[saaspirant]

I am very late to the party but the first exercise you are mentioning is popular in my district in South India. It is done by elders to relatively young people with stomach issues, vomiting etc. In Tamil, it is called "Rubbing the intestine". My grandma used to do that to me when I was a kid. I had always assumed it was a superstitious pseudo-xxx stuff. I am humbled and amazed by the fact that the same procedure was rediscovered by someone from the other part of the world years later.