The first time you come, we will ask you to fill out a brief Intake form to help determine what your goals are. If you would like to shower, please try to come early – showers are included and are available both before and/or after the massage. We offer complementary shampoo and other amenities. There is a small fee for use of the saunas with massage – be sure to mention that you want one when you book your appointment. We also offer saunas without massage. We will provide a drape over you during the massage – you undress to whatever your level of comfort is. We will ask you if there are areas that you want more work, less, or to be skipped altogether. We allow you to determine how much pressure you want – so be sure to let us know if at any time it is too strong or not strong enough.

To avoid being charged for your session, please let us know 12 hours ahead of time if you will be unable to make your scheduled appointment. If your appointment is booked the same day you call, please be sure that you can make it before you book, as we may ask you to pay for canceling if we turned down someone else for that time. This is done in fairness both to clients who would otherwise have wanted the appointment as well as the therapist, who is not paid if they do not perform the session.

If you are late to your session you are welcome to receive whatever time is left in your appointment. Due to our schedule we may be unable to extend your session beyond your original appointment time. While we try not to be late, if we are, we give you the full time or charge you less.

Often people are embarrassed to speak up if there is something they don’t like about the massage. We always appreciate your requests and feedback. While we may be the experts on massage, you are the expert on you, and it is your massage. We have XM Satellite radio plus dozens of CDS, and everything from the music type and volume to the angle of your face rest is adjustable. All of our tables are heated. Your therapist will never be offended if you make a request to turn up the heat, add a blanket, adjust the table, pressure or music during your session, or to either converse or stop talking.

For relaxation and to work out the day to day aches and pains, massage can have an immediate impact. Everyone coming in stressed or sore should leave feeling better than when they came in. But it is not uncommon to get a massage and still feel the pain or soreness after, or even to feel a bit worse immediately if the work was deep. The effects of the massage may take time to manifest. You may walk out feeling that you still have the issue you came in with but the next day it’s usually resolved. If you come in with acute pain from something like a back spasm or extreme soreness from your first ski session of the year, you may actually get a bit more sore as massage itself can trigger some inflammation. It is like taking Vitamin C once you have a cold – it may help you recover faster, but the cold still needs to run its’ course. Sometimes you won’t notice a significant difference even after a day or more. It could be that you are doing something to re-create, or maintain the problem. Some of the effects of massage are cumulative, and you may find that coming in regularly results in enhanced benefits. Sometimes you will be benefited with a different type of massage, or with someone who can check your body mechanics to see if you may be using your body less efficiently than possible. While we strive to give the best massage every time, sometimes it may take a session or two to really understand what works best for you. Just like a hairdresser may take a few cuts to know how your hair falls, and what styles you prefer, we learn more as we get to know you better.

Most of us would get massages almost daily if we could afford the time and money. Many of the effects of massage are cumulative, adding up over time. Most people who want to make massage a regular part of their health maintenance will get massages every 1 – 6 weeks. Others just come in when they have the time. We never pressure people to come more often than they want – we believe that it is your responsibility to determine your own needs, and we would never want you to feel guilty for coming less often than we recommend. For acute problems, like overwork or muscle spasms, you may want to come weekly or even more often for a series. If you are in pain, you should always feel more relaxed after the massage, although the pain may linger a while. The massage itself, especially if deep, can cause some inflammation. You can ice areas of inflammation for up to 20 minutes at a time for a day or two, afterwards until the soreness subsides. For chronic problems, general massage may relax you and release the muscular tensions that make it worse. Obviously, massage won’t prevent the return of pain from structural or neurological causes like herniated disks or diabetic neuropathy. But when pain causes us to tense muscles, we begin a pain-spasm cycle that gets worse and worse. Massage can help break that cycle. Some of us are trained to work with postural assessment to help you learn more efficient ways of using your body so as to minimize additional stresses. Most of the studies showing the benefits of massage are done with a regular course of massage over a period of eight weeks or more. While you will get results from a single session, to maximize benefits you may want to make massage a part of your on-going health maintenance. Anywhere from a weekly to even a monthly or every six to eight week treatment can be effective in turning massage into a regular part of your life. If you do decide to become a regular client please ask about our discounted series packages. We also recognize that many people prefer not to commit to regular massages that are billed monthly or in advance. Instead, we offer “loyalty” punchcards – for every 30 minutes of massage you will get one punch on a card – after 5 hours your next 60 minute massage will cost $40. They are a great way to make your sessions more affordable per treatment.

For a long time in this country and much of Europe and Asia, 30-45 minutes was considered standard for massage. As we’ve realized how much can be achieved with therapeutic massage, typical sessions extended to 60 or even 90 minutes or more. Most massage therapists prefer to take breaks of at least 15 minutes in between every 1 to 3 massages. In recent years, many businesses have discovered that if they cut the session by 10 minutes, they can book the therapists for session after session. The problem with this “professional hour” of 50 minutes is that you are often paying for the price of an hour, and getting a weary massage therapist. Everyone except the owners suffer. Clients lose a total of one full treatment every six sessions (10 minutes times 6 sessions is an hour)! Therapists don’t get enough time to keep up and are pressured to try to fit a full massage into 50 minutes, which is hard enough to do in 60 minutes. We always give you the full session that you are paying for. In recognition that our clients schedules and budgets vary, we offer 10-20 minute seated “chair” massages, 30 minutes, 45, 50, 60, 75, 90, and two hour massages.

Our owner, Beverly, with over 30 years experience and thousands of hours of training, is one of the top experts in the country on massage styles. To learn more about what the many names you hear really mean, see Types of Massage. If you have a particular type of massage that you are interested in, or a special need (like being pregnant), please be sure to let us know and we will try to match you with the person best suited to meet your needs. Our preference is to customize each session, using whatever techniques work best for you. We don’t charge more for one type of massage than another, or for deeper work. Often, some areas need very deep work and others not – so why pay extra for deeper work? If we charge more for Ashiatsu, but only use that approach on your shoulders, then what? We prefer to charge one fair price to give you the best massage, every time.

While tips are accepted and appreciated, we would always prefer that you be able to come as often as you need and not feel pressured to tip. We believe that it is rude to leave signs and envelopes everywhere asking for tips, some places even going so far as to tell you how much to tip. When you receive massage in a medical or chiropractic office, generally you don’t tip, as tipping is not customary in such settings. In spas, which are more part of the personal service industry, like hair salons, tips are common. At Redwood Massage & Sauna we always treat you with respect and appreciate your decision to come here for your massages, no matter whether you tip or not.