6 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Massage

The most effective massage experiences begin with intention, communication, and allowing yourself to fully receive the benefits of the treatment.

Whether you're seeking relief from chronic tension, recovering from physical activity, managing stress, or simply prioritizing self-care, massage can be a powerful tool for whole-body wellness. At The Fifth Om, our approach to Integrative Massage is rooted in a simple philosophy: there is power in nature, and there is power in your body's innate ability to heal.

Our highly experienced and licensed massage therapists combine decades of knowledge with a personalized, holistic approach that supports the body, mind, and spirit. While every session is uniquely tailored to you, there are several things you can do to maximize the benefits of your massage experience.

1. Get Clear on Your Needs and Intentions

One of the best ways to get the most out of your massage is to spend a few moments reflecting on what you need before you arrive.

Are you seeking:

• Stress relief?

• Muscle recovery?

• Pain management?

• Better sleep?

• Emotional balance?

• Time for deep relaxation and self-care?

Understanding your goals helps your therapist tailor the session to support your needs. Whether you prefer lighter, nurturing touch or deeper therapeutic pressure, sharing your preferences allows us to create a more effective and meaningful experience.

At The Fifth Om, we meet you where you are in your wellness journey. Before your session, simply ask yourself: What does my body, mind, and spirit need today?

2. Communicate Openly With Your Therapist

Your massage is a collaborative experience.

We encourage you to share any areas of tension, injuries, discomfort, sensitivities, or goals before your session begins. During the massage, don't hesitate to communicate if you'd like more or less pressure or if something doesn't feel quite right.

Our therapists are highly trained professionals who actively listen and adapt throughout the session. Clear communication helps ensure you receive the most beneficial treatment possible while feeling seen, heard, and supported every step of the way.

Healing begins the moment you step through the door. Our calming environment is designed to help you slow down, settle in, and prepare to fully receive the benefits of your massage experience.

3. Arrive Early and Allow Yourself to Unplug

Many people arrive carrying the stress of their day directly into the treatment room. To fully receive the benefits of massage therapy, give yourself permission to slow down before your session begins.

Take a few deep breaths. Silence your phone. Let your to-do list wait.

At The Fifth Om, our calming environment is intentionally designed to help you transition from doing to being. The more present you can become before your session starts, the more deeply your nervous system can relax and respond to the treatment.

4. Be Fully Present During the Experience

Massage can become a deeply meditative practice when you allow yourself to stay present.

One simple way to do this is through mindful breathing.

With each inhale, bring awareness to your body. With each exhale, invite tension to soften and release. As your therapist works, notice sensations without judgment and allow yourself to settle fully into the moment.

We also offer complimentary aromatherapy with every service, while our heated treatment tables provide an added layer of comfort and relaxation. Together, these elements help create an immersive experience that supports deeper rest and restoration.

5. Support Your Body Before and After Your Massage

Many guests choose to pair their massage with a Far Infrared Sauna session to encourage relaxation and prepare the body for treatment

What you do outside the treatment room can influence how you feel afterward.

Before your massage:

• Stay well hydrated.

• Avoid heavy meals immediately before your session.

• Consider booking time in our Far Infrared Sauna to help warm muscles and encourage relaxation.

After your massage:

• Continue hydrating.

• Allow time for rest and recovery.

• Take a gentle walk or stretch.

• Avoid intense physical activity if possible.

• Pay attention to how your body feels over the next 24-48 hours.

These simple practices can help prolong the benefits of your massage and support your body's natural recovery processes.

Ready to experience the benefits for yourself?
Explore our Integrative Massage offerings and find the treatment that's right for you.

6. Make Massage Part of Your Wellness Routine

One of the most overlooked ways to maximize massage benefits is consistency.

While a single session can provide immediate relief and relaxation, regular massage therapy can help support long-term wellness goals such as:

• Reduced stress

• Improved mobility

• Better sleep quality

• Enhanced recovery

• Improved body awareness

• Ongoing self-care and nervous system regulation

Your therapist can help recommend a treatment schedule that aligns with your goals and lifestyle.

Experience Integrative Massage at The Fifth Om

An Integrative Massage at The Fifth Om is more than a massage—it is an opportunity to reconnect with yourself.

Through a holistic approach that honors the body, mind, and spirit, our therapists create a nurturing space where healing, restoration, and self-care can naturally unfold. Every session is thoughtfully customized to support your unique wellness journey, helping you leave feeling grounded, renewed, and deeply cared for.

Ready for your full-body exhale?

Book your Integrative Massage today and discover how powerful intentional self-care can be.

Looking to deepen your relaxation experience? Many guests pair their massage with a session in our Far Infrared Sauna for a restorative wellness ritual.

Explore Far Infrared Sauna

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I get a massage?
The ideal frequency depends on your goals. For stress management and general wellness, many clients benefit from monthly massage sessions. Those addressing chronic pain, injury recovery, or athletic performance may benefit from more frequent treatments.

Should I drink water after a massage?
Yes. Staying hydrated supports overall tissue health, circulation, and recovery following your session.

What should I do before a massage?
Arrive a few minutes early, stay hydrated, avoid heavy meals, and communicate any goals or concerns with your therapist.

Can a massage help with stress and anxiety?
Massage therapy is widely used to promote relaxation, reduce physical tension, and support overall emotional well-being.

Holistic Morning Rituals for Beauty, Wellness & Alignment

Beginning the day with a holistic beauty routine is a sacred connection to self. The first light of morning and the first conscious breath can become a gentle new beginning—one that sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Your mornings are worth romanticizing, especially as you discover the rituals that support your unique needs and capacity for vibrant self-expression. At The Fifth Om, this is the heart of what we do: guiding you into conscious beauty, vitality, and confidence in your authentic self.

Holistic mornings go beyond the checklist of coffee, emails, and rushing out the door. They are not defined by elaborate routines, lengthy journaling practices, or meditating for a specific amount of time.

Instead, creating a holistic morning is an invitation to reclaim the start of your day—to align with yourself before stepping into the demands of the outside world. Every morning offers an opportunity to return to the body, listen to what it is communicating, and nourish it with intention.

At The Fifth Om, our philosophy is deeply rooted in the understanding that beauty begins within and that the body has an innate capacity for healing. Our wellness sanctuary was designed to offer a soft landing into self-care—gently, wholly, and intentionally.

A Simple 3-Step Holistic Morning Ritual

Drop Into the Body

Before reaching for your phone or beginning your to-do list, take your first moments of the day to fully arrive in your body. Notice how you feel. Stretch gently, move slowly, and place your hands over your belly or heart.

Connect With the Breath

With your hands resting on the body, begin to deepen your breath intentionally. Inhale slowly and fully. Exhale gently, pausing briefly at the bottom of the breath before inhaling again. Allow each breath to center the mind as your body gradually awakens.

Integrate Skincare as Ritual

Skincare is not simply about products; it is about cultivating a relationship with your skin. A morning skincare routine can become an act of care rather than correction. Presence over perfection. Consistency over intensity.

You can also pair your morning rituals with affirmations as you move through your skincare or makeup routine.

Go Further With The Fifth Om

A holistic morning routine is more than a series of steps. It can become a daily moment to reconnect, reset, and prepare for the day ahead, allowing you to meet the world as a more aligned and unapologetic version of yourself.

Here are a few ways our wellness practitioners can support your holistic morning rituals:

Virtual Skin Consultation

Receive personalized guidance through a Virtual Skin Consultation with our lead esthetician, Michele. Drawing from decades of expertise, Michele offers one-on-one support to help you build a holistic skincare routine tailored to your skin type, goals, and lifestyle. You’ll receive professional recommendations for clean skincare products, ritual guidance, and sustainable practices that support long-term skin health and radiance.

Morning Facial & Massage Appointments

Begin your day with intention through a morning facial or massage in our wellness sanctuary. At The Fifth Om, we believe in the 80/20 approach to skincare: 80% consistency at home and 20% professional support.

Our signature facials restore radiance while integrative massage helps release tension, improve circulation, and reconnect you to the body. Regular treatments create space for a peaceful, unhurried beginning to your day.

Energy Medicine

For those seeking deeper energetic alignment, we offer Reiki and Integrated Energy Therapy (IET). These sessions can help clear stagnant energy, support groundedness, and promote emotional clarity and balance.

Learn more about our IET and Reiki offerings here: https://www.thefifthom.com/energy-medicine-offerings=

Ready to transform your mornings into a more holistic experience?

Reserve a session through our website or give us a call to learn how we can support your wellness journey.

The Fifth Om is a wellness sanctuary for holistic well-being located in the heart of downtown Kennebunk.

Five Signs You’re Still in Winter Mode

As the calendar turns and the mud starts its slow retreat, the daffodils push up along Main Street welcoming spring in the Kennebunks. Somewhere inside you there’s still a body still holding onto January.

Shoulders are up to the ears next to a tight jaw. There is a braced posture that you’ve been carrying so long that it now feels like baseline.

Spring in Maine is a negotiation day to day. It’s moody; rainy, then sunny and rainy again.

We see it in the treatment room around this time every year. Clients come in talking about how they should be feeling lighter by now—and we agree! The sun is out. The boots are almost tucked away. For some reason everything still feels a little heavy.

This is because Maine winters ask a lot of you. The nervous system is tricky and we are here to help you set down what you’ve been carrying.

Holistic spring facial at the fifth om kennebunk

5 signs you’re still in winter mode

Waking up tired even after a full night’s sleep.

Holding tightness across the upper back that no amount of stretching seems to touch.

Skin that’s still dull, still dry, still recovering from months of dry heat and cold wind.

A short fuse you didn’t used to have.

Wanting to go for the walk and then not going.

These are examples of a body that is in conservation mode. Still rationing energy levels and waiting for proof that the season has actually changed.

As holistic practitioners specializing in bodywork, clean skincare, and alternative therapies, we look at the shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic; from braced to settled. This shift can happen when the body gets a clear, consistent, repeated signal that it’s okay to soften. At our Kennebunk spa, we see this shift every spring.

After 10 years in wellness, we see that the ultimate secret to shaking off the winter is in the sequence.

The Sequence That Helps You Shift

Heat, first.

far infrared sauna with chromotherapy at the fifth om kennebunk

In particular, the FIR Sauna heat. The kind that goes deeper than a hot shower. Thirty minutes in the infrared sauna can penetrate the tissue that’s been clenched since November and gives it permission to let go. Most people walk out of that room and notice their jaw has relaxed before they reach the massage table.

Touch, second.

This is dedicated time for the body that’s been through a Maine winter. We focus on a slower preference-focused body work, warmed natural oils, and attention to both the places that you know you have been holding tension and those you didn’t realize you had.

And Skin

Recovering winter skin needs more than a good moisturizer. It needs custom facials and gentle resurfacing; allowing the dead layer to be lifted so the youthful one can glow again. A Reveal Peel this time of year can be either for transformation or for recalibrating the skin barrier for a new season.

The sequence is the treatment.
One FIR sauna session cannot undo five months of held tension. One massage cannot either. What works is the layering: heat, bodywork, then skin, then rest. Then, doing it again before you’ve talked yourself out of it.

The nervous system learns through consistency and repetition. You have to keep showing up.

Winter asked a lot of you.
You deserve something in return.

Where to begin

If you’re feeling this, we recommend starting with heat, followed by bodywork or a facial. We can also guide you toward the right skincare to support this transition at home.

Consistency is what allows the body to truly shift.

You can explore available appointments here → https://thefifthomappointment.as.me/

Join us for seasonal wellness insights and updates from The Fifth Om.

What Is Infrared Recovery Massage? Benefits, Science & What to Expect

Recovery can mean different things for each of us — easing chronic tension, supporting athletic recovery, or restoring the nervous system after prolonged stress or burnout. At The Fifth Om, recovery is never about pushing harder. It is about creating the conditions for sustainable, integrity-led healing.

Our Infrared Recovery Massage is a deeply therapeutic experience designed for true restoration, not just relaxation. This offering combines skilled therapeutic massage with red and near-infrared LED light therapy, creating a powerful synergy that supports healing at both the muscular and cellular levels.

What Is Infrared Recovery Massage?

Infrared Recovery Massage weaves together intentional, therapeutic bodywork with FDA-cleared Celluma LED light therapy, a clinically proven technology used to support tissue repair, reduce inflammation, and enhance circulation.

This award-winning technology works in harmony with the body’s natural intelligence, allowing recovery to happen more efficiently and with greater depth. The result is a massage experience that feels grounding, restorative, and meaningfully effective.

What Is LED Light Therapy?

LED light therapy uses red and near-infrared wavelengths of light to penetrate the skin and reach muscles, joints, and connective tissues. These specific wavelengths stimulate cellular repair and support healing beneath the surface.

From a science-based perspective, LED light therapy works by supporting the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy source of every cell in the body. When ATP levels increase, cells are better able to heal, repair, and function efficiently.

Benefits of red and near-infrared LED light therapy may include:

• Increased cellular energy (ATP production)

• Reduced inflammation and muscular tension

• Improved circulation

• Enhanced recovery from stress, pain, and physical strain

By supporting the body at a cellular level, LED light therapy helps create the conditions for deeper, longer-lasting recovery.

The Infrared Recovery Massage Experience at The Fifth Om

As intentional hands release muscular tension, gentle light energy penetrates beneath the surface to support circulation, calm inflammation, and encourage cellular repair. This experience works on both the physical body and the nervous system, allowing the body to soften, restore, and recalibrate.

Clients often leave feeling lighter, clearer, and more at ease. Muscles tend to release more efficiently, the nervous system settles more deeply, and a sense of calm carries forward well beyond the session.

This is not an indulgent add-on, but a thoughtfully designed, results-driven enhancement to therapeutic massage — ideal for those seeking meaningful, integrative care.

Who Can Benefit from Infrared Recovery Massage?

Infrared Recovery Massage can be especially supportive for:

• Individuals experiencing chronic tension or pain

• Active bodies in need of recovery and repair

• Those managing high stress or nervous system fatigue

• Anyone seeking deeper support for balance and resilience throughout the seasons

This offering is also an excellent choice for clients who want to nourish the body on a deeper level while maintaining long-term well-being.

An Evolving Approach to Bodywork

This service reflects our evolving approach to massage therapy at The Fifth Om. Every detail has been intentionally crafted to honor both science and soul, combining advanced technology with presence, warmth, and integrity.

The Infrared Recovery Massage is available as a stand-alone service or as a targeted service enhancement added to any massage. For those seeking a more comprehensive experience, it pairs beautifully with our Far Infrared Sauna to support full-spectrum recovery.

Level Up Your Recovery: Full Body Recovery Experience

For a deeply immersive wellness experience, we invite you to explore our Full Body Recovery offering:

• 30 minutes in the Far Infrared Sauna

• 90-minute Infrared Recovery Massage

• Total experience: 2 hours

Call, email or contact us through our website to book this exclusive offering (must be scheduled with reception as our private FIR Sauna availability varies).

Your body already holds the wisdom to heal.
We simply create the space for it to do so.

Located in downtown Kennebunk, The Fifth Om is a place for holistic well-being.
Book online or reach out to customize your recovery experience.

The Fifth Om
A place for holistic well-being.