STRESS FREE SPAS...For Real!

What I haven't heard in spas would fit into Thumbelina's Little Black Book.

Meaning: I've hard it all. Because when I am gifted with a spa visit, no paying guest knows that I am visiting to critique, compliment or complain of how the place operates, how they treat guest and more importantly, how they treat the staff.

But I digress. I am simply one of many pretend-ladies who lunches, out of her class, but having a great time.


I've heard so many things in spas and locker rooms and make-up rooms and steam/sauna baths and huge perfect Jacuzzi. I've heard personal, confidential shockers from women who've shed their skin in this society.

I, too, felt compelled to talk, still protective of my real assignment.

But the talk. The openness. From all sorts of women.

Most were in assorted stages of dress and undress.

Only a few timid souls (mostly real young or real old) needed privacy to strip and cover up their timidity with a towel.


So in most really luxe spas, (and I've seen a few) the women are freer with truisms, confidante-status with strangers, and a sort of universal oneness by virtue of one organ that dare not speak its name.

Yet we talk of those other organs, don't we? What are they? Heart, liver, pancreas, bowel, gall bladder, something else.

I know I'm leaving something out, but you get my drift.

All women have everything physically in common, not-withstanding disability of any sort,
with all naked or near-naked women.

Women nude are at their most vulnerable, most defenseless and never more equal to her gender. Anywhere. In any part of the world, so matter how culturally foreign. Sorry about the pun.

So friends who spa with friends open up even more. To one another.

And one complete stranger. half-dressed, will waltz over to a 50-year-old struggling to take off a bra from the '50s. The 1850's. With a kind smile untainted by judgment.

Not for nothing, is there a man so bold that he would have the sheer guts to saunter around sans testicle, around the more fortunately endowed, embarrassed like they were at their old high school gym?

Back to women's spas and locker rooms posing as luxury sitting rooms from old movies. Some of those locker rooms were so lush, I wanted to become a secret resident. Everything smelled good and fresh and new. Not like messy home. But the willing suspension of disbelief that I could make stuff happen, will always self-amaze.

But the sheer freedom of cellulite running free, scars and stretch marks oh my!

Ladies, we're all the same, battle-scarred and still living to tell. Skin covered hides a fertile mystery that reveals itself only in trust. Spas promise a wonderful magical fantasy-land to ponder life's mysteries, find internal peace, seek a moment without stress.

My point (and I do have one) is that spas are woman's state of grace. Her domain. Her Fortress Of Solitude. But with company.

If you can be somewhere and the biggest decision to make involves a lunch choice, why wouldn't you go? I'm talking about quality places to which I hope to share my side info with.

And now I receive a "blast" from the Spa Industry big-wigs that the industry is FINALLY waking up to the next "important trend" (not fad, mind you) which is: health spas. Not health in the sense of your basic gym and its moldy sweat stench and locker-fragrance odeur. But health
that goes beyond the next Pilates Class.

Nope. I'm talking about spas that are now doubling Health-O-Meters that will address all the Baby Boomers worries. Like getting a wrinkle or two.

To which I say indignantly BFD. Age gracefully and gratefully as you figure out your own path. I've just started this one.

And don't forget, it's the journey that counts, not the final destination (a phrase the airline industry should stop scaring their passengers with). And by all means, in all that you do, have fun doing it.

I'm keeping this short because tomorrow I intend to name some places and I want to do some actual research~ surprise!


And let me remind you again: this Spa-Trekking website has taken a turn. I will now write about Green Spas, spas that are more interested in mind/body/spirit connection than in the latest
gimmicky "treatment."
I will be honest, happy to take comps because otherwise I can't afford to do squat. Another btw, I have been writing about this "new" green awareness since I have been writing about spas. A looooooong time.

Maybe I'll throw in a poem or two.

So much for a short take.
Tomorrow is now. Or later.

Green Spas-- Global Antidote?

Is anyone surprised that so-called "Green Spas" are the latest currency in the enlightened age of pampering and the search for a stress-less life?

In an effort to help a reader or two determine what makes a "Green" spa that hue, I will soon embark on a journey to discover, relate and inform. Without making you wade through technological mysteries and long-winded explanations. Isn't that a relief? If you ever wondered what LEED means, it shall all be explained in good time, grasshopper (homage to David Carradine, regardless of what he was doing in that Bankok hotel closet).

My goal is to check out the spas that are truly doing the right thing with water waste, choosing excellent quality products, and still offering exemplary experiences and treatments that are not relegated to the latest craze in whoo-whoo treatments and la-de-dah experiences. There are many spas that claim mind/body/spirit goals, but many are simply a new spin on an old public relations tack. Trust me, I used to be in Public Relations. I know how things work.

I want readers to visit websites I will soon be delineating and mentioning, check out what's "new" and "green" and determine whether or not these places are truly eco-conscious, or merely poseurs for the sake of reputation. They know who they are, and I will not "out" any hotel, resort or spa for not living up to "Green" standards and practices.

That job is yours. I intend only to present information, point out the spas I have experienced, those I hope to experience and perhaps those (unidentified so you can work out the clues yourself) I wouldn't want to return to. I don't want to bit the hand that massages me, I'm not stupid, merely underpaid. That's a joke. Maybe.

So starting next week, prepare to see a number of standards to look for in choosing a spa, based on a number of factors, including comfort level and professional services.

"Green" is the new black and before the backlash, and even if you decide to staycation this summer, there are plenty of spas in your very own town, to explore, question and hopefully, enjoy. By the way, in a brash effort to self-promte, I have recently been asked to provide a column a week on an innovative exercise that promises to get that noggin of yours shaking for a cause: good health.

Check it out It's called Brain Wave Vibration and is part of Best Life Media, a fascinating site to explore for better health, mental attitude shifts and improved life. Trust me, it works.

Stay tuned. Same place, same channel.

Spa (and other) News

Revelation: Good health is a treasure unappreciated until it vanishes.

Which is why I'm now focusing on another benefit from Spatrekking. Both the column and the spa-going.

And that is: when being taken care of in a well-run spa that offers a plethora of treatments, good health may often be restored.

Which happened time and again for me over the past 8 years. Coincidentally, it has been 8 years dealing with a chronic painful nerve disorder that has often left me bereft.

Fortunately, it appears that I have found some relief, thanks to a potpourri of Eastern and Western medicine, for which I am grateful. And this journey has also provided great insight into the numbers of individuals struggling with chronic conditions.

It's not about the spa.

It's about good-health-trekking, wherever that may be found.

And as my health improves (knock wood) I look back and understand my primary motivating factor in seeking incredible spa treatments, outstanding spas and compassionate personnel.

I was "self-medicating."

Not with drugs. With being pampered and comforted.

My "medication" was simply being in a suspended state of unreality. A stress-free, uplifting environment where my physical and emotional needs were addressed. Even for a short burst of time.

I found nurturing people who cared, if only for an hour session.

We all know that it's sometimes easier to open up to complete strangers than it is to bombard friends with troubles and whiny complaints. And a great spa therapist and/or spa director often offers such solace. And boy, did I take advantage. Not in a "poor me" way, but an inquisitive and open-minded way.

Why is Ayurvedic massage so relaxing? What makes Chinese Tui Na so soothing? What's up with hot mineral springs?

I tried to keep quiet during most of my treatments in order to allow myself the luxury of experiencing "the moment," knowing later the deconstruction and critquing would begin.

And now it has finally revealed itself and it's a no-brainer: being in a serene and safe spa is akin to paradise.

It can ease your body into natural self-healing and lead your chattering brain into a positive mental flow.

And those experiences helped my body's self-healing ability to kick in. Whenever I visited a great spa, I left in a state of grace, aware that life is good. Of course, life is good when you can visit spas and have wonderful treatments.

But too often, after a few weeks post-spa, the familiar stress and tension would crawl up my spine and lodge in my neck and shoulders. Until recently.

For now my quest for wellness and peace of body/mind/spirit has expanded beyond the parameters of a spa.

Not into the woo-woo land of wacky spiritual cults or the like, but into a dimension that goes beyond having the greatest facial ever. Even if it's performed like a well-choreographed dance, augmented with caviar or diamonds.

The stress that overpowers most of us at any time during our lives can be diffused in an assortment of methods, from meditation to simply exercising in any way you see fit. See, fit? And fit is what we aim for: fit in body, mind and spirit.

If I choose to turn this spa blog into a more reflective column, so be it. This has been an amazing outlet for my treks in the world. And I welcome more (I'm not stupid!) as they appear. But it is no longer an urgent sense of reportage that propels me.

It is a quest for leaving the stress behind, without necessarily spending a fortune on spa treatments most of us can't afford anyway.

So from now on I will focus on spas (or not) that offer more than merely feel-good-in-the-moment. My focus has shifted in many ways. Value your health.

Take care of your spirit and learn to trust your body.

And you will stay fit.