What Should I Do Before or After a Massage?

In a quiet corner of Horsell Common, not far from my home in Woking, off Monument Road there is Muslim Burial Ground, now a Peace Garden. 

A visit there can bring peace, whether needing to settle one’s mind before a massage or other treatment, or to maintain a sense of peace after a session.

Nearby is an area of tall trees, the setting for H.G. Wells’ ‘The War of the Worlds’, in an atmospheric and mystical environment. There need not be anything alien about treatments though. 

For example, the therapist will put you at ease if it is your first visit, hopefully making you soon feel relaxed and ‘at home’.

Taking a stroll to, or from, an appointment through this area of Horsell Common on a fine day or light evening can be very pleasant. 

Even passing the area if travelling by car, one can see the natural beauty of the surroundings. All this can contribute in some way toward the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of treatments, giving heightened awareness; a sense of holistic help; experiencing a peaceful and stress-free encounter, giving lasting benefit.

There is also ‘The Martian’ sculpture in Woking Town Centre. But then again, there is nothing spooky or suspicious in the treatments. You won’t have set foot on another planet, though you may feel you have, with a luxurious massage. 

Neither will your encounter be of ‘The Third Kind’. But all will be well, with friendly human care and attention given, not alien, which can often be hurtful, harmful, hostile. 

And yet – bring a camera if you wish. You might see E.T. if he has not gone home, or the Loch Ness Monster in the Basingstoke Canal if it has moved South!

Should I have a Massage when there is flu epidemic?

Coronavirus is very much at the top of everyone's mind these days

So as massage involves touching another person, is this wise? This is a question for these times, but is also relevant whether there is any flu epidemic or not.

With massage there is the necessity of touching the relevant part or parts of the clients, though the highest standards of hygiene will be in operation, as it fact it will always been with any good masseur. 

We may highlight more at this time things such as washing hands properly. This is one basic thing in human life, relevant to any day.

Though we may observe other people not washing their hands after using public toilets. There may not even be a quick whisking of the hands under the tap and in the dryer. 

Then again, not to blame the cleaners, but a visit to a public toilet can turn out, aptly, to be convenient, or an awful horror. It’s ‘too much information’ to give the obvious details of this.

If we had x-rays eyes, we might see germs and other nasties  on things such as door handles, shop doors, objects in house or home, or wherever. 

We know we need not be paranoid, nor excessive, such as in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which sometimes includes extreme hand washing.

In all doing our part to maintain basic cleanliness, a lot of which is surely common sense, the outcome will hopefully be to keep health scares of disease, contamination, etc, to a minimum.

We may have to do without, or limit, touch in some areas of life for a while. But we can trust a reputable and professional massage therapist, and take a balanced approach. 

It can certainly be a positive experience to have a hands-on massage whether that's Swedish, Sports, Shiatsu or Hot Stone Massage.

Occam's Razor and Male Waxing in Woking

About seven miles east from my beauty salon in Woking lies a village called Ockham. William of Ockham (or Occam) was born here. He was an English Franciscan friar who lived from 1285 to 1347. He is known for ‘Occam’s Razor’, a principle which can be paraphrased as ‘the simplest solution is most likely the right one’.

This may not be entirely unrelated to having a waxing, although a razor is not used. But a waxing can raze away unwanted or unsightly hair from various parts of the body, giving a pleasant aesthetic appearance.

We may not know what waxing, or similar methods, were around in William’s time of the 14^th Century. If they were somewhat hair-raising, in the sense of the medieval health treatments operating then, with standards of hygiene and sanitation being questionable, we can be assured that this is not the case today.  You can find it as a hair-depleting experience, in the literal sense, if you should you choose to have a waxing.

Yet – no pain, no gain? The desire for waxing or other beauty treatments for whatever reason, may need to over-ride the law of parsimony. This again brings William in, as it is the name given to the Occam’s Razor principle. It means extreme unwillingness to spend money or use resources.

Paying out, within one’s means, can give satisfaction, pleasure, and contentment, with having experienced a beauty treatment from a fine massage therapist. 

There’s this one here in the 21^st Century, seven and a half miles west of where William was born. Pop down the road from Ockham, or from further afield sometime soon, where a warm welcome awaits.