Most people considering a visit to a spa for a massage or any other kind of treatment tend to think of the potential experience as a rather personal thing – indeed, even if they intend going with a friend and it’s to be a social occasion, the massage or facial will no doubt come down to being all about one’s own relaxation, de-stressing and revitalisation; all about energising one’s own mind, body and soul. But that needn’t be the case. A visit to a spa can be much more of a shared experience. And, in some cases, it’s becoming an activity chosen very deliberately for this.
Increasingly, couples are visiting spas for shared sessions; shared positive experiences either to stimulate their relationships or even to help ease bumps and bruises along the way in their relationships, just like, in a literal sense, the physical aches, pains and ailments that may more commonly be treated by such a session.
Reconnecting and Strengthening Bonds
For couples then, a spa session can deliver a double dose of goodness. As a tandem treatment, it can naturally aid couples to reconnect, as well as enhance intimacy and encourage empathy and emotional care by teaching both partners how to take care of the other; couples taking sessions that teach them mutual massage techniques.
Indeed, a couple’s dual massage, for instance, may be specifically chosen so partners can experience a massage together in the same room as one therapist works on each person. And this side-by-side-style of massage is just one aspect of such treatments, for rooms reserved for couples are likely to be furnished with particularly comfortable and appeasing spa features, such as elegant fireplaces, Jacuzzis, dual soaking tubs and shower facilities. Some spas will even offer irresistible treats like champagne and strawberries. And why not, you may ask?
There’s even research out there that suggests couples enjoying a treatment a dues in this way can bring about a strengthening of their emotional bond as they relax in each others company, relishing a simple, nay sensual pleasure with their partner by their side. Moreover, the removal of stress via the treatment – and the shared experience of this – can result in a shared positively-charged emotional resonance. One that can become important, binding memory.
Quality Time for New and Older Couples
Indeed, the significance of such a shared spa session becomes even starker when one considers the stresses and time constraints on many couples’ lives – and their relationships – in today’s world. People are forever needing and seeking to spend more quality time together – especially if they’re suffering difficulties in the relationship; they need to be together and doing something that isn’t just intimate but is also mutually beneficial and relaxing and helps rebuild trust. A shared treatment at a luxurious spa then, such as ours at The Montcalm hotel (offering as it does many ideal spa packages London), could be just the ticket.
Of course, there’s also a flip side to this. Because a shared, intimate spa session can be an ideal experience for newly engaged couples – or, if more appropriate, couples newly committed to one another. In this scenario, taking in treatments side-by-side and together will aid the building of ease, comfort and emotional familiarity between partners, helping get the relatively fresh relationship off on a sure footing.
Having said that, though, while spas are increasingly tailoring their treatments so they might appeal to customers and their significant others, they also recognise that a couple’s session need not just be for the amorously attached. After all, good friends and mothers and daughters, for instance, quite obviously enjoy attending spas together, so why shouldn’t they also enjoy side-by-side sessions? Platonic relationships can suffer from stress and strain too, so undergoing such treatments with a good friend or a relative can prove enormously rewarding, helping to renew and rejuvenate your important and valuable relationship with them.
Before the Session
Before you and your partner depart, don’t forget to brush up on your spa etiquette. It may not be your first visit to a spa, but it may be the first for your significant other; or vice versa. So it’s important both of you are comfortable with the practicalities of experiencing a spa session together. For many spa first-timers, nudity can be something of an issue, and understandably so. Respecting and maintaining a guest’s modesty tends to be a top priority for spa therapists, however. Bear in mind then that for your shared session to be at all successful, your attitude to spa etiquette (including appropriate levels of nudity) ought to be in tune with those of your partner.
As to communicating during the treatments, by all means speak if you wish and when it feels natural to do so. There’s no reason why someone shouldn’t speak or converse during a treatment (not least if they’re experiencing it with their partner), it’s entirely down to you – and, again, down to your other half. After all, the whole point of attending a spa session together is so that you share the experience; a thoroughly relaxing, bonding and worthwhile experience.
