One other comment my partner made after my first practise session was about contact. At the college we have small trolleys near the couch which the massage oil is placed on - at home, I had it on a nearby coffee table. My partner said it was slightly disconerting when I broke contact several times to get more oil. So I obviously need to have a look at As or similar for something suitable before I start on my case studies.
Not sure what As meant!! I move the bottle of oil to different places near the massage couch so that it is always close to hand to avoid breaking contact. There are also holsters you can buy to go around your waist to hold your bottle of oil.
I have a bum bag type of thing with my 2 pump bottles of oils in, so the contact isn't broken.
Re A***s .. I was trying not to give Argos any free advertising! 🙂 As it happens, they didn't have any suitable trollies so I'll look elsewhere. But I will definitely follow up on the bumbag/holster solution (just had a quick search and found some examples).
I gave my partner another massage yesterday and had my crib sheet propped up on the sofa - but I didn't need to refer to it quite as much as last time. This time I positioned the oil on a stool near the head of the couch and it worked much better - I was able to keep one hand in contact as I collected more oil with the other. My partner remarked afterwards that she hadn't noticed one hand dissapearing from time to time.
Slightly off-topic but she also remarked on her arm not being 100% comfortable when I placed it behind her back to do her scapula. I had a small towel rolled up to rest her elbow on - she thought a bigger towel would have kept the arm more level. All good stuff to know for when I start on my case studies.