DNA gives you the low-down on some of the spas — that are not housed in five-star hotels — in South-Central Mumbai, which promise to offer a holistic experience.
Where: Areopagus Japanese Day Spa, Shivaji Park
The first element that draws you, when you enter a spa, is the aromas that hover around. At Areopagus, Temple of Healing as they call it, scented fragrance is aplenty and somehow as you breathe it in, your senses begin to tingle even before you enter your treatment room.
As you browse the menu, you realise at once that it has carefully put together an amalgamation of Japanese, Chinese and Greek body culture and therapies. You can choose from their signature massages including Areopagus Signature, Tai Chi Therapy, Shiatsu, and Yuki Energy, among others. We go for a 60-minute full body massage - the Energy Holds Therapy.
The receptionist informs that it invigorates a sluggish mind and body.
Once you lie down and surrender to the mild pressure of the therapist's featherweight touch, you begin to feel ticklish. Unlike the usual Thai technique, this massage relies on fingertip touch generously using copious amount of almond oil.
Soon, however, the pressure becomes harder as you feel the fingertips kneading your muscle knots. The pain is only momentary, as you lapse into a happy, numb state pretty quickly.
You will invariably feel the tingling sensation running from your head to toe, even as you listen to the gurgling sound of flowing water and the whisper of oriental music in the background. And even in your rejuvenated grogginess, you feel the heat of the steam. After a hot shower, you feel as fresh as a dewy petal!
This all-women run spa is facilitated with steam, Jacuzzi with spinal and foot water jets. A must-try treatment on the menu is the Sweet & Spicy Body Exfoliation that blends cranberry pomegranate sugar scrub to exfoliate dead skin cells.
The receptionist recommends us to surely try their Day Foot Spa that uses Japanese massage technique to the minimum. We tell her that we're only too happy to come back for more, even as we leave with a smile on the lips and spring in the steps.
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