Europeans are wimps and usually find Indonesian massage rather painful on first acquaintance. Like Tui Na and Thai massage, however, it is addictive. Tense, shortened muscles and contracted and fibrotic myofascia quickly yield to smooth, deep thumb pushing along the course of each individual muscle. All soft tissue work intuitively follows the courses of the Chinese energy meridians. It is done more briskly than a typical Thai massage but just as thoroughly.
Indonesian manipulations focus very much on the spine and mostly involve spinal twists.
A one hour session of this kind of massage is enough to leave you feeling relaxed, refreshed, rejuvenated and re-energised. It really is powerful medicine. The muscles in our bodies work in teams and never in isolation. The hamstring muscles are a good example of this. All three muscles in this team can flex the knee joint but only one of them can also extend the hip.