WACO, Texas — This week's “Your Best Life” is all about relaxing.
KCEN’s Leslie Draffin went to Hand and Stone Massage in Waco to explore hot stone massage and find out how it's helping people feel better, faster.
Heather Balmos is a U.S. Army veteran turned massage therapist.
"I love working at hand and stone because there's so many different ways that we can help our clients,” Balmos said.
Balmos and her husband, Heath, own Hand and Stone Massage in Waco, where they specialize in hot stone massage.
Balmos uses two different kinds of stones for these massages: Basalt rocks, heated to 125 degrees and Himalayan salt rocks with 84 minerals in each one heated between 125 and 140 degrees.
"We use them as tools, we don't place them on the body, we use them as tools to help to loosen the tight muscles and increase the blood flow," Balmos said.
Balmos said the rocks are for more than just helping blood flow.
"They provide a sense of calm and well-being," Balmos said. "We use them as extensions of our hand. If you want a deeper pressure, we may use the stone and one hand and then use a thumb for the extra pressure. We're not actually pushing the stone into you. So, we would use the stone just to heat the tissues and then follow it with a hand that way we can get the additional pressure without pushing and the heat from the stones is really relaxing.”
Balmos said using stones helps her get further into a muscle without adding extra pressure.
"It's good for healing and releasing muscle tension," Balmos said. "And it's also good for relaxing, the muscles loosen up faster. So, you can work deeper layers of muscle without the additional pressure. You can do with one minute of hot stones what it would take 10 minutes with hands only. So, it's more beneficial. It's like a massage on steroids."
It's clear Balmos loves her work, but she said the thing she likes most is helping people feel better.
“I absolutely love being a massage therapist," Balmos said. "People come in in pain and they leave in less pain. People come in stressed and they leave happy.”
Each massage lasts between 50 and 80 minutes and costs between $80 and $110 dollars.
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