No Pain, No Gain!

Massage. The word invokes visions of warm towels, soft lights, quiet music, soothing aromas, a gentle touch relaxing tired muscles, relieving tension, reducing stress. The experience is something we tired working Americans long for and seldom indulge in. It's a treat, a special occasion, a brief escape from reality into an oasis of comfort, a haven of happiness. Right? Well, not so fast?

You can certainly imagine my delight when we first arrived in Asia to discover that not only is massage a way of life in China, but it's considered a necessary path to maintaining good health and mental acuity - and it's really, really cheap!! Where you might spend $100 for a 45-minute massage in the States, in China $100RMB (or about $15US) will buy you two-three hours with an exceptionally talented masseuse in a well-run shop! Oh sure, there are fancy spas in the luxury hotels that charge Western prices for their services, but the really great massages are found in the little out-of-the-way places you only hear about through the locals.

That being said, let's get back to that "oasis of comfort", "haven of happiness" thing. After several years of experiencing all types of Chinese massage, I've come to the conclusion that the well-trained Chinese masseuse subscribes to the credo "No Pain, No Gain." Once you depart those fancy hotel spas, you're entering the world of Therapeutic Chinese Massage - and there's no turning back!

This is massage for health, a form of therapy aimed at discovering whatever parts of your body might not be operating at full capacity and repairing the problem through specific massage techniques, which include everything from increasing circulation to stimulating blood flow, pressure point relaxation to complex reflexology, release of toxins to lymphatic drainage - and that's just the beginning!

No matter how much I try to prepare myself, my poor tired Western body really has no idea what's ahead when I lay down on that massage table. Sure, the young woman preparing to spend the next couple of hours working on my muscles looks harmless enough - she can't be more than twenty-five, she's soft spoken, wearing a pristine uniform, and her hands are petite and feminine. On top of that, she's about half my size and I've got at least 6 inches on her - how bad could it be? (I swear, these girls are just decoys, and then some bruiser comes into the room to finish the job!)

At the end of the session, I walk out of there beaten up, but refreshed. The suffering is always worth it, my stiff and achy joints are more flexible and my legs have more spring in them. Sure, about two days later, several small (petite finger sized) bruises start to appear, especially on my upper arms and legs, and it generally takes three or four days before I can lie absolutely flat on my back again, but the effects of the massage are unquestionably positive and they last several days!

Say-Yen is always very patient when we go to the spa - being my interpreter, she constantly admonishes them to treat me "like a baby, softer, softer" - all the while, scolding them for not inflicting more and more pain on her own iron-clad muscles! Who would have thought that an old Protestant credo would apply to modern Chinese massage therapy, but believe me when I tell you, in China, at least where massage is concerned, it's "No Pain, No Gain!"