I've always viewed massage as a lot like pizza: There's no such thing as a bad one.
Even so, a Thai massage is a mighty supreme slice of relaxation.
Massage therapist/YogiCare owner Brenda Haugstad started our session with a New-Age-y ritual: She dangled an amethyst pendant over the seven energy centers of my body that are known in traditional Indian medicine as "chakras."
The good news: I am "grounded." Not in the "you can't go in the mall with Sheila because you came home late" sense, but in a healthy, centered, two-feet-on-the-ground way.
The bad news: My third eye, supposedly one's center for intuition, was a little shaky. (Perhaps I've been listening to too much Third Eye Blind?)
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She then launched into a 75-minute massage unlike any I'd previously received. She pushed pressure points on my feet and did "palm-walking" - a series of alternately "walking" her hands up the length of an arm or leg. She pressed down on certain points, creating a soothing flood of warmth afterward. She worked along my "sen" lines - energy channels that run up and down my body and are similar to the energy meridians taught by Chinese medicine.
Haugstad pressed her knees into certain muscle groups while gently stretching my legs. She even walked on my back briefly. (She'll only do this if a client doesn't have any back problems and says it's all right.)
In one of my favorite poses, she instructed me to exhale while she gently stretched lower-back muscles that surely haven't moved since Scott Baio was cool.
Afterward, I felt exactly as others have described it: divinely relaxed yet motivated.
I was a little sore the next morning, although I probably should have drunk as much water as instructed.
Would I do this again?
Absolutely.
You know what they say: If at first you do relax, Thai and Thai again.
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Readers can reach Forum columnist Tammy Swift at (701) 241-5525
