LAYA COUTINHO
Hi, I'm Laya, I'm Dutch and the mother of a wonderful boy.
Caring for others always came easy to me. In my early 20’s I took care of elderly and handicapped people for 6 years. Without much experience I was naturally good at the job and it gave me the freedom to travel. Traveling for me was a big part of my education, living in different cultures and meeting different people.
When I was 19 I did my first massage course in India. My teacher was this tiny Indian lady of almost 70, her name was Kusum. she was incredible. She practiced yoga every day and was amazingly strong. She thought me a massage technique with lots of stretches practiced on the floor done with hands and feet, warm oils and Ayurvedic powders.
It was Kusum who encouraged me to start giving massage, she told me I was a naturally good at it and should keep practicing.
A few years later I did another training of Ayurvedic deep tissue massage in Pune, India and realized this is what I want to work with. This is still the real base of my massage today, working deeply with hands arms and elbows. When I was 24 I moved to Barcelona to be with Ivo. I started working professionally with massage and complemented my studies with a beautician course and later therapeutic massage. Along the way I have learned many techniques with Bambu sticks, sea shells, hot stones, cristal balls and more. But for me there is nothing like working with my hands. Giving massage for me is a meditation, it’s something that flows, and brings me to moments of stillness, this stillness I like to transmit to my clients to relax on a muscular level with deep tissue work but also to help reach that state of mind of total relaxation, the “time out” a moment of floating and being in another time and space.
IVO CRISTOFORETTI RODRIGUEZ
Hi, im Ivo, I live with my partner Laya and our little one Kai in a charming little town of Mallorca called Búger. In my childhood I traveled and lived in diferent places, and I always had the capacity to merge in like a chameleon and quickly feel I belong. Being open, emphatical, talking to people and making friends somehow comes easy to me. As a student, in the jobs I've had before becoming a bodyworker, the ones I enjoyed most and felt I was a natural for, generally had to do with working with people.
Out of curiosity I did a massage training in 2007 where I certified in Chiromassage at the Heilpraktiker Institue, Barcelona. It was a tough study at first but I developed a real interest in all the physiology and Anatomy of the body and got very excited to learn more.
The years after I continued training in Shiatsu Namikoshi and Shiatsu Masunaga, ISMET, Barcelona 2008-2010. During that time I also certified in a Superior Massage Techniques course which included: Sportive Massage, Neurosedative Massage, Streching techniques, Tapping and Ciriax, ISMET, Barcelona. In 2013 I Certified in Craneosacral in Biodynamics. Spanish Institute of Craneosacral in Biodynamics, Barcelona.
In 2014 my partner Laya and I came to Mallorca to take over Purozen a company running Wellness and Massage Services for Hotels. We are grateful it´s been successfully running for more than 7 years, receiving great feedbacks from our clients and feeling that our work is special. It has also given us the opportunity to train our own employees, to explore and transmit the essence of our own massage.
It´s interesting to see how every time I learn something new it takes time and practice to integrate. Then it becomes part of the spectrum of resources and possibilities which you can use with one or other clients depending on their needs at that moment.
With experience, you start to trust your intuition and there is a possibility to perceive before assuming. It´s important to feel the client, what does this person need most now. Observing and asking the client how they feel, what they´re going through, what they would like from the massage, can orientate the session to a much more profound nourishment.
I like to feel relaxed and connected to my center, to be grounded, to use the knowledge I have about the body and follow my intuition, to trust that I can help. I feel honored to create a space to help you. My energy is positive and abundant. It awakens and grows when I move it. I love my work because I move my energy.