When I was a kid and my parents, uncles or aunts would ask me to give them a back rub, I would…read morebegrudgingly squeeze their shoulders with my little hands until I got tired, and then I would resort to karate chopping them with my hands instead. I don't know if Kathleen's hands were tired the day I saw her, but there was a lot of chopping in my massage.
To be fair, she is a very pleasant person to talk to and her massage did succeed in raising the level of endorphins in my body, making me feel pretty relaxed afterwards well into the next day. But never during or after the massage did I actually feel like I had had a massage!
That is to say, when I pay for a massage, I do not just want to feel relaxed. I want to feel worked on. I want someone with knowledge of human physiology to get in between the nooks and crannies of my muscles and undo knots in a "it-hurts-so-good" kind of way. I mentioned at the start that I liked deep tissue massage, but that's not what I got from Kathleen.
Her massage style is more based on the notion that "human touch is therapeutic in itself." That is to say, the simple act of having your body touched and rubbed by another person allows the body to heal itself. That's true to a certain extent. Like I say, I did feel relaxed afterwards. But endorphins go away rather quickly. Actual bodywork lasts for days at least.
Throughout my massage, I kept on thinking to myself, "when is she actually going to start?" She uses very light and long strokes that works on the chemical level, but she doesn't do much by way of physical pain relief. My favorite part of her massage was when the had me face up on the table and she worked on my outer thighs and the top of my legs. As these areas seldom get attention, I figure they're particularly sensitive, but I hardly ever felt her when she was working on my back.
Her studio is part of a yoga studio and there's a field outside the window where kids play. So for part of my massage at least, I could hear kids jumping and yelling outside. (Her studio is on Canal St., not on Magazine St.)
Parking is not really an issue, although the lot is behind the studio and the street that serves as the most immediate path to the lot is one-way so you have to drive around the block to park.
Finally, I should disclose that I was a little unhappy with Kathleen in a matter unrelated to my massage. I had booked a Saturday appointment with her for 1:30pm. The day before she texted me and asked if I could move my massage an hour earlier. That cut into my lunch hour, but I wanted to be accommodating so I agreed. The day of my massage lunch took longer than I had anticipated and so I was 30 minutes late for my 90 minute massage. When I got there I asked her if she would be willing to charge me just for the hour, but she refused. I understand that I was paying for time reserved so I don't begrudge her the fact that I had to pay for 30 minutes I wasn't there for - I was late after all. But I do begrudge her the fact that I was only late because I agreed to move my appointment to earlier and was willing to accommodate her but she was not willing to return the gesture for me.
In any event, my personal disappointment with her does not affect my review of her massage skills and in fact if she had been a stellar masseuse, I would certainly go back. But I was underwhelmed by her massage.
After the massage she didn't even invite me back in the future or tell me to drink lots of fluids. It was the first time after a massage that I felt like I was at the end of an awkward date. Very strange.
