The Spa Thing
Today I treated myself to a 2 1/2 hour treatment at Izba Spa. So very nice!
Izba Spa isn't a beauty spa. You can't get your hair done or a manicure or pedicure there. This is more like... I dunno, a therapeutic spa treatment. This is the place the Avalanche players go for massage, etc. The deluxe treatment involves two banya sessions and the banya is right in the suite where you do everything without leaving. A banya is basically a Russian sauna.
My treatment began with a soak in their jacuzzi. Really nice after coming in from the cold. After about 10 minutes in there, I get out and get on the massage table, face down.
For anyone who's had a massage, typically you're draped with a sheet. Not at Izba. It's basically a bath towel. So I drape the towel over my ass and wait. Izba isn't for the overly modest. The masseuses are all men, but they've all worked there for years and are very professional.
Anyway, the guy (I never got his name) came in, greeted me and draped me with a warm, dry towel. He puts the new towel over me and slips the damp one out from underneath. Then he began a massage with warm oil. Back, neck and legs. It probably lasts about half an hour.
Then it's time for the first of two banya sessions. I get up, holding the towel over my front and go inside the banya. It's hot, very hot. It starts out as a dry sauna and then he pours water over the rocks and it gets humid. He drapes a small towel over my butt crack and gets the oak twigs ready until I start to sweat. He asks me if it's too hot, but it's not. After I begin to sweat, he starts... smacking me with the oak twig things. They have lots of leaves on them and have been soaked in warm water and it's a big bundle of them. The blows are sort of heavy, but it doesn't hurt or sting because the leaves sort of cushion the impact. I can feel my skin warm a bit from it. It's hard to describe because it sounds like it should be painful, but it's not.
After the oak twig 'body brushing' he then slathers my skin with warm honey. It's supposed to have antiseptic properties and help in clearing toxins from your body. It feels *really* good. And then I sweat some more. While I'm sweating, he's getting the shower ready. It's sort of a normal shower stall, but with copper pipes all around that shoot out a tiny needle spray from all directions. He comes in and holds a bath towel up and looks at the floor while I get up from the bench. I'm a bit light-headed from the heat, so I take my time. He shields me the few steps to the shower where I rinse off. The water feels great after the heat of the banya. He leaves the room while I towel off and lay down on the massage table again, this time on my back. I drape the towel over my front and he comes back with a nice, dry warm one and redrapes me with it. He also brings a smaller towel for my chest.
Starting out with a stomach massage, he massages my front this time, arms, legs and neck. Warm, fragrant oil this time. We chat this time too, since I can actually see him. Like the other masseuses there, he's Russian and has worked at Izba for nine years. We talk about my job, etc. He's nice, but very professional. And I've never felt the least bit self-conscious there. These people work with naked people every day of the week. For years.
The front massage is followed by another banya session, this time on my back. This time I'm covered by a hand towel over my groin and another over my breasts. Same treatment too. Smacking with oak twigs (they're careful not to smack any really sensitive areas) followed by the warm honey rub. But there's another, final bit. Before going to the shower, I roll over onto my stomach again. A couple of minutes later, he comes back bearing two buckets of cool water. Which he then pours over me. The cool water is really bracing. Yes, it made me suck in my breath!
Another quick shower to rinse off and back on the massage table, this time for the body masque. It's a clay-seaweed masque that again, is supposed to bolster your immune system. It smells like sushi, sort of. It's really warm when he applies it all over and he asks me if I want it on my face, too. Sure, why not? He does my back first, then leaves for a few minutes for it to dry. Then he comes back and does the front. Then I just lay there and relax for a while while it dries.
When he comes back, this time it's with a washcloth and towels for my final shower. There's shampoo and conditioner in there, too. I get up, shower all the masque stuff off, wash and condition my hair and get dressed. When I get out to the lobby, a cup of tea and sliced fruit is waiting for me.
So, that's what the Russian spa experience is like. Like my masseuse said, it's not fancy, but it's very nice. The whole suite is decorated with that Russian cutwork wood. But it's basically in the basement of the Colorado Massage School. They don't offer a wide variety of treatments. All of them are basically different combinations of what I had done today. The Deluxe treatment is the max, but you can get shorter sessions. And considering what the beauty spas charge, this was very reasonable. $130 for 2 1/2 hours. In Denver, a decent hour massage is right around $65.
I'm thinking I need to do this more often. I generally crave one around December-January of each year, but I could do a less expensive treatment more often.
Izba Spa isn't a beauty spa. You can't get your hair done or a manicure or pedicure there. This is more like... I dunno, a therapeutic spa treatment. This is the place the Avalanche players go for massage, etc. The deluxe treatment involves two banya sessions and the banya is right in the suite where you do everything without leaving. A banya is basically a Russian sauna.
My treatment began with a soak in their jacuzzi. Really nice after coming in from the cold. After about 10 minutes in there, I get out and get on the massage table, face down.
For anyone who's had a massage, typically you're draped with a sheet. Not at Izba. It's basically a bath towel. So I drape the towel over my ass and wait. Izba isn't for the overly modest. The masseuses are all men, but they've all worked there for years and are very professional.
Anyway, the guy (I never got his name) came in, greeted me and draped me with a warm, dry towel. He puts the new towel over me and slips the damp one out from underneath. Then he began a massage with warm oil. Back, neck and legs. It probably lasts about half an hour.
Then it's time for the first of two banya sessions. I get up, holding the towel over my front and go inside the banya. It's hot, very hot. It starts out as a dry sauna and then he pours water over the rocks and it gets humid. He drapes a small towel over my butt crack and gets the oak twigs ready until I start to sweat. He asks me if it's too hot, but it's not. After I begin to sweat, he starts... smacking me with the oak twig things. They have lots of leaves on them and have been soaked in warm water and it's a big bundle of them. The blows are sort of heavy, but it doesn't hurt or sting because the leaves sort of cushion the impact. I can feel my skin warm a bit from it. It's hard to describe because it sounds like it should be painful, but it's not.
After the oak twig 'body brushing' he then slathers my skin with warm honey. It's supposed to have antiseptic properties and help in clearing toxins from your body. It feels *really* good. And then I sweat some more. While I'm sweating, he's getting the shower ready. It's sort of a normal shower stall, but with copper pipes all around that shoot out a tiny needle spray from all directions. He comes in and holds a bath towel up and looks at the floor while I get up from the bench. I'm a bit light-headed from the heat, so I take my time. He shields me the few steps to the shower where I rinse off. The water feels great after the heat of the banya. He leaves the room while I towel off and lay down on the massage table again, this time on my back. I drape the towel over my front and he comes back with a nice, dry warm one and redrapes me with it. He also brings a smaller towel for my chest.
Starting out with a stomach massage, he massages my front this time, arms, legs and neck. Warm, fragrant oil this time. We chat this time too, since I can actually see him. Like the other masseuses there, he's Russian and has worked at Izba for nine years. We talk about my job, etc. He's nice, but very professional. And I've never felt the least bit self-conscious there. These people work with naked people every day of the week. For years.
The front massage is followed by another banya session, this time on my back. This time I'm covered by a hand towel over my groin and another over my breasts. Same treatment too. Smacking with oak twigs (they're careful not to smack any really sensitive areas) followed by the warm honey rub. But there's another, final bit. Before going to the shower, I roll over onto my stomach again. A couple of minutes later, he comes back bearing two buckets of cool water. Which he then pours over me. The cool water is really bracing. Yes, it made me suck in my breath!
Another quick shower to rinse off and back on the massage table, this time for the body masque. It's a clay-seaweed masque that again, is supposed to bolster your immune system. It smells like sushi, sort of. It's really warm when he applies it all over and he asks me if I want it on my face, too. Sure, why not? He does my back first, then leaves for a few minutes for it to dry. Then he comes back and does the front. Then I just lay there and relax for a while while it dries.
When he comes back, this time it's with a washcloth and towels for my final shower. There's shampoo and conditioner in there, too. I get up, shower all the masque stuff off, wash and condition my hair and get dressed. When I get out to the lobby, a cup of tea and sliced fruit is waiting for me.
So, that's what the Russian spa experience is like. Like my masseuse said, it's not fancy, but it's very nice. The whole suite is decorated with that Russian cutwork wood. But it's basically in the basement of the Colorado Massage School. They don't offer a wide variety of treatments. All of them are basically different combinations of what I had done today. The Deluxe treatment is the max, but you can get shorter sessions. And considering what the beauty spas charge, this was very reasonable. $130 for 2 1/2 hours. In Denver, a decent hour massage is right around $65.
I'm thinking I need to do this more often. I generally crave one around December-January of each year, but I could do a less expensive treatment more often.