Best Massage Treatments we Recommend for Sleep

I am not sure where the concept of having a firm massage to relax came from but I wish it was easier to convince people that your body really needs nurturing and kindness, not discomfort and pain, to relax, destress and unload the mind, especially where mental and emotional stress is concerned.

We book more guest seeking spa treatments for emotional and mental fatigue, suffering from feeling  overwhelmed, exhausted, sleep deprived and with signs of  adrenal burn out, more than any other reason for booking spa treatments. It’s why I created specific massages, treatments. packages and Day Retreats that we offer at ikatan Spa, to help with recovery, rest, relaxation and often sleep during treatments.

Napping during a spa treatment is beneficial for balancing fatigue and emotional stress. You may only drift off to sleep for fifteen minutes, some people sleep through an entire treatment or go in and out of sleep during packages which offer anything up to six hours of treatments. Some people try to stay awake for fear of missing out on the experience but if you body feels comforted and nurtured, drifting off to sleep during a treatment is what you need.

Here’s some of our most ‘sleepy’ treatments.

1.Chi massage

Once you experience an ikatan Spa Chi Massage, you’ll understand why it’s one of our most popular treatments, for stress relief and sleep.

When you’re exhausted, your body needs nurturing and this was the main focus when I created the Chi Massage for ikatan Spa. Chi massage is slow, soothing, rhythmical, with a light to medium pressure and carefully structured so one move flows into another.

ikatan Spa Chi Massage Treatment was named because it has Chinese origins, hence the use of the Chinese word (qui)chi meaning energy. Chi massage is based on the Chinese elements of wood, fire, earth, water and metal. Each of these elements has characteristics that become unbalanced when your body is suffering from stress, fatigue, mental or physical burn out, a depressed or overactive mind or a combination of these things.

By preparing and using particular chi essential oils to balance the elements, a herbal compress and combination of massage styles during this treatment, it creates a natural shift in your mind and body to help balance your chi (energy) and most people drift off to sleep or have a better nights sleep after the Chi massage.

2.Signature or Anti-ageing Facial

We wear our stress on our faces, it shows in a person’s skin, how they feel within, especially when feeling tired, stressed, drained, emotional or generally unwell. You can’t hide how you feel, it shows in your face. So why wouldn’t you want to feel good, happy, relaxed and have it reflect in your face? Well, we have the solution for you and it’s as simple as booking yourself into a tranquil day Spa for a facial and you will be amazed how different you will feel and look with regular facials.

At ikatan Spa all our facials offer a lot of massage and we created two 75 minute facials to treat more than your skin. It’s always about a sensory journey during treatments and our facials offer vegan, plant based botanical, skin care products for deep cleansing, exfoliation, mask, serums and moisturiser. While subtle aroma products treat your skin, drift away with extensive massage to face, scalp, neck, décolletage, shoulders, arms and hands. Facials offers deep relaxation for those who have a busy mind and hold the feel and look of their stress and tension in their face.

During a facial, Therapists use a lighter, softer touch in repetitive rhythmical patterns over the peripheral nerve endings on and around the face and scalp. The peripheral nerves are important structures in the body that carry information from the brain and spinal cord out to the muscles to initiate movements and then to also carry sensory information back from the extremities and other tissues to the spinal cord. This brain and sensory touch exchange from soft repetitive movements simply send a message of calm to your mind and therefore, it relaxes your facial muscles. Read more about why facials can often be better for deep relaxation, sleep and the perfect recovery for jet lag.

3.Serenity and Prasanna Packages 

We combined our ikatan Spa thirty minute Foot Therapy and thirty minute Asian Head Massage to offer a package that addresses the body with more than just massage.

Foot Therapy starts with a warm foot soak in rose/geranium salts combined with rose milk and magnesium flakes all of which helps to relax your entire body and feels silky smooth on your feet. Next comes a buff to the dry skin areas of the feet, followed by a peppermint foot scrub before we dry your feet and raise your legs onto a cushioned foot stool for a massage to feet and lower legs.

It’s well known that reflexology to the feet can combat a lot of issues within the body by working on meridian lines and pressure points. Many Asian cultures treat the body through reflexology and acupuncture both using the guide of meridian line pathways on the body to correct and balance bodily function. While we don’t offer reflexology at ikatan Spa, as it is a specialised modality that requires years of training, we do massage the feet which in turn also helps with circulation and helping with sluggish areas of meridians to be activated or calmed, it’s why a foot massage can make your entire body feel relaxed, calm and sleepy.

Did you know you also have meridians through your scalp? In our Asian Head Massage, where you are seated in a large rattan chair with legs raised on a foot stool, rather than laying down so that we can massage your scalp with different Asian techniques using a Balinese aroma oil.  We start and finish with Thai massage to upper shoulders then Balinese energy clearing, Chinese Meridian lines, Japanese Pressure points, India massage and Thai lymphatic drainage then back to your upper shoulders and neck Thai style massage, all of which is designed to help clear the mind, release tension and most likely send you to sleep. A very popular treatment during times of stress, overloaded minds, trouble sleeping and for those who prefer not to lay down for a massage. It’s also only available at ikatan Spa and our therapists enjoy doing this treatment in the garden room surrounded by nature.

The Prasanna package is a more recent addition to our spa menu, where we added an arm and hand massage to the Serenity Package after many requests from guest who feel tension, soreness and aching in their arms and hands. We totally understand this as we always massage arms in all our massage and most facials and over more recent years we have noticed an increase in the amount of tension we feel in the forearms, wrists and hands, mostly caused from using devices and repetitive physical work. Since creating the Prasanna package the feedback has been with gratefulness that we offer this treatment and time spent on arms and hands.

If you are feeling tired, stressed, overwhelmed or sleep deprived, choose a nurturing treatment with aromatherapy, a facial, head and foot treatments, at ikatan we offer packages that include all of the above treatments to help you rest and hopefully drift off to sleep.

You can click through here to ikatan Spa Treatment Menu

Katrina – Owner ikatan Day Spa