Spa | de blog - Girl Talk for REAL Women

Unwind at the Unspa.

May 19th, 2010

I had a massage yesterday. Most massages are good, but this one was GREAT.

Massages put my eccentricity on display. Most people enjoy a massage for the relaxing qualities, but I prefer a massage that leaves me energized. I have trouble getting into the typical massage mentality–because I have trouble not-thinking. When I’m getting a massage, I’m thinking about stuff–stuff I need to do, stuff I’d like to do, and stuff of little importance–like the color of the room I’m in or how much I hate music with flutes and wind chimes..

This massage was unique for several reasons. First, it was through a spa, but not at a spa. This was sort of Spa-go or perhaps Spa a go-go. The massage was administered in a colorful room at a hotel–a sort of multi-purpose salon. (Salon in this case being a room for enjoying the company of others–not the kind where one might get a new hair-do. This particular salon was more speak-easy than spa–soffits with colored lighting, modern plastic furniture mixed with overstuffed velvet furniture, sculptural things on the walls.) No mistaking this for one of those Zen-zone places. Even with the lights dimmed the room was impossible to ignore–mostly because of a many-bulbed chandelier on the ceiling.

The setting would have guaranteed this massage wasn’t going to be like any other, but there was more to come.
Spas usually have music they prefer as accompaniment for massage. Such music usually bores me to the point of mild irritation and causes me to spend most of the massage wishing I’d could listen to something else. One of my last massages was almost spoiled, when I fixated on wanting to hear something with some rhythm–like maybe some Ozomotli.

So today when a masseuse, named Oak, entered the room with a iPod & dock, I decided he & I needed to talk. I asked him what he intended to play. He offered a choice of piano music or Bjork.

Oak, darling–not today.
Time to change it up.

The iPod wasn’t his, so when I suggested that we put it on random, he was reluctant. He reminded me there was no way to anticipate what we’d be subjected to, but with some trepidation, he agreed to let it roll. I don’t recommend this for any everyone, but I wasn’t really feeling very Bjork. This would be a good time to mention that since it was a couples massage, Beloved Soul Mate became lab rat in my experiment as well. Because he and I are both music lovers with eclectic tastes, he was more than sporting.

The first tunes were mellow–a couple ballads sang by females, something folk almost bluegrass, then a little Joe Walsh and Led Zeppelin. For some, Zeppelin would have been jarring, but when it started to play, both Oak and I agreed we needed to crank it–at least a little.

Rap, indie and even a P.C. emo Christmas carol flowed into the mix. I wouldn’t have put Frosty the Snowman on a massage mix, but in this case, it was just right. I never knew it could be like this. The music was as therapeutic to my psyche, as the massage was for my body.

The constantly changing play list was just what I needed to make an outstanding massage, perfect. There were a few songs Beloved Soul Mate & I would have edited from the play list, but the opportunity to absorb and become lost in music we don’t ordinarily listen to, was a welcome change.

It was the Un-Spa experience, but the brochure for the Unwind Spa, had lived up to the claim they would tailor their massage to individual client’s needs. I got what I needed.

Deb’s note: I love Christmas music, but I hate Christmas music clichés. At the top of my list of Christmas music I never care to hear again is Frosty the Snowman. Don’t like snow, don’t like the song–so yesterday when I heard a new take on that song, I had to find out more about the artist. I’m not convinced of global warming and frankly, I prefer my music politics-free, but this song might just make it into one of my off-beat Christmas play lists. Thank you Oak, thank you Tasha, thank you Unwind and special thanks to musician Angie Mattson (angiemattson.com) for providing the soundtrack that turned us on to the voice of Angela McCluskey.