When you are feeling all stressed out and need to get that stress out of your system, the first place that comes to your mind is the spa.
When you are at the spa, you give yourself completely to the specialist to give you the best of experience.
However, would you try out a spa that offers snake massages?
According to the spa owner Sawat Sedki, snake massages offer both “physical and emotional” benefits to patrons if they are willing to overcome their fears and submit to the serpentine healing.
Sedki is a snake massage therapist in his spa in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. He says his method of massage improves blood circulation and mental stimulation, the end goal is for people to regain their confidence and strengthen their immune system.
“The physical aim is to improve blood circulation and mental stimulation,” Sedki told Reuters. “And the emotional aim is that it releases endorphins that help with the “happy hormone” that helps people regain confidence and strengthen the immune system.”
What Sedki advertises seems like a good deal for stressed individuals, something the never-ending contemporary work culture has turned almost everyone into. But the slithering movement of one of the world’s most dangerous and feared creatures on our bare backs and faces is definitely a huge physical and mental risk.
Sedki, for massage therapies, applies oil on a patron’s skin and then places the snakes on the patron’s body. According to the report, 28 different species of non-venomous snakes are used, including pythons. The movement on a body is supposed to be relaxing, calming down one’s nerves.
Giant snakes, as well as thin ones, are thought to offer pain relief, soothe migraines and improve blood circulation. One of Sedki’s patrons spoke of a “boost in self-confidence” from the “unreal movement” of the snakes on his body and face.
Snakes were of religious importance to ancient Egyptians. Uraeus, the stylized Egyptian cobra sitting upright on the headgears of ancient pharaohs, was supposed to signify royalty and sovereignty. The protector-goddess Wadjet was symbolized by Uraeus.
But there is no proof that Sedki taps into this ancient mythology for his massage therapy. Indeed, snake massage therapies are not new to our times. In Asia and the Americas, thousands who claim to have undergone the session have hailed the efficacy of snake massage.
Many doctors are skeptical about the benefits of such therapy and say it’s potentially dangerous.
