Part 2

Bamboo massage is a technique that incorporates bamboo stalks of varying lengths and diameters to provide deep-tissue work.  Some practitioners combine elements of shiatsu, traditional Chinese medicine, Thai massage, lymphatic drainage and even ayurveda into the technique and sticks are sometimes heated or essential oils are incorporated into the massage.  The massage itself promotes circulation, sensory nerve perception and lymphatic drainage and provides a deep sense of relaxation and well-being.  An added benefit for the practitioner is that using the bamboo sticks helps to reduce stress and strain on hands and fingers while still allowing for deeply penetrating maneuvers.

  

Although bamboo matures fully in approximately seven years, most bamboo flowers only once in 60 to 120 years, with large heads much like those of sugarcane.  After blooming, all bamboo plants of the same species die, which occurs worldwide at the same time.  Overall, there are more than 1,200 species of bamboo, all of them related to sugarcane and corn.  Bamboo is, in fact, a giant grass.  The bamboo stalk can be cut, leaving the root system intact for rapid regrowth.  This makes bamboo a highly renewable resource.  In a favorable habitat, it can grow as fast as one foot in 24 hours and will grow back to full-size in a few years.  In addition to it sustainability, bamboo is also recognized for its suppleness and resilience.  With its unique combination of strength and flexibility, bamboo lends itself to a variety of uses.  Because of its hardness, bamboo has been used for bridges, floors, furniture, gutters, masts, utensils and vessels.  Because the fiber is soft and can be finely crushed, it can also be used for clothing, bedding and towels.

  

Part of what makes bamboo hard and straight, yet flexible and light, is that its outer cell walls are covered with silica.  This creates a crystalline-like matrix, much like that of a quartz crystal or our own connective tissue.  Some practitioners believe that releasing tension or fascial adhesions held within this matrix can help restore and rebalance the body's electromagnetic field.  In his article, "Bioenergetics of Man", for the Academy of Applied Osteopathic Association, osteopathic physician R.B. Taylor writes; "Manipulative pressure and stretching are the most effective ways of modifying energy potentials of abnormal tissues."

  

If we look closely at what's just beneath the surface of this statement, it takes us directly to what's beneath the surface of both our bodies and the structure of bamboo itself.  Crystalline like matrices are known to exhibit two very specific properties:  piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity.  Piezoelectricity is activated with pressure and pyroelectricity  with heat.  On a physiological level, these two properties are believed to contribute to some of the healing effects seen in bamboo massage.

  

  

  

  

 Osorio, Sonia. "Bamboo Massage." Massage Bodywork May/June (2008): 84-91. Print.