Denis Merkas, Massage Therapist

Hi, I’m Denis, and I teach couples how to give the best back rubs so you can have the most amazing experience, together, in the privacy of your own home. Next to me is Emma, the gorgeous model I instruct on.

When I first created Melt, I thought I was creating something fun for couples to do for date night, I was wrong. We interviewed 40,000 of our customers, here’s why they massage each other:

• Foreplay and Sex
• Relaxation
• Release Knots and Tension
• Treat Specific Muscle Problems
• Intimacy and Connection
• Save a Relationship
• PTSD
• Sleep Better
• Reduce Pain and Inflammation
• Anniversaries / Birthdays / Valentine’s Day
• Trips Away & Holidays
• Non-Verbal Communication
• Love Languages

At Melt, we’re happy if you’re getting your hands on each other – you’re welcome to use the techniques however you feel happiest doing so. Our goal is to provide you with safe and easy to learn techniques that you can follow along to. Where your massage ends up and what you use it for is totally up to you.

The techniques:

Melt is by far my proudest career achievement. 8 years was spend in front of live audiences teaching couples how to massage. It’s here where I learned what couples were doing with my techniques, what worked and what didn’t. 8 years of studying with thousands of couples, drilling down to the perfect 17 massage techniques – the essentials needed for the very best back rub. Nothing like this exists in the world, makes me proud.

It hasn’t always been couples massage…

I’m no spring chicken anymore; it’s been 20 years as a massage practitioner now. My first qualification was a Bachelor of Health Science degree in Acupuncture. While at Uni I decided to also study remedial massage. Graduating in 2000, I opened a clinic but after a couple of years I felt trapped inside a treatment room 6 days a week. I wanted employees, I wanted something bigger! Merkas Health was created – a massage company that grew into something big, servicing Melbourne’s leading hotels (and one sublime ski resort) with kick-ass massages.

I’ve always thought a massage should be a proper massage, not a “skin polish” (which is what I call it when you go to a day spa and they stroke your skin lightly for an hour) – and I trained all my staff to provide the best massages they possibly could.

A good massage is a good massage, no matter who you are… Which is why Merkas Health massaged some of the world’s biggest celebrities. This roll call includes Pearl Jam, Art Garfunkel, The Pussycat Dolls, Flo Ryda, James Earl Jones and many more. I’m always super proud when I send them one of my talented staff that I’ve trained, and even more so when those staff go on to become fantastic massage practitioners in their own right, with their own clinics and loyal clients.

The head massage, hand massage and foot massage that I teach in Melt comes directly from Merkas Health. It’s the exact same massage given to Peirce Brosnan and Jared Leto, and you get to give the same to you partner.

Merkas Health was a lot of fun, and training practitioners became my favourite part of that job. The celebrities are a great talking point, spending every weekend in the snow for 5 years was fun too, but my favourite achievement was watching my practitioners grow and develop into their own clinics.

It took a while to convince me to leave Merkas Health and give 100% of my energy to Melt – when the techniques were put to film, 8 years after that first Melt Massage did I feel that I’ve created something more important than teaching practitioners.

Melt has served so many couples already – it’s so good for you. I hope you get your hands on each other, it’s an experience unlike anything you’ve had before.