Looking at a Spa menu there are an array of different treatments – and the question arises, what to choose? What do I want, what do I need and what would be most beneficial in this moment?

Do I choose from my head, sensible choices or from the heart, what do I long for, or do I choose at all?  Do I just pick the dish that I tried before and that I know that I like? Maybe I don’t want any surprises or take any risks?

It’s no news that the most common treatment booked at spas globally is a massage. Not unusual that massages covers 60-70 % of all treatments taken during a month. It’s a human primal need, to get one’s body kneaded, touched and treated. Muscles worked on and a silence mind, yes, that’s what I want – instant relaxation and liberation! But, is a massage always the best remedy?

When creating Grand Hotel Nordic Spa´s latest treatment menu, we got familiar with the latest trends, we looked at different techniques and also on statistics telling us what people ask for in spas. All this information helped us to renew and to make the menu inviting and luxurious and at the same time therapeutic in an attempt to satisfy our guests’ different needs.

When creating our signature massages, we choose to make them long; Giving 2 hours to allow the receiver to really sink into and surrender to the treatment. It’s not only the actual treatment time that is the beneficial ingredient; it’s actually the relaxation in itself that is the healer. The different systems start to adjust after being manipulated. So that’s the reason the therapists asks the guest to rest after the treatment, giving the space and time to allow the body to adjust.

The bottom line – all massages aim is to bring relaxation and balance, but we need different techniques to reach a state of equilibrium. I usually look at different massage techniques/treatments, as music pieces, either they excite us, bring us to a state of deep surrender or just make us calm. The register is endless.

The thought behind our signature massage; Deep Sleep was to induce total relaxation by using slow and meditative movements. Holding limbs and gently rock them to soothe the nervous system, allowing the muscles to let go and become soft and reliant.

When I left massage school I favored tough massages, the harder the better was my motto, but that changed, I no longer want a pain filled deep tissue/trigger point/connective tissue torture power hour and …I don’t want to deliver them either, I don’t believe in them any longer.

So what do I mean by saying; Entering a Relationship with your therapist? Treatments are like relationships, they become deeper and more loving with time, and they deepen and unfold with communication. In my room of memories there are some of funny, loving and successful stories regarding massage and treatments. Some of my clients stayed for a short or a longer period, I got to know them and sometimes we got to know ourselves better through the work explored.

So, the thought floats in my mind…why do we expect that one visit with a massage therapist will be the final fix for our sore muscles? Wouldn’t it be better to regularly make an appointment and work on staying relaxed? As I said; The register is endless…

//Isabella

(Picture borrowed from Six Senses Spas)