Body Brushing Redux

On yesterday’s post, I neglected to mention what might perhaps be for some the most important benefit of body brushing. For those of you who wax or shave various body parts, you know that those irritated and irritating red bumps are often the unfortunate cost of the clean-cut look.

In that case, we’re told this is the brush for you. You can purchase it at the Grass Roots Store.

Do report back.

Body Brushing, Aha, aha

I just had an Aha moment. Before the Aha moment, I decided to do a little research on body brushing because I keep hearing about it, that it’s supposed to be really great for everything from lymphatic draining to—and here comes the Aha moment—acne prevention.

So back up, Spadette.

Until six or so months ago my regular face-washing ablutions (I love that word) included the use of a face brush—I was a body brusher and didn't even realize it! It did take me awhile to grow accustomed to the brush because it felt pretty abrasive to my skin at first. But for some reason I stuck with it and got to the point where the brush felt like a nice face massage. And my skin looked great.

Then, again for no particular reason, I stopped using it. (Actually, it was because I attended the International Spa Association conference and came home with a bag full of products that beckoned to be sampled.) Not long after, I began noticing bumps on my face—like pimples that were not quite ready, if you catch my drift. It’s been a frustration ever since. What’s going on? No matter what pricey products I switched out for other pricy products my skin was not as clear as it used to be.

So after boning up on body brushing, starting today I’m pulling out my face brush and shall begin using it ASAP. I am also going to start making use of one of several body brushes I’ve owned for awhile. (Thank you again, ISPA.)

Body brushing—with a DRY brush— is just a full-body version of what I do to my face. Think about it: Our skin is our largest organ. As such, it acts as a shield of protection from the environment. Sloughing off dead skin cells for five minutes is a simple way to stay healthy and maintain that glow—even as the winter continues to press down upon some of us.

Here’s how to do it: Get a soft-to-moderate natural-bristled brush. (It is said that the stiffer the bristles, the better lymphatic circulation you’ll generate, but speaking from experience you’ll want to start soft and build to the harder bristles.) A brush with a long handle will help for those hard-to-reach spots.

Here’s what it will help:

+ Body brushing allows nutrients and oxygen to come to the surface of the outer layers of your skin, thereby increasing blood circulation. Great if you are prone to cold hands or feet.

+Brushing the chest promotes lymphatic drainage to release body toxins, which takes the load off of large organs so they don’t have to work so hard.

+Body brushing promotes collagen and elastin production, which is great for keeping cellulite at bay and generally for healthy skin tone.

+By keeping it optimally healthy, the skin becomes an immune-system support, so you’re less likely to be at the mercy of colds and infection.

+Don’t forget the benefit of muscle relaxation as you gently massage your skin.

+And, when you think about it, since you’re increasing oxygen flow, it’s got to affect the brain for improved focus and clarity.

Start gently and build to short, brisk strokes. Watch dead winter skin fall away. Now take a warm bath.

Aaaha.

Touch Yourself This Valentine’s Day

Not having a partner shouldn’t exclude you from getting your fair share of The Touch. Strong, able hands are available to soothe your aches and pains as well your heart. For that matter being strapped for cash shouldn’t be a deal breaker either.

I’m talking here about massage, but in this case it’s self-massage and I'm not the only one advocating it.

People tend to get all stressed out about what to do on Valentine’s Day, and non-partnered people tend to get a double dose of that stress. Hooked up or not, it’s enough to make you need a massage.

The inspiration for this blog is a neighbor I had years ago. He was single—and a little creepily, he was always looking for sympathy because of it. But there was this one thing that he did that I came to believe was a sign of healthy self-nurturing: he’d give himself massages. I thought it was weird at first but then I tried it myself. He’d cross his left arm over his torso to his right and begin kneading the side of his neck. Then he would move down to the always-knotty shoulder muscles and focus there. He could easily manage deltoids, bi- and triceps, the forearms and hands. And then he’d do it all over on the other side.

Legs and feet are easy to get to too. And who can’t do with a good belly massage after a meal? It’s a great aid for good digestion.

The thing about self-massage is that you’re in complete control of the amount of pressure you receive. You also know how to zero in on the exact spot that needs the most attention. You can use classic Swedish style or incorporate some shiatsu or acupressure.

There are lots of props you can use, too. I’m sure you’ve seen those self-massagers made of wood. They resemble a three-dimensional image of planet constellations a là your high school science project. Do they work? I find them a little cumbersome but you may not.

Tennis balls, for the bottoms of your feet are great. Just have a seat and roll that puppy under the sole of your foot. Be careful not to apply too much pressure and that you don’t do it too long. I got a foot cramp once. Tennis balls are also great for neck massages. Just put one inside a regular gym sock, place it on the floor and then carefully position the center of your neck over it. Now roll it around. Feels great.

Feel free to pass on any self-massage tips that work for you. And have a happy, stress-free Valentine’s Day!

Spa Trends 2008

As soon as the calendar flipped to 2008, spa publications and other experts began rolling out their predictions of what spa goers would be asking for in the upcoming year. (But as these things go, what they are really doing is telling spa goers what the industry is telling them they should be asking for.)

Within the various lists there was some overlap, but also striking opposites.

One prediction said we’d see more luxury spas with designer “labels.” There is now an Armani-branded spa in Tokyo and the Versace empire has a spa in Australia. Bulgari, Prada, they’ve all entered spa land. Is cross marketing the term for this? (Yes, yes, there are other names for it, too.)

On the other end of the spectrum, and perhaps a proletariat pushback of sorts, young people, they say, are beginning to seek out places of relaxation before spa was spa as we now know it—ethnic bathhouses, saunas and mineral springs that were once all the rage. They fell into disrepair when painkillers, being a much more expedient way to deal with arthritis, etc., were developed.

But I believe young people have been long onto these “best-kept secret” spots because of their retro feel. In Chicago there’s a Korean bathhouse called Paradise. My friends and I discovered it about 15 years ago. It’s on a sleepy (though used to be sleepier) stretch of Montrose Avenue and it’s the real deal. You have sauna, steam, hot and cold baths. But there are also massage therapists on hand, a restaurant and even a quiet zone with reclining chairs and television. The cost is well under twenty bucks and for westerners it used to be a spectacular portal into the traditional Korean spa experience. I don’t think they liked having us around, though I can’t be sure because there was not much English spoken on the premises.

Last year I had another old-time spa experience that I still think of fondly. Hot Springs, Arkansas used to be the water cure destination of choice for 19th and early 20th century seekers. People flocked. Bathhouse Row, as it’s called, is now making a comeback. Grand, free-standing buildings tricked out in beautiful mosaics and porcelain everything. I had my traditional spa day at the Arlington Hotel, though the Buckstaff is also a good choice. The Arlington was once the poshest of hotels but not much has been done to update its look. Original signs still announcing crazy-cheap prices hang and everything is musty and saggy and a bit dingey because of the high humidity levels and the absence of a fresh coat of paint.

But prices are still cheap by modern-day standards and there are lots of elderly regulars who have been going weekly for years. In fact I was told the Buckstaff frequently has a line of locals waiting. (If they are put off by the onslaught of newcomer tourist types pushing their way in they won’t be able to hide it behind a foreign language.)

Don’t expect much TLC. This was the era when clinically speaking bodies were slabs of meat—which I suspect had as much to do with the era being more rough-and-tumble as it did with ye olde Protestant ethic. That’s right, no co-ed experiences here. There is a lady's side and the men’s side and never the two shall meet. I was scrubbed and slapped and kneaded and talked to in assembly-line tones by gritty gals who’ve been doing this work for years. . . having taken over from their moms before them! I kept pretending it was 1800 something and I'd crossed the country by rail to heal my lumbago. It was just great.

Everyone should check out one of these throwback spas if only for a basis for comparison. And, after all, the spa experts say, you know you want to!

Here’s a fine photo of me wrapped in steamy hot-springs-water-soaked towels.

Is the Personal Massage Heading Into the Toilet?

Kind of looks like a giant commode, doesn’t it?

Wipe that thought clean out of your head.

It’s called a Spa Capsule and it’s surely something the Jetsons would have owned had massage been popular in the early 60s. One of these babies can be in your home tomorrow, just pony up for what it would cost you to buy a new Honda Accord—about $30,000.

It reminds me of that time, not so long ago, when people started realizing they didn’t have to go to the gym to use a motorized exercise machine. Now they could purchase one, throw it in a big room (and therein lies the rub: who’s got the space?) and you’re good to go. Some collected dust while others allowed people to never step foot in a sweaty gym again. Depends on your personality.

Home spa-ing is not new. We've all read the stories—heck, some of us have even pitched and written them—on how to spa up your home. It’s just that now it’s been elevated to new heights— and widths, in this case.

The concept was created by doctors and comes equipped with aromatherapy and an audio-video system with Bose speakers, all controlled by a touch screen, and . . . a dry water massage! What’s that? I hear you ask. The water pulsates over your body but it’s circulating inside a silky-comfy sheet so you never get wet. And your head stays outside the toilet—er, capsule—the whole time, so claustrophobia, they say, is kept at bay.

Cost aside, what do you think? Are you willing to give those human healing hands up for a revved-up automated de-stressor?

Hopping the Wellness Train

I’ve been feeling kind of medical minded these days. I guess that’s not so surprising since, individually, as a group and out of necessity we’ve been slowly shifting the paradigm from treating disease to the much more optimistic model of staying healthy to begin with. Hence the birth of wellness centers and integrative medicine, which makes use of the best practices from the west and east.

So again I draw your attention to two items from one of my daily resources for what the heck is going on in the world, the New York Times.

In yesterday’s paper, in the Science Times (my, how I love that section), Jane E. Brody’s column was about how we can cut unnecessary deaths during one routine hospital procedure: IV insertions. People die unnecessarily of infection all the time! A physician and researcher at Johns Hopkins named Dr. Peter Pronovost came up with a simple five-point checklist that, when used, not only reduced patient death by infection to zero but also saved billions of dollars in Michigan hospitals where the checklist was put into place. These are points about as elemental as they get: first point on the checklist? Wash your hands.

And if that’s not staggering enough, though Pronovost has proposed implementing the checklist universally in our country. . . yep, you guessed it, he’s gotten nothing but resistance. Spain, however, approached him and is going to implement it.

It should be mentioned that Brody got this story from my favorite doctor/author Atul Gawande. He and Pronovost recommend writing members of Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Do it!

Second item needs way less exposition. The story made the front page. Here’s the headline: High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi Sold in Manhattan.


Ugh. If it happens so rampantly there, please don’t be eating sushi in Kansas City.

Reggae Spa?

It seems Bob Marley's family has opened a spa in Nassau, Bahamas. It's called Natural Mystic Spa and will use a fusion of African, Asian and Caribbean beauty treatments. The website, however, does not indicate any details about spa offerings; it's focus is mostly on accommodations. Hopefully, they'll include more information about the offerings at the three treatment rooms. Other facilities will include a tea lounge, and a limestone steam room. Stay tuned. Or please share any information you might dig up.

Not Clear on the Concept?

It seems that athletes participating in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will not be allowed to be treated with Chinese herbs. This, they say, is “in order to avoid doping problems.” Acupuncture and any other “non-drug” traditional treatments will be allowed, however.

As I try to process my sentiments on this ruling, I'm wondering if others have thoughts on this?

Aura Cleansing

Feeling stuck and on the treadmill of old patterns and behaviors, revisiting them again and again though you no longer want to own them? Here's a recipe--given to me by one super-duper talented tarot card reader and numerologist. It's a bath and it's to be done once a week for 6 weeks.

1 small unopened box, the entire contents
1 cup from an unopened box Epsom salts. You can use sea salts but she likes the simple and beneficial properties of Epsom. (It's important that the seals not be broken on the boxes. Since you're trying to remove psychic matter that's attached to you, you don't want to anything that's been exposed to the elements. That's her theory.)

You should soak for about 20 minutes, making sure that you wet all seven chakras. The crown, third eye and the throat chakras are hardest to get to. It's best to submerge into the tub but if you're not inclined, make sure that you wet them.

As you're doing the soak, first invoke Archangel Michael and ask him to clear your field, your home and all aspects of your life.

Next pull in Archangel Rafael. Since your auras have now been cleared, empty spaces that are vulnerable remain. Ask him to fill them with his golden light.

Finally, grab Archangel Gabriel and ask him to fill you with white light of clarity.

Do this once a week for six weeks—it gets a smidge costly but only with the Epsom salt. I did find 16 oz boxes, which means you can use half per bath. That size costs 99 cents and baking soda costs about that too. So total price is about $12.

Out with the old and in with the new you.

Good luck.

The Unbearable Lightness of Spa Writing

Bear with me. I promise I will soon come round to discussing spa, the theme of this blog.

The other day I saw a most original documentary called "Helvetica." It’s a thoroughly entertaining feature-length film about the font. That’s right. The filmmakers took a subject that just as easily could have appealed to only a demographic sliver of geek designers and art snobs and turned it into an enlivening and playful pleasure. Plus I learned a lot. So, win-win!

While reading one of the many spa magazines that are spreading throughout the publishing landscape, that film popped into my head. I think it was somewhere in the midst of plaintively asking myself, Why is spa writing so boring? Am I right? Do mainstream spa publications put you into a soporific stupor like they do me, a reader who is really, truly interested, who wants to read about the topic? And many of the stories are delivered in dreaded first-person accounts—nothing looks more beige on the page than one person’s drained-of-all-signs-of-life spa experience.

How is this good for spa land?

It doesn’t have to be that way, and "Helvetica" proves it. Many single-themed magazines, especially those that are wellness oriented, have somehow swapped out good and thoughtful writing for story copy that sounds like every other story copy and every other writer. It's the Spa Voice. I think they want us to think that the writing mirrors the peace and tranquility of the topic, but it doesn't; it's just sadly safe.

This, in fact, is how the documentary filmmakers entertainingly explore attitudes about the Swiss font. It's the story of how Helvetica quickly became all the rage in the design world because of its clean, modernist lines. Everyone went Helvetica crazy and fifty years later Helvetica is still used everywhere. Once you start looking for it you’ll see Helvetica is the font of choice for the majority of corporate behemoths—from the Gap to Crate & Barrel to IRS tax forms. It's sad and spooky. For many designers it’s become a symbol of the stupefying sameness of no-good corporate brainwashing that has infiltrated every aspect of our lives.

What are the ramifications of this corporate writing for spa land?

As a spa lover who wants spa to flourish and to truly be an instrument of positive change for healthier and more mindful living, I fear spa may have become co-opted by big business, with all the interesting edges rubbed out so that we think: spa = good so don't ask questions. If the mainstream writing about spa is any indication, it’s a bit worrisome for those in the wellness industry because they believe in healing the planet, not milking it.

See the movie for the fun of it, and think about what kind of spas you want to support next time you run across an article or a spa menu that’s so lightweight it practically floats out of your hands. That's not the kind of mind emptying we should be after.

P.S. I tried to write this post in Helvetica, but surprisingly Blogger doesn't include it as one of its eight options. So yay for Blogger.

On Nasal Irrigation and Living Spiritually in the 21st Century

Happy New Year to all.

A couple of items in the New York Times struck me:

The first was in the Styles section, a piece about neti pots, though according to the writer I think I’m behind the eight ball on this story. Oprah apparently talked about neti pots months ago, which sparked a spike in purchases, which prompted the NYT story. The gist of the story is that neti pots are very good for cleansing the sinuses, and they are. But for those who can’t seem to master the neti pot or are put off by the looks and bulk of it, I have a suggestion.

Instead of a neti pot, I use an item you can purchase at any drug store for a couple of bucks. In the infant section you’ll find something that looks like large eyedropper. (See photo.) It’s about five inches long and about ¾ inches in circumference. You can get the very same results with one of these. The amount of liquid that fits into such an eyedropper is a perfect fit for each nostril. Using it will help you feel much more control and eliminate that drowning feeling of the ongoing stream of the neti pot, which is what prevented me from using it for so long. If you have sinus issues, especially as a result of winter dryness or cold, a rinse is great way of alleviating pain.

The other item that struck me was on the cover of today’s NYT. It was about Alcides Moreno, the New Jersey window washer who made a miraculous recovery from a 47-story fall last year. The story describes the extreme lengths that emergency care doctors went to in order to save his life. The only other person to survive such a fall took a plunge from only half that height. Most die after a fall from a height of only a few stories.

The headline used the word “miracle,” and the word was repeated several times within the story, even from the doctors who worked on him. (some nine operations, and he faces several more.) But nothing about his survival, short of the fact that he lived at all, struck me as miraculous. Instead, it is testament to the technical advances of modern medicine.

I’m no philosopher but you don’t have to be one to feel a little queasy or questioning about this story and others like it. To me the miracle was that he survived‚—apparently he was even semi-conscious when the paramedics arrived, which is amazing—not how they were able to keep him alive using artificial, or man-made, means. That he stayed alive is something I wonder, even worry, about. Should he have? Was he supposed to? Spiritual thinkers talk about how difficult it is to live “mystically” in the 21st century. Our world is filled with distractions. Years ago if you wanted to get closer to God you went and lived in a monastery or cave and the more earthbound would take care of your worldly needs. Today we straddle our spiritual quests with modern day realities, like the need to go to work to afford health insurance. It’s much harder to understand where we fit into this scheme. If a loved one of mine survived such a devastating trauma, would I want such extreme measures to be taken on his poor racked body? It’s something to ponder.

To read a story on the paradoxical topic of medical advances and man, Atul Gawande wrote a fabulous piece in the New Yorker. Here’s the link.