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Heatwaves and Hot stones? 🔥🥵Cold stones!❄️😎

Are you someone who loves hot weather, or someone who struggles to cope with it?

 I love blue skies and sunshine...

  But I am more of a 'coper' when its as hot as we've had it lately! 

 I have had a surprising (to me at least!) number of people over the last few weeks booked in for Stone Therapy: Hot and Cold Stone Massage - a massage and treatment primarily with HOT stones.

I've done a bit of research, and while I didn't find any very helpful information or guidelines re specifically Hot Stone Massage in hot weather - the World Health Organisation recommends a maximum comfortable working temperature of 24°C, and Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy recommend a maximum indoor working temperature of 24°C. Maximum safe temperatures are also suggested in the range of 25-27C. Discomfort and safety are also impacted by humidity levels, with higher humidity on top of heat being less comfortable and more dangerous.

This has lead to me reviewing my policy and practice in terms of wellbeing and safety for both my clients and myself for having added heat when the ambient temperature is already high. Safety in heat waves is something we all have to start considering as the climate continues to heat up and become more unstable.

I am lucky in that due to its thick stone walls and overshadowed North-West facing back windows the temperature in my room has almost always stayed under 24C.

However, Hot Stones are heated in a water heater (like a crock pot) at around 120-135F or 49-57C - which heats the room up some and raises the humidity. Lovely in winter! Not so great when its already close to uncomfortably hot!

Use of the hot stones for placement and massage can raise not just the skin temperature but potentially the core temperature of the client. If you are going out then into a hot day, or a hot car, or to a hot office or house (and lets face it, not only do most of us not have air conditioning, but our houses and buildings are designed to stay warm, not to keep cool!), there is a safety issue as this may put undue stress on the body (especially the heart and circulation) and its ability to cool down and regulate core temperature.

With that in mind I have contacted the clients who have booked for Hot Stones recently and explained why it is safer and wiser for them - as well as more comfortable for me! - to work with Cold stones only in this kind of weather.

Going forward, for my own comfort and wellbeing, I have decided not to ordinarily offer Hot Stones in July and August in future - unless we are having a cool patch in which case I may add some availability in.

Furthermore I will keep an eye on predicted temperatures in other months and added a proviso to the forms for the booking of hot stones that in the event of predicted temperatures of 24C or above and / or of a weather warning for heat, I will review whether the use of stones is safe and advisable for client and myself, and reserve the right to only use cold stones in those circumstances, or for the session to be rescheduled to another day and time. I hope no-one will be too disappointed with this decision. 

Stone Therapy  

Cold stones and cooling oils on hot days - you can add cold stones as a £2 add on to other treatments.

Best wishes for the rest of the summer!

Summer holiday plans and self-care

A few people have started to ask me about my plans for the summer - ie will I be away at all? I actually have a trip away - just down to see family in the South and be with my dad for Father's Day - in a couple of weeks time. Holistyx will be closed for a week from Tuesday 16th to Tuesday 23rd June.
I am going to be available as usual throughout July and August - and I have just put August availability in the online calendar.


If you know you are going to be too busy in the holiday period to come for a session - whether looking after children, going away yourself - or covering at work for other people's time off - maybe get yourself booked in sooner rather than later for some care and attention to get yourself feeling relaxed and good in body and mind to better enjoy the summer!

Alternatively some people like to come just before a trip away, so they don't arrive too stressed and tense to make the most of it - or after they return in case the journey back is tiring and difficult, and as something to look forward to to take the sting out of the end of the holiday!

Email Holistyx@gmail.com if you need booking information. 

£3 price rise from 6th April 2026 - book yourself massage or Reflexology now for current prices!

There will be a price rise of £3 for all Holistyx appointments made on or after the 6th April.

 
Appointments are available up to the end of May. If you get yourself booked in now - or by the 5th April - you can get your Massage or Reflexology session(s) for March, April, May booked at current prices.

 
Feel stressed out, tired, tense?
Stiffness, tightness, aches, pains?
Feeling low, anxious or not sleeping well?

Take time out to relax, unwind, and be more balanced and at ease.
- Relieving tension, discomfort or pain.
- Reducing stress.
- Feeling more looseness and freedom of movement.
- Improving and supporting your physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing!

To book, use the Holistyx Online Scheduler if you have the link, or contact me at Holistyx@gmail.com and I will send you the link and full booking information.

New Year - Hot Stone Relaxation?

Happy New Year! Are you feeling rested, relaxed and restored? Or have you been busy running around looking after everyone else this festive season? Do you enjoy the cold, dark months, or does your mood dip?

New Years resolutions tend to be all about pushing ourselves to change - and 'do better' - but how would it feel to be kinder to yourself instead?

At this time of year, I recommend trying a Hot Stone massage. Carefully heated smooth round basalt stones are placed on the body and used in the hands for massage. The relaxing and pain relieving effects of heat penetrate deeply into muscles. Great if you have fibromyalgia, arthritis, or chronic pain but also just for a wonderful experience of deep relaxation.