Does rose quartz enhance your skincare routine and your life?
Alternative health therapies, like crystal healing, are gaining in popularity, and despite the scepticism, are more popular than ever
Reiki master and crystal healing therapist Sandy Renouf’s room at Balance Health in Central, Hong Kong, is a sanctuary from the chaotic din of the city. It is a space filled with light music, and a table with crystal in different forms, shapes and sizes.
In addition to being a certified massage therapist, Renouf is a hypnotherapist and holistic therapist who “can sense energy”. I discover, before we start the massage, how she makes sure the crystals are cleansed for future customers.
“I clean them with sound,” she says, pointing to a golden Tibetan bowl next to the crystals. Renouf’s crystal massage used light touching and crystal grids on the back. She says she usually chooses crystals that are not porous, adding that the choice depends on the concerns of the customer.
Perhaps because it was just a taster lasting an hour, I came away with half of the effects listed above. I fell asleep during the crystal healing treatment, and Renouf told me that was great because she had just given me a relaxation therapy.
In her book Elemental Energy: Energetic Crystals and Gemstone Rituals for a Beautiful Life, Sjal Skincare founder Kristin Petrovich writes: “Holistically inclined Eastern cultures were among the first to explore the medicinal and therapeutic properties of crystals and gems. Transcriptions from the earliest Indian Vedic texts and Chinese medical books mention crystals and gemstones.
“Ayurveda, the Vedic tradition of naturopathic medicine, describes in great detail how to prepare elixirs, pastes and powders made from gems to balance out the body’s energies, or doshas, while the Chinese used crystals and gemstones in various types of pastes, powders and solutions for topical application.
“Above all other stones, they attributed curative powers to jade, which they used to treat asthma and illnesses related to blood.”
Despite the backlash endured by crystals down the centuries, there has been a resurgence of interest in these stones for health and beauty purposes.
Business-focused news organisation Quartz wrote recently in one of its Obsession newsletters, “Despite damning coverage of the brutal industry and the lack of evidence that they have any effect on human health, enthusiasm for crystals has only grown. In fact, they’ve become a touchstone of the US$4.2 trillion wellness industry, promising an improbable number of benefits.”