Latest news with #ASMR-based
The Citizen
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
WATCH: TikTok ASMR trend heads to the massage studio in SA
ASMR treatment includes gentle touch, soundscapes and energy work. Imagine a massage that was spawned in a viral universe where whispering, chewing crackly snacks and tapping or slurping through straws reign supreme. ASMR, short for autonomous sensory meridian response, has now hopped across the digital sphere to a real-world experience – and it's now leapt across the Atlantic to Mzansi. An ASMR massage is designed to soothe frayed nervous systems through touch, breath, sensory experiences and ambient sound. Ann-Marie Viviers, founder of Heavenly Healing, has introduced what she believes is one of the first ASMR-based massage treatments in South Africa. Her method is inspired by the online trend that has captivated millions of people looking for calm in distraction in an increasingly messy world. 'It is not just a massage,' said Viviers. 'It is a controlled sensory environment. You are surrounded by soft thunder, rain sounds and intuitive touch. It is designed to quiet the noise that most people carry in their heads.' The treatment includes slow, gentle touch, carefully selected soundscapes, energy work, and ritual elements that blend ceremony and therapy in a single moment. Watch an ASMR massage: Sessions, she said, begin with a mist of water infused with crystals such as selenite and clear quartz, left to charge under the moon. Clients choose the sound palette for their session from rainfall, rustling leaves, to distant thunder, which plays softly in the background. The massage itself involves barely-there brushing using feathers, silk or soft-textured fabric. 'Stones like larimar or amethyst are placed gently on or around the body to support grounding or emotional release.' ALSO READ: 7 things people say to sound deep on Instagram 'There is a softness to this kind of massage that helps people feel seen without needing to speak,' Viviers said. 'Every sound and every touch is chosen to help the body settle and the mind find stillness. It is not about knots or pressure points. It is about emotional reset.' Full body and spirit experience Viviers said it is a full-body and full-spirit experience. 'It is sensual in the sense of being fully present in your senses. Some clients describe it as a spiritual return to themselves. You come in scattered and leave whole.' Psychologist and medical doctor Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys said the popularity of ASMR content online, and now in real-life experiences, represents a move toward sensory-based therapies. 'People are turning to experiences that bypass the brain's usual defences,' he said. 'ASMR works with soft, repetitive, predictable input. The brain reads that as safety. That brings the nervous system down from a constant state of alert.' Dr Redelinghuys said ASMR, once considered internet novelty, has proven its staying power. 'We are overstimulated, overworked and interrupted constantly. ASMR offers a very different kind of presence. Whether it is online or in person, people are responding to that.' Possible reduction in anxiety Clinical research on ASMR is still in its early stages, but existing studies point to reduced anxiety, lower heart rate and improved sleep in individuals who respond to the stimuli. Dr Redelinghuys said it is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but it is meaningful for those who experience the effect. 'This kind of massage is not therapy in the traditional sense, but it is therapeutic,' he said. 'It brings people back into their bodies. That alone can be healing.' Viviers said the treatment has attracted people who do not always feel comfortable with conventional massage. 'Some clients have trauma, some struggle with overstimulation, some just want a way to feel without having to talk. This gives them that.' Sessions typically last between one and one and a half hours and are structured around presence rather than outcome. 'We are not trying to fix anything,' Viviers said. 'We are creating a pause, a space where someone can just be. From the moment the mist goes into the air to the final breath of the session, it is about stillness.' Dr Redelinghuys said the use of ASMR in wellness treatments is not surprising. 'Not all healing comes from analysis. Some of it comes from attention and care,' he said. 'If a treatment helps someone feel safe and calm, it matters.' NOW READ: Sangoma: It's not always witchcraft and curses
What's On
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- What's On
Restaurant review: Gigi Dubai, is this St. Tropez stunner the queen of Dubai's beach club scene?
Have you been yet? When Dubai finds a hospitality niche that proves popular with the people, the city's community of restauranters, entrepreneurs and plucky F&B gold rush prospectors waste no time in rolling out the blueprints and applying the key mandate of economic philosopher, DJ Khaled. 'And another one'. We've seen it with smashed patty burger bars, and I can't find any studies backing this up but I'm confident that if you were to take a quick survey you'd see that there's more square footage of dinner and show venue in Dubai than there is on the whole of the Vegas strip. There are viral chocolate facsimiles by the baker's dozen, a playful proliferation of axe-throwing and mini golf bars, and a scandalous quantity of secret speakeasies. But if there's one corner of this market that Dubai has truly made its own, to an extent beyond comparison, it's Beach clubs. Amongst the sandy blizzard of fresh shoreline sun traps that made landfall last year, J1 Beach – replacing what was formally the La Mer complex, in Jumeirah 1 – had to be amongst the most captivating. 13 (almost uniquely bohemia-inspired) bars and beach clubs, stacked up in one luxury leisure district. It's a Disneyland for the sunnies and sushi set. That's some fierce commercial competition, It's also a lot of consumer choice. So where should discerning daycationers be spending their flop and drop dirhams? There are venues that are stronger on nightlife, some that have focused on their food offering and others that have committed themselves to the exclusivity proposition. But for me, whether you're going solo, as part of couple, a group of friends or as a family, Gigi Dubai is a glittery, elegant, wholly magnificent outlier. Fair warning though, it's priced accordingly. It's a concept imported from that Edenic spring of beach club bliss, St. Tropez – run here by zero-miss custodians, Rikas Hospitality Group. Gigi (intermittently referred to as Gigi Rigolatto) is the anthropomorphised spirit of Cote D'Azur glamour, a trust fund countess who beckons with a single bronzed finger, bidding you to come and take sophisticated sips at the Bellini Bar, shelter from the swelter in the adults-only pool, pack the kids off to the Circus (that's the kids club, though you do you), comandeer a beach cabana, or just enjoy the assorted dining delights from what might actually be the best new Italian menu in Dubai. That's a bold claim, so let's focus on the restaurant component. My eight-year-old son, Maverick, is the food critic I pay the most attention to in Dubai, and that's only partly because of the dire consequences of feeding him a bad meal. His review of the children's margarita pizza, was essentially a staccato collection of gratified grunts followed by a chef's kiss salute. I tried it, and can authenticate the ASMR-based five-star rating. We started with calamari (Dhs95), ricciola (a yellowtail carpaccio, Dhs170) and melanzane alla parmigiana(Dhs95). I've already shared a spoiler for how good the food is, but the bubbling, pastoral, fondant eggplant parmesan is the stuff of raw umami fever dreams, both music and muse, rhythm and Adriatic blues. Allora , the mains. This was my turn to make muted affirmations and euphemistic eye rolls. We had the polipo alla griglia (Dhs300) and a black angus tagliata di filetto (Dhs330), not appearing in our budget eats round-ups anytime soon, but certainly living in my head rent free for perpetuity. I've actually visited the Gigi on France's Cote D'Azure, and if you asked me to pick the better kitchen from my limited exposure, it's absolutely the one in Dubai. Faultless fare. The flavour of your experience of Gigi Dubai will be accented by the syrup of where you choose to sequester yourself, but it's impossible to find an angle that's anything less than sublime. Supine on the sundeck of the pool oasis, holding court at the bar, or just locked in to a leisurely graze in the restaurant's garden – thematically, dramatically, emphatically – there's atmosphere, detail and ethos in every corner. Gigi Rigolatto, J1 Beach, midday to 1am , pool and beach access: weekdays Dhs300 non-redeemable, weekends Dhs400 non-redeemable. Tel: (0)4 558 2067 @gigi_beach_dubai Verdict: Gigi is the new bench mark for grown-up and family beach club brilliance in Dubai. > Sign up for FREE to get exclusive updates that you are interested in
