Eco-Centric Spa Treatment Design

Nicolay Kreidler

International spa development has skyrocketed in recent years. One of the main attractions for international spa travel is the authentic cultural experience that can be transmitted by seasoned local practitioners offering their traditional healing rituals in a setting provided to appease the Western mind.

Luxury hotel chains that emphasize their spa component like the Four Seasons, Hippocrates, Mandarin Oriental, and Hyatt International have worked as anchors in showing the world what international service protocols can consist of. They have gained world recognition and set the standards for everything from training and delivery, to unique décor and indigenous rituals that allow clients to experience both a new culturally blended spa treatment and the comfort of traditional, sometimes for these countries extravagant amenities that many of us in the West have come to expect.

Clients who travel abroad have experienced these services and are looking form comparable forms and services at their local spa. As spa-goers become more accustomed to exotic ingredients and foreign healing traditions they become more open to experiment with new treatments and seek the out of the ordinary experience. A growing number of clients view treatments imported from other cultures as more “natural” and an alternative to the linear Western healing approach. Ayurveda and Chinese medicine being the most popular methods.

Concepts need to be imported with care and caution. Taken out of their original context they can become void of effect and magic as they are no longer embedded in the original complex cultural context and do not utilize ingredients in their original freshness and quality. More often than not, the training involved in providing these services in their original environment is extensive and embedded in a holistic lifelong study. Examples are Ayurvedic procedures, Jamu herbal remedies from Indonesia, Thai massage, Lomi Lomi from Hawaii.

When integrating these concepts it is important to understand the intention of the treatment and the spiritual / cultural / philosophical context that they are based in and translating these elements into a Western framework and mindset.

International service protocols can usually not be learned in an afternoon training and are often vendor and product driven.

Treatments however utilizing indigenous ingredients and integrating local cultural, geographical and natural elements are much easier to manage and reflect a deep interest and identification with a spa’s natural setting and environmental concerns.

An eco-centric approach to spa treatment design and application.

• Notice what your environment is saying
• Let yourself be inspired by what you experience
• Be creative in designing your own protocols
• Allow your intuition to inform you
• Develop mutually beneficial relationships
• Be in touch with how things evolve

Spa treatments are one of the menu-items that have not even been tapped into as a resource by the majority of individual practitioners as well as health spas of all styles and sizes.

While massage and to a good degree esthetics have matured so far that they are being accepted and understood as a solid part of every spa menu and a core service offered by the individual practitioner, spa treatments are still struggling to make their mark.

Spa treatments offer numerous advantages for clients, providers and for the spa business itself. Some of which are for clients, that they pose an alternative to massage and a different approach to health altogether that utilizes a chemical rather than a physical approach. For providers they offer a rest from the physically challenging nature of massage and an opportunity to provide the client with more post treatment products that will extend the effects of the treatment. And finally the spa business itself for example can attract additional clients and renew client relationships more often with attractive treatments as well as expand the business with related products that help clients enjoy their spa experience at home as well.

So while there are many reasons why spa treatments tend to be less requested, we would like to pick one in particular that is rarely addressed. One of the explanations we find why clients do not opt for a spa treatment and providers and front desk staff have a hard time recommending them is that they cannot relate on an emotional and cultural level to the services offered.

One fundamental reason is that the services were not designed taking local ecological, social and cultural existing and pre-existing conditions into account, but rather have been imposed as a concept from the outside, importing foreign concepts that evolved under different circumstances and foreign ingredients that need to be imported. These concepts will surface in menus as “a traditional treatment from Bali” in a Mexican luxury spa or as product driven treatment featuring “caviar” designed by a vendor and wrapped around their proprietary brand.

Now while at first glance the appealing description and mouthwatering descriptions might seem attractive, upon closer examination there are some major flaws in the design. Ingredients, the verbiage, the philosophy, aromas, and especially the client concerns originated somewhere else and lack the connections to the local facility. The ideas first spark interest and a certain sense of attraction to the mysterious but than fall short of following through with a feeling of being grounded in the here and now and offering benefits that embrace the local environmental and cultural heritage.

There are some very concrete reasons to pursue an eco-centric approach. When taking the time to research local healing traditions, one inherits many years of refining regionally available resources to address locally prevailing ailments and concerns. While looking into nature’s plant systems one finds plants that have thrived on the local geological and climatic environment and retain substances and essences that can heal conditions that are a result of just that environment. In observing weather patterns one can address the seasons and the changes between them. And most important treatments designed with an eco-centric approach are grounded and feel complete as they are embedded in their environment.

Taking local conditions into consideration while designing spa treatments is not difficult and well worth the effort. Besides the relationships you will develop researching the local resources, the resulting understanding of local culture, flora and climate will give the spa treatments you design a completely different level of integration with clients, providers and staff.

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Nicolay Kreidler is a facilitator at Spa College.
Email:nicolay@spa-college.com