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.