I have been a "model" for a student at a massage school. It is a therapeutic level of massage. Some deep tissue massage does hurt at the time, but the pain goes away very quickly. You should hurt after the massage is done. A massage practitioner should not need to talk the whole time. I have had one massage, that my DMiL gave me. It was horrible the guy wanted me to breath in and out very aggressively the during the whole massage. If you find the right person, massage is wonderful. Most people want a gentle massage. But for me I want them to work out the knots, and I don't care if it hurts. Everyone will have different needs.