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Workshop sizzles and sooths
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Boise State Health and Wellness Center will celebrate the season of romance by offering a sensual and relaxing workshop designed to reconnect couples through massage.
The program is a novice’s guide to massage, focusing on relaxation techniques that offer a serene atmosphere (one of the most essential elements, as well as the most easily forgotten). Basics like music, room temperature and oils are applied to express individuals’ likes and desires.
In the two-hour session, couples discover and apply massage techniques after blending their own choice of aromatherapy oils.
“Men tend to go for more of the scents that remind them of food, like vanilla, where women usually pick something like lavender,” instructor Jennifer Aumeier said. There is a myriad of scents with which to concoct the oils. Couples can keep their oils to practice their talents later. Participants walk away with more than the experience of massage; couples learn about each other and their needs.
This is exactly why Aumeier developed the couples’ massage workshop almost eight years ago when she noticed her clients were dissatisfied with the quality of their at-home massages. Aumeier emphasizes the importance of communication in relationships during the workshop.
“Couples are often afraid to say what they do or don’t like about the massage, and that can often translate into other areas of their relationship,” Aumeier said.
Darren Adams, a senior at Boise State, is excited about the workshop.
“It’s definitely something I’d like to take advantage of, and I’ve already talked to my wife about it,” Adams said.
He discovered the event through the Bronco Student Update, but some students have no idea the clinic exists. Until now, Natalie MacLachlan, a freshman at BSU, had not heard about the couples’ massage workshop, suggesting a need for more advertising.
Massage training takes place in a natural environment so the techniques learned can be incorporated into everyday life. Aumeier recommends wearing comfortable attire. For women, this means a sports bra and shorts are acceptable.
The workshops will take place in the Student Union Building Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 16-18 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The massage workshop is open to the public at $40 per couple, with up to eight couples per session.
To register, go to boisestate.edu/healthservices and click on ‘events’.
By the way . if chocolates are your thing, don’t panic: the workshop rewards you with your choice of oil, chocolates or handouts on everything covered.
LISA HAMMAN
Arbiter Journalist
