I am not the type of person that lets someone walk all over me, but I am so glad I did! I’ve had a good amount of massages and I’m becoming pickier about them each time. One type of massage I’ve always wondered about was ashiatsu, where you are literally paying someone to “walk all over you.” I was so excited when I booked it, but as my appointment got closer I started to freak out over it. Complete panic! So many questions were running through my mind.
(Parts in black are written before the massage. Parts in red were written after the massage.)
I’ve got to say I was a nervous wreck before I got there. I don’t even know what I was so nervous about…oh yeah…pain…that’s it! I drank a glass of champagne right before I went down to the spa and I felt my nerves melt away.
IS THIS GOING TO HURT? I’m not usually a wimp, but someone will be standing on top of me! Is it going to feel painful? I picture myself passing out because I can’t breathe! I don’t usually speak up during a massage, but will the pressure be too much? For some reason, I pictured the masseuse doing a tap dance on my back. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. She never had two feet on me at the same time. She kept one foot on the table and used the second foot to apply pressure.
WILL HER FEET FEEL GROSS? Let’s face it, feet are not the cleanest part of someone’s body. What if they are like sandpaper, or worse…what if they are sweaty? I would die. If I didn’t know she was using her feet, I would have thought she was using her forearm to do the massage. He feet were softer than most people’s hands. I also liked that she washed her feet in the room right before the massage.
DO THEY ONLY WALK ON YOUR BACK? On the days leading up to the massage, my husband kept making fun of me by saying she was going to run her toes through my hair and stick her big toe in my ears. He was just joking, but it got me thinking! She only performed the foot massage when I was lying on my stomach. So, she only massaged my back, the back of my legs, and my shoulders. When I rolled over onto my back she gave a regular massage.
WILL IT BE RELAXING? As a mom, you don’t get much ‘me time.’ Will this massage be relaxing or will I be spending money to be tortured for an hour? It was definitely the deepest massage I ever had and there were a few times I almost asked her use lighter pressure, but I really wanted her to get the knots out of my back so I sucked it up. For most of the massage I was completely relaxed…so relaxed that I had to force myself not to fall asleep.
WILL MY BACK HURT AFTERWARDS? My back has hurt me for years, but a good hard massage usually makes it feel much better. Sometimes I feel even worse depending on whether someone knows what they’re doing or not. I wonder how my back will feel the next day? I was sore the next day, but in a good way…like the day after a good workout at the gym. My back had been killing me lately so it was exactly the feeling I had wanted to have. My muscles felt stretched and loose.
WOULD I EVER DO IT AGAIN? Definitely. I think it was an amazing massage and it was perfect to work out all the kinks.
WHERE DID I GET IT DONE? I was at the Lake Opechee Inn and Spa. I can’t wait to return!