Professional Evaluation of Indian Head Massage Therapy Appointment in London, England

I scheduled an Indian Head Massage and Foot Reflexology appointment at the Calmer Clinic in London’s Dolphin Square.  This health clinic offers multiple holistic approaches for optimal wellbeing. There is an impressive array of healthcare services provided which include: Acupuncture, Coaching, Counselling, Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Massage, Nutritional Therapy, Reflexology, Reiki and possibly more. It is an extremely well-rounded holistic establishment.

I went to the clinic first to inquire about the services and met a very pleasant Dolphin Square resident who was working in reception. She gave an extremely favorable review of this service and encouraged me to text the practitioner to schedule it. I texted the practitioner and her first available appointment was scheduled approximately a week later.

I arrived at my appointment and was greeted by the provider herself.  She was pleasant, professional and confident.  She brought me into a private treatment room and conducted a thorough health intake which included reviewing present disease, treatment goals, potential contraindications and more.  Once the intake was concluded, she had me sit in a chair without arms to start the Indian Head Massage first.  She placed a paper towel roll over the chair to increase sanitation measures and washed her hands before she began and after the session concluded as well.  Washing her hands after service concluded was important, despite still needing to provide a second service on me (foot reflexology).  The reason why a practitioner should wash hands between services like this is because she needed to setup the reflexology treatment area, and one would not want to touch equipment immediately after working on a client to prevent cross contamination.

She started and concluded the Indian Head Massage service with deep breathing exercises and reiki holds.  I sat still in the chair and she stood behind both me and the chair to execute the hands-on service, as pictured below:

After the introductory work, she started massage techniques with beautiful fingertip plus heel or palm of the hand friction techniques on the upper back through clothing, followed by deeper friction techniques, particularly around the shoulder blades which feels wonderful for almost any American.  Working through the trapezius around the levator scapulae and rhomboids are one of the top requested areas to work on in massage therapy practice, and that’s where she started which felt wonderful. She was fairly precise in following the strict protocol of Indian Head Massage which has specific orders of manipulation for therapeutic benefit.  She even included manual techniques that are similar to regular massage tapotement which were fairly intense.  She warned me of their intensity prior to beginning the striking technique.  Close to a minute into this technique, I told her that I would prefer to move onto something else and she happily obliged with complete understanding.

The service continually progressed up the cervical area and through the scalp, head and face with a wonderful combination of soft tissue manipulative strokes that were skillfully applied to each area.  It felt incredible and I never wanted her to stop!  I thought I would be uncomfortable sitting in a chair without arms, but there was some ritual feeling with the precise execution that made it feel more comfortable than I could have ever imagined. My guess is if the service is not properly executed, then a customer may not feel entirely comfortable in that chair for half an hour while the massage therapist gently moves about in many different motions and directions.

At the end of service, I felt relaxed and relieved.  There was a significant reduction in stress and pleasant euphoric feeling.  I would rate the hands-on application 5 stars and the clinical environment 4.5 stars.  While this authentic massage treatment was provided in a clinic, the chair for me to sit on was placed close but not exact to the middle of the room, and I kind of felt like I could have enjoyed it more if I had been seated in front of something visual, to close my eyes to as a lasting relaxing thought.  To me, plopping a chair in any place and providing service does work, especially when you’re as skilled as this practitioner, but environment matters, and the environmental execution of this appointment can be improved.

Regardless of the clinical environment, I would repeat this appointment over and over again on a weekly basis if I was local.  It was wonderful, incredible and everything special that it should be with any well-trained practitioner like this one.