lselde de Boam Massage Therapy

Welcome to our first massage review of 2012. Each post I will be giving you a tip for how to find a good massage, here's your first one: look for (or ask about) therapist qualifications. The therapist I visited lists her qualifications on her website and hangs them in her treatment room. Ideally the therapist should have at least a diploma.

In January I visited Iselde de Boam Massage Therapy on Tory street.If powers of deduction have concluded that my massage therapist was Iselde, you are correct! But she also has two staff members (so if you want the boss you need to book her specifically).

The website needs updating and paring down to essentials but it does have all the information you need including profiles on the therapists and the ability to book online (allowing you to chose therapist, treatment and time).

I Google-mapped the location, as I didn't want to end up at the wrong end of Tory street, but still had difficulty finding it due to lack of signage. My advice is to look for a set of stairs at a doorway across from Wholly Bagels. The secret is that Iselde works from the rooms of Absolute Therapy but (bonus!) she charges less than their therapists. The rooms themselves are very nice though the reception area has a few too many pamphlets and could do with a good dusting.

The service is very client focused; you chose from several varieties of scented or unscented oil as well as music. The assessment and follow up advice don't come out of table time which is great as a thorough assessment for a new client can take half an hour and although it is necessary I don't think anyone likes to get only half the massage they pay for. I did feel that the assessment prior to the massage was a little rushed but everything was covered that needed to be. The follow up to the massage was brief but again covered all the necessary information. Iselde is professional but the service is not clinical; the overall feel is slightly bohemian (which will suit some people but not others).

The treatment was therapeutic, focusing on large muscle groups balancing one set of muscles with the opposing set (eg. if you curl your shoulders forward you are shortening your chest muscles so it makes sense to massage these as well). Chat during the massage was kept to a minimum so I needed to request more pressure but this was attended to. The amount of oil used was sufficient and it was wiped away at the end by warmed towels.

What I liked:
- Iselde is well qualified
- choice of music and oils personalise the experience
- dark towels are accented by brightly coloured towels

Iselde gets two thumbs up from me. I would go back to see her again and I would recommend her to others.

Location: Level 3, 5 Tory Street, Wellington
Price: $80 (60 minutes)
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