CASE STUDY: Sessions Spa, Beverley, Yorkshire

Visitors to Thai wellbeing in Norwich will appreciate its enticing offer to “Discover the Difference for Mind, Body and Soul” with what it describes as its “oriental experience”. However, the hands-on abilities of Thai wellbeing represent just one side of its business. The company also offers expertise and experience in the wonders of authentic Thai massage to other health-based businesses by way of in-depth training courses.

Authentic, detailed training in this art, originally cultivated in monasteries and passed on by Buddhist monks, can be provided by a Thai national who offers eighteen years of experience in the delivery of this demanding massage form. Training can take place either in Norwich or at your premises, and courses can be tailored to suit your needs.
Three levels of training have been created, with level one offering a foundation course in Thai massage; level two providing intermediate Thai massage training, which will give students the ability to provide a full body session; and level three providing advanced abilities including Sen-Energy main lines training.

Sessions Spa

One customer that has already taken advantage of this service is Sessions Spa, Beverley. Based in a two hundred year old former Crown Court building, lovingly restored and redeveloped to begin a new life as a unique, luxury day spa, Sessions Spa has been created to ease the tensions and provide the pampering necessary in today’s fast moving world. Despite the historic heritage of Sessions House, proprietors Jimi Parkinson and his wife Georgina, who have been running salons for over eighteen years, had the complete opposite of period charm in mind for interior refurbishment.

Anyone who steps through the doors of this £1.75m beautifully restored former Court House (where Dick Turpin was tried), will feel as if they’ve entered another world, where marble lines the walls and floors, magnificent Italian designer chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and candle lit corridors lead into small oases of calm. The 11,500 square foot Sessions Health, Hair and Beauty Spa oozes such understated style that you could imagine yourself to be in Paris, New York or Milan! All of this in the ancient market town of Beverley, an affluent area of Yorkshire.

Sessions Spa and Thai Massage

For Sessions Spa, Beverley, the ability to be able to offer Thai massage to customers means that it can provide something out of the ordinary, and something very different from competitive spa and health facilities. The company receives a regular stream of enquiries from those that have either visited Thailand, receiving this experience in its native land, or those that have heard or read of the benefits offered from its deep massage techniques.
Regular clients, already into double figures, visit Sessions Spa on a monthly basis for Thai massage sessions typically lasting one-and-a-quarter to one-and-a-half hours, and prefer the treatment when compared to the more standard massage techniques such as Swedish or De-Stress, though these and others are available at Sessions Spa.

With a wide range of health, hair and beauty treatments also available, Sessions Spa offers a large collection of packages for customers. Thai massage fits neatly into this approach, with both full and half-day package options offered in the Sessions Spa brochure. The company says that there is virtually no competition with regard to Thai massage in its geographic area, and customers come from large conurbations such as Leeds and York to enjoy this service. Customers for the Thai massage treatment extend through a wide age range, with the youngest in their mid-twenties and the oldest in their mid-seventies.

Thai Training Experience

To get this element of its business started, Sessions Spa realised that it needed to gain additional expertise. They found their expert at Thai wellbeing Massage Centre. Moi is employed by Thai wellbeing as the only Thai national offering authentic training in the UK in the art of Thai massage. A detailed, intensive training course was organised for two of the team at Sessions Spa, with the training taking place at the Beverley facility of the customer. A second course followed soon after for two further therapists, and a third training course is seen as desirable by this customer in the near future.

Training was delivered during a five day week, with focus provided each day on a particular part of the body: legs; arms; back; neck. The ladies employed at Sessions Spa and undergoing the training were already trained therapists, with college based qualifications in anatomy and physiology, and they considered it to be important to have already had massage experience.

Trainees do need to understand the requirement to be flexible themselves, as delivering Thai massage involves much more than just using the hands on a client. There are many moves to learn, and trainees will have to practise these moves on each other during the course in order to understand the impact and the benefit.
Delivery of Thai massage needs to be recognised as different, with no oils, and the recipient laid on the floor rather than a bed, in order to achieve the correct pressures required. The trainees at Sessions Spa were able to practise their training on staff members initially in order to perfect their skills.

Business Benefits

From a business perspective, Sessions Spa has certainly benefited from being the only health facility in the area to be able to offer the full Thai massage experience. Whilst this is just one of a wide range of holistic therapies on offer at Sessions, it has in itself attracted many new clients – new clients who invariably then partake of other services on offer.

Whilst current charges begin at just £25 for a Thai back massage, a traditional full body massage lasting for one-and-a-half hours is charged at £75. The packages previously mentioned include the half-day package priced at £105, and a full-day package, delivering a five hour experience, costing £180. The full day option includes steam room session, lunch, manicure and pedicure.

Head Thai massage therapist at Sessions Spa, Hayley (pictured), sums up her training experience:
"The training was intensive, and there are many new moves and skills to learn, but the expertise and knowledge provided by Moi was excellent. She was able to guide us through all of the different aspects of Thai massage, providing us with accurate demonstrations and clear instructions. "