Just Thai Massage (because I can't think of a catchy tag that hasn't been overused, like Thai One On)

The first Thai massage I ever had was with an American named Paul Fowler who, after quitting his job as a school teacher, took off for Thailand and just sort of wandered. In the northern city of Chiang Mai he heard about a Thai massage teacher, Pichest Boonthumme, and decided to study with him for three months. He later completed his formal training at the Cortiva Institute Chicago School of Massage Therapy

As Paul put it, Pichest was “revolutionizing the practice” by bringing body awareness into the mix. Before him, Paul said, Thai massage could be a rather rote encounter. Pichest “brought a more thorough understanding of energy and how it flows through the body, and he has an amazing ability to use the body in the most ergonomic way possible so there’s no strain for the person giving the massage.” That's good because Paul says sometimes Thai massage "cannot be very thoughtful to the giver."

Pichest is considered one of the premier and respected teachers and according to Paul, almost all American and even Thai massage practitioners have trained under him—and he’s still only in his 40s.

Is a brief description of Thai massage in order here? The study and practice of Thai massage, known as nuad boran, is a two-person experience between practitioner and client. Clients are fully and comfortably clothed as the practitioner stretches, applies pressure and manipulates clients to release energy and restore balance and harmony. As a client, you must be vocal about how deeply you would like your practitioner to go. Part of this is taken care of, since her or she will feel how you are or are or are not relaxing into the movements. But flexible people should be self aware at all times.

Styles, however, differ. In the north, which is the style Paul learned and practice, is more yogic and flowing while, in the south the technique involves more pressure-point work.

Because of all the variances, and because like all ancient healing practices that have been ushered into the 21st century, the Thai massage world is in the process of creating a professional organization called the Thai Healing Alliance to educate, professionalize and embrace all types of Thai massage.

I was sort of weepy after that first Thai massage. It was a combination of an extreme sense of well being, utter gratitude that Paul offered it up to me and a true sense that I was leaving somehow elevated by the experience.

Dragon-slaying advice

The other day, before yesterday’s post, I spoke to a consistently excellent massage therapist that I go to whenever I can during the family’s yearly X-mas trip to Long Boat Key, FL. His name is Lito Nacua. Lito, who describes himself as “high touch, low tech” does not have a web site, but his business’s name is St. Armands Therapeutic massage, 310 John Ringling Blvd., Sarasota, FL. He was both trained in his native Philippines and also at the prestigious Paul St. John Institute here in the U.S.

Lito talks about the value he’s gleaned from both East and West training and approaches. Between the two he’s created a fantastic style that takes equally into consideration client need and his skills. Lito says that in the Philippines he was trained in the popular technique called Hilot. It employs the traditional (read old, he later came to find ) anatomical sequence chart, and to learn to work intuitively (his instructor was blind).

When he came to the States he enrolled in Paul St. John Institute and, as he said, he not so much forgot what he knew but he learned a lot to add to his toolbox, as it were.

Asian practitioners commonly emphasize visceral massage, something they call surrounding the dragon, which says that if you heal the muscles above the organ, you will heal the organism. It's commonly used in acupuncture as well. Surround the Dragon. Get it? Poetic.

What he loved when he got to St. Paul’s, is that their applied neuromuscular technique, scientifically bore out what he’d learned intuitively by his master teacher. He learned step-by-step protocols for all his actions and between the two now feels his training is complete.

When I asked him how a spa goer could ensure they’re entering a relationship with an adequately trained therapist he responded, “Ask them where they got their training from.”

That’s a good start. Try it. I’m going to.

A head scratcher

It was bound to happen. The myth had to catch up to reality. But when the New York Times writes a story about it in their Sunday Business section it’s clear that the spa-goers are taking a stand in favor of across-the-board higher standards.

The story, entitled “Beyond the Body Wrap: What Makes a Spa Stand Out?” focuses on how spas—all 15,500 of those in the U.S. to the tune of $9.7 billion dollars this year alone, not to mention exponential users and revenues worldwide—have arrived at a day of reckoning.

I don’t mean to sound ominous about it, but like all industry phenoms, the spa industry, due in large part to its spectacularly quick and astronomical ascent, is finally being given the magnifying-glass test by being asked to reconcile their consistently steep prices with not-so-consistent services.

The article quotes users who say they’re disappointed how treatments can vary wildly from spa to spa but the one thing that remains consistent is the large fees. The most egregious are the resort and fancy hotels who think nothing of charging several hundred dollars for some treatments and, though anyone rarely complains about the fancy amenities, they often complain about the middling services they receive.

Can some kind of standards be set up and upheld? That was the question, and it’s a tricky one, especially since not even all of the states in the U.S. require working therapists to have licensing of any sort.

Susie Ellis', the prez of Spa Finder, suggestion is that when calling the spa to make your appointment you should not do what most of us do and ask who is the best therapist—they will only vexingly respond that all the therapists are great! No, instead, she says, you should ask who the most popular therapist is. I’m still thinking about that as a viable solution; after all winning the popularity contest could mean a lot of things, not least of which is that your appointment will probably not be tomorrow—or anytime soon. I'd rather ask who has the most training, or the most experience.

On the other hand, the senior VP of the Four Season’s Asia-Pacific operations, Neil Jacobs, maintains that high cost vs. low cost does not dictate quality. He suggests that getting a $5 massage on a beach in Thailand will fetch you just as good quality as their $150 version. So why don’t they just go to Thailand, recruit the best and charge something closer to $5?

I’m needling ol' Neil, of course, and I have a mind to call him. But come on! In the article I found one response simplistic and the other kind of patronizing.

Since I’ve been using up lots of brain cells lately trying to suss out how to cope with East vs. West training and styles, and especially how to make each spa experience the best ever, this article has only created more questions for me. You?

Oncology massage

A few months ago my friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her surgery was set for a couple of weeks later. Trying to think of a thoughtful gift that might cheer her up in advance of her surgery, I called Elizabeth Arden's Red Door spa location in Baltimore, which is where my friend and her family now lives. Turned out that the spa was a mere few blocks from her home! I quickly had them FedEx a gift certificate for a massage for her; if I were in her shoes that would be exactly what my inner doctor would have ordered.

I told a mutual friend what I’d done. This friend spent no time mincing words, for she is also a 10-years-clean cancer survivor. (I know! What’s with all this cancer??) “She can’t have a massage!" she cried. "It’s very dangerous! It could spread the cancer!"

Oy! I hadn’t thought of that. I felt like one of those embarrassing relatives who can be counted on to act inappropriately by constantly saying and doing exactly the wrong thing. So I contact Red Door and told them to nix the massage and make it for a facial instead. (Fortunately (?), they hadn't even sent out the gift certificate, even though it was already supposed to have been delivered. . .)

But then I wondered, Might a a facial be bad, too? When I called the first time I'd specifically told the receptionist it was for a cancer patient and she didn't seem to know it was a no-no. Maybe it was bad. I never found out if my friend used the facial gift certificate. She's got bigger concerns right now.

Well, it looks like things are finally looking up for cancer patients massage-wise. There is now what’s called the Oncology Massage. Therapists are trained explicitly on safe massage techniques, nonharmful applications of massage styles for those with active cancer, those in remission or those in treatment. (The link above specializes in this massage technique; it would behoove us all to research carefully before booking for yourself or loved ones.)

I think this new massage technique is just great. I can only imagine the level of stress that a cancer patient lives with. And, I believe—and there are many studies to back this up—that your state of mind is integral to beating the C-beast.

I’m going to start doing some homework on spas that include this offering. Hope it doesn’t sound morbid, but I might find myself needing the info again soon. Fingers crossed that I won’t.

The Living Loofah

From the now-I’ve-heard-of-everything department, here’s the latest in innovative pedicures from The Land of Spa: live fish that nibble on your feet to remove dead skin cells. Talk about sustainable!

Apparently, the Turkish Garra rufa species—colloquially referred to Turkish spa fish—are native to hot springs, lakes and river basins. This fact got a host of Middle-Eastern holistic healers thinking: Why not put a school of these spa fish in a luxuriously warm pool and invite people to dip in their footsies! The spa fish will gently swim about, nibbling on all your dead skin. Yum.

I’d try it in a nanosecond, though it looks a tad creepy. If you find yourself in Singapore and at Underwater World, which has recently begun offering the service, book a session and report back. All I can say is make sure you don’t fall in.

Editing

Today will be dedicated to cleaning up the sloppy writing in yesterday's post. It was a quick and dirty one, and it looks it. Sheesh.

In the meantime, meet the dogs. Nelson and Vishnu, lounging in the sun.

Trust is the operative word, the cleaned-up version

This morning I was cruising on the website spas.about.com and came across an interesting posting that I want to share.

The topic was salt scrubs and how, because all clients aren’t always fully informed about the treatments they're about to receive, many enter not knowing exactly what scrubs are. Therefore, they sometimes make unusual requests. For those of you who have had a scrub know that it can be plenty painful. So when this person requested a “deep tissue” salt scrub the therapist was surprised—and quick to make clear that actually, they probably did not want to bring deep tissue anywhere near a scrub because, well, Ouch!

A click on another link posed this question, Are hot stone massages really worth it? Many respondents weighed in with a big no. They indicated that after their first hot-stone experience they had concluded that it was more of a marketing ploy than a true, satisfying treatment worth experiencing. They questioned the benefits because, Wasn’t the point of a massage that it be hands-on? Many said they felt disconnected from the experience because the stones were touching their body, not the therapist's hands and that got in the way. That last comment, by the way, also came from a therapist.

I don't know if I agree with that last comment, and many said they enjoyed the hands/stones combo. But imbedded somewhere in those posts are some core truths.

As many of you know by now, the focus of this blog is to bring some clarity to the spa experience so that you, the spa-goer, don’t walk in with one set of expectations and walk out disappointed.

Coincidentally, I had an interview set up with Geoffrey Gross, manager of Urban Oasis spa on Maple Street. (Their other location is also in Chicago, on North Avenue.) It was with these two anecdotes that I began our conversation. I’d wanted to talk to Geoffrey because I knew he was having ongoing dialogues with his team of therapists and receptionists--the receptionists being the very first contact a potential client has with the spa when they call to inquire about treatments. He was trying to find ways for the receptionists to describe, fully and accurately, the treatment about which the client was expressing interest—without taking too much phone time and without scaring clients off. Why would they be scared off? He went on to describe overhearing one receptionist describing the difference between Swedish and Deep Tissue being that the latter will likely cause you pain the next day. When you consider that between their two locations, Urban Oasis employs 16 receptionists, it's easy to understand how hard it is to get everyone on the same page, especially given that receptionists are just tha— not therapists, and there are call-time restrictions and considerations. I’ll wait to share details of what Geoffrey and his staff have come up with when I write the article for DAYSPA magazine. But in the meantime Geoffrey really opened my eyes.

We were talking about Urban Oasis’s well-established, 15-year-old brand for keeping their sole focus on body work only. They do not jump on every new treatment trend. Because of that consistency they’ve established a deep trust between client and therapist. Geoffrey says they hardly get any complaints, so it's a testament to their commitment to quality that these conversations (with the team) are occurring at all!

That was such an ah-ha moment for me, to quote Oprah. I’ve always had some concerns about most spas’ rush to keep up with all the exotic-sounding new treatments. The menu offerings may be long but how much do they really know about these fancy treatments? How skilled are the practitioners, how steeped in the history are they?

So if nothing else, remember to ask those questions when you’re thinking about signing up for, say, an Ayurvedic Indian Head Massage. Make sure the practitioner knows his or her stuff. Ask where his or her training came from. What makes them qualified to do it? Ayurvedic practices are thousands of year old and I dare say you don't want someone who read a manual or even took a day course to give you this or any other treatment unless they have the bonafides to do so. If you like what you hear and subsequently like what you get, you’ll go there again, happily That’s how trust gets developed.