FALL 2008
Return to Index
At Rest
Pg 60 - AT REST WITH DEBBIE THOMPSON
Remaining authentic to its natural surroundings is a high priority at this "mountain Zen" spa.
WHO: Debbie Thompson, spa director at the Avanyu Spa at the Snake River Lodge
WHERE: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
WHY: Because she has a passion for spa and wellness. Because she "walks the talk." Because she has learned how to balance her professional and personal life.
Organic Spa: Why and how did you get in the biz?
Debbie Thompson: I enrolled in massage school over 12 years ago, thinking it would be a great complement to my athletic training; I'd never even received a massage! I quickly learned how much I enjoyed massage and appreciated its potential to create a profoundly healing and nurturing experience. After school I took a position in a day spa where I learned Ayurvedic body treatments and began an internship in skin care. I was spending a lot of time at the spas I worked at and was personally invested in seeing them operate smoothly, which lead to management support roles such as lead therapist. The more I learned about the business of spa, the more I wanted to learn! I accepted my fist spa management position eight years ago.
OS: How would you describe the Avanyu Spa, and how does it fit into its surroundings?
DT: The Avanyu Spa is a space where you can set aside daily stressors and reconnect with your internal being. We place a lot of emphasis on living touch in treatments and natural, unscripted conversation. The décor is reflective of our surroundings-earth tones, natural light and rock features-someone once referred to it as "mountain Zen." The individual men's and women's locker rooms are equipped with hot tubs, steam rooms, dry saunas, and two lifestyle showers. The women's lounge offers a warm fireplace and cozy chairs, whereas the men's lounge has a large screen television and club chairs. One of the guest favorites is the indoor/outdoor pool that offers cascading waterfalls and a hot tub in a grotto. The pool is heated year-round and enjoyed by both summer and winter guests, who often sit in the pool or hot tubs during a light snowfall and rising steam.
OS: How important is nature to your job?
DT: We can learn many things from nature's ability to restore balance, as long as its resources are not destroyed or too depleted. One of the reasons I was drawn to work for RockResorts was its philosophy on highlighting individual properties located in unique environments with their own expressions of beauty. Establishing consistency as a brand has been balanced with remaining authentic to each location. As "green" has become a lifestyle choice, as opposed to just a buzzword, we've put programs in place that support our commitment to minimize our impact on our local resources. Environmental impact is considered with many of our purchasing decisions and procedural instructions. We also ask our guests to support this initiative with a program we call "Power of Place" asking our guests in the pool and locker rooms to use only as many towels as necessary. This can be challenging where spa is sometimes synonymous with excessive indulgence and immoderation.
OS: What's the best part of your job at Avanyu?
DT: I have the great opportunity to do work that I not only enjoy, but have a passion for while living in this beautiful mountain valley. I feel so fortunate that I have not had to sacrifice one for the other as many people do.
OS: How do you define wellness?
DT: Wellness is a process of establishing and maintaining environmental and internal conditions that give one the ability to remain mindful, maintain composure, and move through life with grace, confidence, and wisdom. So many people today are touch-starved and lack emotionally enriching relationships. We live in a paradoxical society in which we are under so much pressure to obtain, achieve, and succeed; our lives have become so hectic as we introduce more time-saving devices. We simply rush from one task to another without taking time to relax, to decompress. Most of us are so stimulated by all this activity that we lock down and experience physical, mental, and/or emotional distress.
OS: What is your favorite spa treatment, and why?
DT: I truly love the tranquility one can experience in body treatments and often crave the tactile sensation of a salt scrub or cocooning embrace of a wrap, but my favorite to receive is still a deep tissue massage. Nothing else melts my muscle tension as well; I imagine it is largely due to my own understanding of the therapeutic benefits of massage and having learned how to relax into a good therapist's touch.
OS: How do you balance work and personal life?
DT: I recharge my own batteries by spending quiet days on the lake with my husband, hiking one of the trails near my home, and daily playtime with my dogs. These are relatively brief moments, but their impact is far-reaching. Additionally, I began practicing yoga and meditation this year. Committing to regular practice has been instrumental in helping me establish boundaries I normally would have ignored.
OS: Any words of wisdom for our readers who are trying to lead a more balanced life?
DT: Learn how to breathe. That has been one of my most important and recent lessons. Becoming aware of tendencies to take shallow breaths or hold your breath entirely is the first step in quieting mental chatter about what needs to be done and what you believe you are or are not capable of! My experience is that the better I breathe, the more space I create to meet current requirements.
-Mary Bemis