Aleyda therapist at a home massage set up
I have been feeling untethered from three weeks of meetings in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, all while besieged by a recalcitrant flu. A course of antibiotics and two weekends later, I felt that I needed a massage.
I did not have a regular masseuse and did not like the prospect of braving the Christmas crowd for an hour of relaxation only to get thrown back into it again, so I looked up home massage services. I decided to settle for Aleyda Mobile Spa whose manicure services I had enjoyed at a party some years ago. I asked to have my massage at home.
The friendly therapist arrived on the dot with her ergonomic massage bed. More interestingly, she did not seem fazed by my list of red flags:
No touching of soles, stomach or inner thighs
Lying face down for long periods would activate my sinusitis which might lead to my having a sneezing fit
I have sensitive skin and may or may not develop pressure hives during or after a massage
I warned her that a recent lymphatic massage made me feel nauseous, although previously lymphatic massages did not have that effect on me.
Home massage set-up (but not my home!) I didn’t take photos as I had not expected to blog about this.
I was surprised by how intuitive the therapist was; she combined deep-tissue Shiatsu massage (acupressure massage over a towel) with gentler Swedish massage techniques (effleurage massage with oil) targeting my right shoulder, the right side of my neck and lower back. She reminded me every now and then to inform her if I felt any sort of discomfort. I fell asleep midway until my sinusitis woke me up (nasal drip, but no sneezing fit), having been on my stomach all that time. When I was on my back she immediately targeted the acupressure points on my face to ease the sinusitis as well as performed what felt to me like a lymphatic massage on my neck and shoulders. By then I was too relaxed to protest.
When I was finally sat up, 1.5 hours had passed; it was nearly 9pm and I was feeling relaxed, light, and grounded and secure in my body. In my blissed-out daze, she confirmed that she performed a lymphatic massage on my neck and shoulders, but no nausea! I was so thankful that I had opted for a home massage as I could just reach out for as many glasses of water I needed to rehydrate, and lounge in my pyjamas and ease into bed instead of fretting over Christmas traffic jams and inexperienced Grab drivers and their huge fare surcharges to get home.
That night I had a deep, restful, dreamless sleep; and no hives or bruises since!
For more information, visit: www.aleyda.com.sg/home-massage
PS: Photos are courtesy of Aleyda Mobile Spa and none of them are of my home! I didn’t take any pictures of this as I didn’t expect to blog about it.