I knew I was getting a rejuvenation massage with a Shirodhara afterward the massage. (I’ll explain the Shirodhara in a bit.)
I get there and they take my tennis shoes and trade them for a pair of slip on slippers. A girl about half my height brings me to her therapy room after walking up 2 steps with a burning candle in the middle of the walk way. I see the massage table. Very different then what traditional massage tables are like. I believe this was plastic, maybe coated wood??. It is flat but with a ridge around the outside about 2 or a little better inches high so ya don’t fall off. I put my stuff down and we chat a little bit telling her this is my first time with the hopes of getting as much direction as possible.
She handed me a white strip of cloth with 2 strings attached to it. “put this on” she says gesturing that the strip goes in front, it ties in back and that is your attire. (It took me till the next time to discover that the strip of cloth goes in front and then tucks in to the ties in the back going between your legs. This made sense, but it wasn’t what she had shown me and I was bound to follow directions). So, I head in to the bathroom to get in to my nearly “emperors new clothes” and come back out. First you sit on a stool where she pours oil on your head and rubs it in to scalp and neck. She did a stroke like Swedish massage’s Tapotement – the rhythmic tapping of the sides of ones palms - all over my head.
A few minutes later I hopped up on the table that, with its raised edge, was more like a serving tray…. Fitting since now I smell like SOY SAUCE!!
(borrowed pic from the web... This is what the table looks like for the most part.)
No towel or sheet. Just my Adam and Eve loin cloth.
She has a metal bowl of hot oil. Not a bottle, but a BOWL.
(much like this one pictured in this borrowed pic from the web.)
THIS ROCKS in MY opinion! The oil is really quite hot as it first hits the skin, but in less then a second cools to a warm temp. This is a less of a spend time focusing on an area type massage. Longer strokes covering a greater portion of the body at one time. So, more of an ALL OVER body rub down. Not so much a gentle but faster paced movement. It is called “rejuvenation” for a reason I guess. She hits some specific points on hands and feet especially. I realized exactly WHAT was sore from yoga class.
The table’s ridge collects the oil that splashes on the table and keeps it off the floor. The oil also makes it easy for a person half my size to, with little effort, more me around the table if needed.
Flipping was kind of fun. And quite easy. The key is to not give TOO much momentum to throw yourself on the floor. The table has a really nice pad for your head. Not the hole, or as Jeff likes to say “toilet seat” like my table has. (There goes MY clientele!!)
Again, getting up and off required a wipe off of the feet and a skid lined step stool. In to the steam bath I went. (and for those of you either paying attention or wondering… Yes, my fig leaf, quite the oiled outfit and was taken away.
I was ushered back in to the small bath/changing room in to the shower. She flipped some switches and told me to sit down on a chair in the shower, placed each of my hands on a railing to either side of me. Shut the doors and went about her business of getting ready for the next part of my treatment. The shower began to get quire warm and steam soon filled the space for the, yes, steam bath portion of the show. I learned quickly that this was a time to breath through my nose and NOT my mouth for that coughing, slightly drown-y feeling factor. The Stephen King side of me kept wondering if those shower doors locked, or if when I saw through the clear walls of the shower, that she left both the bathroom and the main room, if she was ever REALLY coming back, and other things that I managed to wipe from my mind most moments and relax. And then there is the fun when the electricity goes out and it takes 15 seconds to get the back-up generator going.
She DID come back and let me out. Now there was an additional woman in the room. She guided me to the table again and I step stooled up to the table again.
NOW it was time for the Shirodhara. They tie a small wrapped towel around my head like the headband Olivia Newton John wears in the Physical video… YA remember that song!! Anyway. Then another over my eyes.
The table’s ridge collects the oil that splashes on the table and keeps it off the floor. The oil also makes it easy for a person half my size to, with little effort, more me around the table if needed.
Flipping was kind of fun. And quite easy. The key is to not give TOO much momentum to throw yourself on the floor. The table has a really nice pad for your head. Not the hole, or as Jeff likes to say “toilet seat” like my table has. (There goes MY clientele!!)
Again, getting up and off required a wipe off of the feet and a skid lined step stool. In to the steam bath I went. (and for those of you either paying attention or wondering… Yes, my fig leaf, quite the oiled outfit and was taken away.
I was ushered back in to the small bath/changing room in to the shower. She flipped some switches and told me to sit down on a chair in the shower, placed each of my hands on a railing to either side of me. Shut the doors and went about her business of getting ready for the next part of my treatment. The shower began to get quire warm and steam soon filled the space for the, yes, steam bath portion of the show. I learned quickly that this was a time to breath through my nose and NOT my mouth for that coughing, slightly drown-y feeling factor. The Stephen King side of me kept wondering if those shower doors locked, or if when I saw through the clear walls of the shower, that she left both the bathroom and the main room, if she was ever REALLY coming back, and other things that I managed to wipe from my mind most moments and relax. And then there is the fun when the electricity goes out and it takes 15 seconds to get the back-up generator going.
She DID come back and let me out. Now there was an additional woman in the room. She guided me to the table again and I step stooled up to the table again.
NOW it was time for the Shirodhara. They tie a small wrapped towel around my head like the headband Olivia Newton John wears in the Physical video… YA remember that song!! Anyway. Then another over my eyes.
(much like this one pictired in this "borrowed" pciture from the web.)
So here I am, lying naked on a table drenched with oil, from which I can’t reach the ground from with my eyes covered. (Some of you are cheering, some are hiding under their computers in the fetal position shivering.)
So then they move the bucket thing over my head. It has a tube or something that comes from the bottom toward my head. Basically it is a stream of an herbal treatment oil that is constant over your forehead. I’d love to take a closer look at the table to be sure, but what I THINK happens is there is a drain that, when it runs down your scalp, through your hair, it collects and then is drained in a bowl under the table. This goes on for, I really don’t know, like 30-45 minutes. It sort of tickled at first, but it was nice after a while. Had I had my druthers, I would have had the oil warmer and had it covered a little more span of my head… but I’m kind of for-head deficient so there isn’t much room to work with. And the oil did run slowly down the top of my head towards the end. Occasionally they squeezed out my hair along with a scalp massage.
The oil runs out and they wrap my hair in a towel, sit me up and down we go back in to the shower. She shows me how to run it, my shampoo and soap, etc. Took my towel and head wraps. They have choices of 2 showers. One regular shower head and one that comes out of the ceiling like rain.
They ran around doing their clean up while I got no actual privacy in the shower. This was actually kind of a saving grace since they saw my struggle with getting the silly shampoo bottle open and came to my rescue.
After I was ready to leave the room, the handed me a comb… By the I believe owner I was offered a hair dryer and a cup of detox tea… that was quite tasty I might add… and we had a chat.
I went back the next day for a visit with the doctor before doing one of the other type massages. You need to talk to the Doctor before they set you up with a joint pain massage.
As you can see this is NOT for the timid or of you have any hang-ups about being birthday suited up with other people around.
The massage was in fact rejuvenating and very interesting. I’m looking forward to the meeting tomorrow and what is next up for me there.
Till next post
Yours truly,
Soy Sauce
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