The Treatment:
Chi Balance & Harmony
Time & Cost:
90 minutes, $225
Changing into a robe isn’t necessary. Simply show up at this half-outdoor, overlooking-the-sea spa, wearing loose-fitting pants and top, and prepare to be wowed.
Lead therapist Yonatan Armon, who trained in Israel, has practiced advanced massage therapy for more than ten years. And he’s a powerhouse of intuitive knowhow, book-smarts, gentle-muscle, and Zen. With crashing ocean waves and chirping birds as background, Yonatan gently guides you onto the massage table where, for the next ninety minutes, he twists, pulls, pushes, and stretches arms, legs, feet, torso, back, and ever-so-gently, neck — manipulating and applying just the right amount of pressure to just the right spot(s).
Chi Balance, which is rooted in Japan, is designed to ease chronic pain, help with digestive issues, release stress, and create a harmonious balance within the body, mind and spirit. And it does.
“The treatment brings the body to a balanced state of chi (energy) flow by treating the meridians and using the most active meridians to help build up the weaker ones, thus creating that balance,” says Spa Manager Sabrina Sika.
Nalu (Hawaiian for “wave” and ocean surf”) Kinetic (“active and energizing”) Spa (“water as therapy”) re-opened in Spring 2013 after a major two-year redesign and transformation by spa expert, Amy McDonald.
“Spa is more than steam baths, Turkish towels, and pretty pedicures,” says McDonald. “Spa is where fun, fitness, and vibrancy of total health stream together, as inseparable as the waves that flow into each other.”
No question, Chi Balance & Harmony is part of that constant-moving health stream.
Best For:
Anyone (and everyone) wishing to release stress and anxiety; relieve digestion issues; reduce pain or increase vitality.
Drawbacks:
Ninety minutes feels like five minutes. You are not going to want it to end.
Shari Mycek
A longtime luxury travel and spa writer, Shari Mycek has traveled to more than 65 countries in search of the most authentic healing modalities. She is published in national and international magazines including Conde Nast Traveler and Conde Nast Traveller UK,