Lead Therapist Laurie English:Massage in Santa Fe

About Laurie J. English

Laurie J. English’s practice of massage began as a little girl – her family role being to massage her grandmother. Combined with her weekly training in classical music from the ages of 4 through 16, she incorporates a heightened sense of musicality in her massages.

Laurie English has over 3,000 hours of training.  Her specialty is indigenous massage styles. Laurie is considered a master masseuse with a focus in the following 8 international therapies:

· Abhyanga Indian Oil Massage

· Champissage: Indian Head Massage

· La Stone

· Lomi Lomi Hawaiian Temple Bodywork

· Reflexology

· Shiatsu

·  Kansa Vatki: Ayurvedic Foot Therapy

·  Swedish

·  Table Thai

Currently, Laurie English provides on-site massage and spa services at private homes, offices and hotels in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Laurie English also is a certified trainer of Champissage: Indian Head Massage through the London Centre of Indian Champissage International. 

To schedule a massage with Laurie English on-site in Santa Fe, New Mexico or to experience Champissage: Indian Head Massage and any of her other specialities, please contact her directly at 505-490-0591.

Below is a front page article regarding Laurie English.

http://www.abqjournal.com/north/16231611north01-16-10.htm

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Massage Therapist Takes Head Trip

By Polly Summar
Journal Staff Writer
          Nobody appreciates a good head massage quite like Laurie English.
        That’s why the 38-year-old Santa Fe massage therapist traveled to India to meet the “Cosmic Barber” of Pushkar.
        “I’m a YouTube fanatic,” English said. “If you search YouTube, there’s a listing called ‘world’s greatest head massage.’ So I thought, ‘Well, I teach head massage. I should get in touch with this guy.’”
        The video shows the Cosmic Barber in all his showmanship, hands flying, gesturing from the sky toward the scalp, with a superimposed line saying, “Note the application of cosmic energy.” Indian “top 40″ music and car beeps from the street sound in the background.
        It was too much for English to resist. A wife and mother of a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, English decided she had to meet him. She’s always had a fascination with head massage — she had already searched out the founder of something called Champissage (a trademarked form of Indian head massage) and became a national trainer for the internationally used method.
        English knew from her work with Narendra Mehta, the founder of Champissage, that in India, an extensive head massage is part of a trip to the barber, not the brief cursory rub Americans get with a shampoo.
        “I do about eight international styles of massage,” English said, listing Thai, Swedish and Lomi Lomi Hawaiian among them. “But Indian head massage has really gotten me. If there’s a mother tongue for massage, for me, Indian head massage is my mother tongue.”
        Under the mantle of her business name, SpaNomad — because she takes her massage table, oils, flowers and fabrics to clients’ homes, parties, fundraising events — English left in December on her first solo nomadic research trip. “I’m called the SpaNomad, but I’ve never been so moved to travel like this,” she said.
        Her husband, Jeff English, understood the draw. “He teaches ‘Tai Chi Tennis,’” she said. “He has revamped every single tennis move so that it incorporates spiral power from martial arts so people don’t get injured.”
        With her video camera in tow, English flew to Delhi, India, took a train for 12 hours to the city closest to Pushkar, then a minibus to reach the town. “I’m searching for this barber for five days, not finding him,” she said. In the meantime, she had head massages from five other barbers.
        “The barbers are really the keepers of the knowledge of this,” said English, who is interested in how cultures worldwide use indigenous therapies. “It’s a caste system there. If you’re a barber, your father was a barber, and his father was a barber.”
        After visiting some 20 barbers and still not finding the Cosmic Barber, she was describing the problem to an Italian woman she met, who said, “Baba? I have an appointment with him tomorrow at 11.”
        It turns out that English had visited the shop where he worked, but Baba the Cosmic Barber was busy giving head massages to a group of tourists, a clientele with whom he’s become very popular. His nephew, who also worked in the shop, had ignored English’s question about his uncle, wanting instead to sell her his own head massage.
        The Cosmic Barber did not disappoint. “I teach 51 unique techniques in Champissage,” English said. “Baba — well, none of the barbers — did a single technique like the ones I teach.”
        Describing the difference, English said, “You might say that the barbers use more pressure.” (But that doesn’t explain the move where the Cosmic Barber uses both hands and fingers to crawl around his client’s head.)
        English would like to create classes with the barbers. “We could benefit from their thousands of years of culture, and they can benefit from our financial resources,” she said. “One of our dollars goes a long way there.”
        In the meantime, SpaNomad.com will be offering classes in both Champissage and what might be called the “Barbers of Pushkar” techniques.
        On a recent lunch hour at Annapurna Chai House, where English holds court every Thursday with Indian head massages, she said she has incorporated some of her own moves now, too. English used to teach dance — forms like belly dance, Celtic and African — and many of her gestures are dancelike, as one hand flutters off to the side, finishing a movement that started at her client’s head.
        “With my business, I always create a show, by setting a scene,” said English, who often brings umbrellas, flower petals and a heated blanket to an appointment. “I wasn’t a showman, but I do like beauty.”
        But even that has changed now. “It wasn’t until I saw the Cosmic Barber,” English said, “that I could add more oomph myself.”
        Head massage
        Laurie English offers Indian head massage Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Annapurna Chai House, 905 W. Alameda. She gives free 2-minute massages; $20 for 15 minutes.
        English is offering a course Thursday, Jan. 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the techniques she learned from the barbers of Pushkar, India. Cost is $175. On Monday-Wednesday, Jan. 25-27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., she will offer training in Champissage, a trademarked method of Indian head massage, for $495. The courses, which offer continuing education credits, are for professionals and amateurs alike. They will be held at English’s home and she will prepare Indian food for lunch. For more information, go to www.SpaNomad.com or call English at 490-0591.