After having a great session with Risa, I decided back to Nemu Stretch Studio for one last stretch before leaving Osaka. I was interested in preparing my mind and body for the long travels ahead, but I also wanted to see how a session with Shiho would compare to my session with Risa.
I suspected Shiho’s session would be very similar as I’d already developed an impression from my earlier experience that they’d worked very hard to craft a comprehensive stretching routine that they’d both execute in their own way. This turned out to be the case. While the skeleton of the routine was very similar, there were slight differences in the way they accomplished each stretch. I wouldn’t say one was better or worse the other and in fact, I’d say they were equally relaxing and effective in leaving me with a refreshed feeling that lasted long after the session ended.
I also wanted pay a little more attention to what they were doing. During Risa’s session, I kept my eyes closed the whole time, trying to fully relax and get the most benefit from the session, but with Shiho I wanted to pay more attention to see exactly what they were doing to enable all the various stretches. It was quite interesting to watch, actually.
The session is a mix of massage-style body work and stretching. While some of the body work was typical use of hands on soft tissue, there were some more interesting techniques that being on the floor enabled. One challenge of body work is having the strength to really get strong pressure and the solution at Nemu Stretch Studio is sometimes to use body weight. For example, one way they effectively work on your legs is to kneel down and place your leg on top of their calves and then sit down, squishing your legs between theirs.
Similarly for stretching, they’ll frequently use their body as a brace and then their body weight to lean into a stretch. For example, to stretch my glutes, Shiho put my foot against the side of her waist and then leaned forward to get a really good stretch as she pushed my foot backwards over my head. I get nervous sometimes when people are trying to get good pressure because if they’re just using their upper body strength they may strain and have less control which I fear could lead to injury. However, with the bodyweight techniques Shiho employed, I felt like she was able to effortlessly exert strong controlled pressure for both body work and stretching.
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