Why women in Oxford should stop putting off their massage!

There is a particular kind of tension that lives in women’s bodies.

It’s in the shoulders, yes. And the neck. But it’s also in the jaw you clench at night, the breath you take but not fully. The way your whole body sort of braces itself, sometimes you don’t even know why or recognise it happening until your shoulders and back start to ache. It’s the accumulated weight of the week, the month, the year — of being the one who keeps track, who holds things together, who is always, always on. It’s just not quite feeling yourself. Maybe it’s hormones – perimenopause? Tiredness? Stress?

Most women I know have been carrying this for so long that they’ve stopped noticing it. It just feels like normal.

It isn’t.

What massage actually does

I want to talk about massage properly for a moment — not as a treat or a luxury, but as something your body genuinely needs.

When you receive a massage, your nervous system shifts from its default state (alert, watchful, ready to respond) into something rarer and more restorative. It’s why your tummy gurgles around 20 minutes in – you’ve entered a restful state – ‘rest and digest’. Your hormones respond. Your heart rate slows. Your muscles — which have been held, braced and guarded — begin to actually let go. Not because you willed them to. But because someone skilled and present helped them find the way.

This matters enormously for women, particularly those of us in the middle part of life, when hormonal changes can make the nervous system more reactive, when sleep is disrupted, when the body is carrying both more responsibility and more change than at almost any other point. Massage is not a nice-to-have in this season. It is, quite honestly, one of the most intelligent things you can do for yourself.

The research backs this up — regular massage reduces anxiety, improves sleep quality, lowers blood pressure, relieves chronic muscle pain, and supports the immune system. But I suspect you don’t need me to cite a paper. I think you already know, somewhere in your body, that you need it.

You’ve probably known for a while.

So, what stops women from booking?

I see the same thing again and again. Women who would book a massage for a friend without hesitation. Women who would encourage anyone else to rest, to be looked after, to invest in themselves. Women who feel vaguely guilty spending money on something that is “just for them.”

Here is what I want to say about that:

You are not a machine that runs on willpower. You are a body — a nervous system, a set of muscles, a hormonal ecosystem — and you need maintenance, care, and sometimes, the ancient and irreplaceable gift of gentle, nourishing, unconditional, caring touch.

You give so much out. This is one of the ways to give back to yourself.

What a massage with me looks like

You arrive at my cabin in Headington, Oxford. I start with a warm foot-bath and a cup of tea — not as a gesture, but because this sets the tone for your experience. For the level of care you’ll receive. It signals to your nervous system that it can begin to relax, that you can begin to relax. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make a difference to how safe you feel. How much your mind will allow your body to let go. While you soak your feet, we talk. I want to know what’s going on in your body, where you’re holding, what you need.

No two appointments are the same, because no two women — and no two weeks — are the same.

Depending on what you need, I might work slowly and deeply through muscle layers to release what’s been held there for months. I might use myofascial release to untangle the connective tissue that surrounds and supports your muscles. I might use hot stones where the body is particularly resistant to letting go. I might spend time on specific problem areas — the neck, the hips, the lower back — or I might offer something more holistic, something that works on the whole system rather than the parts.

What I am always trying to do is leave you feeling rested, reset, replenished. Reconnected with your body. Like you can breathe properly again.

Women say things like transformational and magical after their appointments. I understand why — because when the nervous system finally releases, when the muscles stop bracing, when you stop holding yourself together for just an hour, the effect is profound. It reaches further than the physical. To really hear what women say about my work, read my independent reviews here.

A little about me

I’ve been working with women’s bodies for more than 14 years – pregnant bodies, tired bodies, bodies of all ages, sizes, shapes. Scarred bodies and those holding on until the point of overwhelm. It’s safe to say, after treating thousands of women, I’ve seen it before – but no body is the same. And this is the beauty of my practice. You’re so much more than a body. I listen to your words – and what your body is telling me silently. I trained originally with the Oxford School of Massage and have continued my professional development both officially through Jing and Jenny Burrell Education, but also through my fascination with anatomy, physiology and how everything is connected. My hobby is reading on these subjects! Alongside my yoga teaching and nutritional work, I specialise in what I think of as the whole woman. Not just the tight trapezius. But the woman underneath it.

I work from my bespoke cabin in Headington — a genuinely beautiful, calm, separate space, hidden in my garden, away from the noise of everyday life.

I offer women’s massage on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursday mornings. Appointments are 75 minutes and cost £80.

How to book your Oxford massage

If you recognise something of yourself here — that particular tiredness, that sense of running on empty, that awareness that your body is asking for something — please don’t add it to the list of things you’ll do eventually. Book your massage appointment in Oxford now. Do it as an act of intelligent, intentional self care for yourself, and for everyone who needs you to be present, calm and at ease.