Article #2 for Spa Management

"To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and to put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one; these preparations still produce an inner pleasure."

The Pillow Book , Lady Shonagon, 1002 AD

There is undeniable, irresistible power in the use of essential oils. Once you love an essential oil, the love is seemingly returned many fold. Did you not fall in love with the scent of rose upon your very first inhalation? Three millenniums of aromatic use has still not exhausted mankind's fascination. Introducing the use of essential oils in Spa practices will draw clients into the experience unlike any other modality. Not only will their body experience the treatment, but the essential oil's scent will impact upon their mind, emotions, sense of beauty, and spirit. Spas are integrating the Mind-Body-Spirit experience thru treatments, practices, and various "wellness" programs. Aromatherapy thru the use of essential oils is the key to the integration of this accomplishment. For my 40th birthday I gave myself the present of taking a five-day intensive Aromatherapy seminar which was held at a Florida spa. The first day we learned how to make a simple preparation of bath salts. Each student selected their own combination of essential oils which were blended with sea salts. Our teacher asked us about our thoughts during the process. My internal dialogue was "well, this is dead-easy, but at least I'm am now free to create my own simple products." My teacher called on my conference partner, Mary Rose because her eyes were gleaming, her mouth was already uttering her response. Mary Rose answered, " I like the power ."

I was stunned and utterly surprised by her passionate but concisely elegant reaction. The sea salt exercise was child's play, not a complicated perfume formula, or soap-making chemistry. Why was there such a flow of emotion over a simple act?

Since that moment I have pondered her words repeatedly. Mary Rose immediately experienced the "music and poetry" of the essential oils, but as well the "power" of taking control of her needs from the beauty care industry. In her hands, finally, were the simple tools to take care of herself: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Who knew such was the power of a few drops of fragrant essential oils in a few grams of sea salts?

Mary Rose's experience is not unique. Her four word story "I like the power" is what most of us experience who use essential oils, but just can't seem to form the experience into words. Ask your friends and colleagues about their personal "scentual" stories. Each story is another clue why we must have scents as a part of our life.

In 1002 AD, in The Pillow Book, Lady Shonagon writes the following passage. She shares that scent is used for purely individual reasons. Mary Rose would agree.

To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and to put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one; these preparations still produce an inner pleasure.

Centuries later, Mary Rose could have written this. Just substitute the last word in the phrase for "Power".

Lately, my family is delving into my treasure chest of essential oils for their own unique needs. After decades of hearing anecdotal stories I am always struck anew at the essential oil's impact.

Joseph, my oldest brother who is a devoted athlete (surfing, mountain bicycling, yoga, snow boarding, cross-country skiing) is discovering essential oils. He is furtively taking his wife's personal stash and taking fragrant baths with Fir Silver. He pleads with me for Jasmine and Patchouli as they are his muses. His latest aromatherapy discovery is a very hip Hermosa Beach Spa that combines the essential oils in most treatments. Upon telling me of his Spa treatment experiences, he raves at length about the feelings of well-being brought on by the essential oil.

Joshua, my youngest brother, also a devoted athlete who does extreme distance bicycling begs me for Rose Otto. I assumed this was gifted in entirety to his wife. I was simply amazed to learn that not only was he enjoying rose baths, but he always anoints his heart chakra with Rose Otto before every bike ride.

Caroline, my Sister owns a theater troop of clowns who do entertainment in hospitals for very ill children. She complained that her red leather "clown nose" smells putrid. She thought it was a hazard of the job that had to be tolerated. Daily she douses her "clown nose" with Bergamot or another essential oil appropriate to her mood, and can't stop telling everyone how the scent alone makes her day!

I could also give examples of how essential oils used therapeutically dramatically changed lives and this "scent" the user on the aromatic path. Instead, I've given simple examples of emotional experiences that led the user to seek out an aromatic lifestyle. Mary Rose discovers personal power in creating body care products tailored for her needs, Joseph's simple experience of "just feeling good" thru the use of scent is an "AH HA" personal revelation, Joshua developed a ritualistic use of the essential oil for his favorite sport; Caroline developed a ritualistic entry to her professional day. Passionate relationships are made between the user and the use of the oil! We are the dancer, and the essential oil is the dance.

When I give a lecture on essential oils, I never give out the samples until my talk is completed. I learned my lesson. Once the essential oils are in the room ," The cork is popped out of the champagne bottle" and there is no turning back. Conversation flows and bubbles out of nowhere. Participants emotions and thoughts can no longer be contained and must be shared. Try this experiment for yourself. Introduce essential oils diffused in the air at your next Spa management meeting and take note of the changes. Scientists have indeed confirmed that pleasant ambient scent makes for heightened conversation, higher self-esteem, and more productivity!

The Spa setting is the ideal venue to introduce clients to an aromatic lifestyle. Essential oils have the potential to be used in all treatments and practices, for all types of exercise activities and introduced for, ambient room diffusion, meditation and

stress-reduction, self-health care, and even for the spa cuisine! Once a client experiences a unique scent in your Spa setting, forever they will associate that scent with the treatment and your Spa. Odor memory needs only a one-time trial pairing for a lifetime of recall! This is nature's method of insuring our survival. Only once do we ever need to smell rotten meat to know its significance! Nor do we ever forget scents so beautiful as to pluck our heart strings!

Scents become our signposts for a lifetime. My sister's personal signature scent is Vetiver. Her daughter, Lailah has been imprinted with this scent since infancy. In the morning when her Mother, my Sister, is freshly doused with Vetiver cologne, Lailah shares her response. " Oh Mom, Vetiver IS my childhood....Vetiver is so you....and it is my 'Proust's madeleine'." Forevermore, Lailah will associate Vetiver with her Mom.

Once a scent is attached to an emotional experience, as Vetiver is for Lailah, it can be repeatedly recalled throughout our life. An internal emotional experience will recall the scent although it is not there in our nostrils! As in Lailah's above exclamation, just a waft of a scent is enough to send her cascading with scent memories, which almost always come to us in the particular order of time, place, and event. The following poem demonstrates this.

Fragrance of the orange

Flowering at last in June

Wafts through the summer night

The memory of scented sleeves

Of someone long ago.

Kokinshu III:139 Anonymous

How can you use this knowledge to its best advantage? The key is to not only incorporate the essential oils into the Spa culture but to offer unique scents tied to an emotional experience. Almost all the Spa treatments offer this opportunity. What client would not melt into supreme relaxation with a facial redolent with Rose Otto

(a few will passionately be in the other camp)? The client will always then associate a flood of well-being (or the opposite) when she next smells Rose. But go one step further. Create a special tailored blend for the client's facial and she will forever be yearning to smell her personal blend again to recreate the internal feelings of happiness associated with the facial.

Offering manufactured aromatherapy products is fine, but as you know, these same products are used at many other spas. If your client then goes to another Spa and by chance receives a facial with the same product, the client's attachment is to the product and not the Spa. As well, manufactured products are for a mass appeal and not for individual likes or needs. The Spa experience is when your client wants something special for her own intimate pleasure and needs.

The closest spa to my home is an hour drive to a sleepy tiny mountain town. I 've been for treatments several times and have always enjoyed the experience, but not convincingly. The decor is a bit funky, the equipment is classy, and the practioners are first-rate. They use a well-known line of excellent products.

I adore pedicures and always schedule one. My pedicure starts with a manufactured dead-skin sloughing lotion which is laced with Peppermint. Although many people enjoy the minty-cool sensation on their feet, it made my entire body cold! I do not like being cold so I was a bit miserable admist an otherwise, pleasurable experience. Creating the sensation of coolness is the power and usefulness of Peppermint, but I did not appreciate it nor was it appropriate for me. In fact, after receiving this same treatment on two different occasions, I'll probably not repeat it unless my Spa is willing to use a blend that appeals to my needs! How could the treatment have been tailored to my needs?

The technician could have asked me a simple question before proceeding. "Do I like my feet to be warm or cool"? If I answered warm, and the techinican could offer only the manufactured Peppermint dead-skin sloughing foot lotion there is an easy solution. There are several essential oils that can be added to the manufactured product! A measure of the product could be put into a small bowl and Ginger essential oil mixed in. The Ginger addition would create a diffusing warmth on the skin. The Peppermint would still create a coolness, but it would now be a seesawing of cooling to warming effect! Ideally I would have preferred the technician use an unscented base that could have been suited to my needs with a simple addition of a few drops of various essential oils!

A simple protocol decision-tree for the technicians to offer essential oils will work for most of the treatments. The technician asks a few questions, chooses oils from her experience and then offers the client choices which will indicate final blend preferences. Protocol charts are available in many good Aromatherapy books and some companies have developed decision "wheels" and posters.

Tailored blends acknowledges your clients simple personal preferences and honors them as unique. Humans are passionate and eccentric in their sensual tastes. One woman prefers a deep muscle massage where the next prefers much less pressure. One woman adores Rose while the other finds it suffocating. No one likes to be cast in a cookie-cutter mold. In my personal example above, if the Spa offered tailored blends I'd be a monthly customer! I'm convinced that my experience is not unique.

A simple shift from using the same product on all clients to tailored products will produce radical changes for you and your clients. Your staff will discover Mary Rose's personal power in formulating for your client's needs. Your client will also find power in a blend just for her! Introduce personal essential oil treatments for lifestyle changes (rituals and meditation, stress-reduction, yoga and other exercise) and you will have a client who will rely not only on essential oils as vital elements to her life but will make an emotional bond with your Spa that will span her lifetime.