Hot Stone Massage in Belfast
This is one of our lead therapists’ favourite treatments. It would be the treatment we are most likely to need to wake people up after their session!
During a hot stone massage, your therapist will heat shaped basalt stones to around 40/50 degrees. This massage is then completed with a combination of hot stones and the therapists’ hands.
This treatment is great for tension that has been sitting in the body for a long time. After a while, the body develops muscular kinesis, aka muscle memory. Possibly related to bad posture or jobs that require you to be sat in one position, or making repetitive movements.
This muscle memory means that the body is used to being a particular way, and can want to go back to that state after your treatment. (One of the reasons why massage gets better results after a few sessions). The heat from the stones helps the corrections from your treatment last longer.
Also, as the stones are wider than our hands, they allow your therapist to use firmer pressure (if needed) than you would be able to handle if it was just our hands. An easier way to think about it would be you can stand on a balloon, as your feet are wide, but a pin would burst it.
During your Hot Stone massage treatment your therapist will begin by opening up the body with some light massage, checking for your tensions and ensuring they know which area to focus on.
Then they will introduce the stones. Using the stones to warm and relax they muscles and eventually working firmer into the tissues.
During your Hot Stone massage treatment your therapist will begin by opening up the body with some light massage, checking for your tensions and ensuring they know which area to focus on.
Then they will introduce the stones. Using the stones to warm and relax they muscles and eventually working firmer into the tissues.
The therapists at Willow Massage Centre have all been trained in how to incorporate the hot stones into their other massages.
I.e. if the desired outcome requires a sports massage technique, the therapist may use the stones to warm up the area, reduce the tension slightly, then apply the sports massage move with their hands and back to the stones.
Following your massage take it easy, your muscles may feel sore for a day or two. Particularly if you have needed a deep tissue treatment.
Never put strain on muscles that are already feeling tender.
Take a warm bath and ensure you get adequate rest.
Drinking water after a hot stone massage is very important.
As the heat from stones can dehydrate you further than a massage without them.
