An older idea, kept simple.
I've been doing this work for over thirty years, and I opened The Workshop in Royston in 2011. Tantric massage is a slow, full-body massage given in a quiet room by someone who knows what they're doing. There's a lot of overstylised writing about it elsewhere; I'd rather just describe what actually happens.
The thing guests most often mention afterwards isn't anything that happened during the massage itself. It's the absence of pressure around it: nobody hurrying them, no expectation about how they were meant to feel.
What the session involves
A session is a full-body massage, worked slowly and carefully. A sports or remedial treatment tends to go after a specific area of tension; this doesn't. The therapist works the whole body, with long even strokes, plenty of warm oil, and unhurried pauses worked into it.
Breath plays a quiet part in it. Nobody asks you to follow exercises or count anything; the therapist just works in a way that lets your breathing settle by itself. For most people that's enough to feel a clear change within the first ten or fifteen minutes of starting.
Tears, sometimes.
Tantric massage can surface emotion. It tends to be quiet rather than dramatic: a few tears for no reason you can name, an old tightness in the chest letting go, sometimes laughter, sometimes nothing at all. The therapists here are familiar with it and slow down or stop until you're ready to carry on. It isn't the goal of the session, but it's one of the things that can happen when the body is given an hour or two of slow, undivided attention.
More on this in what a first tantric session is like, which goes into what tends to surface and how the session is held when it does.
Four rooms, each its own space.
We have four treatment rooms here, all properly set up for this work: full-size massage tables, warm soft lighting, real privacy. Nothing improvised.
One of the four is larger than the others and has two tables in it, side by side. That's the room used for couples sessions. The couples version of this treatment has its own page; see the couples tantric massage page.
Who you'll be working with
The day-to-day rota is a small group of female therapists: Jessica, Roxanne, Sophia, Maria, Cindy, Scarlett and Lilly. Most have been at The Workshop for years.
I run the spa and provide the couples tuition; I'm not on the daily rota. If you'd like a session with me by name, or you're a couple who'd prefer a male and female pair, that's usually possible with a day or two's notice. Just mention it when you call.
How it differs from the others
The biggest difference between the treatments here is pace. If you're not sure which suits you:
The slowest of the four. Long even strokes, plenty of room around each one. From 45 minutes; 60 or 90 is the more typical choice.
Firmer, more directed. The right choice if you're stiff from training or a desk and want the knots worked out.
A steady working pace, somewhere between the other two. Covers similar ground without the slowness of tantric.
Two therapists working on one person. Can be given at a tantric pace if you ask for that.
Couples are a separate case. Each of you receives your own treatment in the two-table room. See the couples tantric page.
Who tends to book this
There's no typical guest. Reasons people give vary: an hour where the phone doesn't reach them, a quiet way to mark something difficult or significant, plain curiosity, an anniversary. What they share is the wanting-to-slow-down part. Anyone after a brisk efficient massage is usually better off with a Swedish.
Worth knowing before you call
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1
Sessions start at 45 minutes
60 or 90 is the more typical first visit. The slower pace genuinely needs the extra time for a proper impact.
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2
Booking is by phone or WhatsApp
We don't run an online booking system. Matching a guest with the right therapist and room takes a short conversation, rather than a calendar click.
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3
Arrive five or ten minutes early
That's plenty. Unless you'd like to use the sauna, then thirty minutes earlier, would be perfect.
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4
Towels, sauna, showers and a hot drink, filtered water, are all included
Bring flip flops if you'd rather not walk barefoot from the room to the shower. We don't supply robes.