This was my first experience with deep tissue massage and Anna was great. I'm not normally a glutton for pain but nothing was so uncomfortable that I was yelping (no pun intended). She's got a hurts-so-good aim and indeed, while she dug in, there was still thoughtfulness and gentleness there.
She showed me tips for posture, tips for stretching areas that were clearly tight, and dug deep into areas I knew had sensitivity, and then their complementary areas on the other side. For example - she did amazing work on my left hip, which is always really tight, but then did work on my right hamstring, which I didn't even know was an issue, but had incredible tightness.
I came here using a nift gift card (so got $45 off!) and this felt like an incredibly good deal for an hour-long massage. She was friendly and inquisitive and would pause to show me stretches when she could see she'd hit a particularly sensitive spot.
I'm giving her 5 stars, but my calculation is really 5 stars with two negative stars and then a bonus star. Let me explain:
The negative stars:
-Do *not* use her online booking system. It gives the wrong prices (less than what you will actually be charged), and she doesn't monitor the system, so even if you book an appointment, you're not actually booking an appointment. I made an appointment through her online system, but since my nift gift cert said to call I wanted to make sure I wasn't caught on a technicality (and anyway it seemed like there were maybe too many times open). When I called she said she already then had an appointment booked at that time (even though I'd been able to book the conflicting time), and that the rate was the rate that it said on her site, not the rate that I'd been sent a booking confirmation *through* her site. I probably would've canceled the whole thing out of frustration in advance if I hadn't had a gift card. In fairness, she did text me day of to see if I could still come in at my original preferred time (I'm guessing the other person canceled), but you shouldn't have a web booking system if you're not going to honor it!
-I told her about some of my sensitive areas, but discussed that the worst was by far the left side of my neck and my left shoulder. Not that she ignored the area completely, but she spent much more time focusing on my left hip, right hamstring, and right side of my neck. I figured we were just building up to the left side, but then we ran out of time before she got to give it the kind of attention my other 3 quadrants received. I would still go back to Anna, because I think she gives a wonderful massage, but next time I would advocate to start where I'm actually feeling pain to make sure it gets ample time.
The bonus star:
When we ran out of time, she didn't have another client after me, so asked if I wanted another 10 minutes on my back. I agreed, and she didn't charge me extra for it. So for that, I was very appreciative - if you do the math, I got about $20 more of massage for free (plus my gift cert)!
Pro-tip: she sells packages of massages to make them cheaper, but you can divide with other people - so if you and a couple friends each want a massage, you can go in on it together for a cheaper rate! read more