Music for Your Spa - Music for Your Soul

Every time I am in Hong Kong, my home away from home, I put a day aside to visit the Giant Tian Tan Buddha on Landau island. This is one of my favorite places in the world - a peaceful, tranquil mountain where monks chant in the Po Lin monastery, and the fragrant sandalwood insence is burned while prayers and chants are sung. The Giant Buddha sits atop a mountain, waiting for visitors to get to him by cable car. Tian Tan Buddha (天壇大佛) is 112 feet tall, and sits atop a lotus throne surrounded by 6 devas. It's incredible, the statue is so huge, it can even be seen from Macau on a clear day!

The best memory of Landau and Tian Tan Buddha, for me, is the music I bought while I was on the island. I have never heard of Imee Ooi before, but the chants were so pleasant and relaxing, that I bought 3 albums, and have been listening to them for the last 3 years! Being in the spa industry for so many years (almost 17!) I know the positive difference beautiful and relaxing music can make for your spa/salon/treatment room. Guests will remember your massages and facials, and will absolutely float on a cloud of bliss when they hear Imee Ooi. Her music is available on iTunes HERE: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/imee-ooi/id592393059

Here are a couple of samples on YouTube:

20-Minute Activities that Will Nourish Your Body and Soul

As a business woman, writer, and an EXTREMELY simple person, I have developed (purely by accident) some easy-as-pie strategies for showing yourself love and support! These 20-minute activities will give your body, mind and heart, the emotional boost to release tension, think more clearly, make rational decisions, and balance your life. Here is a short list of activities that will be beneficial to you. Whenever you have trouble throughout your day, do one of these, or a few!

1. Read a book. A good book!
2. Stretch your body. Don't neglect your neck. Massage your tense shoulders.
3. Write, be creative, start a blog, a book, and commit to it!
4. Draw something! Anything! Use your imagination!
5. Take a walk outside.
6. Learn a phrase in a foreign language you can use daily. Next time learn a new one! Keep going!
7. Dance it OUT! Put on some music and jump!
8. Prepare a beautiful and healthy meal. Focus on the small details, plate it like you're on Iron Chef, and it's judgement time!
9. Clean the closet and let go of the things that no longer serve you, and would be more useful to someone else. Donate directly to those in need, or take to the midnight mission. Remember, good will sells the donated clothes, and ships them to Africa for resale. You want your things in the hands of the ones who need them, free.
10. Ask who needs your help. Helping others is our birthright and responsibility.

"Mis" - Treatments

Last night I had a body-scrub and massage at one of my favorite LA spas, but this time (strangely enough) the experience wasn't as pleasant as usual. High-end spas usually charge top-dollar for body treatments, and employ well-qualified, seasoned, experienced massage and bodywork specialists. One assumes that the personnel of more opulent spas is better than the average... but sometimes massage technicians make simple mistakes that are very easily caught by a professional, such as yours truly. 

I have noticed that it is becoming harder and harder for me to receive treatments, the more knowledgeable I become - i.e. it is hard to fall asleep during a facial massage, because I am aware of all the wrong movements. Here are some obvious no-no's therapists can commit, which make them look unprofessional, and make the treatment a lot more "Ugh" than "Omm".

1. Engaging in conversation is always discouraged, unless the client starts talking herself. Most of us come to receive a facial, or a body treatment to relax and unwind, so the last thing we want to do is talk. I absolutely do not feel like explaining to a stranger what I do for a living, do I have a boyfriend or not, etc.

2. Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation! This is the most important, and sacred of all spa routines. Your therapist needs to change linens between clients, disinfect all implements (in a proper State-Board approved manner), and keep the room tidy. Disposables need to be thrown away after every use (duh!) and that includes those body-scrubbing mitts they use to polish the body. I always make sure to request a new scrubbing mitt, or I don't get the service. It costs the spa less than $1, so it is really not that big of a deal, and they better not complain to you when you request it!

3. Speaking of mitts... I was shocked when the woman scrubbing me from the toes to neck (in that particular order) proceeded to use the same scrubbing mitt on my face! Here is just common knowledge everyone should be aware of when doing a full body scrub:

• Use a new mitt for every client.
• Start with the face, and only then do the rest of the body (imagine that the mitt has already been on the heels and toes of the feet... everywhere between the toes and the neck (um)... and then on the FACE!)

4.  Don't get beat up at a massage - I promise, it shouldn't hurt as bad as it does when an untrained therapist does it. A good massage therapist starts slowly and methodically working into the muscles, and doesn't initially pound and shake like a maniac. The woman doing my massage was jumping from one area to another, digging in with her fingers, making the experience very uncomfortable. A good technician will let the client know when to breathe out, to get a better stretch into the muscle, and ease tension. A good massage should have a logical pattern on the body - you should not lie there and be played like a xylophone! Not to mention double the discomfort when the woman massaging you doesn't have her fingernails trimmed short. No, thank you.

In short, there are many things which can go wrong and spoil your moment of relaxation, but once you have found a great masseuse, you will never have to worry! Personally, I am always on a quest for wonderful treatments - sometimes it is a hit, sometimes a miss, every time a learning experience!