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The Spa Finder Guide to
Spirituality
Holly Lebowitz
Rossi
Spa Finder Magazine,
July/August 2003
Body, mind, spirit: Itīs not just a phrase at spas but the
wellspring of spasī healing power. Touch and nourish the body, rest
and calm the mind, and soon deeper questions and insights will rise
to the surface. In these extraordinary times, more and more people
are seeking a spiritual connection, and many spas are supporting
their search. Often the means is a technique or practice from
another culture or another time that holds new relevance for today.
On the following pages, youīll find nine such choices and a guide to
the spas where the spirit can take wing.
Spirituality classes
At many spas, spirituality is explored in a special class or
workshop. Guests are encouraged to share their personal struggles
and questions, and a leader may introduce techniques like meditation
and visualization to help people see their personal issues through a
spiritual lens. Such classes are not rooted in a particular practice
or tradition but exist to help spa-goers make connections among
different aspects of their experience.
"The mind, body, and spirit are not separate aspects of
ourselves," says Mimi Francis, who teaches a class called "Nurturing
the Whole Self-Mind, Body, Spirit" at Green Mountain at Fox Run in
Ludlow, Vermont. "Every part affects the whole, and the whole
affects the parts." If a person is overwhelmed by stress from a
troubled relationship, for example, carrying around those feelings
might lead her to feel not only tense and uncomfortable but also
deeply isolated spiritually, says Francis. The purpose of the class
is to help participants see that there might be room in their lives
for "a sense of the sacred" that remains untouched by the
difficulties and stresses of their lives. Other such classes range
from "Inner Journey" and "Spirituality & Personal Growth" at
Canyon Ranch Health Resorts in Tucson, Arizona, and Lenox,
Massachusetts, to an "Awaken the Spirit" week at Rancho La Puerta in
Tecate, Mexico, during which a guest speaker offers daily sessions.
A number of other spas offer longer retreats focused on a variety of
spiritual themes.
Spa professionals concur that thereīs a difference between
religion and spirituality. While institutionalized religion
frequently comes up in discussions, they say, seekers at spas donīt
want to feel confined by one tradition and seem most interested in
discovering a personal definition of spirituality. A class at a spa
is a way for people to explore their spiritual questions with
like-minded seekers.
Labyrinth walking
As a symbol and pattern, the labyrinth dates from pre-Christian
times, when it was associated with feminine deities and fertility
rituals. A labyrinth is an unobstructed winding path that leads to
the center of a circle or square and back out (unlike a maze, which
is designed to confuse and can lead to dead ends). Each complete
orbit around this center space is referred to as a circuit. The
worldīs most famous labyrinth is the 11-circuit labyrinth on the
floor of the cathedral in Chartres, France, a pilgrimage destination
during the Renaissance, although it is not known whether this
labyrinth was walked in its day.
At spas, labyrinths may be indoors or outdoors and constructed of
stone, etched on concrete, painted on carpet, or cut in grass.
Labyrinths are used for walking meditation in a symbolic journey
toward a spiritual "center"; safe within the outlines of the
pattern, walkers donīt have
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