The world's first day-spa owner invited clients to "experience the healing powers of this here tar pit," which was bad news for the clientele but invaluable for modern-day archaeologists. Preserve well-being without becoming permanently preserved with today's Groupon to Parma Spa and Center for Health in Vienna. Choose between the following options:
For $59, you get your choice of a 45-minute massage or body-therapy session (a $140 value). Choose from the following massage styles:
- Swedish
- Aromatherapy
- Padamardana
- Vishrama
- Champi
For $145, you get a couples massage (a $350 value)
Parma Spa's physician-supervised staff rejuvenates bodies with a menu of massages and body therapies designed to repair aches and imbalances. Traditional Swedish techniques subject muscles to gently applied pressure accompanied by relaxing oils to improve circulation and muscle pliability. Aromatherapy massages similarly integrate floral or oil-soaked sachets and fragrant oils to encourage inner balance and clear minds. During the Ayurvedic-inspired padamardana treatment, a therapist treats feet by bathing them in a copper vessel coveted for its holistic value and ability to aptly hold four jugs of punch. Therapists then perform Ayurvedic foot reflexology to open up the energy channels usually concealed by shoes. Alternatively, the vishrama treatment combines elements of various massages and yoga stretches to heal sore muscles. Clients may also opt to have their neck toppers reorganized with champi—Indian head massage—treatments.
Clients with twin brothers or significant others luxuriate side-by-side during the specialty massage treatment. The treatment includes careful attention for both clients, plus an optional wellness consultation from Dr. Thara. After a relaxing spa session, newly relaxed bodies can sip herbal teas, snack on nuts and antioxidant-rich dry fruits, or admire their newly rejuvenated appearance in the spa's oversize gilded mirrors.
Parma Spa and Center for Health
In the lobby of Parma Spa and Center for Health, a sculpture of a woman balancing on a jade-colored orb acts as an axis for a spiraling, gleaming ribbon. The statue represents the Ayurvedic philosophy of health, a belief that the client will be "on top of the world" when mental, physical, and aesthetic needs are met and balanced. Ayurvedic medicine strives to heal the emotional and physical cause of pain rather than just treat the symptoms. "Well-being is physical, mental and spiritual," owner and founder Dr. S Nicky Singh says in a feature on WUSA 9. "I believe in this with a passion. There is a need for people to look at themselves preventatively."
In addition to med-spa-quality services such as microcurrent facials, staff members trained in Ayurvedic medicine perform massages and body treatments with healing herbal oils that invigorate and detoxify the body. Physicians are on-hand to supervise, and they also provide health care ranging from counseling to cardiology. "The presence of physicians reinforces the idea that there's a quality to what we do that's [more than just a spa]," Dr. Singh says.
But the clinical capabilities of the spa and wellness center don't mean that it feels like a doctor's office. "In a frenzied, frenzied world, it was my goal to create a place where we [could have true] wellness," Dr. Singh says, and that means being kind to the eyes and the sleeping koala clinging to each person's shoulder. Oversize gilded mirrors reflect the twinkling lights of an imported Venetian chandelier, which in turn casts light over Italian linens, chamois robes, and a Limoges tea service filling steaming cups with herbal tea. "We're not trying to create a place which is just glamorous … The idea was to show that we worry about every little detail," she says.
