Double your pleasure

For some people, there is nothing quite as relaxing as getting an hour-long massage from an adept massage therapist in a serene environment.

Some people, though, like to double their pleasure and opt for a couples or duo massage. Those folks can be easily accommodated at Cloud 9 Spa, located inside Chico Sports Club on Cohasset Road. In addition to offering the more usual individual massage—of various types: Swedish, deep tissue and sports massage, as well as hot stone and prenatal massage—Cloud 9 offers couples/duo massages for such twosomes as “close friends, longtime married couples, mothers and daughters, and gay and lesbian couples,” as its website puts it (go to www.tinyurl.com/cloud9duo to access). The spa also recommends two-person massage for those who have never had a massage, as a way to “break the ice.”

“It’s two individual massages,” said Cloud 9 massage therapist Heather Bonea in a recent interview at the sports club. “Each person is getting a massage that is designed just for their [individual] therapeutic needs.” In the massage room are two massage therapists working on two clients at the same time on separate tables. Twosome massages lasting one hour, an hour and a half, or two hours are available.

“We have two ladies—they’re just friends—that come in every week and get a [duo] massage,” Bonea said. “It’s just part of their bonding time. We have a lot of mothers and daughters, a lot of friends. We’ve had same-sex couples come in for couples massages. We’ve had a lot of sisters come in.”

Bonea has done a number of duo massages for people who “are new to massage,” she said, adding that, often, “first-time massage clients like coming in with a friend.

“A lot of people feel unfamiliar with the customs of getting a massage,” Bonea explained. “A lot of people are unsure how to undress, how much to undress, what to leave on, how to position themselves on the [massage] table correctly.”

“I always ask all my clients, ‘Are there any areas you don’t want massaged, or areas that are sensitive?’ Some people are ticklish on their feet or their ribs; some don’t want their face or scalp massaged,” she said. “We communicate with them so they are comfortable throughout the entire service.”

Having two massage therapists working closely alongside one another in a massage room requires extra attentiveness, Bonea said. “Each massage therapist has to be aware of where the other is [in the room] so they don’t get in each other’s way and can make smooth transitions for the clients,” she noted, adding that relaxing music is always played in order to enhance the clients’ experience.

“We try to create a very serene experience for the clients,” she said. “Sometimes couples will want to add on aromatherapy—for example, lavender, rose, sweet orange or lemongrass. A lot of times we’ll put chocolates in the room, so after they come out of their massage they can have a chocolate—kind of a nice, sweet ending to their massage.”

Bonea added that the massages are personally tailored to suit the specific needs of each client during a massage-for-two. “Perhaps one of them wants a relaxing Swedish massage and the other wants a deep-tissue or sports massage,” she said. “We can do that in couples massage. … Sometimes they both want deep-tissue massage; sometimes someone wants work on specific areas [of her/his body]. …

“This is a great Valentine’s Day gift,” she added. “Massage is such a wonderful gift to give because it’s really focused on making [a] person feel wonderful instead of just buying them a gift, a product.”