Shakti Mat New York Times, Acupressure Spike Mat, Swedish Self Massage

"Bed Where Comfort Is Not the Point" - New York Times

new york times spike mat

A sign, left, proclaims a modern Swedish variation of the wood and iron nail bed as “the Christmas gift of the year!” at a store in Stockholm. The modern ones have 4,000 to 8,000 spikes.

By John Tagliabue
Published November 24, 2009

STOCKHOLM — A Hindu spirit is stalking the streets of Stockholm, armed with this Nordic capital’s latest fad: the nail bed.

It is not the wood and iron nail variety used by Hindu fakirs, but instead a modern Swedish variation that usually consists of a light foam rubber pad, covered in cotton sacking and embedded with small, hard plastic disks with sharp little spikes. Modernized or not, it hurts. And the fewer the spikes, the more they hurt.

“It’s quite painful initially,” said Catarina Rolfsdotter-Jansson, 46, a yoga instructor and writer who uses her nail bed almost every day. “The trick is, all the adrenaline rushes, after which you relax and feel nice again.”

When a person stands up after lying on the mat, she said, “the back looks picked at, as if with a fork.” The fad has caught on so rapidly in the past few years that many Swedes are now devotees.

In August, one of the biggest manufacturers of nail mats, Shakti (named for the Hindu fertility goddess), gathered 3,000 people in one of Stockholm’s parks to occupy nail mats placed in the form of the rays of the sun. Most of the group sang mantras while sitting or lying on their mats, thus earning themselves a place in Guinness World Records. But the organizers said that only about 2,500 participants sang, since the remaining 500 fell asleep — a sure sign, they said, of the mats’ relaxing properties.

Of course, as with all health fads, the mats’ salutary effects can be exaggerated, with some people promising cures for everything “from schizophrenia to dandruff,” Ms. Rolfsdotter-Jansson said. But many nail mat users claim relief from sleep problems, migraines and even asthma.

The mats measure about 16 by 28 inches, though they are sometimes larger; contain 4,000 to 8,000 spikes; and range in price from $50 to $115.

The origins of Sweden’s nail mat fad are murky, but what is clear is that it began in the yoga community and later moved into the general population. One of those credited with popularizing the mat is Susanna Lindelöw, 46, who bought a mail order nail mat made in Russia in a desperate attempt to cure severe lower back pain. “I had tried a lot of things: massage, I went to doctors,” Ms. Lindelöw said in a telephone interview. The one she bought, she said, “had small-sized spikes, very many of them.”