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1. Be in the moment

You might feel it’s “rude” to not speak to the therapist, but your mission is really to get the most possible out of your massage. To get the most out of your massag, it works really well to treat it as “meditation”. First, clear your mind. Then focus on the feelings in each muscle as your therapist is working them. Try to see the feelings in your muscles as colors and make the feelings of the massage the only thing in your mind. You will be blown away how good you will feel and the total relaxation that will follow.

2. Tell the therapist what you need

Your therapist  is 100% focused is on making it the best possible massage experience for you. If he/she is really good, they will find your sore spots. However, if you tell about your problems before you start, they will be able to focus on those areas right away, and you’ll get so much more out of the massage. Also, make sure to tell if it’s too light or to deep (hard). Giving the feedback will make sure the massage is exactly what you want.

3. Make sure you’re comfortable

Is the room too cold or too hot? Are you comfortable on the table? This is your time, so speak up. Trying to be polite will make your experience less than great, and you’ll be less likely to come back.

4. Hydrate afterwards

One hour or more of full body massage will push a lot of toxins out of your system. Make sure to drink at least 16oz water within 30 minutes of finishing your massage. This will help your body flush things out and you’ll feel so much better!

5. Maybe some ice?

If your therapist did a lot of deep tissue work at a particular area. Ask them if they recommend icing the area in the evening. Sometimes, that will get you even better results if you have inflamed muscles.

Finding the right massage therapist for you is harder than you might think. At first, when you get a massage it just feels so great and luxurious to receive continues massage for one hour or longer! However, as you have received massage several times, it’s similar to becoming a wine connoisseur. You start to see that different therapist have very different styles, and your job is to figure out who would be the perfect one for you. Here is a short list of techniques and what to expect:

Soft/medium pressure Swedish relaxation massage

Swedish massage is the basic massage style. It follows a certain movement process over each muscle group on your body. The stroking style of Swedish massage should never be painful. Instead, you should pretty much just feel spoiled. Even though it’s mainly relaxing, it will still help your muscles relax and it does wonders for  the soul!

Sports, Deep Tissue  and Trigger Point Massage

Here is where it gets trickier. There is a fine line between when the deep tissue feels like “good pain” and when it doesn’t. Sadly enough, many therapist seems to believe the harder they push, the better it is. If on top of it, they use their elbows, you might actually get seriously hurt. My advice is to not let a therapist go super deep the first time you use them. Then, as they learn to know you and your body, you may allow them to get more intense. However, injury risk of using elbows (also called “Rolfing”) is quite real. I would just tell every therapist that you don’t want that.

Cupping massage

Cupping is not really massage, but it can be very effective for healing and pain control. The therapist will put vacuum cups on your pain areas and leave them there for a few minutes. There are good news and bad news… Good news, you’ll feel instant pain reduction and it will usually last several days. The bag news, you’ll be black and blue wherever you had the cups. No more short sleeve clothes for the next week…

Back walk, zone therapy, and/or acupressure

These are all massage techniques borrowed from far eastern medicine. The back walk sounds scary, but it’s actually even less painful than a normal deep tissue massage, because the therapist is able to spread a the pressure over a larger area. Zone therapy works on energy zones around the body all stimulated on your feet. Acupressure is like acupuncture, but  using gentle hands instead of painful needles. All these therapies are for you who want to try something different.