TL;DR: Book a massage with Silas, thank me later…read more
Today, my husband and I treated ourselves to 90-minute massages. A friend had recommended Silas, saying he was strong. I'm not picky, but my husband is a big dude, and when it comes to massages, he jokes that he's looking for someone to beat him to a pulp, so I thought that sounded like a good fit.
This turned out to be the understatement of the century.
Silas isn't just strong; he's a lovely, warm, empathetic dude who welcomes you enthusiastically and then gets down to business. And oh my god, he is INCREDIBLE. Within the first five minutes, as he worked with precise, expertly applied firmness, releasing hitherto unknown aches and tensions and sending shivers down my spine, I was thinking, "Ohmygodohmygod. This is amazing. This is already the best massage ever. I have to come back. I need to bring my friends. I need to tell everyone I know."
I had come in with a crick in my neck. I made some vague complaint about it, upon which Silas rooted out the real source of the problem, in my shoulder, and then methodically fixed it, along with serious tension in my neck that I hadn't even realized was there. (If, like me, you work at a desk, your neck and shoulders might be grumpy too.)
Silas also did amazing work on the rest of me, kneading and stretching, loosening and releasing, incorporating techniques from acupressure and reflexology, and everything was woven together with what I can only describe as pure intuition: he seemed to know where it hurt, why, and how to address it. He worked through twitchy reactions I had in my back (something other massage therapists had just ignored) while explaining that it was a normal response, and kept it up until the twitchiness subsided.
All the while, he kept up a flow of easy, friendly conversation, and didn't mind when I interrupted with babble like "Oh my godddd that feels insanely amazing," "Urgh, what is THAT" and "Hhhnnghggghf," which is the sound you make when your face is mashed into the head-cradle and you have been reduced to incoherent goo by a stellar massage.
My husband and I walked out, and I said, "Is it just me, or..." My husband finished my sentence with "...that was the best massage I have ever had. That guy is GOOD."
Run, don't walk, because Silas is a gem. I'm literally looking at my calendar now to see when I can schedule another appointment with him. And spring for the 90-minute sessions, because he's worth it, and so are you.