Last night I received a deep tissue massage from Trane Emmons. Alas, she is moving to Portland in a few days. This is an immense pity on several levels–the first is that she hasn’t been certified in Oregon yet so all you Oregonians are going to have to wait until she gets enough hours to go to her. The second is that if she’s living in Portland she’s not here, and as a result I can’t get more massage from her unless I visit (or move to) Portland. Sigh.
It was, needless to say, an excellent massage. It may have been, actually, the best massage I’ve ever had. She loosened up some tissue that was rather bound up. She got into and released a lot of tense areas, especially in my neck. Trane’s deep tissue began with a brief familiarization with my body through the sheet–she used long, flowing strokes and pressure points everywhere to get an idea of what was going on under my skin before diving in. Her massage is firm, naturally, being deep tissue, and very slow–she eases in gently with deeper and deeper moves until the tension lets go. There were a few moments of extreme intensity and one moment where I felt a little bit of discomfort, but in general I felt only a growing sense of opening up. Not relaxation–this is a fundamental difference between deep tissue and therapeutic massage. I felt eased at the end of our session, and I slept very well, but it was a deep relaxation in my core and a general overall feeling of well being.