Jo McCarroll
I am a bit of sadist when it comes to having a massage, which might sound like a non-sequitur but it isn't really. Because while there is a wide variety of massages on offer, in the end there are only really two - hard massage and soft massage.
Some people like those fluffy soft massages, all tinkling music and feathery stroking.
Me, I'd rather chew glass. If I'm having a massage, I like a bruising deep tissue massage right on that edge of pain.
I am already a fan of Thai massage, which is usually, in my experience, quite exquisitely agonising (don't be fooled by the often tiny therapist - they often have superhuman upper body strength). However, I had never tried a Thai herbal hot compress ($200 for 90 minutes), an ancient form of massage and one of the signature treatments at Senses Spa at the Westin Hotel.
It uses a "massage ball", a poultice stuffed with lemon grass, plai, soap pod, turmeric and kaffir lime (among other things), soaked in hot oil and then rubbed onto your skin, followed by a full body massage.
The massage ball looks exactly like a larger version of one of those money balls you get as part of a mixed entree platter at a Thai restaurant - in fact, the waft of lemon grass that pervades the room is quite reminiscent of Thai restaurants as well (in the most pleasant way, I hasten to add).
Lemongrass, apparently, helps you relax - and the herbs that make up the compress all have healing or soothing properties. Plai, which is from the same plant family as ginger, combats joint and muscle problems; soap pod, a Thai herb similar to tamarind, improves the texture of the skin; turmeric is good for skin problems; and Kaffir lime works on skin tone.
The essential oils in the plants are released into the heated massage oil - devotees of this treatment claim it has a number of health benefits, in particular relieving muscle sprains and joint stiffness.
But the health benefits, for me, are not the point of having a massage, what I want is to de-stress and relax. And, my God, after an hour-and-a-half of being rubbed with this hot massage ball (and be warned it is hot, almost to the point where it's uncomfortable) I felt like I was practically liquid.
Having (rather swaggeringly) told the therapist I liked my massages fairly hard, she more than took me at my word: ow, ow, ow, ooo, ooo, ooo God yes.
At the end my arms barely had the strength to lift my cleansing ginger tea. Those of you who like your light ticklings and barely-there back rub, steer clear.
But for the rest of us it's best summed up in just three words: hurts so good.
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