My First Massage

I've been thinking about getting a massage for quite some time, and let me tell you, I'm hooked. Hook, line and sinker, people.

First of all, I want to pronounce it as the Brits do (MASS-azjh). Secondly, never in my life has a massage sounded like something I'd want to subject myself to, until I started getting older and my poor muscles began to rebel against basic movements. The thought of someone else squeezing and rubbing all over me was just not appealing.

But. This summer. There has been so much stress with trying to sell the house, and I've pushed my muscles to the limit with all the working out, and the thought of laying on a table while someone took care of all the knots sounded like just the thing. I may or may not store an inordinate amount of stress in my body.

I asked all my local peeps about where to go, and the consensus was to go to a real spa instead of the local massage chains. It is a bit more expensive, but not much, and I would get the entire spa experience.

It. Was. Awesome.

I am nothing but a noodle and I love it.

The Day Spa

I booked an 80-minute Swedish massage and let them know that this was my first time. When I checked in, they led me to the changing room where I locked up my stuff and changed into the plushest robe ever. Then they led me to my room:

My view from the massage table:

My masseuse left the room to give me privacy to get under the sheets. I had on my sports bra and undies because to me that basically counts as naked. But she asked me to take off the sports bra (she left the room again) because the massage focuses quite a bit on the shoulder blades and back. The whole thing was very professional and comfortable. The parts of my body she was not working on were always covered up.

I started face-down while she worked on the unbelievable amount of knots in my neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, and upper back. She says that people make repetitive movements all the time, even just sitting at a computer all day, and the muscles will naturally build up lactic acid, and it's good to flush that out of your system regularly. And, of course, when we work out, we build up all kinds of acid that is only partially handled by foam rolling. After all, you can't (at least I can't) foam roll everything.

At times it was painful, but overall it was a really pleasant experience. Music played lightly in the background, the oils smelled wonderful, and we didn't talk. I was able to relax and just go with what she was doing. I asked her to focus mostly on my legs because of all the running, hiking, walking, lunging, squatting, and bicycling of the last couple of months. She altered the Swedish massage into a sports massage for my legs, and I could tell that she knew exactly what she was doing. I was really impressed.

After 40 minutes of laying on my stomach while she worked back and legs, she lifted the cover for me to roll over on my back. She then spent the majority of the time working the front sides of my legs (and my feet), and she finished up with my arms, hands, then my neck and scalp. While I was on my back I had a warm towel under my neck and also on my eyes. This was great because I didn't have to worry about looking around, or making eye contact with her, or even keeping my eyes open at all.

Once we were done, she gave me privacy to put the robe back on, and she met me in the lounge with a glass of water and a glass of champagne. She reminded me (in addition to what my peeps advised me) to drink an enormous amount of water all day to help flush out the toxins. I went into kidney-stone-mode and drank water like a champ. After the champagne, of course.

I realize I look drugged in this picture. It's actually the "best" of a few shots I took. I was extremely relaxed and she had messed up my hair with the scalp massage and I totally didn't care. I was high on life. I sat in the lounge and just chilled for probably a good 20 minutes or so before changing back into reality my clothes.

The lounge. My view from the corner.

Although this was a treat for myself, I will definitely do this again in the future. In fact, I scheduled another massage for mid-semester when I'll want to die a thousand deaths instead of write and grade papers. I'm hoping that the thought of another massage will motivate me to continue working out when the schedule gets cray cray.

Because I didn't work out at all in Arkansas, my body had had a bit of a break. When we got back last week and I started working out again, I was pretty sore. Despite the foam rolling and stretching, I'm usually sore for a couple of days until my body adjusts again. It was in the middle of all this soreness that I got the massage, which can also make your body sore because of the release of all the acid. This was another reason I drank water like a crazy person. And you know what? Today I'm not sore at all! She helped my muscles and I was able to flush out the toxins, and I feel great! I'm sold!

I'm going to start building in a Swedish/Sports massage a few times a year, just to work out the kinks. 

A couple of tips if you're thinking about getting a massage:

(And I realize the irony of giving you tips because I think I'm the last person on Earth to experience this and all of you guys already know the drill. But just in case you want/need a reminder.)

* Don't wear makeup. Your face is shmooshed into the support the entire time you're on your stomach. And the scalp/neck massage will inevitably include parts of your face. The masseuse is working with oil and this would screw up anything you might have had going.

* Don't be attached to your hair style. For the same reasons listed above. Just go with it.

* Schedule your massage for a time when you won't feel rushed. If you're bothering to get one in the first place, go the extra mile and take a portion of the day off. Hire a sitter, take the afternoon off work, bring a book, and let your muscles decompress. You're spending a fair amount of money; you might as well get all the bang for your buck.

* If you're an introvert, go alone. Plenty of peeps like to do this together, but take advantage of 80 whole minutes of not talking or interacting with anyone else.

* Book the longer time offered. Some massages give you the choice of 60 minutes or 80 minutes. Book the longest one. It's not that much more expensive, and it allows you more time to relax on the table. It may sound weird (it did to me until I experienced it), but 60 minutes isn't actually very long when you consider working on about 85% of your body.

* Plan time to relax afterwards. Have a glass of bubbly with all your water. Enjoy how you feel before getting back into the hussle and bussle. This was one of the main reasons my peeps suggested going to an actual spa instead of a chain massage place. And they were right.

* Afterwards, drink a lot of water. Like, liters. Like, more water than you've ever drunk before. Help your body flush out the gunk so that the results of your massage will be productive and long-lasting.

* If you're worried about being sore, take an Epsom salt bath. I'm not a bath person, so I didn't do this, but the masseuse highly suggested it. Instead, I foam rolled a bit more last night while G, L, and I watched TV.

This may have been my first massage, but it will soooooo not be my last. :) Off to do some back to school shopping! The summer is almost over...