UpClose & Personal - Complementary Therapies

Marble stones: luminous, sensual and healing. The second of our series of four articles on stone massage explains why marble is the medium of choice to deliver cooling temperatures to the body. We will also suggest methods of integrating marble stones and cooling temperatures into a hot stone massage.

Quite simply, marble holds cold temperatures longer than any other stone. At room temperature marble is eleven degreesFahrenheit cooler than other stones. Marble is a metamorphic form of limestone, which was formerly bones and shells.

This accounts for the feminine feel and luminescence of marble. Electromagnetic ally, marble has a high diamagnetic frequency, which complements the paramagnetic frequency of basalt. Thus the combination of basalt and marble is balancing not only in color and temperature, but also in magnetism.

Physiologically, the ultimate therapeutic effects of a massage are achieved with the use of heating and cooling temperatures. A local application of contrasting hot and cold for a period as brief as thirty minutes will result in a 95% increase in blood flow to that area.

Our previous article mentioned the decongestant properties of cold stones and the vascular gymnastics induced by contrasting hot and cold temperatures. Blood vessels and local tissues are toned by alternate vasodilation/vasoconstriction. The body becomes more responsive to its internal and external environments as a result.

Detoxification occurs both locally and systemically and cellular metabolism is improved. Cold stones also can force lactic acid and other wastes out of over-exercised muscles, restoring optimal functioning faster. Similarly, cold stones applied after deep tissue massage minimizes soreness. Another advantage to cold applications is a decrease in nerve conduction, which in turn reduces pain with an analgesic effect.

The beauty of cold applications is especially in its balancing the heat of a hot stone massage. Heat can be overdone, producing laxity and persistent inflammation in tissues and systemic fatigue due to the body's working overtime to cool itself.

Cooling temperatures stimulate the autonomic nervous system in a two-fold process. In the initial minutes of a cold application, the body responds with a Stage I (retrostasis) reaction, a pushing of blood from that local area, and a sympathetic (adrenaline) nervous system response.

If the cold application persists longer than ten to fifteen minutes, then a Stage II (derivative) action follows. This draws blood back into these tissues in the body's effort to avoid frostbite, and a parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system response results.

The means of integrating chilled marble stones into a hot stone massage are varied, according to your clients' needs and your specific training. LaStone Therapy offers a range of classes catering to massage therapists, spa therapists, energy workers, aestheticians, oriental medicine practitioners, chiropractors, etc. You can find their educational offerings at www.lastonetherapy.com. Click here to purchase marble stones, a comprehensive offering of marble stones for a myriad of uses.

A few general guidelines for the cold application of marble stones follow. First, to chill stones, one may place the marble stones in the freezer, or in a cooler with ice and water. The ice water permits a faster recycling of the cold stones. Before placing stones back into the cooler, wiping them with hand sanitizer and a dry towel is a convenient way to sterilize the stones.

The contraindications of a hot/cold stone treatment are similar to the contraindications for Swedish massage with this caveat: a stone massage creates more dramatic changes in the body's systems than a regular massage.

The power and efficacy of a hot/cold therapy is possibly three times the power and efficacy of a regular massage. LaStone Therapy trainings urge therapists to respect the power of geothermotherapy. That being said, most conditions can be accommodated with a lessening of the time or temperatures involved.

The ideal ratio of hot to cold stones is three to one. This ratio varies according to the client's health condition and goals. When marble stones are applied directly to the skin, the practitioner should hold the stones firmly in one area to allow the body to adjust to and to utilize the extreme cold. Gradually, the marble stones can be moved to other areas.

Avoid the latissimus dorsi and other sensitive (yin) areas of the body. Where inflammation and/or congestion exist in tissues, the cold application will be a welcome relief, even if it is a more sensitive area. Marble stones can be tucked under a body part, either touching the skin or placed under the bottom sheet.

Placement of cold stones on the torso (usually on top of a sheet) is a perfect balance to a heated spinal layout. You could arrange a spinal layout with alternating basalt and marble stones. We recommend the marble be placed on or under areas that are most tight, sore or congested. Wherever cold is placed in the spinal layout, the corresponding torso stone could be hot.

Ultimately, the integration of marble stones into a hot stone massage is best understood through hands-on experience. It is a creative process. The stones are adaptable to many uses. Your training, experience and intuition combine with the versatility, efficacy and elegance of the marble medium to create a work of art that is a therapeutic blessing to you and your clients. Enjoy!

In our third article, look for a report from Paula Marzella, a LaStone therapist located in Killington, Vermont and working in Boston and with elite cyclists. She will share her experience with the application, post-event, of cold only marble stones. Her clients will also share their testaments to the power and efficacy of this technique. Until then, please check out the aforementioned websites.

Jill Pingree Dew Biography

Jill Pingree Dew has been an instructor of Original Body LaStone Therapy workshops since 1998. She trained directly with Mary Nelson in Tucson, Arizona and primarily with Patricia Warne, the person most responsible for the introduction of the cool application of marble stones within hot stone massage therapy.

Jill is currently Director of Educational Programs at the Stone Clan Educational Center in Montrose, Colorado. Founded by Rick Bresett, owner of LaPolar Stones, and Patti Templin, former Human Resource Director for LaStone Therapy and a master instructor, the Stone Clan Center offers continuing education workshops primarily for LaStone Therapists. Jill is originating a 600-hour massage therapy program at the center, the Western Colorado School for Body, Mind and Spirit.

Jill's teaching experience goes back to her childhood where her favorite pastime was to play school. In 1986, Jill earned a B.S. degree in Secondary Education at the University of Maine Farmington. She taught high school social studies and coached field hockey, basketball as well as track and field. She taught Swedish and Therapeutic Massage as well as Anatomy and Physiology at the Connecting Point School of Massage and Spa Therapies in Telluride, Colorado, under the direction of Toni Nurnberg.

Jill has been a student of yoga since 1987, training at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. At the Peaks Resort and Spa in Telluride, where she was a massage and spa therapist for five years, she also taught yoga, meditation hikes, and movement therapies. Her continued education includes classes in Hydrotherapy with Dr. Reinhardt Bergel, Core myofascial massage with Dr. George Kousaleous, Ayurvedic studies with Tara Grodjesk, Dr. Pratima Raichur, and the Himalayan Institute, Breema, Sound therapy with tuning forks and Human Voice Healing with Wayne Perry, and Melody's Crystal Light Healing Methods. She is a Master Reiki (Usui and Tera Mai) practitioner and teacher. Jill has been an AMTA member and certified by the NCBTMB since 1991. She has been a recreation director, ski instructor, whitewater raft guide, and director of a summer day camp. Her home in the Rockies allows her to pursue skiing, golf, hiking, and mountain biking.

Jill's teaching style is compassionate. "My intention is to create a nurturing, non-competitive environment where each person is supported to learn in their unique style and pace. I am not THE teacher...we are all teachers for one another." Jill is available to travel to spas and wellness centers to teach LaStone Therapy.

You can contact her at jill@lastonetherapy.com or at
the Western Colorado School for Body, Mind and Spirit
at (970) 252-8385.