The search for a more balanced lifestyle is becoming increasingly more important when it comes to looking after our health. There’s now a growing trend towards prevention through better eating habits, farm-to-table organic products and disciplines like yoga, meditation or acupuncture.
Visiting a spa is no longer an occasional treat. It’s now become a regular activity and an important part of our wellness routine. With a growing number of people availing of this service, spas have diversified their range of products to meet the needs of increasingly knowledgeable customers and also to attract the attention of those in search of the most innovative and extravagant treatments.
Current spa trends include treatments inspired by ancient cultures like temazcal sweat baths, eco-friendly spas and those for very peculiar customers.
Eco-friendly spas
Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia is the perfect example of an eco-friendly spa. The resort was one of the first in the United States to receive the LEED Green Building certification in six categories. The spa was built using recycled materials, paint and carpets low in VOC (volatile organic compounds), and low-intrusive lighting equipment to cut down on visual pollution.
In keeping with the concept of the hotel, the spa boasts natural lighting, energy efficient water heating and uses sheets that can be washed at low temperatures. The oils that are not used in the therapies are recycled to make candles, and it promotes the consumption of locally produced products, free from formaldehyde, BPA and toluene.
Spas with ancient rituals like the Temazcal
In this category, the spa at the Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico is a good example. It offers the Temazcal ceremony experience, a pre-Hispanic ritual that purifies your mind, body and spirit with a steam bath using medicinal herbs that cleanse your mind, body & spirit in three ways, ingestion in tea, vaporisation when breathing in essences, and cleansing, with herbal water.
With the Temazcal you can achieve a better understanding of your own feelings and obtain the tools to progress towards wellness at a leisurely pace and give space and meaning to your healing process. Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel boasts the ideal setting for this ceremony that starts in an open space by greeting the four cardinal points and requesting permission and the guidance of the Guardians during the ceremony. The steam bath with aromatic herbs takes place inside a small limestone dome and usually lasts 45-50 minutes. Then comes the spectacular limestone and wooden sprinkler called “refreshing rain” where all the tensions and toxins are dissipated.
The complete Temazcal session lasts about two hours and uses indigenous instruments like the rattle, rain stick, the sound from a seashell, and a combination of aromatic herbs.
Spas with innovative technologies
The Heavenly Spa by Westin Santa Fe in Mexico City boasts a “Whole Body Cryotherapy” treatment in a Cryogenic Chillout Cabin with a cloud of nitrogen gas between 130 and 190°C for three to six minutes, which causes a rapid decrease of skin temperature without any variation in your internal body temperature.
Your brain reacts by secreting large amounts of dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, and adrenaline, which leads to natural health benefits such as a reduction in pain, recovery from inflammation and sports injuries, improvement in physical performance, weight control, anti-aging, etc.
Spas for new customers
The Baby Spa Perth in Australia has made the headlines thanks to the peculiarity of its clients – newly born babies up to 6 months. That’s right, this customer segment receives all the benefits of hydrotherapy and massage from a very early age. Its new patented BUBBY flotation device provides complete freedom of movement for babies to enjoy the experience inside these mini jacuzzis.
According to Baby Spa Perth, hydrotherapy and massage stimulate the babies development in the first stage of life and has a positive effect on circulation, digestion and muscle tone, but above all, it stimulates and reinforces the baby’s emotional bond with their parents and improves cognitive development.
