Heidi Armstrong did the Well Mother teacher training with me in 2006 to add pregnancy work to her teaching. More recently we have been developing our packages for spas and Heidi took our new Pregnancy certificate course to the Maldives for the Four Seasons group in July.
I love teaching and pregnancy related work is always a favourite subject matter for me. When Suzanne asked me to teach pregnancy massage in the Four Seasons resort in the Maldives, I was eager to take up this opportunity of working in a stunning environment.
After a smooth 20-hour journey, I was met at the airport by two lovely members of staff and speed boated to the Atoll of Kuda Huraa. Dolphins swam alongside us and on arrival we were met by a group of drummers and the Spa manger Sanju Upadhyay. Sanju was 7months pregnant and keen to have us there before her maternity leave.
Shortly after arrival, they had booked me in for their jet lag reviver package. This was a two and half hour treatment which included a full body massage, traditional Malaysian herbal techniques, and a beautiful mud wrap and head treatment. After this amazing treatment, fabulous food and sleeping in the luxury beach villa I was revived and on top form to start work the next day.
The spa itself includes thatched stilted treatment rooms built over the sea. These have a glass panel in the floor under the couches so that during your treatment you can gaze at the tropical fish and baby sharks below. Even though the Spa is part of the main resort island, you are taxied over the short distance in a small boat.
The therapists from Thailand, Bali, India and Costa Rica were all very experienced and a close team. This meant they were very receptive to upgrading their skills and supportive of each other’s learning, as well as fun to be with.
Over the next four days they enjoyed working through the course material. They liked deepening their theoretical knowledge especially understanding the postural changes and learning how to position their clients appropriately as well as learning new massage skills.
The therapists worked very hard and passed their written and practical assessments on the last day with flying colours so that I could present them with their certificates. As I was giving them out, they also discovered they had won the Four Seasons Best Spa award for the south pacific region the second time in a row. This is no mean feat as there is stiff competition with all the spas being at a very high level. We all had fun celebrating everyone’s achievements.
It was not only a beautiful environment to work in but great to see that bigger organisations take the welfare and health of Pregnant and postnatal woman seriously by making sure that their therapists have a high level of training in pregnancy to ensure the treatments are safe and tailored to women’s needs.
by Heidi Armstrong
