Hooray - I made it into January! Christmas and all that stress about family and turkey cooked properly (the turkey not the family); having the right gifts for the right people and saying things you don’t mean or not saying things you do mean! Very exhausting as we all know! Now that it is done and dusted for another year, it’s time for me now…..preferably without feeling guilty! I have just returned from a two hour pampering session with Cherie at The Park Club. I needed a way of getting lost in my own mind, to finally put that all behind me!

One of the smarter family members gave me a voucher for what is known as a “Heaven and Earth” package for Christmas. What a treat! Now, I’m not new to this pampering stuff; I know how to look after myself, occasionally. I’ve done it all, reiki, float tanks, massage of every kind, cupping, little fish eating my feet, you name it! So with all this previous history and the desire to bid farewell to the Christmas stress, I was delighted to find out that Cherie is actually a miracle worker! By the time it was over, I had forgotten where I lived – quite seriously! Now that is a nice place to be. I’m not a member at The Park Club yet, but it is on my New Years’ resolutions list!

I was taken into the lovely room and Cherie got straight down to looking after me. She made sure I was healthy and comfortable and that nothing was going to prevent me giving into this experience. I assured her that she had my undivided attention for the next couple of hours, and I would make every effort to relax whilst under her spell, I mean care!

I love that pre-massage care, where the therapist spends time getting to know you, your body and how it works before they dive straight in. When I am about to surrender myself to someone, I like that they get to know me and that I get a chance to ask them about their history, experience and skills. Cherie was great and gladly gave me all the information I needed to sate my paranoia so that I could relax completely and enjoy the experience.

So, we get down to business with Cherie making her way across my body listening to what it is telling her. Yes, our bodies speak to those who are in the know. They had a great old chat! Thankfully there was no laughing, but Cherie did tell me a few things about myself that I knew but had not shared with her. She got this just from touching some parts of me that had been damaged through falls, both as a child and an adult.

Interestingly for me, one of the questions Cherie did ask was about my work environment. “Oh, yes” I said, “one of the things on my list that I really need to get checked out and fixed Cherie!”I felt slightly embarrassed being rumbled by a professional! Our work space is where we spend so much time, and I am as guilty as everyone else, (or clearly more so) for neglecting this important issue! What was it I said about knowing how to take care of myself? To her credit, she gave me some great tips on how to sit properly and what stretching exercises I can do to improve my posture and my blood flow when I’m working.

Moving on from there, Cherie identified a problem I had with one of my ribs. Something I had also neglected it seemed, but this time I wasn’t actually aware of it. Just aware of the pain I was in at times…usually when not sitting at my desk properly. Oh dear…can’t we just get to the soft squishy bit where you take my mind of things?

So, finding out all these little idiosyncrasies about me, Cherie continues on and by now, knows and is listening well to what my body is telling her. I do admit, I am one of those people who completely surrenders when someone wants to do something relaxing to me, I have complete trust in professionals who do this for a living. I think that is one of the keys to learning how to take a massage and enjoy it, indeed learning how to relax at all. Cherie has years of experience and training and it showed in everything she did and the way she did it.

After a while (heaven only knows how long) my eyes were shut, my mind was starting to relax and I was into the smell of the scents that Cherie had picked out for me. Then came the hot stones. Oh now that is something to behold! I thought I was in heaven just lying on the hot bed with nothing going on around me, then the whole serious stuff started and I was away with the fairies!

Apparently an hour had passed…how?

The warm stones are used to warm Cherie’s hands, and then she massages you with lovely scented oils. After a while, the stones cool down slightly and they were placed directly onto my back and used as tools for the massage. The smooth feeling of the stones combined with the heat and the way Cherie moved them around effortlessly was just bliss. Apparently an hour had passed…how?

Cherie started working on my arms and legs. If you are like me and you use those things occasionally, then massage on those parts is extraordinary! We take the use of our arms and hands for granted. There is nothing in the day we don’t use them for and yet we tend to neglect them. (Surely I am not alone in thinking that a hand and arm massage is sheer luxury?)

By this stage, I had truly started to relax, deeply. With my eyes closed, completely warm and safe, all of the tension in my body just disappeared. I actually really felt like I deserved this. If our bodies are so stressed, that one little massage session is enough to send us spiralling into that lovely state of near sleep, what are we doing to ourselves on a daily basis? More to the point, why do we keep doing it? Personally, now, I think it is just so I can go back and see Cherie!

OK, my memory here is a bit rusty, because I am truly pulling this out of my subconscious mind! By this time I was well into a peaceful trance. Just as I thought that it couldn’t possibly get any better, she starts what I later found out to be called Rejuvanessence®. This is a process where Cherie works to release the connective tissue restrictions in the face, head, skull and neck. It is done working with the lymphatic and meridian systems to release chronic patterns of tensions.

Right, so all this raving I have done up until now was nothing compared to this! I didn’t even care that she would mess up my hair or make up (something I am sure we can all relate to…or is that just me being vain?). This felt like she was taking little pieces of my face, hair, neck and scalp between her fingers and giving me tiny mini massages! I had never realised that my face was a place where I held a lot of tension. Yes, I do know what wrinkles are, and I have my share, but it isn’t something we think of when we think of stress!

It was like no-one else on the planet existed.

The care and attention that Cherie put into this part of my own little heaven and earth was extraordinary. It was like no-one else on the planet existed, just me, and she was there to make everything else go away. You can get a series of these sessions and I have absolutely no doubt, it would contribute to making you look and feel younger, when those lines are made go away with such gentle nurturing. Certainly not how we earned them!

It may seem indulgent at this time of year, and in these economic times but I do believe we have a right to look after ourselves at all times, not just now. If we aren’t caring for ourselves, then how can we do that for our families, our parents and our friends? If we all took a little more time to have a piece of heaven on earth every now and then, I am sure we would be contributing to our own little version of world peace. If nothing else, it is a lovely way to bring in the new year!