‘The need for human touch’
STATE WELLNESS EXPERTS SEE RISE IN ‘MASKNE’ TREATMENTS AND NEED FOR MEDITATION
Between gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to bow out of some Olympic events to concentrate on her mental health and celebrities like Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez advocating for people to focus on their mind, body and spirit to create a balanced life, wellness has never been more top-of-mind than it is today.
Add to it the stress people are feeling over the pandemic, political issues and being trapped in their homes for the better part of 18 months, and it’s no wonder that spas, wellness centers and yoga businesses are flush with customers.
“The need for relaxation, wellness therapies and most importantly human touch has never been greater,” said Julia Petrini, regional director of spas for Delamar Spa, with locations in Southport, Greenwich and
West Hartford.
“The isolation and the lack of contact had been taking a toll on all of us. Physically, mentally and emotionally we need to connect and exchange our energies with others. We need to release and heal.”
With that in mind, Delamar focuses a lot on trigger point methods of massage, incorporating stretching, craniosacral massage and myofascial deep tissue massage.
“For the aesthetics part, we’ve seen a lot of deep cleansing facial utilizing Biologique Recherche products and machines,” Petrini said. “Popular these days are "maskne" (acne due to mask wearing) treatments, lower face treatments, peels and professional exfoliation. They are delivering immediate results and our clients cannot have enough.”
Lisa Troknya, an instructor at Yoga Synergy in Fairfield, which is part of the larger Physical Synergy, which offers chiropractic care, massage and other wellness services, noted more people are looking for mindfulness through meditation.
“Hot yoga is very popular these days, as it’s very therapeutic for muscles to open up,” she said. “We believe in boosting the immune system with good food and supplements, and offering a holistic approach to wellness.”
The facility has catered to a lot of athletes this year, and classes have been packed for all yoga classes.
“We are doing what we can to get everyone in the right state of mind,” Torknya said.
Relieving the trauma
Marissa Gandelman, owner of Elm City Wellness, with two locations in New Haven, said people are desperate for touch and healing personal trauma, and both locations have been booked solid since spring with wellness experts relieving people’s troubles through acupuncture, massage and skincare treatments.
“We are here for the community to come and heal,” she said. “Many of our clients know each other, they know us, and they come in because we’re good at what we do but they also feel connected. The energy in the world right now is quite stressful and we help them heal from their traumas.”
Doctors from Yale New Haven come in for massage and other treatments, and Gandelman has seen a particular rise in acupuncture clients this year.
“It’s minimal contact, we do it in a community setting, but everybody’s very spaced out in separate rooms,” she said. “We’re happy to see people coming back and feeling better.”
Margot Bloom, owner and founder of the Breathing Room, a yoga and wellness center in New Haven, noted it’s the perfect time for people to relax, heal and grow individually and within the community.
“We specialize in education and mindfulness, and we have classes in meditation, hatha classes, as well as restorative and yin yoga classes,” she said. “We also do teacher training and workshops.”
Although classes have been slowly filling up again since March of this year, the pandemic did cause another side of the business — one that offered massage, reiki and other modalities — to disband because the therapists closed down their individual practices and it’s tough finding trained therapists these days.
“But the other portion of the business has been as popular as ever, as now more than ever it’s important for people to have a healthy relationship with our mental health,” Bloom said. “People were so isolated and have gone away from mindful exercise and the connection between the body and the mind. Our practice can help ease those fluctuations in the mind as yoga can bring a balance there.”
Wellness treatments in the COVID era
At Delamar Spas, the time between treatments has been extended to allow for proper and thorough cleaning of the rooms, added air purifiers have been installed in all treatment rooms, all common spaces have been closed and all staff wear protective equipment at all times.
“The spas are safe, clean and will make you feel a lot better,” Petrini said. “The best possible gift to give anyone is an hour or more at the spa. The way people look and feel when they exit the rooms is priceless.”
Bloom said she feels it's as if people have gotten so used to higher stress levels, that many have forgotten what it’s like to relax, and when yoga students leave the studio now, she hears time and again how much it was needed.
“For me, having a practice that really helps someone calm the mind and move from the external to the internal is so valuable to quiet the anxiety and the fear and come back to a point of center,” she said. “We went virtual at the beginning of the pandemic, and because people were moving away from New Haven, people from all over the world were taking online classes with us. They were coming to our classes to get out of the monotony of the quarantine life.”
For the time being, Breathing Room will continue to offer a hybrid model so people can continue to get the wellness they need in whatever way they feel more comfortable.
“Especially with (how) uncertain things are at the immediate moment again, I do believe this is something that will be more the wave of the future for the wellness industry,” Bloom said.