If You Can’t Stand Snakes, You’re Not Cut Out For This Specialty Massage

@yijsgram

If you had to rate your bravery on a scale of one to lying-under-a-pile-of-snakes, where would you fall?

We’ve heard of a number of interesting massages, but this one just might take the cake. Snake massages (or serpent massages, as they’re alternatively called) are real, and you can get one… if you dare.

Snake massages were originally popular in Indonesia and the Philippines, but they have found their way into other countries like Israel and Russia. During the massage, masseuses drape a snake or multiple snakes onto your body, allowing them to wrap around you and slightly constrict your muscles in order to “relax” you.

The snakes can weigh up to 500 pounds, and many parlors claim that their snakes are trained specifically not to hurt patrons, though we’re still skeptical.

A post shared by JIE SHEN (@yijsgram) on May 24, 2016 at 11:26am PDT

So, why would anyone do this? Some sources say the constriction technique that snakes use can spiritually heal you while others claim that the adrenaline rush you feel from your fear of snakes can restart your metabolism. Some sources even suggest that the massage can help reduce symptoms of depression.

As much as we’d love to believe all of these wonderful benefits, we’re not sure we’ll ever seek out a serpent massage in our lifetimes. But to the believers out there, we say talk to us when you have some hard evidence that putting snakes on our bodies will add 10 years to our lives. Maybe then we’ll be interested.