by Edna Sousa
I’ve heard about relaxing the feet in a bowl of warm water with rocks inside. And I know it can be fashionable to use stones for the floor of your shower…you can see this technique in home design magazines or on TV. But laying down in a bed of warm rocks at the Spa? That was a new one to me, but in this treatment, called Ganbanyoku, people generally lie down on these black stones to soak up their healing benefits. They improve health and wellness through sweating because the high temperature in the stones can detoxifying the body.

Ganbanyoku means “stone bath” or “stone sauna” in Japanese, and it’s a practice that originated in Thailand and become popular in Japan. It’s basically a room with body-sized stones inset into the floor and heated. These stone beds are made of tenshoh seki, or black silica and black silica lava rock.
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by Grace Wilson
When you’re on a limited budget and can only afford one spa treatment, how do you choose? Nobody wants to waste money on expensive spa services they didn’t enjoy, least of all those with modest incomes.

Well, unless you’re someone who loves all kinds of touch and is never disappointed no matter what the spa service (consider yourself lucky if you are), it’s going to depend. Each of us is a completely different person from week-to-week with ever-changing wants, needs and moods. To have the best spa experience you need to understand your present state of being. Just because you enjoyed the bone-crushing deep-tissue massage you had last time doesn’t mean it’s going to suit your fancy on your next visit. You have to be clear about where you are to know what is going to best satisfy your needs.
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by Grace Wilson
The new trend in eco-friendliness is finding its way into the spa world… a little bit, anyway. Green spas aren’t exactly easy to find, but they are out there. And if you’re the type of consumer who wants your money to support businesses that care about the environment, you can find green options when you want a day of pure indulgence … if you’re willing to do a little digging.
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by Grace Wilson
We all know tanning isn’t good for our skin. No one wants to age themselves unnecessarily. But those of us with light skin will probably always want a darker summer glow. It makes us feel healthy and radiant. We definitely want our skin to look it’s best in more revealing clothes, so what to do?

Body bronzing treatments really have become a great alternative. The products used these days at tanning salons and spas are so much better than the self-tanners of years ago. If you gave up on bronzing lotions after a horribly orange QT tan and swore you’d never do something like that again, well, never say never. You can give yourself a bronzing treatment at home, but having the treatment done professionally will guarantee you get the best, most even application, and it just feels better to have someone else take care of you, doesn’t it?
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Sound therapy used to be something mysterious you only found by word of mouth through someone at a full-moon drum circle who occasionally used “singing bowls” to conduct healing sessions in their basement. We were so intrigued by the reports that sound waves could ease us into a meditative state and clear all the energetic junk from our auras. The excitement at the strangeness of “the healing” was part of the fun; you felt like a kook for even going and having the treatment, figuring if it was total crap at least you’d have a funny story to tell your friends.
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by Grace Wilson
The pomegranate is popping up everywhere these days. There are endless varieties of pomegranate juices, smoothies and nutritional supplements on the shelves of health-food stores. I’ve even seen it make appearances on restaurant menus. But what is it about this ruby red, sweet-tart fruit that spas are finding so tasty?

Jaclyn Losie, Licensed Aesthetician and the owner of SkindustryTM (a consulting company for the skin care industry), tells me it’s considered a super-antioxidant, even better for us than green tea or red wine. It’s full of vitamins A, C, potassium, and folic acid, which together can promote the re-growth of the outer layers of dermal cells. It’s also been shown to protect against certain types of skin cancers when applied topically.
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by Grace Wilson

Having recently moved to a new city I know it can be a challenge to find the massage therapist of your dreams. There are so many out there who claim to have this or that expertise, but how can you know if the two of you will be a good therapist-client match?

The quest for a great massage therapist can be an expensive process if you don’t have a good plan. Here are some things you can do before you make an appointment to speed up the process and give you some better odds.
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by Grace Wilson
Oh, the Korean Scrub. It’s not for the feint of heart, nor for any woman who is shy about her body. But if you want to have an absolutely blissful day, go to a Korean spa and let those ladies work their skin-stimulating magic!

Koreans have a bathing culture a lot like that of the Japanese. They enjoy regular visits to public bath houses where amenities are provided for you to scrub yourself up really well and shower off. Once the body has been thoroughly cleaned you create your own hydrotherapy experience by alternating between relaxing in a hot bath, steam room or sauna, and then occasionally taking a plunge in a cold pool to stimulate your circulation.

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by Grace Wilson
If your “crow’s feet” are starting to bother you, think about getting a series of microdermabrasion treatments. While it’s popular in the United States now, Europeans have been indulging in this age-reducing treatment for nearly two decades.

This non-surgical cosmetic procedure is very effective at reducing fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and acne scars by using tiny crystals to polish the skin. A specially trained technician uses a mechanical hand piece, or abrasion tool, and moves it methodically across your skin, usually going over the whole area two or three times for optimum coverage. The abrasion tool simultaneously polishes the skin and vacuums up the dead layer of skin cells at the surface. The abrasion and the suction provided by the hand piece stimulate the deeper layers of the skin to produce new fresh skin cells and to increase production of collagen, which keeps our skin plump and wrinkle-free. Getting rid of the dead, outer layer leaves your face looking fresh and radiant.

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by Grace Wilson
Winter is the perfect time of year for going to the spa and getting a heat treatment. So if you love the heat but you’ve tried all the herbal wraps and steam treatments you can find, I’ve got something new for you: a Japanese Enzyme Bath! But here’s the catch: to my knowledge, there are only two spas in the US that offer this wonderful treatment, and they’re both in California. So unless you’re headed off to Tokyo, you’ll have to visit Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary (www.osmosis.com), about an hour North of San Francisco, and/or Willow Spa in Santa Monica (www.willowspa.com).

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by Grace Wilson
If you you’ve waited until the last minute to make arrangements for your Valentine’s Day spa escape with your beloved, and are now finding that you can’t get an appointment anywhere, there’s no need to panic. You can still make someone’s day very special by doing it yourself. It’s not as hard as you think to give the gift of luxury pampering in the comfort of your own home. As an added benefit, you’ll avoid the crowded locker rooms and “churn ‘em and burn ‘em” massage — madness that is inevitable on one of the busiest spa-days of the year.

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by Grace Wilson
You can greatly improve your chances of having a fully-satisfying, if not spectacular spa experience if you spend five to ten minutes chatting with the one who will be plugging you into the reservation system: The spa receptionist. Of course, this may not apply if you’re calling a large resort spa where the reservationists don’t even work in the same building as the spa personnel. But since most spas and massage therapy establishments are small businesses, the receptionists know the people who work in the spa and how the massage schedules are put together. They have invaluable information that can be useful when making your appointment if you take the time to talk to them.

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by Grace Wilson
Remember when Kenny G was so popular, but nobody you knew owned any of his CDs? Well, Shirodhara, a new treatment appearing on spa menus everywhere these days, is one of those things that everyone has heard of, but few have experienced. Shirodhara (pronounced shee-ro dah-rah with shiro meaning “head” and dhara meaning “flow” or “pour”), is a five-thousand-year-old Ayurvedic treatment from India used to treat patients suffering from a wide variety of disorders, most frequently involving brain function and/or the nervous system. In Shirodhara, a continuous stream of warm, herbalized oil is poured slowly over your forehead, mainly over the third eye point in between the eyebrows, for anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

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by Grace Wilson
Having two massage therapists rub you down at the same time certainly sounds luxurious. But how do you know if it’s worth it to pay double the price of a single-therapist massage? The answer depends largely on what you’re looking for. The benefits are well worth it in many cases, but certainly not all. Know what you want, know what you can expect to get out of a four-hand massage, and then make your decision.

What you can expect? In most spas the four-hand massage is a blend of long, flowing, Swedish/Esalen-style strokes. But if you’re going to a place that specializes in a certain type or style of bodywork, ask to be sure. In most cases you’ll be able to request the amount of pressure you prefer, whether light, medium or firm. If you’re modest about your body, know that more of your body will be exposed during your four-hand massage than during a regular massage. Two therapists need more “body” to work on. Your private areas will still remain covered, of course, but you will likely have both legs exposed at once, for example, versus just one at a time with a single therapist.

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by Grace Wilson
Sometimes I’m such an easy up-sell. All the receptionist has to do is say the word and I will add this hydrotherapy treatment onto whatever services I purchase. In fact, if I had to choose, I’d easily pick the extra fifteen minutes for the Vichy shower over an extra fifteen minutes of massage. I’ve never met a Vichy shower I didn’t love.

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by Grace Wilson
If you’re hard to please when it comes to massage, you might do well to schedule a Thai massage. If I’m going somewhere new, and not in the mood to pay a bunch of money for a massage that might only be average, I’ve learned to book myself a Thai massage knowing I’ll leave satisfied.

As a recipient of Thai massage you remain comfortably clothed throughout the treatment. Sweats, yoga clothes (no shorts) or scrubs are perfect — you shouldn’t have anything binding or restricting on your body. In most cases you’ll start lying face-up on a mat on the floor with the therapist beginning the 90-minute to two-hour session on your feet and legs. Expect every part of your body to be moved, lifted, twisted and turned throughout the entire massage, as if your therapist is making you do yoga while you lie limp like a rag doll.

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