Wellness at heart
The Living Spa at El Monte Sagrado
THE RIPPLE EFFECT from a spa experience has lasting effects that not everyone understands yet more are catching onto. Some may still think of spa treatments as indulgent pampering, although that demographic is shrinking. Increasingly, we understand what Europeans and other cultures have understood for years: a visit to a spa, whether it be for one treatment, a half day or a full day is holistic healthcare experience for the body, mind and soul.
Recently, El Monte Sagrado welcomed new spa director Dianna Thomsen who has worked for many of the nation’s top spas. Thomsen has studied sports training, health and nutrition, and understands the connection between collective wellness and quality of living.
“If your mind isn’t healthy, it affects your body; if your body isn’t healthy, it affects your spirit. Everything is connected and if one thing is out of balance, everything is out of balance,” Thomsen explained as we sat in her new workplace surrounded by the sounds of a waterfall, a small labyrinth and the beauty of tropical plants with bright pink bougainvillea blossoms. “Wellness is about thriving instead of just getting by.”
With new services, new ideas and new therapists joining a core of longstanding staff, Thomsen is paving the way for locals and tourists alike to take full advantage of wellness opportunities.
For anyone considering a Valentine’s Day gift, The Living Spa is a great place to start. Sharing from personal experience, the ripple effect from a spa experience is real. Like many of us, I juggle multiple jobs and responsibilities. I feel the stress and do it anyway and my recent experience at The Living Spa assured that I will return because, just like everyone else, I too want to thrive.
Named one of the Top Spa Resorts in America by Forbes, the sheer opulence of El Monte Sagrado may seem a bit out of place in Taos — which is precisely why it fits in. A small town with a confluence of cultures and a penchant for a “live-and-let-live” lifestyle, all forms of expression are woven into the tapestry of Taos. If that means sunlit showers, salt-water pools and hydrotherapy tubs nestled in a living rainforest with goldembossed statues of Buddhas and treatment rooms with kiva fireplaces and Japanese soaking tubs — it is indeed, well-suited for Taos.
The treatments go well beyond customized, therapeutic 60- or 90-minute massage options and include detoxifying salt and sugar scrubs, mineral-rich clay wraps, grounding foot and scalp massages, and circulation-improving reflexology all with natural, organic ingredients. There are couple’s unity massage options to balance yin and yang polarities. Some wraps restore the skin’s elasticity and the body’s vibrancy. Guests can even have a tarot card reading.
Thomsen’s vision to create a “wellness destination,” is well underway and she’s just getting started. “By the beginning of April, we will begin offering four types of facials,” as she described the natural products she has vetted and tested that the estheticians will be using. Thomsen envisions wellness packages that would include things like a smoothie-making class, how to make healthy energy bites, sound therapy, forest bathing, and tai chi. “This is all meant to be a therapeutic experience. Journaling, quality sleep, drinking enough water — these are mood boosters and lower high blood pressure and improve our immune systems. It’s all about wellness.”
Having lived previously in arid climates and at high altitudes, Thomsen understands the damage living in the high mountain desert can cause to the skin and body. That knowledge is the catalyst for offering locals a $30 Day Pass. Taoseños can stop in without reservations and spend the day using the sauna, steam rooms, pool and hot tub. “Locals can stop by anytime and take advantage of the Day Pass,” she explained, “and if there is availability that day, they can schedule a treatment without making a prior reservation.”
The Living Spa’s intentional décor is designed to calm and enlighten the senses. The retail shop includes many of the products the therapists use and will eventually feature all product lines. Lockers are available for all guests and include a robe and a pair of flip flopstyle sandals. There are towels, lotions, and infused water and teas available.