Spas flowing with the tide of trendy lifestyles

By Benito Lopulalan

DENPASAR (JP): Culture used to be Bali's strongest selling point, aside from its heavenly scenery. Today, they no longer suffice, thanks to the changing lifestyle of its visitors.

"Bali will be a mega-resort," says Ralf Luthe, General Manager of Grand Mirage Hotel. "Initially, it started by catering to cultural tourists. In the future Bali has to cater to tourists with different needs, including those with a concern for their own fitness."

Hotels will now have to provide services from cultural to health.

"Good health is the recent lifestyle," says Gary Collier, the consultant of Nusa Dua Spa, "Modern life has caused lethargy and alienation of its individuals and the growing of modern sicknesses."

This current lifestyle trend has changed the style of many hotels. They translate the need for health facilities into a spa. In Nusa Dua, the most expensive resort area, at least two hotels have developed this concept: Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, with its Nusa Dua Spa, and the Grand Mirage, with its Thalasso Bali. The Nusa Dua Beach Hotel spent Rp 2.6 billion to revamp its property into a spa, which was completed last December. Within three years about 60 percent of hotels in Bali will have spa facilities, says Collier.

Holistic therapies

Today's modern spa began with the Romans, Etruscans and Pharaohs. Bathing in mineral springs or swirling herbal pools, being scrubbed or rubbed with salt or mud, having a massage with aromatic oils, the long custom of spas are alive and growing. The initial use of a spa for business was started by the Romans when they opened the Baths of Caracalla. Many spas were either nestled on mountain tops, stretched along an ocean beach, or perched high on a bluff, overlooking a lazy winding river. In these beautiful surroundings, weary patrons could find a quiet, tranquil place to take care of themselves.

"Because of its history, the concept of taking care of patrons is still applied very strongly by modern spas," says Collier. He then mentioned Cleopatra, the ancient Egyptian queen, as a perfect model of such care.

Drawing upon cultures around the world, spas offer a dazzling array of holistic therapies and treatments such as aromatheraphy, multicultural massages techniques, herbal wraps and thermal mud treatments. These therapies create renewed vitality and a deep sense of well being, especially when combined with a proper diet, relaxation and exercise.

"Every culture has its own tradition of a good health lifestyle," says Collier. "In Bali, for instance, people are so close to each other that in the village massaging friends is very common."

Bathing in a spring, for instance, is an occasion for the Balinese to chat and gossip. "With this habit, people become closer to each other, and they can be very relaxed." Nusa Dua Spa has adopted this idea into its Spa Villa, a private villa with facilities for massage or body treatments, and saunas for couples or honeymooners.

Nusa Dua Spa has adopted many traditional therapies from Indonesia. "We don't need to look for the methods of holistic therapy anywhere, because Asia, including Indonesia, is a place where this kind of therapy is a living tradition," said Collier.

Essentials from Bali and Java are offered at Nusa Dua Spa. To simultaneously meet its customer's preferences, enjoyment and health, the spa's Indonesian co-partner is the Mustika Ratu jamu (herbal medicine) and traditional cosmetics company.

"They provide the jamu," says Gary Collier, who revealed another advantage of spas is the ability of Indonesia to market its traditions.

Spas are either comprehensive, from health and fitness to skin and body treatments, or focus on a specific area of life enhancement. A growing number of spas are involved in research projects ranging from longevity and lifestyle patterns to children fitness and eco-living. Others, like Thallaso Bali at the Grand Mirage Hotel, implement a more clinical approach in their services. Thallaso utilizes seaweed in all its popular French therapies.

"The spa technology needs to incorporate particular natural advantages in a particular place and, further, to be used in different places," says Collier cryptically.

Aquamedic

The "aquamedic pool" at Thallaso Bali imitates water currents and waves. "The water current and pressure that are touching the body is good for blood circulation and stimulating nerves," says Debra Rumpesak, a therapy analyst at Thallaso Bali. The spa uses a mixture of seaweed and fresh sea water. It is the only spa of its kind in Southeast Asia. The only other Asian country that has a Thalasso therapy center is Japan. Bali's Thalasso started operation in October 1994.

Thallaso therapy uses warm sea water and seaweed in all therapies. Thallaso, a Greek word, means sea water. According to Andre Passebeck, a naturopath, sea water has essential sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

"Taking a bath in the sea can make people healthy," insists Sandra Rumpesak, a pharmacologist.

Massage and exercise are to spas what kisses and explosions are to Hollywood movies -- absolutely fundamental.

"Massage is not only a technique of physiotherapy, it has a psychological touch," says Collier, adding that any kind of massage is beneficial. "We have a cultural advantage in this case, because Asians, especially Balinese, are experts in personal hospitality."

He says that massage makes any alienated modern person "relieved by hospitality". The personal touch itself, however, can create personal harassment problems. "We have the right to reject any such a harassment," says Wayan, a masseur at Nusa Dua Spa. "This is a health spa, not a brothel," he states.

Many spas also provide free health consultations to help customers select a treatment. "Everybody needs different treatments," says Gary Collier, who is also a physiotherapist.

"The consultation is given to allow people the benefit of choosing from alternatives of exercises and treatments," he adds.