In our busy lives it can be hard to find time to connect with our partner in ways that strengthen our relationship and create more intimacy. Giving your partner a simple at-home massage can be a great way to boost intimacy and help your partner feel nurtured. You don’t need to be a professional; all you need is some great massage oil (we recommend Kate’s Magik Aphrodisian Fire Body Oil), relaxing music, a bed, and your own two hands. Pamper your partner using these easy to follow steps for a simple whole body massage. No experience necessary!
About Kate’s Magik Aphrodisian Fire Body Oil: Alluring and sensual, aphrodisian fire enhances romance and excites the senses. Evoking Aphrodite, this exotic blend highlights wood and flower notes. Sandalwood and patchouli are deep and sensual, while sultry rose and flowery ylang ylang instill a sense of passion and romance.
Prepare your massage space
Cover your bed with an old towel or blanket that you don’t mind getting oily. Have one or two pillows on hand to make your partner more comfortable. If you’d like warm oil, you can fill a large bowl with hot water and place the oil bottle in it. Have an extra towel on hand to clean up any messes.
Your partner may be more comfortable lying face down with a pillow under their chest, then they can turn their head to one side. Have your partner put their arms along their side, with palms up.
When your partner turns face up, they may want a pillow under their knees or head.
Use your whole hand while massaging, palm and underside of fingers will be touching your partner’s skin.
Keep your back straight while massaging and use the weight of your body to put pressure, rather than just your hands.
Before you start, place your hands on your partner’s back, and take several deep breaths together. Set an intention to be the giver, and honor the gift you are about to give your partner.
Massaging in the Back
Sit at your partner’s head, preferably in a kneeling position. Sit on a pillow for extra knee support. Rub a few squirts of oil between your hands. Place your hands, palm down, at the base of your partner’s neck, with the spine between your thumbs.
Glide your hands down your partner’s back, staying next to the spine. At the top of the buttocks, glide your hands out to the top of your partner’s hips, then slide your hands up their sides and onto their shoulder blades.
Make several circles with your whole palms over the shoulder blades.
Starting with hands-on their shoulder blades, glide your hands down their back with your hands moving toward each other so they come together over the top of your partner’s buttocks. Again, glide over the top of their hips, then slide your hands back together over their low back.
Slide your hands up their back with the spine between your thumb edges.
At the top of the shoulders, slide your hands out over the tops of their shoulders and then slide them back together to the base of your partner’s neck. Repeat 3 – 5 times.
Starting at the base of the neck, slide your palms out over the tops of your partner’s shoulders. Slide onto their very upper arm and then slide each palm all the way down their arms, onto their hands and then slide off their hands with your fingers going between theirs.
Repeat these strokes 3 – 5 times, varying direction and combining them as you like. Use more oil as needed.
Massaging Back of Legs
Sit at the outside edge of your partner’s lower leg. Rub some oil into your hands. Start with your hands, palm down, on either side of your partner’s ankle.
Glide your hands up the sides of your partner’s leg, all the way to their hip and inner thigh. Bring your hands together at the top of the thigh and slide your hands all the way down to their heel. Repeat 3 – 5 times, applying more oil as needed.
Now slide your way up the back of your partner’s leg making circles with each palm in an alternating pattern. (right-hand circles over middle and side of leg, left hand circles over the middle leg and inner calf/thigh, move up a few inches and repeat). Go back down the leg with the same pattern, alternating the direction of your circles.
Repeat on the second leg.
Massaging Neck and Arms
Turn your partner face up and sit above their head. Rub some oil on your hands. Place your palms at the base of your partner’s neck, with fingers facing your partner’s upper back and palms against the base of the neck where it meets the shoulders. Glide your hands out to the tops of your partner’s arms, then glide down over the outside of their arms down to the elbow. Slide your hands under their arms and then glide back up under their arms, under their upper back and up to the base of their skull. Repeat 3 – 5 times.
With your fingertips at the base of the skull, on either side of the spine, make small circles, letting the fingers move the muscles slightly. Check-in with your partner about pressure, the more you press your fingers up, the more pressure they will feel. Continue making small circles on the neck muscles, moving downward toward the upper back.
Slide your hands under your partner’s upper back, with your fingers on the muscles between the shoulder blades and spine. Glide your hands up to the base of the skull. Repeat 3 times.
Sit at your partner’s side near their hand. With oil on your hands, place one hand on your partner’s wrist. Slide that hand up their arm to the shoulder, followed immediately by your second hand. Slide one hand under their shoulder and keep the other hand over the front of the upper arm. Slide both hands down the arm to the hand while squeezing your hands slightly to create pressure. Repeat 3 – 5 times.
Repeat on the second arm.
Massaging Legs and Feet
Sit at your partner’s side near their ankle. With oil on your hands, place your palms and fingers on either side of your partner’s ankle. Slide your hands up the sides of their leg to the upper thigh/outer hip.
Bring your thumb edges together at the middle of the upper thigh, with your palms and other fingers resting on the sides of the upper thigh. Slide your hands away from each other toward the sides of the leg. Move your hands down a few inches and slide your hands away from each other again. Continue this down the leg to the ankle, watching out not to press on the knee bone or the shin bone.
Repeat these two steps 3 – 5 times, using more oil as needed.
Place hands on foot, with one palm on top of the foot and other on the bottom. Slide your hands up and down your partner’s foot, from toes to heel/ankle, pressing your hands toward each other. Repeat several times.
Using fingers, make circles around the ankle bones. Rub your palm in a circular motion over the front of the ankle. Finish by rubbing your palm in a circular motion over the bottom of the foot, from toes to heel and back again. Use a loose fist to make circles if your partner wants more pressure.
Repeat on the second leg and foot.
When you’ve finished massaging your partner, place your palms on the bottom of their feet and take several deep breaths together. Take some time to snuggle up with your partner and let them give you some appreciation, in whatever form it comes. Enjoy the time you’ve spent together, even if you stumbled through, and know that moments like these are precious. And make sure to find a time when your partner can take a turn as the giver too!
Heather Bishop is the Massage Therapy Supervisor at Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary. She has been practicing massage and bodywork for over 17 years and performs a wide variety of modalities, specializing in deep tissue and east-west fusion massage. In addition to massage, Heather is also a Registered Yoga Teacher of 15 years and teaches at Soulstice in Santa Rosa. She loves having daily opportunities to help others and is a proud member of the Osmosis team.
We were visited recently by a gifted writer, Boris Fishman, who was writing a story for Travel + Leisure about our region. Needless to say, we felt deeply grateful and excited!
The article was published in the February 2022 print edition on page 100 and is now available online. It is a wonderful story about the special nature of our Russian River neighborhood with profiles on some of the most interesting people and places to visit.
Boris found our one-of-a-kind heat treatment, the Cedar Enzyme Bath, much to his liking. Our Cedar Enzyme Bath is a unique therapeutic body treatment from Japan, found nowhere else on this continent. It is a bathing ritual that involves immersing your entire body in a mixture of soft and fragrant ground cedar and rice bran with living enzymes.
If you have not experienced the Cedar Enzyme Bath for yourself, it is time to book a visit now! You can improve your health, exfoliate your skin, and reduce overall stress all in one treatment. This unique experience is also a great way to prepare your body for a relaxing massage.
Osmosis Day Spa offers numerous packages allowing you to create the right combination of services to maximize your visit! Convenient online booking can be found at the following link osmosis.com/online-reservations. Plus, learn more of the lasting benefits here.
And, finally, we invite you to check out our feature and a lovely roundup of West County in Travel + Leisure!
If you’re like many of us, it can be difficult to break away from the daily grind and give yourself the attention you deserve. We are all familiar with what happens when life gets busy — we see our friends a little less, maybe drop that extra yoga class we love so much. Often one of the most intimate and enjoyable ways to reconnect with one’s self and good friends is through a relaxing spa day experience. This is where we come in.
Tea for two (and you and you)
Begin the morning with the girls by slipping into an authentic cotton Japanese robe, and settling into a private room overlooking the Japanese Tea Garden. Take some time to chat with your friends about setting intentions for the day. Hoping to reconnect with your bestie? Let her know! Enjoy some light conversation over a cup of tea crafted to work in tandem with your warming cedar enzyme bath.
Fermenting with Friends
Why experience our warming cedar enzyme bath in good company? Because it is just that — an experience! As the only day spa in North America with such a service, our cedar enzyme bath is quite unique and many agree is best enjoyed in pairs or with friends. Enjoy yet another curated garden view from the cedar baths, and settle into the warmth around you. Because it is a heat treatment, this service lasts 20 minutes with cooling lavender towels and cold water refreshments periodically in between. Chat with friends or ease into the moment and take some time for you.
Organic Facials
After your cedar baths, enjoy an electrolyte drink and carry on with the transformative journey by heading to your organic facials. Getting a facial with friends often feels like the ultimate self-care and treat yourself experience. Why? A little less intimate than a massage, our organic facials, in tandem with the cedar enzyme bath leaves you feeling as if your body just got a bit of a makeover. Smooth and glowing, your skin (and friends) will thank you for arranging a full day of self-love at the spa, in the loving hands of Osmosis.
Sound Therapy
After your services have completed and if the weather is fair, head to the Field of Hammocks with your flock for some Hemi-Sync® sound therapy. These unique recordings, based on research into how sound waves influence the mind, help optimize your brain’s activity and promote deep relaxation and creativity. A perfect reset for active minds!
Meditation Gardens
A favorite activity for many who find themselves at Osmosis for a spa day is the time spent in the meditation gardens. Walking the changing path, opening the gate and discovering the magic of the tranquility the gardens have is something special, especially with company. Enjoy a few moments of stillness on the meditation cushions overlooking the pond; notice the buzzing life abound.
One of the most wonderful parts about a spa day with the girls is that it is both beneficial to you as an individual as well as enjoyable with a small group. A spa day with others gives you a chance to reflect inward as well as a time to enjoy outwardly with the ones you love the most – choosing an environment that brings you closer will generate memories that can last a lifetime.
Over 30 years serving West Sonoma County, Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary’s Cedar Enzyme Bath continues to remain a favorite among many. Do you ever wonder why people continue to come back, again and again, to get buried up to their neck in cedar and rice bran? Osmosis guests have reported experiencing a wide range of wellness and health benefits over the years. The following are the top five most celebrated.
Reduced Tension and Stress
For centuries, heat has been used as a simple and effective way to manage tension and stress. Upon entering the bath you will quickly feel the warmth that is generated by biological fermentation, mimicking your body’s’ own natural metabolic processes. You may perspire, as you feel this extraordinary heat radiate through your body helping your muscle fibers to loosen and relax while reducing muscle tension and pain.
Breaks Down Lactic Acid in Sore Muscles
Overworked muscles and a buildup of lacticacid are what causes the pain associated with exercising. Heat helps your muscles to relax and encourages blood flow to the area which can reduce pain. Increasing blood flow to sore muscles helps in eliminating lactic acid waste buildup which contributes to pain.
Beautifies the Skin
Rice bran, a key ingredient in the Cedar Enzyme Bath, is high in enzymes and has a wonderful deep-moisturizing capability. This is due in part to its combination of vitamin E and fatty acids. Vitamin E improves the functioning of the endocrine system by balancing the release of hormones in the body. Beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A, is also found in rice bran in significant amounts, which promotes the health and vitality of your skin. Rice bran also adds revitalizing nutrients to your body’s largest and most sensitive organ.
Detoxification and Improved Digestion
The tea and bath work together to metabolize waste, cleanse organs and facilitate absorption of nutrients. Enzymes are the catalytic force in all change in the living tissue. They are mostly known to help digestion, but they also conduct a whole symphony of functions from the exchange of oxygen from the lining of the lungs into the bloodstream and the whole movement of energy through your nervous system.
Improved Circulation
Heat causes the blood vessels to dilate, which increases bloodflow and removes toxins from cells. Increased blood flow brings oxygen and nutrients to the area. The bath dilates the cardiovascular system and increases blood flow to even the smallest capillaries.
If you have not experienced the Cedar Enzyme Bath for yourself, it is time to book a visit now! You can improve your health as well as your skin while reducing overall stress. Doesn’t get much better than that. This unique experience is also a great way to prepare your body for a relaxing massage. Osmosis Day Spa offers numerous packages to take advantage of the full experience! Convenient online booking can be found at the following link www.osmosis.com
Summer. A time for being in nature. For fresh air. When our skin gets to feel the warm sun, lie in the cleansing sand. The season designated for relaxation. So what are the best ways to relax in Sonoma County this summer? Luckily for us, this beautiful part of the country offers majestic natural landscapes that make for wonderful getaways–that time in nature is so important to our physical, mental, and emotional restoration! Here are our top five ways to enjoy Osmosis during the season of abundance.
Massage in the Pagodas. Take a stroll down the wooded paths to a private pagoda and enjoy the songs of nature as you treat your muscles, your skin, and your mind, to some healing kneading.
Hammocks! Need we say more? Sway in the soft breeze along Salmon Creek and rock yourself into a blissful summer dream.
Lunch in the forest. Taste the bounty of local Sonoma County farms while enjoying a fresh, local meal prepared by Fork Roadhouse. Get lost in the views from our eating areas tucked away among the trees.
Summer Skin Care. Let one of our expert estheticians rejuvenate you face, heal sun damage, and hydrate your skin–leaving you looking and feeling your best.
The gardens! Soak up some rays or relax in the shade. Let your mind wander as you watch the coy fish meander through the Heart Mind Pond. Take a deep breath. This is what summer is all about.
Heather Bishop is the Massage Therapy Supervisor at Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary. She has been practicing massage and bodywork for over 17 years and performs a wide variety of modalities, specializing in deep tissue and east-west fusion massage. In addition to massage, Heather is also a Registered Yoga Teacher of 15 years and teaches at Soulstice in Santa Rosa. She loves having daily opportunities to help others and is a proud member of the Osmosis team.
Fermenting with Friends
