UpClose & Personal - Richard Eidson

A few years before I began inventing spa equipment, I visited the Greek Island of Kos. This is the home of Hippocrates, a central figure in the traditions of western medicine. When you are on this beautiful Greek isle you can visit the asklepeion, which is the healing sacturary, where people came for healing in ancient Greece.

Asklepios – The Greek God of Healing

Asklepois, from which the term asklepeion came, was the son of Apollo and Koronis, and was worshiped as the god of healing. At the asklepeion in Kos, you get a feeling of deep peace, natural beauty. You can wander among statues to the god Pan and other artistic symbols of Nature. Natural medicine, herbs, rest, music and massage were all principles of healing at the
asklepeion. A visit to this healing center makes a deep impression, and one can find a natural connection between the asklepeion and our modern spas and healing centers.

Today’s spas are also healing centers, where healing techniques, herbs and other natural products from nature are used to heal, relax, balance, educate and promote a healthier individual on many levels. Spas and healing centers can incorporate almost all-natural healing alternatives and thus we find at each spa, a unique approach to health and well-being. At all spas and healing centers, you find various combinations of massage, hydrotherapy, herbal remedies, aromatherapy, yoga and other unique exercise programs. And clients are exposed to knowledge about healthy life styles, what to incorporate and what to avoid. Spas also offer treatments and products for home spa treatments to continue the process of healing, renewal and balance at home.

What happened on Tuesday, Sept 11, was an event that was uniquely stressful. It affected everyone in our country in different, powerful and distressing ways. It was a stress of great magnitude and one difficult to process. Following a great stress there is always talk of healing. Some healing will come with time, some with understanding, but the mental, emotional and physical stress that has been locked in our minds, hearts and bodies will need other deeper, healing treatments. Spas and healing centers offer relaxing, effective treatments to promote this healing. And as spa owners become more aware of the deeper need for healing, better treatments will continue to evolve to facilitate this need.

Promoting spa treatments for healthier, more balanced and less stressful individuals will continue to grow. Prevention as a theme will continue to develop and as well as treatments and programs that unfold the full use of human creativity, intelligence and spiritual awareness. What happened recently was truly a stress of great magnitude, but we all know that our lives are constantly exposed to many stresses unique to modern life and life in general. Everyone needs ways to eliminate stress, to reconnect with Nature and our own natural health and wellbeing. Today’s spas, like the askelepions from the ancient Greek tradition, offer a healing sanctuary for this to happen.

Spas around the world offer a wide variety of spa treatment menus and programs. From spas located in beautiful natural settings, spas at hot springs and other natural healing environments to urban day spas, great treatments that relax, heal and enlightened can be enjoyed.

At our spa, we are able to offer unique and deeply healing treatments. Massage treatments on our hydrotherapy massage table, incorporates the benefits of massage with hydrotherapy. In our special hydro-tub, clients float in water that is blended with herbs like St. John’s Wort and Ginkgo Biloba, with sea salt, essential oils and jojoba. Hydro-pressure massage and manual massage are done while the client relaxes in the water, creating significant benefits. The benefits and positive experience from these treatments for our clients reminds me of what it must have been like to visit an askelepion in ancient Greece.

Our modern spas and healing centers, as did the askelepions in ancient times, will continue to have a great significance for the health and well being of people today. Better treatments are continually evolving as well as total programs for health and well being. At Integrated Spa Technologies, we are dedicated to developing spa equipment that will give spas the equipment needed to create an ideal healing sanctuary.

Richard Eidson
Owner, Designer
Innovative Spa Technologies
www.innovativespa.com

I would like to suggest three books written by authors dedicated to health and well-being. They can be ordered at your local bookstore.

St. John’s Wort, Nature’s Blues Buster, Hyla Cass, MD
Kava, Nature’s Answer to Stress, Anxiety, and Insomnia, Hyla Cass, MD
Smart Medicine for Healthier Living, Janet Zand, Lac, OMD
innospa@lisco.com