Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Went in for the Customized Therapeutic Massage (with CBD). When I saw I was with Mariam I was so excited, as I'd heard great things in these reviews. And at first, everything was great! The whole building had relaxing piano music and a nice, faint smell that isn't too obtrusive unless you have a very sensitive nose. It's warm and pleasant.
Mariam had me undress to my comfort level and lie under the covers before she came back in. She asked if this was my first time, I said I've had massages at physical therapy, but never a dedicated massage, so she knew I was new. She was very nice and soothing here.
In my intake form, I specified my problem areas (very tight upper back, neck, shoulders) and expected that to be the main focus of the custom massage. I may have misinterpreted, because I assumed "Customized" meant trusting the masseuse to customize to the customer based on the target info in the intake form.
She DID start there, and was doing AMAZING! It was really starting to get somewhere. She kept telling me to relax, and "I can't help you if you don't relax." I told her "Oh, whoops, I thought I was relaxing" and "Sorry, I'm trying, I promise..." I really WAS trying my best, but she seemed a little frustrated. That probably added to my stress, but I tried to breathe deep and let her do her thing.
However, only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time was spent on my back. A large portion was spent on my legs, which weren't bothering me, and I kept trying to ask her to return to my upper back, but she was unresponsive. When she went to massage my feet, she let out a heavy sigh, and I realized I hadn't washed my feet (because I didn't think that would be part of it). I felt bad...
It's not that it wasn't nice or didn't feel good -- it did! But I have SO MUCH back pain and got this massage because I DESPERATELY needed some of those knots to be worked on, as I said in my intake form as well as before and during the session.
It's probably on me for not choosing the "Back, neck and shoulders" massage, but that one said it wouldn't be as deep with pressure, meanwhile the "Deep tissue" massage seemed more specific, so I went with Customized and thought I'd have my problem areas addressed more. The biggest knot in my back was touched on briefly, and I told her "Oof, yeah, that's a big one, right there is good" but she moved on. I trusted her judgment and figured she'd come back to it. But soon she moved on to my legs and never returned to my back for the rest of the hour. She had me lie on my back to get at my thighs, and it really hurt my shoulders. I told her this, and kept having little spasms, saying "Sorry, I'm trying not to move, I just keep getting spasms in my shoulderblades and back." She asked me to repeat myself, I did, and she simply said "oh." and continued with my feet. I told her "I don't know how much longer I can stay on my back," but she may not have heard me.
I felt like I was doing everything wrong. I didn't want to tell her what to do because she's the expert, but it is a lot of money (not unreasonably priced, just a lot for me) so I did try to speak up as the owners' responses to reviews said to do, but I didn't feel heard. I hope I wasn't annoying her; I don't think I asked too often, but I felt bad anyway.
When I noticed the clock on the wall, there were about 7 minutes left, so I plucked up my courage and asked "do you think you could do a little more on my upper back before we run out of time?" She replied, "We are out of time. I can't get it all in one session, it's very tight." I said, "I know, I'm sorry." then she spent a couple more minutes pulling my arms and that was it.
When she left, I started crying. Thinking "What's wrong with me? I thought this would help more and I'm still in so so SO much pain." I felt stupid for crying, but I wish I knew how to get her to target the spots that have been making it impossible for me to sleep. I wiped my tears and tried to hold it in when I checked out. I do think I'll be back to try the back/shoulder massage, but with a different masseuse.
