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A full-body massage usually leaves me feeling so blissed-out that I can barely get myself home. But I recently discovered a type of de-stressing treatment that can be done in the middle of the workday, when I'm feeling overwhelmed and tense but still need to get things done. 

It's called Indian head massage, and while some therapists use essential oils, it can be done on dry heads, too (crucial for when you can't go back to work with greasy hair). I was a little worried about scheduling my first-ever appointment during the middle of the day, but Denise Galon, a certified massage therapist based in New York, told me that she'd tailor my treatment to include moves that made me nod off as well as some that helped me snap to attention. Galon practices a type of head massage called "champissage," which is a cross-cultural hybrid that involves both the frictional moves that are part of traditional head massages Indian people get from their families and at the barber shop, as well as the usual shoulder and neck squeezes.

When Galon had finished, I felt relaxed yet also surprisingly focused. Because I had a feeling that my circuits would be overloaded again in no time, I asked Galon for a takeaway exercise I could do on my own back at the office. This is what she calls the "occipital rub." Try it the next time you need to be calm and focused enough to settle into working at your desk, but not so relaxed that you want to put your head down on it.

1. Place your first three fingers behind your head at the spots just behind the ears where the neck connects to the head.
2. With your elbows bent, push your fingers toward and away from one another, creating a rubbing movement on the base of the skull (Galon calls this "flapping your wings").
3. Do this for 30 seconds, or for as long as you need to ease the tension.

Keep reading: More tried-and-true ways that people in other countries relax and refocus.