The,Secrets,Traditional,Morocc travel,insurance The Secrets Of A Traditional Moroccan Hammam Experience

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If you ever visitMorocco (or Barcelona for that matter) then enjoying a hammam is an essentialtourist experience, but for the newcomer the words hammam, gommage and rhassoulcould leave you confused and nervous as you step into the traditional baths.   But even for theexperienced visitor, the tkissila, an incredible secret acrobatic massage handeddown through families and practised in only a select few places in the world,takes the hammam experience to a new level. Here, I take youthrough the different stages of the traditional experience, and divulge thesecrets of the tkissila for the more adventurous spa visitors. Hammam I have been confusedby this description, as it is usually described as a Turkish steam bath. Our hotel in Barcelona for example was described as having a hammam, which wasactually a sauna and a steam room.  Don’t get me wrong, they were great, butnot what I expected. In Morocco andBarcelona our hammam was a hot room, with a water source, so it was somewherebetween a sauna and a steam room.  The hammam in Barcelona also had a veryhot steam room, a plunge pool, rain showers and Arabian water bowls and sinks,so that you could relax and refresh yourself. In the Palais Rhoul inMarrakech you actually lie on the floor to let the heat rise up through the matinto your body. Hammams are reallyenjoyable - especially when it’s cold outside - but you do have to remember todrink lots of water - most will give you bottles of water to take in if youlike - or bring your own. Some hammams aremixed, requiring swimwear, and others are single sex where you can go naked -but always check first - some single sex ones still require swimwear. If in doubt askexactly what the details are - don’t be embarrassed, they all seem to bedifferent! Traditional Gommage Literally anexfoliation (in French), in traditional hammams this means that someone willfirst wash you, normally with savon noir (black soap) - which is a beautifulritual and then use a gommage or scrubbing glove to scrub all the dead skin offyour body. When we went to ahammam in Agadir, Morocco, we thought that there would hardly be any dry skinleft - after 3 days on the beach. Also we were a little bit worried by some of the stories from people whohad tried hammams elsewhere - so we asked for a gommage doucement - a softscrubbing. She scrubbed so hardit was actually on the edge of being painful, which I thought a bitunnecessary, until she scrubbed my forearm and I saw rolls of dead skinsloughing off.  It grossed me outand I thought how dirty the Moroccans must think we are - they do this once aweek! Although in someplaces you can keep on your bikini and/or paper knickers, really I say what’sthe point?  After 2 minutes Iwasn’t aware if she was scrubbing my boobs or my back.  Speaking of which, it is the best backexfoliation I have ever had.  Ioften get an itchy patch between my shoulder blades - she just scrubbed itright off - leaving it smooth and soft. For the next few daysI couldn’t help running my hands over my skin.  And I continued scrubbing at home with a glove I bought inAgadir - seeing the dead skin actually coming off on the glove!  Sadly it fell apart - so I am now onthe lookout for a serious gommage glove in the UK - but no luck so far!  I have heard thatgommage is not suitable for people with sensitive skin - but I have verysensitive skin and I love it and feel it only does my skin good. A traditional gommagewill leave your skin so smooth you won’t be able to stop stroking it. Rhassoul Rhassoul is a type oftherapeutic mud. And a rhassoul treatment is basically when, usually after agommage, you are smothered in rhassoul mud, left to “bake” for a while in ahammam, and then washed down. It can be a littlehot, and if it is your first time in a hammam I would actually recommend yougive this a miss - perhaps build up to it, as a lot of treatments in one go candehydrate you - if you haven’t drunk enough water or just simply because of thedetox effects of the massage. I’ve enjoyed thetreatment but haven’t really noticed much of a specific effect - but it doessmell great. Tkissila Tkissila (alsosometimes written as Teksilla, Teskssila and Tkssila) is an ancient form ofMoroccan massage, which I understand is now only practised by two brothers,descendants of a long line of practitioners, in Marrakech. A cross between amassage and the kind of manipulation you might receive from a physiotherapist,the fact that it is done on a heated floor means that muscles are alreadyrelaxed and it is much easier. I experienced this atthe Palais Rhoul in Marrakech.  Whenyou enter the actual hammam, you won't find opulent, colourful mosaics orindeed a steam room or heated benches to sit on. If you decide to optfor just a massage, as my sister did, then you can go naked, as the masseur isfemale, but, if you opt for the traditional tkissila (pronounced as in tuxedo –tuxila), then please make sure you wear your bikini (and make sure it's asturdy one!) My masseur and hisbrother are masters of the art of Tkissila, descendants of a long line ofpractitioners and this is one of only two places I understand you can have thistreatment (his brother works next door at the more expensive spa). So… first I was leadby the lady in charge to a simple brown cell and asked to sit on what lookedlike a yoga mat on the floor. It might not beeveryone's cup of tea to have big buckets of warm water thrown over them, butprovided you keep your mouth closed it's rather like being in a nice warmwaterfall. She grabbed the blacksoap with eucalyptus efficiently soaped me up and left me lying on the floor. I was a bitdisappointed. No steam, no elegant bench, no funky mosaics, just some subtle,cool lights. It didn't seem like the best spa in the world. It took me a whileto realise that the heat in the room was actually coming up through the floorand lying down, my body was slowly starting to relax. That's when my masseurcame in. After a few days of covering up from neck to ankle I had been a littleaware of my naked legs at lunch. All of a sudden I was in a little brown cellwith a Moroccan man in nothing but a pair of bathing shorts (and I was in mybikini!) But it didn't actually feel weird when he slipped on his Palais Rhoulgommage glove and started to scrub me all over. Unlike my experiencein Agadir a few years ago this scrubbing wasn't rough at all, but I could seethe rolls of dead skin sloughing off. According to my masseur, the cheap gloves (about 20 dh - £1.50) I'dbought in the market were useless, his kind of glove was much better quality(about 50 dh - £4) and exfoliated all the dead, dirty skin without hurting atall. (He presented me with it at the end too.) After the gommage, hegot down to business.  It's funny,last year I saw a physio who had manipulated my spine and there were momentswhen, even fully clothed, I felt very awkward about having my foot on a guy'sshoulder while he pulled my leg in the other direction. I actually felt quitecomfortable with it this time around. Even when I was lying face down and hewas pulling my hips in the air. There were clicks, a bit of tightness, butnothing painful or even really uncomfortable, although I think I did sometimesbreathe in or out in the wrong places. Then it got weird. My masseur lay down onthe mat, his knees pointing up and this is when he asked me to sit on hisknees. I'm glad I speakFrench or this could have been a very different review. One minute I wasbalancing on my bottom on his knees, the next I was flying, watching the roomgo whizzing past, not quite sure anymore which way was up. Suddenly I realisedwhy, as the dramatic shape of the door flew by, this is a very muted room. Ifthere had been lots of colours I'd have probably got dizzy! When my feet landed onthe floor I was giggly. Then he made me do it again – this time backwards. Isat facing his feet and leant backwards. Anyone who has ever done that trustexercise of falling backwards will understand that I felt elated and ridiculousat the same time. At the end I wasgiggling and amazed, as much by the fact that I had done it and enjoyed it asby the experience itself. He sat me down on thefloor and washed me all over, including my hair with orange flower blossomproducts. When we were all done he rough dried my hair, tied my dressing gownup for me and told me I'd sleep like a baby that night. I sat down for a whileon the bench by the pool, until the lady masseur came to find me and give me myfinal relaxing massage (ditching my wet bikini). Would I do it again?I'm not sure if it's a regular one for me, or a once in a lifetime (our taxidriver said it should be twice a week!) and I don't think it would be foreveryone. When she’d finished she left me alone in the room so that I couldfully relax - and it was so hard to get up when she did come back! While my masseur describedthe usual local hammam, gommage and massage as "for the tourists"there's something lovely about that experience too, and certainly one I wouldrecommend.  But I am so glad that Itried the tkissila too. It was certainly an eye opener and a new level ofexperience for me.