Usually when you hear the marketing lingo for spas it’s all a little cliché, isn’t it? Something along the lines of… nurture your body, calm your mind, rejuvenate your soul, etc, etc. I honestly roll my eyes when I see those words describing a spa on a brochure — they all say the same thing in some way shape or form.
Thing is, after a crazy couple of weeks, I was seeking a little spa TLC. I had just made a tough decision to leave my job of the last four years, so my partner Chuck, suggested a day at Thermëa would be the perfect way to unwind and alleviate stress after a long week of upheaval.
When you make a big life decision like this, stress naturally comes along with it, even if you know it’s the right decision. Especially when it’s a life changing moment where you decide to say goodbye to the known and embrace the unknown. Doesn’t that sound a wee bit exhilarating, as well as a wee bit freaking scary? These are the kinds of decisions that stay with you for awhile, forcing you to question them more than once, all while a growing heap of stress starts to drop down upon your shoulders.
Well, luckily, there’s this lovely paradise called Thermëa sitting smack-dab in the middle of Winnipeg beckoning you to come and let all that crap go. Chuck and I just love, love, love this place. The ritual of hot, cold, relax, repeat is nothing short of brilliant. We’ve been to Thermëa in winter, spring and summer, but this time, our visit was more about healing the insides rather than caring what the temperature was outside.
We moved from the dry sauna to the polar plunge to a wood-burning fire with ease. There were quite a few people around, but not enough to get in your way. At one point we were enticed to try an exfoliation steam — a heavenly experience where you rub yourself down with lavender and eucalyptus salts while sitting in the Vapora Orange Sauna. Later on, we took in an Aufguss Ritual in the Finlandia sauna. Aufguss is a scent-infused ritual that is extremely HOT! I’ve never felt such heat before and yet I couldn’t leave because the scents were so tantalizing! This particular ritual started with Mandarin orange, moved on to lavender and ylang ylang, then ended with peppermint and pine. Sighhhh.
All in all, I couldn’t have found a better place to relax and think about whether this life decision I had made was right for me and what it will mean for my future. The quietness of the spa meant I had only my thoughts to contend with. I would love to say they were calm and collected — they weren’t — but they were also not racing out of control. In those hot saunas, with my eyes closed and my breathing deep (remember it’s hot, yo!), I thought things through and what I discovered surprised me. I was content. More content than I thought I would be given my current situation of, you know, a life in limbo.
I’m not sure where my future lies right now and I know I will certainly miss the place I’m leaving, but sometimes things happen in the blink of an eye and you realize you can forge a new path. Take that road less traveled by and hope it will make all the difference. (Shout out to Mr. Frost!)
I’m glad I had the quiet of Thermëa that day to help me come to terms with the contentment of my life, help me rejuvenate my spirit and, yeah, I guess nurture my body. Oh, dammit, the clichés are true!
