Vision Spa Retreat

Spa culture: a metaphysical perspective

Astrology provides a framework for imagining a profound intimacy between ourselves and our environment.  It envisions an ecological cosmos, a cosmos which 'speaks' through symbol and metaphor.  The same structuring principles and processes at work in the natural world are also at work in us, allowing us to see form and movement in our lives as metaphorically reflected in the movements of the sky. p. xvi  The Astrological Imagination: Where Psyche and Cosmos Meet, by Brad Hiljanen Kochunas.

When Astrology meets Spa, some interesting things can happen.  This post is an exploratory account of such an encounter.  There is a serious intent, however: I'm worried about what is happening to our souls and I'm worried about what that's doing to our spas.

In August, I attended the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) conference in Chicago with my partner astrologer Joe Landwehr who was a speaking on the topic 'Why Astrology is Not a Science'.  It's a topic that interests me since a similar dilemma (science or not) is faced by alternative health practitioners, many of whom find work and some recognition and validation in spas.

Astrology is not a common offering in spas.  Where it is, the presentation likely does not do service to the depth and scope of this imaginal art (see 'On the Internet' below).  As with so much else in our culture, this may reflect our attitudes both towards ourselves and our place on the planet. 

Is there a basic philosophy all spas could accept regards water?

Spotlight on Water: 3rd Global Spa Summit,
17-19 May 2009




Last month, the 2009 Global Spa Summit focused on 'The Power of Collaboration' was held at Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken, Switzerland.  

The Global Spa Summit (GSS) is 'an international organization that aims to bring together leaders and visionaries to positively impact and shape the future of the global spa and wellness industry'.

One of its objectives is to identify and assist in resolving issues affecting the spa and wellness industry.  Right now, these might well emphasize the effects of the global recession and urgent awareness of the troubling impact human activity is having on the planet.

What really matters from Vision Spa Retreat's point of view is the response such considerations generate from the top-level spa business audience that attends.  Will they, for example, be prepared to subjugate profits to meet the pressing needs of the planet?

Among the issues discussed at this year's Summit was Water - also a central focus for Vision Spa Retreat.  See also Putting the water back into spa on this blog.

Spas use water for the ubiquitous human requirements of drinking, cleaning, landscaping, and bathing.  The last area  (including various forms of hydrotherapy and mineral/thermal waters) is, for many of us, a distinguishing feature of 'spa'.  Water issues are spa issues.

Summer solstice celebrating water worldwide

Direct from artist-visionary extraordinaire - Micky Remann who created Liquid Sound® -  an extraordinary spa celebration that Vision Spa Retreat is thrilled to see since it's all about WATER:

Summer solistice 2009 will witness LiveH20, a worldwide concert for Living Water. Preparations are under way all over the world with groups and individuals who want to promote a heart connection with water and to express it in different ways and styles.

Two innovative 'Culture Spas' in Germany, Toskana Therme Bad Sulza and Toskana Therme Bad Schandau, both equipped with the Liquid Sound® system for underwater music will participate in LiveH20.

You'll hopefully be able to see and hear the concert in a livestream broadcast on "Germany / Vancouver" Saturday, June 20th., from 9 p.m. till midnight (Central European Time).

Toskana Therme Bad Sulza, near Weimar, will feature Australian duo Sacred Earth in a live concert that will be heard under water. Sacred Earth has fascinated people with their contemporary spiritual sound. On the occasion of the LiveH20 they will have their first European concert in the thermal saltwater pools of Bad Sulza – an unusual but fitting venue to honor the living water through music.

Toskana Therme Bad Schandau, near Dresden, will feature 'Liquids', visual art of photoartist Ortwin Klipp. The images will be projected in the dome of the Liquid Sound Temple. The audience, floating in body temperature salt water, looking up to the dome ceiling, will be exposed and immersed  in Ortwin Klipp’s visual waters. The corresponding underwater soundtrack can be heard here.

If all goes well, these concerts will be streamed live over the Internet, along with artists and groups from all over the world who share their music, talks and prayers in honor of the living water on our blue planet.

Please let Vision Spa Retreat know of any other spas that participated in this event and how it went!

More about the venues

Liquid Sound

For global schedule details

Read more about Sara Firman's first visit to Toskana Therme.

Experience Spa Culture at Toskana Therme with Vision Spa Retreat's Advisor Jonathan Paul De Vierville.

A petition for health

This petition is a 'call for revolutionary changes in our health care system that encourage health and prosperity instead of disease and corporate profit'.

It has many good ideas included in it: see more here

Following on from my recent series of posts on spa products, it was good to see this section included:

Ban Man-Made, Non-Natural Cancer-Causing Chemicals in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

• Ban man-made, non-natural chemicals in cosmetics that have not been proven safe.
• Require government-funded testing of commonly used man-made, non-natural chemicals to determine their safety.
• Require honest labeling of cosmetics and personal care products with appropriate cancer warnings.
• Recognize that the skin absorbs chemicals, and chemicals used on the skin can enter the bloodstream.

Read more and sign the Health Revolution Petition here

 

Green Spa Network Conference April 20

This one-day conference from the Green Spa Network will include:

• an introduction to the GSN sustainability awareness tool

• buying guidelines for authentic 'green' personal care

• an interactive session focused on succeeding in a down economy

• an opportunity to engage, exchange and explore sustainability and spa

Click here for more information.

The Green Spa Network is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, trade association. Their purpose is to bring sustainable operating practices to the spa industry, and to promote the natural connections between personal wellbeing, economic sustainability, and the health of the planet. The goals of the Green Spa Network (GSN) are:

• To bring sustainable operating practices to the spa industry.

• To facilitate education, research and alliances in sustainable business practices.

• To promote the natural connections between personal wellbeing, economic sustainability, and health of our planet.

Download GSN post-Conference Press Release

Spa cultures, dreams and healing waters: a workshop at Toskana Therme

'Psyche in World Spa Cultures and Cosmos'

with Dr. Jonathan Paul DeVierville (an Advisory Team member for Vision Spa Retreat)

July 21st - July 26th 2009

Toskana Therme, Bad Sulza, Germany

Throughout this website and the other two I write on, you'll find frequent references to an earlier presentation of this workshop that I was fortunate to attend in 2001.  I highly recommend this experience for anyone interested in spa culture, dreams and healing waters.

Below is a copy of the current program from the hosts at Toskanaworld (scroll to the bottom to find contact information).  If you are able to attend, or have been to past events, I invite you to post a review in the comment section that follows this post.

Related post: The age of dreaming has come by Sulis

........................................................................................................................................................


Dreams and Healing Waters: Psyche in World Spa Cultures & Cosmos is an eco-social-psi-dreaming field event and an in depth spa experience. An Experiential Dreaming Field & Float Time to work with historical, and/or spontaneously emerging cultural dream images and archetypal symbols, myths and metaphors associated with global issues and planetary themes. Participants experience an aquatic journey into their dreams, healing imagination, and cultural creativities through an exploration and revelation of ancient and avant-garde ways.

The working schedule includes an introduction to eco-social psi-cultural dreaming field, lectures and presentations, Aqua Wellness & Liquid Body Work with evening/late night Liquid Sound Temple , floats & deep flows, nights & mornings with time for deep sleeping, dreaming & healing and field trip visit(s) to Goseck, Nebra and the Jena Planetarium.

Dr. Jonathan Paul DeVierville PhD, LCSW, LPC, TRMT is Professor of The Humanities, History, Interdisciplinary & Global Studies at The St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas his teaching and research interests are in the history of spa cultures, natural therapeutic health care systems, spa resort medicine, hydrotherapy and balneology and the new cosmology which he has taught at colleges, universities, spas and health resorts around the world.

Times, Topics and Working Schedule for Five (5) Nights & Four (4) Days in Bad Sulza, Germany

Water-marks

Dates: 2-3 December 2008

Corporate Water Footprint: Towards a Sustainable Water Strategy
San Francisco, USA

You'll have heard a lot about carbon footprints but water-marks (my alternative terminology) have been less obvious - until now.  One of the main benefits of water efficiencies is they naturally lead to energy, carbon and cost savings.  Everything is connected. 

So I was happy to find, while browsing the Natural Marketing Institute's (NMI) informative website yesterday, a notice about one of their staff moderating a panel on 'A Global Water Supply Crisis: The Impacts for Business' at the above forthcoming conference organized by GreenPower.

As the GreenPower website says this is the: 'next level of response for businesses committed to becoming sustainable and reducing their climate impact'. Everyone uses water, and when it comes to water consumption, industrial use far exceeds residential use.

'With freshwater supplies tightening due to overuse and more extreme weather patterns, business is coming under more pressure to measure and cut water use. This conference showcases the companies that have woken up to the risks and benefits of water management and are inventing new techniques to cut consumption.'

NMI is one of the groups developing approaches for calculating and curbing corporate water consumption.  It is a strategic consulting, market research, and business development company specializing in the health and wellness marketplace, and has already worked with some forward-thinking spas.

For spas, as for many companies, water is a surprisingly large component of service and production, either directly or indirectly, in the supply chain.  Taking into account your own water use is important but so is being aware of indirect costs from suppliers with water-intensive processes or overuse.

Water footprint: the total volume of freshwater used in the production and consumption of goods and services.

To attend or for more information, click on this link. 

Vision Spa Retreat would welcome a brief conference review (comment below or email separately) focusing on items especially relevent to the spa world from anyone who attends this event.

A new online spa magazine launches with 'World class spas in Costa Rica at eco-friendly jungle resorts'

SpaFinder has just launched a web-based spa magazine called SpaFinder Lifestyle. The earlier bright-green announcement logo was very promising and I look forward to seeing how they promote green issues in the new magazine.

The first issue covers (in the Escapes section) three spas in Costa Rica.  They are described as being 'small-footprint spas', 'tiny-footprint resorts', 'light footprint' and 'eco-friendly' all in the same breath. 

This is a good example of the challenge of defining green, something that interests and concerns Vision Spa Retreat.

Here's a link to the magazine feature on SpaFinder Lifestyle (Tabacon looks especially promising to me):

World class spas in Costa Rica at eco-friendly jungle resorts with a light footprint at SpaFinder

Tell us what you think, and what you'd like to see more of on this issue of the 'greening of spa'.

British International Spa Association Annual Conference - 2008

Dates: 4-7 December 2008

The British International Spa Association (BISA), chaired by Marion Schneider from Bad Sulza, will present it's annual conference in the famous spa town of Baden-Baden, Germany.

Included in the presentations is the 'Greening of the Spa Industry' by Janice Gronvold of Spectrec, Spa Business & Marketing Development, USA, who previously contributed 'Greening Your Spa by Implementing Sustainable Practices' to the  2007 ISPA Conference & Expo held in Kissimmee, Florida November 12-15, 2007.

More information on BISA 2008 here.

If you are partipating in this event, please feel welcome to report back (especially on issues of sustainability and spa culture) by adding a comment to this posting. 

Subscribe to this feed below to stay updated about this and other events.