http://www.thecnj.co.uk/westend/2009/091109/wnews091109_09.html

West End Extra - by JAMIE WELHAM

Published: 11 September 2009

SHMEISSING might sound like a medieval torture technique but nobody would ever
knowingly pay to be hurt... would they?

The Jewish massage technique, which translates from the Yiddish as “beat”,
is nothing less than the “Rolls-Royce of massage” according to Lee Balch,
the UK’s only licensed shmeisser.

It involves being lathered in soap, vigorously rubbed and then beaten with a
rafia brush, all the time laying derobed in a steam room ratcheted up to 55C.

The shmeisse is completed with a heart-stopping plunge into a cold bath. It
sounds brutal, but a limber and refreshed West End Extra can attest it really
isn’t. The technique was brought to the capital by eastern European jews at
the turn of the century as a cheap way of getting clean.

Ian Wright, James Cracknell and Damon Albarn are some of Mr Balch’s fans.
“Nobody else can do it because they wouldn’t work in the heat. It takes it
out of me but you will leave feeling incredible,” said Mr Balch.

To arrange a shmeisse visit www.shmeisse.com or call Lee on 07973 218211.

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