Beauty

A copper- bottomed plan to ease those stressed muscles and relax the mind

Ologie’s Relaxing Copper Bath Ritual

The treatment

An Ologie Relaxing Copper Bath Ritual, £ 115 for 100 minutes, Ologie Clinic, Edinburgh.

Why go?

To discover this discreet new venue, which used to be a bed and breakfast. The owner, Giedre Gudauskaite, originally from Lithuania, has worked as a scientist, as well as beauty and massage therapist.

She also has an eye for style, with gorgeous prints in this venue’s waiting room, ash wood floors and copper accents. More Manhattan than Tollcross. Treatment- wise, they specialise in “a holistic fusion of advanced science and ayurvedic massage”, with facials, manicures and body treatments.

Our spy says

My therapy takes place in the room that features a large freestanding copper slipper bath. I’m not going in there yet though.

Giedre leaves so I can get into the dressing gown and dip my feet into a copper bowl filled with warm water, milk and rose petals.

Once she comes back in, she dries my toes and I hop face down on to the treatment table, with a soundtrack of chanting in the background.

This is a full ayurvedic body massage featuring warmed black sesame oil that Giedre has imported from India. She bastes me first on the back of my legs, pressing the heel of her hands against the soles of my feet, clasping an ankle while stroking the back of my knees, using a sort of scooping movement, and running her thumbs along my IT bands. It’s very rhythmic, starting slow and speeding up.

My back gets a rub down, then, after I’ve turned over, the front of my legs. I love having my arms done, with fingers lengthened, biceps stretched and knots in my palms kneaded.

Once my shoulders have been eased out, Giedre moves on to the facial massage. She runs rose water infused pads across my face, then I inhale rose oil from her cupped hands.

After some work with her fingers, especially along my saggy brow bone and scalp, Giedre uses two smooth rose quartz crystals ( in ayurveda, these are supposed to heal and support the heart chakra) on my face. They start out cool, then warm up as she rubs them across the contours of my cheeks.

I hear the copper bath slowly filling up. Giedre tells me she’ll leave the room, and asks what kind of tea I’d like when she meets me outside ( I go for turmeric, which she sources from local business Rosevear).

I slither off the bed and get my oily body into the tub, which contains more milk and red petals.

According to ayurveda, copper is energising and positively charges water. On a superficial level, it’s beautiful and meditative, with reflections and the singing sound of the running water. I could stay here until I was a pickled walnut.

The results

I’m so relaxed, I can hardly talk to Giedre post treatment, and wonder if I can camp out on their comfy sofa. Perhaps I’ll just move in, and wash in a copper bath every day. n