Urban Spa: A Woman’s Quest
Visiting the spas of Italy, France and Germany became a habit that Canadian entrepreneur Laura Polley just couldn’t get out of her system – she knew she had to bring this spa uniqueness to Canada.
Laura Polley, known for her financial savvy in the film world knows a great investment when she sees one. Polley, along with her sister-partner Rena Polley, opened the first spa of its kind in Canada – for women-only – Body Blitz. The 10, 000 sq. ft. spa offers exceptional health and wellness benefits through its waters therapy pools of warm sea salt, a hot detoxification tea pool, cold dunking pool, steam room and infrared sauna. It’s a unique healing water circuit with exotic Asian scrubs and deliciously energizing drinks.
Inspired by the public bath houses of Europe, Laura Polley’s spa experience offers a reprieve from the busy hustle of Toronto’s downtown core with a contemporary Asian twist. After spending four years researching and planning her oasis in the city, Polley has definitely carved a niche in the highly competitive spa game. So much so, she has decided her next Body Blitz grand opening will be in a major US city.
When the 110-year old Adelaide St. warehouse neared completion, Laura’s sister, actor/writer Rena Polley stepped in to develop all the marketing materials, image and eventually the spa’s own product line. Body blitz’s product development philosophy is simple - keep the products Canadian, follow a macrobiotic diet and put things back into the body that its used to.
“Because we have so many natural resources in Canada, it’s all about tapping into, (native plant elements), and educating people about how these product’s ingredients are really key to health,” said an enthusiastic Laura. “We came up with these amazing Canadian products and we only use our products in the spa. We won’t use any other products. Our products are a compliment to treatment, so they’re key part of body blitz.” Some of the key ingredients in the spa’s customized body scrubs are wild-seaweed serum from Vancouver island’s shores, a custom made eucalyptus-mineral body scrub, or glacial mud from Northern Quebec, and other native plant elements from Eastern Canada.
The water circuit concept was derived from a 12-step water program Laura experienced while in Germany. The program started off with a shower, then a body scrub and then entering different pools of varying temperatures. This actually goes back to the times of the ancient Roman baths, (when interestingly enough, baths were originally intended for men only). The body is heated and cooled down with a cold plunge, which in turn helps the body’s lymph nodes to improve their immune reaction. Body blitz research has added a new element to all this – the green tea pool in an Asian inspiration where green tea is in constant use. Not only is green tea an antioxidant that is a great beautifier for the skin, it also has a calming effect at the warmer temperature of 104° Fahrenheit – it’s amazingly soothing to sit in as the green tea works to penetrate the skin.
Since body blitz doesn’t have its own natural spring, the spa imports salts for the sea salt pool from the Dead Sea. It is similar to soaking in bath salts and the benefits are many. Polley explains, “We are always lacking in magnesium, which salt replenishes. It (the sea salt pool) is really beneficial for any skin aliments and can heal the skin very quickly in salt water versus fresh water, which takes a long, long time.
Polley claims starting with a shower is a great way to detoxify by, “…starting with a really clean body, then you begin the circuit with the sea salt pool. It’s all about warming the body up gradually to a sweat and then bringing the temperature back down in the cold plunge and starting it all over again…the only way to get rid of toxins is through the skin by sweating – there really is no other way.”
In the infrared sauna room, it heats the body up as opposed to the water circuit room, so you are able to have a really deep sweat, which on a regular basis can really start to release some of the body’s toxins, such as lead that becomes lodged deep in the body’s organs. Used as a medical tool, infrared may reduce the effects of fibromyalgia, psoriasis, exzema, or for reducing muscle pain in joints, etc.
In terms of spring detoxification, Polley assures us that springtime’s biological body clock is a misconception. In the winter, people tend to stay indoors more, not exercising, and eating less fresh foods. So, what is really important about body blitz in the summer is to detoxify the skin. Since the air quality outside is awful, the toxins are even higher in the winter than exposure to the summer’s smog and air conditioners. With all this going on, detoxification is just as important in the summer as it is in the winter, as far as the skin in concerned.
“Body blitz is great in the summer because you need to get all that dead skin scrubbed off – it’s urban city grime. From an exfoliation point of view, your skin will feel like a baby’s. (Polley insists you haven’t felt this clean since your mother used to bathe you.) If done on a ongoing basis, the body scrub renews the skin, and depending on what type of scrub you use, it also helps to tighten the skin and reduces the look of cellulite – many women claim their mates can’t stop touching their silky soft skin.
If it’s your first visit Laura warns women to put all modesty aside, since many women prefer to partake in the waters in the buff, although swimsuits are allowed. And if you’ve never been to body blitz before, Polley highly recommends a pampering dose of treatment along with the water circuit. Pleasant attendants will explain the subtle complexities of each body scrub or exotic mud that you can chose from—your skin will be scrubbed to a satin finish with therapeutic precision.
“What our massage therapists find is their clients are more relaxed in their muscles after the spa so they are able to get much deeper into the muscles because of the waters, their clients’ bodies are much more relaxed. You need to experience a treatment, to get the maximum benefit of body blitz.” Ahhhh, yes, I agree, the full body to toe experience, as I lull into body blitz’s Shangri-La, what more could a girls want?
sources: Health Source Magazine, July 2007
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