When Hong Kong-based Shangri-La opened its first North American hotel in Vancouver this past spring, spa fans were eager to get a look at the on-site CHI Spa, which promised a menu of the brand’s signature Himalayan-inspired services. The result does not disappoint—exotic offerings include the Mountain Tsampa scrub with barley and essential oils from the Himalayan Plateau, and hot stone mas sages using Tibetan lake rocks—but there are also some surprise additions to the standard CHI roster: organic treatments using potent, locally-sourced ingredients.
“British Columbia is so rich in natural resources that we reserved a good part of our menu to highlighting them,” explains Spa Director Marie Kury. “This is also a very green city, so we wanted to be a green spa as much as we could. We wanted the philosophy of our spa to reflect that of the city.” As a result, eco-friendly touches abound, from the use of organic cotton and bamboo towels by Nandina to the stocking of green-minded lines like Eminence, Pevonia, and Akhassa. “Using natural ingredients is beneficial both for our guests, and also for our therapists, who work with these products all day long,” Kury admits.
In the B.C.-themed treatments, therapists make use of products from the Vancouver Island-based Seaflora line, which is centered on the restorative powers of sea weed. “This region has some of the most mineral-rich seaweed in the world,” Kury explains. “Many of the top chefs in town use it in their restaurants, but because of its healing properties, it’s also a natural fit in the spa.” To learn about all the forms of local seaweed, and their various uses and mineral components, the spa team has even journeyed to the coast to help harvest the water plants.
Most decadent—and relaxing—of the seaweed services is the West Coast Path Signature Spa Journey, which clocks in at around four hours. Guests are first welcomed to their well-appointed spa suite with a cup of house blend tea, then invited to soak in a tub infused with seaweed and sea salt (with a shammy of fresh or dried seaweed thrown in.) Next comes a scrub using Seaflora’s Wild Rockweed Exfoliant—great for boosting circulation—followed by a revitalizing wrap in a heated mix of glacial clay, essen tial oils and organic alaria seaweed. While cozily wrapped-up, guests enjoy a soothing scalp massage, then it’s off to wash away the clay in the private steam shower. It’s then time for a break—herbal tea and a fruit-and-nuts snack in the suite’s sitting area—before jumping back on the table for a muscle-melting 90-minute massage using hydrating seaweed oil. Though the service is long it never feels like it, thanks to the expertise of the CHI therapists, who keep the whole ceremony flowing seam lessly while staying attuned to the needs of the client. (We particularly like that the treatment is designed so there isn’t a need to keep flipping over on the table during the scrub and wrap application, which allows for time to settle into a deep relaxation.) Also on the plus side: it works. Skin is left baby-smooth on the outside, while the seaweed works its mineral magic to help ease muscle pain, alleviate stress and encourage peaceful slumber. For more on the Shangri-La Vancouver and the CHI Spa, visit www.shangri-la.com.
Organic Spa Magazine’s contributing editor of rest and relaxation, Sandra Ramani, has been a writer and editor for 10 years, covering spas, beauty, travel, and lifestyle topics for such publications as Conde Nast Traveler, New York Magazine, and the New York Daily News (for whom she won a “Best Newspaper Feature Award”).
