spa therapies
The Power of Silence By Jacoline Wentzel, Managing Director of The Spa Warehouse We live in an increasingly noisy world. The constant drone of traffic, household appliances, music, television and sounds in public places is disturbing sleep and increasing stress levels for many people. Escaping noise is a modern-day challenge, but doing so could be essential to our well-being: the power of silence is scientifically proven when it comes to the benefits it can offer our minds and bodies. Indeed, modern life is full of noise. There are sounds from the environment and a general lack of quiet that comes with a hectic life. Distractions and interruptions during the day have now become the norm, adding to the noise in our lives.
Put down your phone!
Silence is beneficial to our wellbeing, just as much as exercise and nourishment. A few powerful moments of silence have proven results and benefits to our health. The scientifically proven benefits include: Brain rejuvenation Improves sleep Relieve stress Improves Memory function Improves Clarity of thought Enhance creativity Improve better decision making
The modern spa is reliant on the spa guest or influencers for marketing as most of our spas want our guests to post their experiences on social media. For silence to truly be effective, we need to create tech free moments, so are you brave enough to name your spa a tech free zone? Whether you are brave enough or not, we need to acknowledge that mobile phones have a huge effect on stress levels as well as our circadian rhythms, and as the wellness and spa industry, we should offer the guests at least some tech free moments, where the outside world is shut down for a period, as well as privacy for the other guests. Maybe creating a tech free zone or room within your spa is the answer.
The human ear never goes to sleep and is constantly listening to sound. It is a sensitive organ and while we are deep in slumber, the ear is still picking up and transmitting sound to the brain. This collection of sounds will have a huge effect on our well-being.
Our Spa Challenge
The Retreat
Walk in Nature
I recently had the privilege to be invited to attend a one-day silent retreat at La Motte Wine Estate, Western Cape. This was a stretch for me. My days are usually filled with the noise of webinars, client meetings, phone calls, typing of emails and WhatsApp message being answered.
Creating meditation time or a meander through your spa grounds for your guests to enjoy before the start of their treatments, can start the process of destressing. Allowing them to be surrounded by nature while enjoying some silent time, is a great way to start their time at your facilities.
A kind gentle spoken facilitator guided us through a day of prayer, reflection, journaling and meditation. With our phones switched off for the day, it ended up an uninterrupted day of silence surrounded by nature, while our brains had time to reboot, create and imagine. I truly now understand the saying… “you need space to create”. Our facilitator suggested 1 hour a day, 1 day a month and 1 week a year of silence, to help reboot the brain.
Sacred Pauses
The truth was, the more the day went on, the more of the silence I wanted. The more time I spent in nature in silence, the more aware I was of my surroundings, but also the more my brain could think of creative solutions.
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The Benefits
During this retreat, I started exploring, how can we incorporate this practice into our spa industry and our spa facilities.
Creating moments of mini sacred pauses throughout the spa, allowing the client to pause and awaken one or more of their senses in silence. Think a of a hand washing ritual when they arrive with pure essential oil hand wash and lotions, maybe a silent moment of a flavoured drink while waiting for their treatment in a quiet room, a small bite size treat to awaken the taste buds, an essential oil or herb tray filled with beautiful smelling flowers to enhance the sense of smell while closing their eyes or a 10 min sleep session before their therapist comes to gentle wake them and take them through to their treatment.
Les Nouvelles Esthetiques no’102
Train your staff In Africa speaking loudly is part of our culture. You can often hear people speaking on the streets and in supermarkets at a high-volume level, and even to some it might sound like screaming. For silence and true peacefulness to be a part of your culture of your spa, staff will need to be trained to speak at a slower and softer frequency, to not only create this sense of peacefulness but to also have your client mimic their speech. A great way to cultivate a culture of peacefulness in your team, would be to host a few moments of meditative silence before their day starts. This calm will then transpire to your guests. From Grace to glory As we all know the noise level of our world is increasingly becoming a hazard to our health. Embracing the power of silence does not have to be about the absence of sound, but also about getting away from distracting noises that stimulate your brain and trigger a stress response. As we enhance the culture of wellness for our guests and ourselves, cultivating a habit of a few moments of powerful silence and calm in our day, will have a huge effect on our health and wellbeing. See you at the next silent retreat.
