The ideal stones for Hot Stone Massage in my experience are basalt stones.To perform a quality hot stone massage treatment, ideally you will want to have basalt stones of a significant size so that the weight and warmth of the stone, replicates a warm, soothing hand.

Smooth basalt stones are recommended for hot stone massage as they allow for ease of cleaning and hygiene, not to mention that they feel that they glide beautifully across the skin and are therefore very pleasant to the hot stone massage receiver.

When choosing stones for hot stone massage you should consider their size, shape, weight, texture and composition.

Basalt stones the size of your hands and 1-2 inches thick should be able to radiate a consistent heat for 20 minutes or more when laid stationary on the body (i.e. in a stationary layout). This is important as the last thing you want to happen during a treatment is for all your stones to be cooling down, and your client getting cold.

This is just a guideline, but it should be obvious that the ‘thinner and lighter’ the stone, the quicker it will heat up and the faster it will cool down. Many hot stone massage practitioners that I have spoken to have experienced this regularly, simply because they were working with stones that are simply too small.

To perform a complete hot stone massage treatment you will want an array of different basalt stones (i.e. different shapes and sizes) as different stones are ideal for working on different parts of the body and for the different stationary layouts. Think of your stones as your special ‘tools’.

So where do you find suitable stones? Well, basalt stones can be found on beaches and rivers, particularly in areas that have been volcanic in the past.

However, in our experience it is extremely difficult to find stones that are naturally ’smooth’ and therefore it is difficult to gather enough stones to make a complete set.

There are places though, especially throughout Polynesia where there are basalt stones that are beautifully smooth and that come in an array in different shapes, weights and sizes.

It is from this part of the earth that we have our stones ‘hand gathered’ and carefully put together into sets, specifically for our own unique Hot Stone Massage system, before being shipped to us here in Australia.

To learn more about our stone sets, please download our FREE Information Pack.