Sceptics and sniggerers, perhaps it's time to take massage therapy seriously-it could make you healthier and less of a cynic.

NT staffers love massages. Stop snickering, now. It's d?mod? to associate massages only with sleazy back alley storefronts where furtive-eyed men go. Today, all sorts of people undergo a range of massage treatments for a variety of reasons-from generic stress to that nagging tug in your ankle that's been bothering you for years. And if you think deep tissue massage or using essential oils to heal is silly hippy-dippy nonsense, you have another think coming. Many biomedical doctors are happy to have their patients use complementary medicine, as this is called-in the US and Europe, they work correspondingly with trained masseurs to treat people living with cancer and AIDS.

But trying on a "holistic" lifestyle means more than just nipping over to the barber to have your back cracked or hanging out at a beauty salon with mud on your face. In the world of massage, as in life, things have got a little complicated-you must now be specific and find out whether it is aromatherapy that draws you or reflexology, Shiatsu, Ayurvedic massage or the rather interestingly painful Swedish version.

Where to begin? Yes, there are loads of massage parlours in town, especially in Thamel, that offer everything from herbal cures to hormonal balancing (just how this "hormonal balancing" is done is a matter of some debate and appears to encourage furtiveness). Most of the employees in dingy Thamel parlours are women with just enough ideas to make their customer-usually male-feel good. The price is right and for as little as Rs 600 (and as much as Rs 2,000) per hour you'll get all you want, and sometimes more than you asked for. Masseuses and masseurs at these places have handled the human body for years but, alas, their professional training is usually inversely proportionate to their experience. Chances are, you will feel relaxed and rid of aches after one of these sessions, but few will ask you about your medical and personal history or know too much about pressure points or connecting nerves-not much use for chronic ailments like a bad back or rheumatism.

If you want a pro, a pro you can get. Most work in five-star hotels, but their rates are surprisingly competitive. The Yak & Yeti Hotel for example charges Rs 1,571 for 40 minutes of Swedish massage or Rs 2,020 for an hour-long Thai massage. A Swedish massage at the Soaltee will set you back Rs 674, and at the Everest Hotel, even less-Rs 561. Not very expensive, true, but terribly addictive.
If you're serious about wanting to make such treatment a part of your life, it's best to find someone like Denise Tomecko, a professionally trained masseuse from England who freelances. Tomecko describes herself as more a therapist rather then a masseuse, because all the work she does is related to purifying the body and the soul. She even offers some of her more regular clients counselling if they want it. Tomecko, who's been doing such work for over twenty years, started out teaching yoga and meditation. She felt that it was just as necessary to heal the body and so took courses designed by the International Therapists Exam Council and the British Registrar for Complementary Practitioners. She wishes others also received professional training, so the word "massage" is never a source of embarrassment or salacious smirks. "That's one of the main problems in Kathmandu-a lack of professionally trained masseurs who know their subject."
Tomecko's favourite methods are aromatherapy and reflexology. Aromatherapy is the practice of using essential oils derived from different plants and herbs to heal the mind and the body. They are volatile substances that evaporate easily, releasing their aroma, and each one has a specific quality that has a corresponding effect on the human body. While aromatherapy uses the olfactory cells to trigger electrical energy sent to different parts of the body, reflexology is based on the principle that certain points on the hands, feet and ears are directly connected to the rest of the organs of the body through energy lines. These pressure points or "reflex points" when stimulated have a corresponding effect on the respective internal organ.

Ilse Scheuboeck is another reflexologist considering working here. A graduate of the Technical University in Munich who also received pre-med training from Munich's Naturopathic School, Scheuboeck has been practising the science in New York for the last two years. She's here because her association with refloxology began here, in a rather strange manner. She was trekking in the mountains about ten years ago, and a local woman gave her a foot chart used by reflexologists, in German. Scheuboeck, then a rafting enthusiast was intrigued and decided to find a different river, one that flowed inside the body. "There is no real proof that it really works but from my experience clients usually end up feeling better after a session," she says.

There's no proof in most holistic regimens, but since people do feel better, and there's little chance of the kind of side-effects that allopathic drugs can pose, they're attractive propositions. Take the case of Ram Brij, an Indian national working at the Verge Inn Leisure Club in Tahachal. From Gorkahpur, in Uttar Pradesh, this former metal welder chanced upon Arogya Mandir, a naturotherapy centre in Gorakhpur, and was hooked. He trained there to be a professional healer and eventually moved to Mumbai. There Brij Ram claims to have worked on everybody who's anybody-from cricket star Sachin Tendulkar to movie star Dharmendra. He's now in Kathmandu where he has worked with all sorts of patients. He says he's even cured a woman after a paralytic stroke. "Twice this woman was paralysed and both times I cured her," recalls Brij Ram. He's a typical holistic healer, in some ways, he has not had much formal education, but he has had some training. "I believe in balancing everything so that one neither goes beyond the limit nor is left too far behind. If you can bring this balance you have a happy life," says Brij Ram.

And that, really, is what massage and related complementary therapies are all about. Okay, perhaps, they're also incessant grist for the joke mill, but the effects they can have on a stressed-out life are far from funny. You can be rejuvenated and detoxified. What more can you ask for.