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The Spa at Sedona Rouge
With Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa’s distinctly Mediterranean vibe, it’s no wonder one of its signature treatments is the Hammam Spa Ritual. A hammam is a Moroccan steam room similar to a Turkish bath, explains Barbara Lepper, who has been a bodywork therapist at Sedona Rouge for eight years. Barbara is originally from Germany, and she’s spent time in Morocco, so she can attest to the origins of the Hammam Spa Ritual. There are variations of hammams all over the Mediterranean, but Sedona Rouge’s treatment takes its cue from Morocco where the spa’s Red Flower products are made.
The ritual begins with Moroccan herbal tea poured on your body as a purifier. The body is then cleansed with a mint and soapstone wash (this all happens while you are on the table). The wash is removed with warm, damp towels, and then you are vigorously exfoliated with a scrub made from lemon blossoms, coffee, olive stone and sugar. The scrub removes dead cells while the coffee opens up your pores so the next step – a detoxifying jasmine-rose clay polish – is even more effective. (You’ll shower in between these steps.) With the polish on your body, you will sink into a warm bath of cedar-scented salts from the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. After your bath, you once again return to the table for a massage that incorporates warm oil infused with jasmine, amber and rose. The oil is topped off with cool tangerine-fig body butter. By the time this 120-minute treatment is complete, your steamy treatment room is filled with rich scents that you want to bottle and take home. It’s all you can do to coax yourself off the table.
Signature Treatment: The 120-minute Hammam Spa Ritual, $250
Why We Love This Spa: Both the men’s and women’s locker rooms feature private, clothing-optional, outdoor hot tubs. The tubs are shaded and surrounded by bamboo. It’s a great place to relax after your treatment.
The Details: The Spa at Sedona Rouge (2250 SR 89A in West Sedona) features eight treatment rooms, four guest rooms, two suites, two steam rooms and a fitness center. Book a treatment and use the resort’s pool the entire day. Call 928-340-5331 or visit www.sedonarouge.com.
True Rest Float Spa
“Enjoy your ride,” says Rene Russell as she closes the door of your private float suite at True REST Float Spa. Inside the tiled room is a shower and a large white, fiberglass pod filled with 10 inches of pharmaceutical-grade Epsom Salt water, colored lights and soothing music. Yes, it sort of resembles something that might be used to transport astronauts into deep space one day, only less sci-fi and more spa. After inserting earplugs and taking a quick shower, you slip into the skin-temperature water, close the pod door (or leave it open if you’re claustrophobic) and begin to float – for an hour. You can adjust the lighting in your pod from psychedelic to pitch black, and you tell Rene in advance whether or not you want music. Bizarre? Try it once, and you’ll be a believer. Since opening its doors in July, Rene and her husband Chuck, owners of the franchise, have enrolled more than 100 members.
“It’s the closest thing we have on earth to anti-gravity,” says Rene, who used to drive to the Tempe True REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulus Therapy) location until she decided to open her own. “We spend 90 percent of our energy fighting gravity and sensory stimulation. This takes all of that away. It quiets the mind, and puts the brain in theta mode. Some people meditate in the pod. Others have lucid dreams. Some just nap.”
Flotation therapy was started in the 1950s by John C. Lilly, a neuroscientist (you’ll learn all of this when you watch your introductory video). It fell out of fashion in the 1980s, but recently there’s been a grassroots movement to revive it because of the many physical (pain, arthritis, migraines, insomnia, etc.) and mental (help with PTSD, anxiety, addiction, depression, etc.) health benefits. The Sedona spa includes an oxygen bar, so after your session you can spend 10 minutes breathing in pure oxygen scented with the essential oil of your choice.
Rene says many clients float weekly and report feeling the benefits of the sessions for days afterward. “I call it your reset button,” she says. “The more you float, the better you feel.”
Signature Treatment: 60-minute Float, $59 for first-time users; monthly memberships range from $59 to $180
Why We Love This Spa: If you could remember your mother’s womb, this is what it would feel like. It’s dark, warm, quiet and comfortable. When your session is up, you won’t believe you’ve been floating for 60 minutes.
The Details: True REST Float Spa (1910 W. SR 89A in the Bashas’ shopping center) has two float suites with room for a third. Call 928-284-8668 or visit www.truerest.com.
MORE SEDONA SPAS: Best spa therapists, Sweet indulgence, a visit to 7 Sedona spas, sweet treatments, love thyself
