Guerlain Spa, located at Montreal’s Four Seasons Hotel, was recently recognized for its excellence by Forbes magazine.
Three spa rituals (way) south of the border
In Texas, the Lantana Spa at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa presents each guest with a piece of red ribbon to perform the Seven Knots Ritual, which originated among the traditional village healers in Latin America. As each knot is tied, a concern or worry is to be considered while visualizing the best outcome; the seventh knot creates a circle. Tying the knots is said to release worry and stress, while the red colour signifies courage, strength, health, energy, passion and survival.
The SE Spa’s Four-Hand Tequila & Nopal Massage at the AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Los Cabos in Mexico begins with an energy purification ritual to call forth the four elements, with sage to symbolize earth, a floating candle to represent fire and water, and a feather to conjure air. During treatment, the ancestral technique of stretching using a Mexican shawl helps to release tension.
Also in Mexico, the Kinan Spa at Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa offers an authentic Mayan cleansing ritual in the temazcal, which is a pre-Columbian sweat lodge used by Indigenous Central Americans as a curative ceremony to purify the body. Ancestral drums and chants accompany a session with herbal infusions poured over heated volcanic stones.