Beauty

You will be too blissed out to do much after an Autumn Soother treatment

An Autumn Soother treatment at Mulberry House, Edinburgh

The treatment

An Autumn Soother with Sumlee Forrest of Refresh Thai Massage at Mulberry House, Edinburgh, £100 for 120 minutes. It includes a Thai hot oil massage with hot stones and a facial using Neal’s Yard organic products. Available Fridays and Saturdays until the end of December (apart from 19 October-17 November).

Why go?

According to Sumlee, many of her clients are feeling wiped out at this time of year, so she’s designed a package to soothe and restore.

Our spy says

Mulberry House is a great venue – a townhouse packed with therapists, from counsellors to hypnotherapists, tui na practitioners and physios.

Sumlee collects me from reception and takes me down to basement level, where she works from a lovely quiet room, decorated with houseplants and a diffuser puffing out a lemongrass scent.

Once I’m lying face down, she begins by massaging my back. I usually ask for medium to firm pressure, but this time I’ve asked for medium, since I know Thai massage can be more intense than, say, the average Swedish.

She starts by working on top of the towel that covers me, using thumbs of steel to pop the knots around my shoulder blades. Then she removes this to apply handfuls of hot apricot oil. After a soothing rub down with this, she deploys some lozenge shaped hot stones, which ease out those muscles that won’t quit.

There’s probably around half an hour of intense work, solely on my back, and it feels much more effective than the usual perfunctory rub down.

My legs are attended to next, with long strokes, using her forearms too, and my feet and legs are bent and folded to provide gentle stretches.

Same with my arms, before I’m turned over so that the front of my limbs can be worked on. Sumlee massages my shoulders and décolleté, using an amazing pale blue herbal Thai ointment, which opens the airways. clears the head, and smells a bit like Tiger Balm, but without the burning effect.

At this point, my thoughts have gone through various modes from the usual racing bullet train to a gentle strolling pace as I tune in to the relaxing music on the stereo.

It’s time for the facial bit, and Sumlee has decided on Neal’s Yard products that will work on my combination skin.

She cleanses my face using some fresh smelling unguents, and works a couple of this brand’s nourishing Palmarosa lotions into the mix. I’m gently buffed – there’s nothing too abrasive – and massaged (including my lips!), with some totally heavenly scalp massage dropped in here and there.

The results

“I hope you have nothing on for the rest of the day,” says Sumlee, before I leave. Thankfully, I don’t, as all I want to do is bob around in this bubble of relaxation, inhaling the occasional waft of magical Thai balm. n