The Business of Relaxation
Spas are usually defined as havens of relaxation, palaces of pampering, or – insert your own cliché here – but they can also be employed to marshal your mental faculties, hone your performance on the job, and sharpen a businessperson’s concentration.
The new programme ‘Freedom of Mind’ at the SPA in Bangkok’s Peninsula Hotel is something of a watershed in this regard. The stunningly designed facility is part of the ESPA chain, leaders in the field, with centres around the world. What the parent company is renowned for, said Richard Williams, its director in Bangkok, is “aiming for authenticity and looking into the real substance of these treatments, not the fluff. We don’t do express or quick fixes.”
Each of the spas has its own signature treatments and trademarks. At the Bangkok location, for instance, every treatment begins with a tea ceremony and ginger foot buff. The ‘Five Angel’s Tea’, rich with antioxidants, Chinese bael fruit, chrysanthemum and pandanus, comes from a Royal Project in the Kingdom’s north. Sipping the tea while drinking in the ambience of subdued elegance tends to ground one’s nerves, which have been frazzled by the wired world and harried capital.
The spa suites are paragons of minimalist chic, rendered in earthy tones, and beautified with Thai wood carvings. Incorporating the basic elements of the natural world allows guests to explore their inner natures more fully.
Sit Back, Relax and Let Go
After lying back in the heated chair, Richard adjusted it so I was almost vertical. The room was mostly dark, save for the flicker of candles. He explained the focal points of “creative visualisation” as “similar to hypnotherapy and vipassana [insight] meditation because of the reliance on breathing techniques and relaxation.”
Executives in positions of power find it difficult to give up control, said Richard. That’s why the ‘Freedom of Mind’ programme can help to free them from the role of always playing the task-master, but only if they’re willing to “see the beauty in detaching themselves a little from the situation”.
To the hushed soundtrack of ambient music, and the sporadic splash of waves, Richard spoke in a slow, soothing voice. “Concentrate on your breathing…stay in the here and now…let go of your other thoughts and feelings…remember not to be too hard on yourself…if you make mistakes and you can learn and profit from them then they’re worthwhile.”
As we talked about it later, Richard agreed that creative visualisation is a compendium of common sense. Embroiled in the pressure-cooker of family troubles and office politics, emotions reach the boiling point as reason goes up in steam. So Richard’s role is to echo a person’s inner voice of reason while reassuring them of its validity. Think of creative visualisation as a way to tune-up your mind before the massage therapist begins to fine-tune your body.
The Rub Down
ESPA’s globe-girding reputation has given them the latitude to develop a vast range of products containing essential oils sourced from the far reaches of the world. These aromatherapy products, shaving creams, and beauty potions are on sale at all of their outlets. They also come in handy during the treatments.
The masseuse put a dab of two different creams on each wrist and asked me to pick one. I chose the concoction with English peppermint, rosemary, Eucalyptus, Indian bay leaves and lavender. Then she asked me what kind of pressure to apply for the Balinese-style massage and what sort of effect I was looking for? Since I was feeling rundown at the finish-line of another marathon work week, I wanted to feel revitalized.
Face down on the bed, with a hole cut out so I could inhale the burning herbs wafting up from the bowl beneath me, the masseuse used long, graceful strokes to glide up and down my legs and back, with the oil providing a slow burn. It’s a style of massage Richard likens to the “lomi lomi school of island massages from Hawaii”. Except for a few arm stretches, the Balinese school is not crammed with the contortionist-like postures that make Thai massage a lazy person’s yoga, or occasionally, a form of sado-masochism.
Let Your Mind Be Free
Mentally stimulated by the creative visualisation, and now physically reawakened by the personal touches of the masseuse, different images and colours flashed through my mind: when the masseuse took a break to get more oil, I suddenly had a solid idea for a new story.
As every executive knows, the constant demands of decision-making, of emails, phone calls and meetings, induce a strain of mental claustrophobia that leaves little room for complexities like discovering the source of a new revenue stream. The creative process is mysterious. But sometimes it’s a matter of finding a quiet place, within the world and yourself, where the ideas can find you.
Let’s not board a hot-air balloon for the highest realms of thought just yet. Here’s something which will puncture that balloon and quickly bring us down to earth: when dredging the depths of the mind, some silly memories and pop culture trivia are also bound to surface. Was that really Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show wafting through my thoughts? The creative visualisation techniques explained by Richard at the beginning of the session teach you how not to follow these tangents and dead ends. Admittedly, keeping the mind from meandering is a difficult task. And that’s why Richard, who has spent the last decade working for spas in Australia, Singapore and Thailand, said there are no quick fixes. Warding off the intrusive thoughts which steal into our minds to plunder our supplies of concentration and intellectual resources is a life-long journey.
But the dividends from such mental discipline, combined with therapeutic massages and other treatments, are worth the ‘sweat equity’ you will have to pay – dividends like better health, deeper sleep, increased productivity, greater reserves of patience. There are some short-term gains, too. With one great idea for a story beginning to percolate in my mind, I left the spa feeling like a freshly tuned, restrung guitar, ready to jam with the cacophony of Bangkok.
