Avicenna Massage and Naturopathy
Where ancient wisdom meets modern science
Our aim is to provide accessible, practical and effective natural health care while maintaining the highest professional qualifications and standards. Avicenna provides unique treatment options, highly experienced and qualified staff and offers only the best scientifically proven products.
At Avicenna we believe that health care should be attainable to everyone, and as well as taking care of the immediate problems we should always have the long view in mind no matter what the current fads are, simply because your health really is for the rest of your life.
NATUROPATHY
Modern naturopathy is the culmination of thousands of years of western and eastern medicine, of ancient practices and of current and ever growing scientific research. Using herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, flower essences and dietary and lifestyle advice a naturopath will work with you to treat you as a whole person, not just your symptoms.
A naturopath will spend at least an hour with you initially to take a full case, perform diagnostic tests, examine the skin, nails and tongue and perform iridology. From there a naturopath will negotiate an approachable treatment plan with you, the client, which will incorporate remedies for the immediate problem as well as treat the underlying causes and then recommending measures that can be taken to improve and maintain the health long term.
MASSAGE THERAPY
Avicenna offers a range of massage techniques, read in more detail below or speak with your therapist.
- Remedial Massage
- Deep Tissue Massage
- Aromatherapy
- Swedish Massage
- Cupping
- Russian Cupping
- Facial Cupping
- Reflexology
- Hawaiian Lomi Lomi
- Heated & Chilled Stone
- Pregnancy Massage
- Lymphatic Drainage
This form of massage is used to rectify specific problems, such as injury, infirmity or pain by using physical assessment and orthopaedic tests to isolate problem areas. From this information, a treatment strategy targeted specifically at individual muscle groups that are causing the problem is devised.
Rachel has a lot of experience in alleviating a wide range of problems, such as sciatica, bursitis, hip problems and rotator cuff issues. Her specialty is in relieving headaches and migraines.
A firm style of massage aimed at relieving muscle stiffness and soreness and increasing range of motion. This style is very good for re-balancing the posture and is a much more general treatment than remedial massage. When the posture is corrected and balanced, the muscles relaxed, the nerves are not compressed, the bones are sitting in their correct alignment and it is much more difficult for problems such as bursitis or headaches to occur.
Involves the use of therapeutic grade essential to alter a person’s mood, cognitive, psychological or physical wellbeing. Rachel has a special passion for and a lot of experience with using aromatherapy day to day after working for an aromatherapy company for years. Once the desired outcome has been established, be it relaxation, energisation, improved digestion, relieving muscle soreness or any of a number of other maladies, several essential oils are selected and combined to be used in a massage oil, vaporised in the room, in a hot face compress or in a cream for personal use after the treatment.
A classical, flowing form of massage using a variety of gentle to vigorous techniques that aims to loosen muscles, boost circulation and induce deep relaxation through both active and passive exercise of the muscles and joints. Swedish massage has been found to be beneficial in reducing pain and joint stiffness.
Cupping is a style of treatment that has been used all over the world since at least Ancient Greek times and likely much earlier. Most traditionally, glass cups and a flame are used to create a vacuum on the skin, stretching out muscle and tissue and relieving muscular aches and soreness. They have been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating illnesses such as colds and flus, bronchitis, low energy and many, many others. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, glass cups are used to stimulate different points on the energy meridians (also used in acupuncture) and each condition has a specific routine, meaning the cups will only be applied in certain places for a certain length of time.
More recently, silicone cups have started being used. Silicone cups are excellent to use in a normal massage treatment to get rid of particularly stubborn knots in the muscle. They really shine when used to treat old injuries that still restrict movement now and when there is a need for improved range of motion and flexibility.
Russian cupping is a speciality at Avicenna, and while it was developed over in Russia to treat great big burly guys it can be modified to treat anyone. Glass cups are heated and used in a gentle sliding massage all over the back, relieving muscular aches and tension and promoting relaxation. This can be performed in just twenty minutes, or you could choose the more popular extended treatment, where the Russian cupping technique is followed with a more traditional Chinese treatment. Stationary glass cups are heated and applied to specific areas on the back and left in place while a shiatsu-style massage is performed down the legs to ground your energy and further relieve the tension in your shoulders.
Another unique and exciting new Avicenna speciality is facial cupping, which has been performed in Russia and China for over a thousand years. A very gentle, relaxing treatment using tiny glass cups that can be used to stimulate the lymphatic system, helping to reduce sinus inflammation. It is also great for those who suffer from frontal and temporal headaches, those who grit their teeth and grind their jaw, and has been found to have an anti-ageing effect through collagen stimulation.
In the clinic I’ve had fantastic results already for relieving excruciating facial nerve pain and improving the pliability of facial scarring.
Even better, I’ve developed a deluxe facial cupping treatment that also incorporates cleansing, exfoliation, a mask, thorough hydration with a specially formulated facial oil, toning mist and moisturiser.
Reflexology is a very relaxing form of treatment that involves the stimulation of the reflex points of the feet (which contain over four hundred nerve endings) in order to promote relaxation, improve digestion, relieve pain and return the body to a point of balance that will have you walking on air. Incorporate it into your normal massage or experience it as a treatment that truly does stand alone.
Involves the stimulation of the reflex points of the feet (which contain over 400 nerve endings) in order to promote relaxation, improved digestion and pain relief in order to return the body to a point of homeostasis and balance.
Sail away to a sun-drenched paradise… or experience the next best thing with a Lomi Lomi massage, which has its origins as a deeply spiritual healing practice of the Polynesian people. The entire massage is carried out in a series of long, gentle flowing strokes as the therapist mimics the motion of waves. Part relaxation, part lymphatic drainage and part energy healing, allow Lomi Lomi to bring you back to a harmonious state where you are at one with the universe.
As indulgent as our incredible Lomi Lomi massage, special stones are heated to seventy degrees and left in place on a towel or held in the hands of the therapist while they perform the massage. Used for deep, decadent relaxation or as a form of deep tissue massage where the heat is used specifically to ease the tension out of muscles.
Why not try our fire and ice combination? Rachel will use heated stones and chilled stones at the same time to mimic a healing practice called hydrotherapy that has been used all over the world in many different cultures since ancient times. Hydrotherapy invigorates and boosts circulation by causing the blood vessels to open and close very quickly. It is also extremely good for relaxing the muscles and easing pain.
Special stones are heated to seventy degrees and used in a blissful relaxation massage experience, or they can be used as a form of deep tissue massage where the heat is used specifically to ease the tension out of the muscles.
Why not add an element of hydrotherapy to your massage and experience hot and icy cold stones used at the same time for a boost to your circulation?
For any pregnant woman after the first trimester of pregnancy. Pregnancy massage is ideal for pampering or for the treatment of specific problems such as sciatica. Make time just for you on our brand new specifically-designed pregnancy massage table and be massaged with our delightful pure organic cold-pressed coconut oil.
For any pregnant woman after the first trimester. For relaxation or the treatment of specific problems common during pregnancy, such as sciatica. Using a brand new specifically designed pregnancy massage table and organic cold-pressed coconut oil.
Is a very gentle form of massage that aims to encourage the circulation of the lymphatic system, the majority of which is located directly below the surface of the skin. Lymphatic drainage massage is very good for promoting detoxification, reducing inflammation such as in cases of injury, sinusitis or hayfever and for reducing excess water retention.
Is a very gentle form of massage that aims to encourage the circulation of the lymphatic system (the majority of which is located directly underneath the skin). This is very good for promoting detoxification, reducing inflammation and for reducing excessive fluid retention.
ABOUT RACHEL
Rachel first dreamed of being a natural health practitioner with her own clinic when she was sixteen. Ever since then almost every move she’s made has led her further down that path, from school work experience, to volunteering in a day respite centre massaging disabled people, to working in retail for an aromatherapy company, for a chemist and for a health food shop.
Rachel enrolled in the Australian College of Natural Medicine, studied her Certificate IV in Remedial Massage in 2001, completed her Bachelor Degree in Health Science (Naturopathy) and Advanced Diploma in Health Science (Naturopathy) in 2007, upgraded her massage qualifications at the Q Academy of Massage to a Diploma of Remedial Massage in 2012 and attained the Advanced Certificate of Integrated Cupping Therapy in 2015. She is a member of the Australian Natural Therapists Association and the Australian Association of Massage Therapists.
Rachel has been active locally as a massage therapist full time since 2009 and in that time has collected a wealth of new skills and really honed her talents in the treatment room. Of late, she’s really been enjoying inventing new treatment protocols that combine all of her knowledge rather than purely utilising one modality at a time.
Rachel is also passionate about the arts, attending as many events as she can but participating far less than she would like to. She’s had a successful solo show and won a couple of awards. Rachel also likes to spend as much time as possible in her garden, mostly growing medicinal herbs just as thousands of years of herbalists before her.

WHY AVICENNA?
Avicenna (Ibn-Sīnā) was an 11th century Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher and doctor. He quite literally wrote the book on medicine (the Canon of Medicine) that was taught all over the western world until 1650. It is especially known for its description of contagious diseases, the concept of quarantine, hygiene, diabetes and the testing of medicines.
Avicenna has especially been credited with the perfection of the distillation process (which took over a hundred years). Avicenna invented the refrigerator coil, something which is still used today for distilling things like alcohol and you would have seen it in your high school science class. Basically, an impure substance is boiled in water, the steam is forced through a coiled glass tube (coiled glass having the greatest surface area). In order to make the steam condense into a liquid again, only without impurities which are too heavy to turn into steam this time, the coiled glass is cooled by a constant supply of running cold water.
Avicenna used this technique to be the first person to extract the essential oils from plant material, specifically Rosa centifolia. Rose oil up to that point had only been usable if the petals were suspended in beeswax.
Not only this, he was a big fan of promoting healthy living through a healthy diet and exercise. He was definitely a modern naturopath’s kind of guy.
