced from the treatment.

• Cupping
  
  

  Cupping involves placing suction cups on the skin with a vacuum-like device to deeply work along the meridians. The original cups were made of bamboo but today there are cups made of glass and plastic as well. The technique is very effective to relieve stagnation. Stagnation refers to congestion or accumulation of fluids, lymph, Qi or blood due to lack of movement of any kind.

  Cupping is the opposite of massage. In massage, for the must part, we do compressions. With cupping, however, we suction and lift. As we glide slowly with the cups, the suction is able to penetrate far deeper than with any other tool we may have.

  Cupping therapy can aid numerous conditions, ranging from chronic pain, stiff muscles or joints, fatigue, emotional and psychological states, and more.

• Gua Sha
  
  

  This technique dates back over 2,000 years. It uses round-edged instruments made of horn, bone or pieces of jade, to work along the surface of the skin to promote vitality and flow.

  In Chinese, Gua (gwa) means to scrape or extract and Sha (shaw), means sand or toxins. So we literally scrape or sand off toxins from the body as they surface from the bamboo and cupping treatment. This ancient method is used to promote Qi or bioelectric vital life energy, blood circulation and removal of toxic heat, stagnant blood and lymph fluid from the body. These three techniques together, Bamboo massage, Cupping and Gua Sha, make a complete and powerful Tian Di session. The beauty of it is that you as the therapist can choose to use one, two, or all three methods during the session depending on the needs of the client.

  Ernesto Ortiz LMT, CST is a noted artist, author and healer, Ernesto has devoted his life to exploring and communicating the language of the heart, primal movement and deep inner spaces. He has been practicing massage for over 20 years.

  Ernesto is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as an Approved Provider, as well as the Florida Board of Massage

  For more information visit www.journey2theheart.com.