I've never had a massage before, what should I expect?
Upon arrival, we will have a short discussion about your goals and challenges before moving into the treatment room. You will be asked to dress down to your comfort level and get under the sheets while I wash my hands and grab any tools I may need.
During the actual massage, draping is employed - meaning that you will be adequately covered everywhere except on the part of you that I am working on. All you will need to do is lay there and focus on relaxing!
After the session, I leave the room to wash my hands again and, after dressing, we will have a short post-session discussion before getting you checked out.
Will it hurt?
It depends! In a Swedish session, there typically is not any pain involved. In a deep tissue/ therapeutic session, pain often can’t be avoided. For many people, there is a pain, but it is a “good pain” that is coinciding with relief.
The unfortunate reality is that sessions have a time limit. It is totally acceptable if someone wants to prioritize not feeling pain during a session, but that typically takes much longer to achieve the desired goals. To be candid about it: If you book for an hour, we can spend that hour on as much or as little of your body as you want. In a standard session, I try to massage every major section of the body. If you want me to spend the entire time on just one leg, I can do that. In medical sessions where I fulfill a prescription from a physician, this is exactly what happens.
All of that said, it is never my goal to hurt you during a session. Sometimes, things may feel painful, but you will never be injured.
Do you have any tips for pain management?
Do your best on your end to be a participant and not a "victim". What I mean by this is that, sometimes, people will try to distract themselves or “run away” from the pain. If I am doing things that hurt and you are trying to get away, then you are a victim on my table and it is unlikely that the massage will be effective.
However, if you are able to be present - to acknowledge the pain, but not to react to it - then, that is when the magic tends to happen. For some, they even try to mentally “lean in” to the pain they are feeling. You can also check in with your body to see where else you may be tensing up to try to cope with the pain being felt. The most common locations that people tense up are with the glutes, the jaw, and the eyebrows. If you feel pain during a session, try your best to not give in to the instinctual reaction of “fighting back” (tensing up) and instead check in with the rest of your body and relax tension where it is happening away from where I am working.
Remember that massage therapy is something that you participate in and is not something that is done to you. Just as mental health therapy is not an antagonistic relationship in which the therapist forces you to overcome challenges, neither is massage therapy. We work together and I am merely here to help you to heal how you need to. It is on you to “open up” your body to me just as you would “open up” your mind to a mental health therapist. It is on me to instill the confidence in you that you will be taken care of when you do open up and I do my best to ensure that I can perform that duty I have to you.
It is perfectly ok if we cannot get you to that space on the first try. As said earlier, trust can often take time to manifest. There are no judgments - I’ll be here for you when you are ready.
What is expected of me during a session?
Not a whole lot! Primarily, you will need to do your best to allow yourself to relax. The people who get the most out of a session with me are adept at surrendering during the session. This can be a big ask for some and that’s understandable! It is completely natural to need to develop trust before allowing yourself to be in a vulnerable position. I do my best to provide whatever is needed to instill confidence in you that you are in good hands and are in a safe space so that you can relax with me. Because you can. I’ve got you :)
When should I come back? How often?
Most want to see me regularly as part of their self-care routine. To this end, some people see me weekly, some every other week, and some do monthly sessions. There’s no real right or wrong answer here. Someone struggling with anxiety or depression will determine how often they come to see me based on how intense those struggles get between sessions. Someone with a physically demanding lifestyle, likewise, will determine how often they come to see me based on how intense their joint and muscular pain and tightness get between sessions.
The only consistent recommendation I give after the initial session is to see me again for another session in two weeks to reassess progress made and what goals you have and if they’ve changed. For some people, they come in because they have something specific they are trying to get resolved and we may get it taken care of with just one session. For others, it may take a few sessions.
It is unlikely that I will tell you to not book another session if you want to (unless I think you need to see a physician first for whatever reason), but I will never pressure you to do something that you don’t want to.
What should I expect during my deep tissue/ therapeutic session?
Every session booked will have a consultation before we begin to go over your goals and challenges you listed on your paperwork. It is important to take the paperwork seriously as I need the information provided to help me understand how to help you better. I use a 3d anatomy program that we look at together to help pinpoint where the actual issues are before we begin the massage session.
After the consultation, we will proceed to the treatment room in which you will be asked to dress down to your comfort level and get under the sheets while I wash my hands and grab any tools I may need.
During the actual massage, draping is employed - meaning that you will be adequately covered everywhere except on the part of you that I am working on. For the most part, all you will need to do is lay there and focus on relaxing. However, there may be times when I will ask you to participate through movement.
After the session, I leave the room to wash my hands again and then we have a post-session consultation after you have dressed. In this post-session consultation, I use the program again to help communicate the issues I find during the session, verify your experience matches up, and then discuss a plan of action as needed.
The pre and post session consultations are in addition to the time you booked with me. For example, if you book a one hour deep tissue/ therapeutic session, your overall appointment with me will take an hour and a half.