By Luis Vazquez
Storm clouds are brewing all around Japan. Missiles from North Korea fly over the country. A tornado is brewing ominously off the coast of Japan on this particular evening. But in the town of Okayama, famous for its fruits and temples, lies another natural treasure that borders on a religious experience. Here behind these safe walls, in an environment of tranquility, another force of nature is exacting a positive force on humanity, one client at a time. She is Hideko Kawanabe, the CEO of the infamous relaxation salon Angelica which just happens to bear the name of the technique that only she is authorized to use.
Hideko brings years of experience to her field and has reversed the thinking of the purpose of massage from one of focus on circulation flow to positional peeling. This is the central theme, honed by years of experimentation, which releases the magic that her clients have sworn by. To them she is not just a masseuse, but a modern day healer.
“As a preparation before applying the massage, I paste cream that I developed on the part of the body where stiffness occurs,” Hideko said, “The cream makes that part soft and increases the effectiveness of the treatment. Then peeling the adhesion of bone and muscle corrects the distortion.”
It’s been quite a journey from that day of destiny when Hideko was a 20-something working for Max Factor where she came across an article in a magazine that spoke about how people were obese due to distortions in the body. Before that she was a practitioner of facials mainly but her interest was soon diverted to body massage.
“It said that if people have distortion in the body he or she tends to be fat,” Kawanabe explained, “I wanted to learn body massage so I spent six hours only in group training.”
Hideko worked and took additional training but time was limited. But located near a hot springs she found demand for body massage to be exceedingly high and offered opportunities to work on this theory of working on distortions to benefit people by improving health and by extension beauty.
“This massage called the “angelica technique” I developed myself through trial and error and is trademarked and can only be practiced by me or my students. There is no one else in the world who has this same treatment. ” Kawanabe said.
Everyone wants to be free of pain and numbness especially as we get older. For Hideko she keeps her slim figure taut through dance, a very close second love she has pursued for thirty years. Her appreciation of the dancer and the knowledge that each body part plays in this physical art provides close parallels to people who work many hours and travel in crowded transportation which aggravates injured body parts and allows new ones to flare up. Hideko gave three cases earlier this year where she was able to alleviate pain from these specific issues, one with hip, another with limbs and finally one with a uterus problem.
“The first person was born with hip joint trouble with pain when she was walking or stretching out. She needed a cane and many kinds of pain relievers,” Kawanabe said, “After my treatment , she was ale to walk normally without cane or medicines.”
“The next customer is a grandmother who had swollen limbs with hands that could not grasp things and rheumatism in her legs that made it difficult to walk,” Kawanabe said, “After my treatment not only did these conditions get alleviated but she now she runs forwards and backwards, plays badminton and enjoys time with her grandchildren on holidays.”
“The third case is the most serious condition. She refused an operation to remove a disease from her uterus because of failed cataract surgery in the past and cervical cancer surgery which caused the entrance to the uterine ostium to close, denying waste to be excreted,” said Kawanabe, “This took twenty practices where she was able to walk 200 steps. A lump in the base of her leg was my first experience and terrified me personally. But I stayed true to the method locating an adhesion of the pelvis. By peeling this the leg which only rose 10 cm before now sees the foot rise to the height of the waist at the knees.”
Hideko, armed with real world success in healing many ailments using her technique, is looking to expand her practice to the United States and in New York City in particular. She noted that massage patients are treated with kid gloves and that being exposed to her methods of massage the truth of it’s effectiveness will be seen clearly by New Yorkers who recognize top quality when they experience it.
“My intuition tells me to go to New York. I feel they have been waiting for me. They are number one, so if I become the best therapist there I am number one in the world,” Kawanabe said, “I think that oriental massage including Japanese one is characterized by pushing strongly but Western massage is featured by gentle strokes. I push the body parts quite strongly and New Yorker’s have the ability to choose excellent ones and have the generosity to spread it.”
Hideko never stops learning. She continues to enhance what she has and continues to teach the process to students with the desire to treat people who suffer from ailments that have solutions. The goal is two-fold for Hideko. To become famous as a massage specialist and to provide outstanding results.
“I am eager to release people from all over the world from suffering from pain and numbness as soon as possible,” Hideko wishes.
One gets the sense that her “angelica technique” practiced solely by her and her students will soon become a therapeutic staple of health once it lands on our shows. After all sure hands grasp all concepts. For more: http://angelica-technic.com.
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