I tend not to need a lot of accessories during my spa services; the fact that someone’s cleansing and kneading my troubles away is typically enough for complete relaxation. But I recently experienced a few new services that have convinced me to go with rockier add-ons in the future.

The first was the själ Blue Kashmir-Saphir Facial ($275/90 min.). It’s available at the Miami-based Delano Hotel and Mondrian, where it recently made its South Beach debut. I received my treatment at the Los Angeles outpost of the latter. The service was part of a press demonstration of the facial, which centers on själ skincare’s new gem-based products. They include a Pearl Enzyme Exfoliating Mask and the Kashmir Saphir Perfecting Mask.

Many of the products were massaged into my skin using rose quartz wands and other special gemstones intended to calm the dermis—and the spirit. Therapist Lorna Segarra, who’d been flown in from Miami for the event, placed stones on selected chakras while she worked, which increased the flow of energy throughout my body. I was practically putty in her hands when she applied eye cream, then lightly drew steel-gray stones over my closed lids and the area underneath my eyes. The rocks contained some kind of cooling element that provided a nice counterbalance to the warm room.

A week later, I underwent something similar yet completely different at Zen Spa in the L.A. suburb of Calabasas. There, lead massage therapist Patty Callahan treated me to the facility’s new Hot Stone Massage ($159/80 min.). The protocol is one that she created herself and patterned after Native American rituals. So instead of just receiving a regular or Swedish massage with hot stones as an add-on, the client experiences them as part of a holistic treatment.

Patty started by placing heated river rocks on the massage table—underneath two layers of towels for my comfort—and then guided me to lie back on them. That’s when I realized they were laid out in two nearly perfect lines on either side of my spine. We started in that unusual position while she placed stones along the chakras at my head, heart and stomach, as well as along my hips and feet. At one point, I practically felt like I was one with the massage table, with a weighty stone on my belly and Patty massaging my arms and legs with a lightly scented oil and warm rocks in her hands.

The second part of the service was even better. After a stressful week during which I’d strained something in my back, I turned over on the table and Patty went to work with her stones right where I needed them—and I nearly fell asleep. I left Zen Spa feeling like I was soaring, and while I was quickly brought back to earth fighting traffic on my way back into L.A., the effects lasted well into the evening.

There’s no arguing with the power of touch—we all know that hands and fingers can do some incredible things. But after these two spa treats, I’m ready to rock it out much more often.

—Allison Rost, DAYSPA associate editor

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Editors' Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.