Lava Shell Massage

When I first read about Lava Shell Massage I did think - oh another gimmick - but then a friend recommended it, so...

I was feeling very run down after a rough few weeks when I booked in for the treatment at The Sanctuary Covent Garden.  My therapist was wonderfully smiley and kind.  First of all she explained that unlike most massages, the Lava Shell Massage includes your stomach area, so I’d be starting off lying on my back.

I was a little bit wary about this as I knew I was feeling quite emotional, and when the therapist at Mandarin Spa, Hong Kong just touched my stomach at the end of the massage it had a really emotional effect on me.  So it was good that my therapist was really nice and kind as the first thing I did, of course, was to flash her.  Because I was lying on my back and she was going to massage my stomach I didn’t know whether to pull the covers up, so I didn’t.  She, unperturbed, placed a rolled up towel over my boobs, and gave me a lovely soothing lavender eye mask.

The treatment actually begins with a foot cleanse - which was like a foot scrub and then a warm cream being rubbed over that.  Together with the fact that the bed is gently contoured and the leg area is heated, this already had me drifting off before she even started with the lava shells.

The Lava Shell Massage is unlike anything I’ve experienced before, the closest would be a Hot Stone Fusion Massage, but it’s also very different from that.  It’s a very fast, slippy massage, with a lot of strong smelling oil, which I loved.  The lava shells change in temperature from quite hot - like a fresh hot water bottle - to just above body temperature, and the intensity changes too, the middle of the shell can feel soft, because of the texture, but hard, because of the pressure, and I found it very pleasant.  The edges of the shells can also be used to work out tension, for example in the hands.  She moved the stones very quickly around my arms and neck, checking that the temperature and pressure were right, before moving on to my stomach.

I didn’t realise how much tension I was carrying in my stomach until she started to massage there - it was never painful, but I did start to feel quite emotional, with very vivid memories popping into my head, and I was glad of the lavender eye mask to cover up a few tears.  But I loved the feeling of the massage and also the feeling of releasing and letting go.

Because it’s so fast she treated every area of my body without me feeling as though she was rushing.  As much as I liked the lava shells it was also nice when she went back to using her hands, particularly on my knotty shoulders.

I was also carrying tension in my lower back which she spent a lot of time on, and I think the shells worked particularly well here, with the heat and the pressure.  She did advise me to stretch out my lower back, but I’m not sure how good a job I did as it is a little tight now (the next morning) but I did spend a lot of time lying down yesterday.

The only thing I might do next time is ask for a slightly lighter pressure, as the lava shells do intensify the massage and I do prefer my massages on the gentle side.

Overall I would definitely go back for another one of these.  With the music, the oil and the feel of the shells it really felt like a holiday massage, a wonderful escape from the January blues.