Spa on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine.

Recently a client said, “I can’t decide whether I want a facial or a polarity session”. So, we made lemonade and thus the polarity facial was born at Munjoyous…Your Neighborhood Oasis.

Polarity therapy is a subtle type of energy work done fully clothed. It involves some light massage and lots of powerful energy clearing. By touching different parts of your body with energetic intention, the therapist clears and aligns your subtle energy pathways. Some of the work is done off the body, using crystals and sound. Clients frequently report that they feel greater ease, that life just seems to flow more smoothly, that negative patterns in their life seem to have less pull.
For a longer description of polarity, check out this link.

My Polarity Facial has all the benefits of a facial which includes a deep cleanse, a peel, a face massage with a therapeutic serum and a customized mask. Before the first hot towel, I perform a series of opening polarity moves that include some light neck and scalp massage. After the cleanse, while you are under the steam with your peel, I will test and align your energy pathways starting on your feet and working up to your head. The face massage will include particular attention to acupressure points that help to stimulate skin rejuvenation and radiance. Finally, while you relax with your customized mask, I will do a full energetic clearing with crystals. After your mask I will do some very subtle cranial polarity moves that will leave you deeply relaxed.

I’m really excited to integrate polarity and a facial. So often my clients are intrigued with polarity and would like to try it, but don’t want to give up the benefits of a facial. I also believe that polarity is a wonderful way to find your true radiant beauty from within. It’s like a “very” deep cleanse. Come try the Polarity Facial at Munjoyous.. Your Neighborhood Oasis. I’d love your feedback.

As some of you may know, John and I have taken a few weeks off from Munjoyous and are traveling around the country. We decided to incorporate some business research into our travels and our first project started today at Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Hot Springs got it’s name from the many deep springs of mineral rich hot water beneath the earth there. In Hot Springs there are a row of turn-of-the-century bath houses. We toured one which was part of the Hot Springs National Park and we actually “took in the waters” at the Buckstaff Bath House.
It was a really interesting experience. They have kept the same routine with the same tubs, sitz baths and steam cabinets for all these years. I felt like a character in Downton Abbey. We were separated by gender and then ushered into the undressing rooms. After undressing, I was wrapped in a sheet (yes, Roman style) and delivered to a huge bathtub room where I sat and luxuriated in the hot, mineral rich, spring water for about a half hour. After that I lay on a table and received hot packs on my shoulders and hips and a cool pack on my forehead. Then I climbed into the steam cabinet for a few minutes. Lastly, I sat in a sitz bath for another few minutes. It all ended with a “needle shower”. Although it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, it was definitely worth it. I felt great at the end and my aches and pains were greatly reduced.
It got me thinking about similar spa treatments that we could do at Munjoyous. I tend to forget how valuable heat is for softening the muscles and easing the joints out of their frozen stiffness. And the mineral rich water had a greater effect by relieving pain. According to “Live Strong.com”, the calcium and sodium bicarbonate absorbed in hot spring waters increases your hydrostatic pressure and ultimately adds oxygen to your circulatory system. Hot spring waters reduce stress and promote sleep naturally. Being submerged in hot water reduces pain not only through the mineral absorption, but also through the support our joints get through the buoyancy of the water. Finally, the mineral rich waters soften the skin.
Although the research was exhausting and I don’t know how I managed to do it, I’m excited to bring a little bit of this part of my vacation back to Munjoyous…Your Neighborhood Oasis.

I like micro current.
I like it because it’s a facial treatment that’s packed with good, healthy stuff that’s high benefit and low risk.

Oh products! When I started practicing aesthetics, I was bombarded with products.  The first aesthetics show I went to was saturated with hundreds of different products, all promising to perform miracles. I was seduced a few times by expensive products, but I remembered what one of my favorite teachers told me. She said that half of the expense for some of the popular products we see is spent on all the promotional rigging that gets it out there and sells it. I asked her about a particular popular product I had seen at the malls.  She said, “You know, what you’re really paying for is all those displays you see!” This got me thinking about packaging.
Then I started selling products and I saw my clients sink a little when they learned the price of a product I recommended to them. I get it. It’s hard when you’ve finally made the decision to take care of your skin and you’re ready to invest in your face, but the cost is so prohibitive that it is discouraging. Going home with an ounce of moisturizer that cost you $75 is a tough way to start your new relationship with your face.