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The Spa is a special place for feeling good, a place to go for a sense of serenity and rejuvenation. Feeling good is not something you can simply buy. Feeling good means being content with yourself, with your appearance, with your success in your job and private life. Going to the spa can bring a state of health of body mind and soul, an indispensable ingredient of well being. But what happens to this good feeling when you have to confront the day-to-day humdrum routine and strong demands you find in your own home, your job, stressful traffic, frenetic lifestyle or a day faced with a number of unpleasant situations?

If you are carrying around too much tension, weight, cholesterol, or other excesses that prevent you from enjoying life to the maximum, it is time to escape and immerse in the SPA world to achieve balance and rejuvenation.

The running water to clean your body with a pleasantly fragrant shower gel and enjoy a massage and a refreshing drink, prepared especially for you is not just doing something for your body but also working for your psyche and your soul too. Spas offer all these elements to help you feel better and completely relaxed. Soft and gentle music, the smell of fresh flowers or aromatic herbs, make your skin feel warm and clean, free of waste and toxins. You could say you have reached a state of well-being.

The word SPA means “sanitas per aqua” from the Latin meaning “Health through water” and the first to discover the bliss of bathing dated 4500BC. Mesopotamians rulers had clay baths installed in their palaces, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra who cared for her skin by spending many hours a day in a bath filled with donkey’s milk.

The purifying power of water on body and soul has been utilized by almost all-religious founders -from Buddha to Moses- and very strict cleansing rituals accompanied some ceremonies. The old report on record from around 5000 BC., come from India, there, people were stated unclean and untouchable in the morning until they had performed their daily ablutions. Even today, you can watch the spectacle of thousands of people in India’s sacred rivers. Spas today are the continuation of those places created with the purpose of purifying body, mind and spirit, and reach the balance vital energy to be healthy.

Most people have spent more time and money on preventive maintenance for their cars than on themselves, but some now no longer see spas as just a luxury place for extravagant treatments but instead as a requisite to staying healthy. The two main reasons that people go to spas are to relieve stress and feel relaxed. Spas offer stress-free, noncompetitive experiences that promote rest and relaxation. They propose time to focus on you, take better care of yourself and totally calm down.

Spas clearly have something to offer for everyone and it goes deeper than the expected massage. Athletes understand the positive effects of spa treatments on sore muscles. Men are more than a quarter of spa clients. Cancer patients are finding a much-needed place for relief at spas. Families are enjoying spas together as quality time to unite and relax. Teens are going in groups and learning lifestyle lessons on skin care and proper nutrition. Even pets are now frequent clients of spas.

All you need do to is found the right spa for you. Decide the reasons you want to go to a spa, for vacation or to have a spa experience, what programs and services are you looking for, what type of setting you would like and how much you can afford and then select a spa that enables you to concentrate on an area of emphasis. Just keep in mind, even though their variety of offerings; they all have one thing in common: they all specialize in wellness.

Some examples of spas programs:

• Stress Management: Learn relaxation techniques, how to manage stress, and other strategies for feeling more in balance and in control.
• Peace of Mind: Accomplish a spiritual journey of self-contemplation and reflection through meditation, yoga, tai chi, chi gong and other practices or activities that guide to serenity, understanding and self acceptance.
• Indulgence and Pleasure: People gratify their senses with massages, facials, mud or aromatherapy and other delightful treatments as they enjoy a completely relaxing vacation.
• Health and Wellness: Explore your health, understand issues such as smoking or medical concerns and discover how lifestyle choices can lead to optimal wellness.

Read about: Massage offered in spas

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Aromatherapy Massage

This treatment combines specialized massage techniques with the healing effects of pure essential oils. A full-body massage that promotes the elimination of toxins, strengthens the immune system, increases circulation and aids in achieving a healthy balance of mind, body and spirit.

Head, Neck & Shoulders

This massage concentrates on the head, neck and shoulder areas that are associated with tension and tend to causes chronic pain.

Pregnancy Massage

Ease to-be-mom sensitive muscles and give the baby a treat, too. A special massage designed to alleviate leg; hip and lower back pain due to bodily adjustments of pregnancy. Not recommended during the first trimester or for those experiencing a high-risk pregnancy.

Reflexology

Compression is used on specific reflex points in the hands and feet. These points correlate to individual organs and other parts of the body. This therapeutic technique helps re-establish energy flow and enhance circulation. Not recommended for pregnant women, those suffering from high blood pressure or those on medication for blood thinning.

Sports Massage

This massage aids in relaxation and recovery after strenuous workouts. This deep-tissue massage uses slow, very firm pressure and stretching to manipulate specific muscle groups while soothing sore muscles and increasing range of motion.

Stone Massage

Smooth basalt rocks are heated in water. The therapist holds the stones in their hands and massage oil is used to help them glide across the body. The heat within the stones helps penetrate deep into muscle tissue inducing relaxation without overheating or over-stimulating the muscle.

Thai Massage

This unique experience features a choreographed series of assisted stretches, combining acupressure and yoga positions to warm the muscles and encourage energy flow. You’ll receive this treatment in the traditional style on a mat. Please wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing.

Swedish Massage

The most popular form of massage helps maintain and rehabilitate physical functioning and enhances your health by working on the muscular, nervous and circulatory systems.

Temazcal

Temazcal is a pre-Hispanic bath used as spiritual practice from the many cultures of America, a sacred ritual for healing and purification.

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 the indigenous people of Mesoamerica developed a highly advanced civilization. Herbal medicine and natural health practices were established throughout the area.

Temazcal, the herbal steam bath was a vital part of traditional life and was used for well being, treatment of many ills and as a religious ritual to purify and clean the mind, body and spirit and its name given to it by the Aztecs, temazcal, a nahualt word that means “The house of Vapor” Temaz=Vapor, Calli=House.

In the last decade there has been a great interest in the ancient natural medicine that has spread across the country, including the temazcal, curative steam baths, which uses hot rocks, water and curative plants such as peppertree leaves, rosemary, basil and eucalyptus and is still a right of renovation, a spiritual encounter between mother earth and humans.

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