This was actually my second massage at Nur Salon. The first I had scheduled for our first “free” day. It was with Made, a man who lived in Denpasar but worked in Ubud and commuted because he said it is too expensive to live in Ubud.
During the first massage, which was followed by a papaya and yogurt scrub and then a hot bath with flower petals (ahh…), he said that my lower back was not in good shape. He asked if it hurt and I said that it sometimes did. He said he would work on it after he finished the regular massage. He spent about ten minutes on my lower back. Well, not actually on lower back but on my legs. He pushed and pinched the areas around my groin (yikes!), using his fingers and the bottom of his foot to get as much leverage as possible. It is quite possibly the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. One reason I asked him so much about himself (where are you from, how did you learn massage, etc.) was because he did some painful and unorthodox (chiropractic adjustments) things to me. I wanted to be sure I could trust him. I felt like I could.
I screamed and he stopped (sort of). I screamed again and he stopped. He also gave me what must be equivalent to a chiropractic adjustment (I’ve never had one). He forcefully twisted and pushed and pulled my fingers, arms, head, and back until they crackled by popcorn. He said that he could help me but that I should come back again because he couldn’t do the full treatment with my screaming the whole time. Oh joy, another session! Still, when he finished, he said that I would feel much better, a little bit each day, and that I would be fine riding home in an airplane. He said not to swim for about a week to give my back a rest.
The odd thing was that he told me not to tell his boss or anyone else at the Salon that he had worked on my back. I figured it must not be sanctioned or something.
Today was my second session with him. It was just as painful and he spent more of the session doing his own brand of Rolfing/Chirpractic/whatever. It seemed to help. Strangely, Kathy had made the reservation for me, and when I showed up at Nur Salon, the woman said I must want the deep healing massage (I think it even said it was painful in the brochure). So I guess Made isn’t that hidden because people request his deep healing. Still, maybe some aspect of it he felt he couldn’t let his employers know about.
Several other members of our group also had massages with Made and found them to be healing.
