Pangaea are delighted to announce that we have just opened a new beauty room in the Camden Court, Dublin 2. Please call    01 478 9137  if you wish to make an equiry or a booking.

 

 

 

Pangaea has been covered in the press many times. Have a look at the slideshow to see us!

 

 

 

 

Fit to be tried: Thai Massage

By Amanda Phelan Irish Independent

Monday February 01 2010

The Verdict:

 

DID IT WORK: Stretched the joints

PLUSES: Energising and getting the blood flowing

COST: One hour is €65

 

CONTACT: Pangaea Spa, Sutton, Dublin. Tel: 01-8324999. WWW.Pangaea.ie

Or any trained massage Therapists. It takes four years to qualify

 

 

IT says something about our emerging multicultural society that here I am, laid out on the floor of a north Dublin salon, with a beautiful woman from Mauritius pushing her bare feet hard into my thighs in an ancient ritual hailing from Thailand.

But between us, the combination of Irish, Mauritian and Thai influences work well to achieve a mix of relaxation, stretching and exercise that challenges your flexibility and improves your blood flow.

Thai massage is different to what you might expect from the traditional Western oil-and-rub experience.

For a start, there's no oil, and no rubbing or kneading and you soon discover why the literal translation for this treatment means 'Thai yoga'.

The therapy uses weight and leverage to move and stretch your body -- front, side, back and sitting.

"People are a bit dubious at first because it's very different, but they usually enjoy it and find it improves their ability to stretch and therefore relax," says Keelin, the owner of Pangaea.

My therapist sticks to traditional Thai massage on a specially designed mat placed on the ground, and doesn't compromise by Westernising the process.

For example, she employs her feet to do much of the work as in this massage it's normal to walk on clients' backs.

But my Masseuse is so deft, you can only tell the difference between her use of feet and hands by sneaking a peek from your comfy position on the floor.

The treatment starts off with a pleasant salt rub on your feet. Then it's time to don loose cotton pyjamas and the real work begins. The treatment works along the body's meridians (energy lines), says my Therapist.

She uses a combination of acupressure, joint manipulations, stretches and adjustments to release knots and tension and free blockages.

And you do plenty of the work as she helps you stretch and bend.

Some of the moves are quite tough -- like a challenging yoga class. My Therapist gets you to lie on your stomach face down while she grasps your hands and you hold on tight to her small wrists while she pulls you up into an arched bow shape.

Another move involves lying on your back, arms outstretched, as each leg is stretched over to the opposite side of your body across your tummy, shoulders remaining flat.

Hamstrings are also stretched right out, as well as hips.

The whole body gets elongated through a set of exercises and she helps you achieve positions it would be tough to manage solo.

As someone who suffers from a sore shoulder I would have probably liked a bit more done to this area, but to be fair deep tissue work is not the aim of Thai massage.

The treatment, known in Thailand as 'movement education', gets your blood flowing and is very detoxifying.

Although Thai massage therapists here say people were dubious at first, this treatment -- part stretch, part relax, part workout -- is, not surprisingly, a hit, and Pangaea is booked out for the rest of the week.

In Thailand the benefits of this treatment are well established, and the government has even set up an official massage division as part of the Department of Health.

Since our own Government can do nothing to massage our finances into shape, maybe we should follow suit.

It's enough to make you want to head for sunny Thailand -- purely in the interests of research of course.

- Amanda Phelan

Irish Independent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TV NOW REVIEW  Sept 2009 - Deirdre Morrissey

 

 

I spent the day at Pangaea Day Spa and had the most wonderful and relaxing time. Once you enter the door of the Spa in Sutton the Tibetan inspired décor and relaxing Eastern music immediately transports you to a Zen world of holistic healing. The owner Keelin is warm, friendly and full of smiles. I received the Catiolift facial (a fantastic non-surgical facelift). The Catiolift machine lifts and tones each muscle, it has a galvanic current that can draw hydration 20 times deeper into the cells. Leaving your skin vibrant, glowing and so hydrated that you can enjoy a tipple without the guilt later on! I finished off my day of pampering, upstairs, in their cool New York style nail and juice bar. I talked and laughed with some girlfriends who were chilling out on the couch in the juice bar while my hands were given the mask and hot wax treatment. My hands never felt so soft and silky. The nail technician then applied a lick of red paint and I was set for a night on the town!

http://www.independent.ie/health/diet-fitness/fit-to-be-tried-medipedi-1818939.html

• Medi Pedi Review - Irish Independent 2009

 

 

Fit to be tried: Medi-pedi

Irish Independent  - Monday July 13 2009

 

By Amanda Phelan

 WITH the warm weather finally here, and our levels of exercise and outdoor activity hopefully increasing, spare a thought for the part of your body that takes the full force of almost everything you do -- your feet.

When it comes to foot care, a relatively new kid on the block is the Medi-Pedi, an upmarket alternative to your standard pedicure.

Therapists are trained to carry out this one-hour foot treatment using an alkaline solution and a herbal cream that is said to cure problems ranging from athlete's foot to hard skin build-up.

Keelin Murphy, of Pangaea Salon in Sutton, north Dublin, and Camden Court in the city, says:

"The Medi-Pedi approach is especially good for people who do sports, as any exercise really hits your feet, and we all tend to run and walk a lot more during the summer.

"We use an alkaline solution that temporarily raises the pH of the skin, to kill the hard dead skin."

The results will knock your socks off, says Ms Murphy.

At least 40pc of her Medi-Pedi customers are men. Besides the warm weather, her business is helped by the growing popularity of the sandals and flip-flops favoured by the Irish male.

Exposed toes are now de rigueur -- pay a visit to any shoe shop and you'll find sports sandals, all-terrain sandals and sandals with names like the Wraptor alongside flip-flops and Birkenstocks.

In fact, open shoes have become so popular that anti-sandal bloggers feel the need to argue their point. Sandals are "the shoe god never finished, for the men who don't care", splutters one.

Ms Murphy says many men show up with their feet in "terrible condition", suffering from problems such as dirty toes, diseased nails, verrucas, bunions, callouses and corns. "Men really don't know how to look after their feet, and they often feel self-conscious about it," she explains.

But at least men don't have to wear high heels -- a punishment that makes plenty of women fans of the Medi-Pedi process as well.

The exfoliation and wheatgerm oil restore your twinkle toes and gently eliminate stubborn deposits of hard skin, she says.

The Medi-Pedi is a less brutal procedure than the standard pedicure -- for example, there's no razoring.

The treatment cleans your feet, rubs off the dead skin and shapes your nails into a gleaming perfection that would even have pleased that old foot fetishist Sigmund Freud, who claimed we're all obsessed with our feet because they're the first thing we see when we're newborn.

Trying out the Medi Pedi treatment for the first time is a pleasant experience. Foot therapist Niamh leads me to a scented and darkened alcove, where she immerses my feet in soothing warm water imbued with salts and the alkaline wash solution.

She rubs a blend of creams into the hardened and calloused skin I have built up from jogging, and massages my feet firmly.

Then they're wrapped up in warm cloth and left to absorb an anti-fungal herbal blend.

The wraps are removed, and a surprising and yucky amount of dead skin just falls away as Niamh briskly rubs off the medical concoction.

The end result is baby-smooth feet that would have made Freud proud. Franklin Roosevelt once said a radical is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air.

When you've had a Medi-Pedi, you'll be happy to plant your feet anywhere.

- Amanda Phelan

• Social And Personal - September 09 Issue

ASK ELAINE
 
Dear Elaine,
I have been really stressed out lately and my skin is in bad need of a facial, I would love to get away for a Spa break  but I don’t have the time.
Can you make a suggestion?
 
Dear Reader,
 
Check out the Mary Cohr facial which brightens the skin, works on any imperfections - ie regulates oily skin, hydrates dehydrated etc, whilst also providing a collagen and Vit C boost .

The facial includes an organic footscrub, some head, arm and shoulder massage and an eyebrow shape, so take a couple of hours out and treat yourself all for 80.00 Euro at
Pangaea Day Spa, 15 howth Road, Sutton, Dublin 13. Tel: 01 8324999.
Elaine