Posts Tagged ‘Reiki’

Even casual Momoverettes know that I’m a massive fan of spa-ing. Day spa, destination spa – you name it, I want to be there. I love everything about them: The scent of sandalwood wafting through the air, the corny Enya soundtracks, the slippers and 500-ply terrycloth robes that are always about 10 sizes too big for me.

And because I’m a die-hard crunchista, I’m also into all the groovy wellness treatments. Sure I dig a good facial – it’s always fun to have some perfect stranger scrutinizing your pores and laugh lines under a 50x magnifying mirror – but I like the wackier stuff too. Like reiki, which basically entails having a practitioner hover hands over your bod while simultaneously channeling good old-fashioned positive vibes into your beleaguered, stressed-out soul.

If that last sentence had you muttering “Bulls–t” to yourself, then do I have the site for you!

Dubbed SpaEvidence, the new portal picks apart 21 of the most popular spa-oriented wellness modalities – from Acupressure to Yoga – and scrutinizes them from every conceivable angle. What studies have been done to support their efficacy claims? How do they really rate in terms of their ability to relieve stress or combat the effects of illnesses like diabetes or Crohn’s Disease?

It’s incredibly in-depth, and I’m guessing that it’s actually geared more toward aestheticians and spa owners than massage-loving mama bears. And its primary purpose is to support the growing shift away from traditional Western medicine and pill-popping to a more holistic, top-down, “let’s get to the underlying causes of what’s ailing you before we whip out the Rx pad” mindset.

I, for one, am utterly down with any source of information that helps us build our case for taking primo care of ourselves. This new website should go a long way in doing precisely that.

So we head for the awesomely family-friendly Mohonk Mountain House in the morning, and I am counting the nano-seconds until I scamper into that SUV. Even though I now live across the Hudson River from Gotham, it’s in my field of vision 24/7 and Mama needs a little break from all the steel and skyscraper action.

The thing about Mohonk that I really love is that it’s equal parts rustic and glam. Not glam-glam, mind you. But there’s a pretty gorge spa that is the perfect place for a mom (or at least this mom) to nip off to and hide from a Hubby and a Wee Lass. Last year, to reward myself for handing in the manuscript for my Momover book in a timely manner, I splashed-out on an “Ageless Aging Enzyme Facial” and an “Aroma-Massage,” which, as the name implies, thrusts several unspeakably lovely aromatherapy oils into the spotlight. (I believe in aromatherapy, big-time. To learn more about it, check out the most recent Mama Guru…)

This year, I haven’t quite decided what I’m doing spa-wise, but I’m definitely doing something. I figure I’ll just take a gander at the menu when we check in, and see what speaks to me. I’ve been feeling mystical lately, so I might just partake in a Reiki treatment. And the owner of Mohonk is a big meditator (she’s even written a great little how-to book on it), so I may pop by a class and get my Zen on.

But mostly, I’m sure I’ll be eating s’mores and paddle-boating on Lake Mohonk with the Little Lady, playing golf and tennis with Hubby (he’s about 1000 times better in both sports, but really, really nice about it…) and hiking my big fat ass off. Lots of hiking is in my immediate future, so much that I might actually even christen a cute pair of Vasque boots I bought several years ago and have yet to wear. A while back, I interviewed Jessica Iclisoy, the super-smart founder of California Baby, and she told me that she swears by Vasque for her daily treks through the canyons around her Beverly Hills home. Bingo – equal parts rustic and glam.