A Hot Stone massage session has been described in many ways... Delicious, decadent, sensual, totally relaxing, and deeply therapeutic, a moving experience, comforting, and above all healing.

The Hot Stone Massage experience has the ability to affect in a positive way our four lower bodies. The mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. As you learn to prepare the stones you will see how we are using the basic elements of life, fire, water, air and earth to do so.

Therefore making it a total healing experience.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOT STONE MASSAGE

The use of hot stones has been recorded in history from a long time ago. By looking at ancient cultures and civilizations we can see that as humans we have used hot stones for eons. For heating our homes to sacred rituals.

Ancient cultures searched for stones to build temples and pyramids. We can see these mysterious structures from Egypt to South America, from Easter Island to our own Native Americans.

Smaller stones have been part of ritual and ceremony for just as long. They are used to make homes, and have been made into weapons or used to sharpen them. We can clearly see how popular quartz crystals have been and even the non-believer or skeptical wears a birth stone ring as a symbol of good luck.

Our Native Americans from ancient times have used hot stones as part of a hot stone massage treatment in their sweat lodge ceremonies. This is how I first came across hot stone massage almost twelve years ago. And hence I started getting the understanding of their use. Not so much as to the application of stones to the body, but the respect of the grandfather’s stones as they are called.

In the sweat lodge ceremony, the use of the four elements fire, water, air and earth in the heating preparation of the stones for the ritual is a very important part of it. From time to time grandmother Barrett Eagle Bear would pass a perfectly round hot stone around the circle for us to rub anywhere we would have pain or discomfort.

This is the age of evolution, and we have an opportunity to take and use some of the ancient rituals in our modern day practice. We should do it with respect and reverence to the stones and to the people.

THE BASIC HOT STONE MASSAGE WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE

There are two types of learning experiences, intellectual and experiential. The intellectual knowledge we get from books, the manual for this class and the lectures. The experiential knowledge will take place as we begin working with the stones during the basic hot stone massage workshop, as we do the trades and as you start learning how to use and handle the stones. We tune into their frequencies by getting to know their placement in the roaster, by using them on our selves, and by experimenting with them.

By acknowledging the energy of the stones and truly seeing the elements that go into the preparation of them we can see it as a ritual of nature, water, fire, air, and earth. Let us then, use our intuition and make a connection with these elements and the stones as we share this adventure with our clients.

It is important to allow your intuition to play and important role in Hot Stone Massage. The more you use it and the more you know the stones the more fun you will have. Take your time be creative and have fun.

It is NOT enough or safe to learn from videos or books, there are elements of danger in doing this work, so you the therapists has the responsibility to be will educated so you and your clients can truly experience the benefits of Hot Stone Massage Therapy.

The Basic Hot Stone Massage workshop consists of 18 hours of instruction that includes lectures, questions and answers as well as demos and student trades. CEU's are provided in the State of Florida, as well as National. Ernesto Ortiz is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) as a continuing education provider under Category A.

Information on our Advanced Hot Stone Massage Workshop