Hot Stone Massage

To be honest every time I've seen a photo of a hot stone massage I've thought I’d much rather have someone actually massaging me. But I was missing the point. The point of a hot stone massage, is that as well as a great massage, where the massage therapist uses the stone for added pressure and heat, by placing hot stones on and even under the rest of your body you get a whole body treatment whilst your therapist gets to focus on specific areas of your body.

My massage therapist (at Achilles Massage Therapy) placed a little group of hot stones on the treatment table so that I lay on top of them as I got onto it. Before he'd even come back into the room I was half asleep. It seems strange to say that lying on stones could be relaxing, but, as they're hot, they soothe the area. When he slid a perfectly sized stone under the arch of my neck I was off.

As much as I liked the heat of the stones, which he used with his hands in the actual massage, I've experienced this before with the Hot Stone Fusion and Lava Shell Massage. What was entirely new for me was the intelligent placing of stones… on my stomach, on my back, even between my toes, to keep the relaxation going on one leg whilst he was working on the other.

There was an occasional clinking of stones,

and sometimes they didn't stay where they were meant to be – one that he'd placed on my hip decided to work its way down until it plopped off, and when I turned over there was one he'd tucked under the top of knickers so I had a hot stone in my pants – but it was rather funny.

The nice thing about this massage is that is also keeps you warm even if you don't have a heated massage table, definitely one to try out.

A DIY hot stone massage on the beach - not how it is really done!

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