You won’t have a particularly hard time convincing anyone of the soothing internal and external benefits of a spa day at The Marble Arch by Montcalm London.
Whether it is the steam room, sauna, monsoon shower or pool that helps you unwind, a day of relaxation and tranquillity is a recipe for success when it comes to self-care. Given the individual nature and benefits of these sorts of days and the associated discourse around “self-love” and “me-days”, people often underestimate the value of a couples massage. Here are 7 reasons why you should be signing yourself up for one ASAP.
1. Shared experience
There are presumably reams of social experiments and psychological research to back up the benefits of a shared experience – even one that occurs in silence, like a trip to the cinema or a massage. However, we don’t really need this to recognise that there is intrinsic value in sharing an experience with a partner or even a friend, because you can feel it. Essentially, it is bonding. It doesn’t matter if you interpret the experience differently, because it is something unifying that creates a sense of ease and common-ground between the two of you. Perhaps you will feel a more intricately entwined relationship from the experience, or maybe you will just be able to comment on how you both enjoyed the aromas or the music that was playing during the massage. Either way, the connection is powerful and should not be underestimated.
2. New experience
A shared experience can be pivotal in intimacy and bonding, no matter how many times you have done it before. When it comes to couples massages, especially repeat-visits, do not take away from the potential for communication and connection every time. A new experience, on the other hand, can be just as important and liberating for your relationship – so if you haven’t tried couples massages before, it is worth giving it a go. Trying something new can open you up to new ways of thinking and stimulate different approaches to ideas. It can also give you something new to talk about and discuss. Ultimately, these opportunities trickle into your relationship and make you willing to adapt and disagree without it being inherently detrimental to your relationship.
3. Mutual destress
Massages are both known and loved for their destressing abilities – it is one of the main reasons why people choose to book a spa hotel in London. Though you can’t guarantee to release tension and stress in exactly equal doses to the other half of your couples massage, you will both feel some variation of it. Unwinding and relaxing fosters an environment for communication and tolerance, which in turn leads to increased affection and acceptance. Ultimately, even if you leave with different levels of stress, an overall decrease is almost 100% guaranteed – especially in the hands of the Montcalm masseuses.
4. Realign emotions
It is important to remember that simply pacifying emotions is no way to deal with them. An open, communicative relationship is essential for a functioning one. However, with the stress, hustle and bustle of the modern world and the stresses within it, it can be easy for issues to be conflated, or for confrontations to become a product of everything except what is happening in your relationship. Couple massages are a great way to realign your emotions and ensure your conflicts aren’t influenced by other stressful elements. Discussing disagreements may still be necessary afterwards, but you are likely to approach the situation free from accumulated stress or resentment. Couples massages have the ability to centre both parties and consequently clarifying what is and what is not important.
5. Improved health
While it may seem obvious, the benefit of improved physical health is sometimes overlooked when considering improved mental health benefits of a massage. The combination of muscle loosening and the release of endorphins makes for a healthier massage client overall. So, as a couple, the result is the same. Feeling generally healthier makes you go about your daily life in a more effective, positive way and can also renew the intimacy between you and your partner. A spike in energy and activity is just the first step in encouraging a healthier, more active lifestyle and the ripple effect is continuous as you start feeling better and filled with energy.
6. Quality time
Though traditionally, some quality time with your partner would be defined as you being alone with them rather than accompanied by spa therapists, this treatment time together can be incredibly beneficial for you as a couple. Perhaps you have kids, and seldom get a moment alone, or maybe you have busy lives that result in mainly just being together when you are asleep. During a massage, you have uninterrupted time of up to an hour to enjoy yourself with the knowledge that your partner is enjoying themselves alongside you. A couples massage is a simultaneously individualistic and unifying time that is untainted by the stresses of daily life.
7. Forced nowness
Living in the now, or in the present, is an often-encouraged quality. However, in reality, it is a lot easier said than done. If you think honestly about how you would spend an hour outside of a spa, even if you could spend it however you wanted, you can probably identify several self-destructive distractions, whether it is a flashing phone message or just a mindless scroll through social media. During a massage, the only thing you are allowed to focus on is being inside your body at the time – whatever is happening on your phone in your bag or outside the spa’s walls are irrelevant, as you have no control over them at that time. You are left with time for your thoughts and feelings when they are undistracted. It fosters an openness of mind and allows an emotional vulnerability that can be really beneficial to your mental health and your personal relationship with your partner. Don’t underestimate immediacy.
The benefits of couples massage are hopefully clear now: all that is left to do is verify them by visiting a local spa with your partner. The Marble Arch by Montcalm London is a spa hotel in London that can make all this possible for you, so go treat yourself and you might find yourself opening up to a range of new experiences, emotions and degrees of intimacy.
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