I'm on the road right now and pressed for time. But I'm still making time for massage -- chair massage. I was in a shopping mall the other day and noticed a place where I could get five minutes of chair massage accupressure for $7. My right hip was causing me pain, so I decided to see what one of the Chinese therapists could do. I was amazed how much relief I got in five minutes of chair massage. It was actually more effective than traditional deep tissue massage, perhaps because the therapist could move the skeletal structure while working with the muscles and energy lines, or meridiens. With tip it was $10 -- the best buy I've had all year.

I work in spas so I'm always interested in the "behind the scenes" aspects -- the kinds of things that a lot of people don't think about. And one of the things that impressed me about Miraval, a destination spa in Tucson, is how they allow individualexperts to create their own special treatments, like Dr. Tim Frank's Spirit Flight.

This is highly unusual. Most spas want to have several people who can do whatever is on the menu of services. Spas don't like to say, "no, you can't have the Spirit Flight on Tuesday because it's Dr. Frank's day off." But management decided that Read more...

I've been thinking about how different people use the destination spa experience since I got back from my trip to Miraval in Tucson. A lot of people still don't know the term "destination spa" - they think it's a spa in a beautiful place, or an overnight spa (called a resort spa).

But a destination spa IS different. It is essentially a health spa that serves healthy spa cuisine and offers lots of exercise classes (which range from kick-ass cardio to yoga and meditation), hiking, wellness lectures, cooking classes, adventure activities and of course, spa treatments.

I tend to do a little bit of everything, so I can report back to you. Still, I tend to gravitate to certain activities that I love, especially hiking (that's me in the beautiful Catalina Mountains behind Miraval.) I love to learn, so I always go to lectures. (In fact, I tend to spend a little too much time in lectures and too little time relaxing.) Read more...

I'm back from my trip to Miraval in Tucson, AZ, one of the best destination spas in the country, but still thinking about all the experiences I had. Miraval is known for its outdoor adventure course, where you can challenge yourself SAFELY with support from a guide.

I had already done The Equine Experience and Quantum Leap, where I jumped off a 25-foot telephone pole.But I still wanted to do a challenge called A Swing and A Prayer, where you're hoisted 35-feet in the air -- and let go of a rope so you swing like a big pendulum. You're also supposed to think about something you want to let go of in your life as you do it -- that's the prayer part.

Like many people, I wanted to do A Swing and A Prayer because that's what Oprah did when she took 60 women to Miraval and filmed a whole show there. It looked pretty dramatic on the show -- her best friend Gayle was terrified! But Read more...

A special two-hour "Beauty Workout Holiday Boot Camp" is going on in November at lots of spas across the country. But don't expect to work up a sweat! This boot camp is two hours of one-on-one demos and coaching in how to take care of your skin by eating well, reducing stress and using the right products in the right way. There are four "circuits" and you spend about a half-hour at each one:

• Nutrition -- Tastings of skin-healthy cuisine and nutritional drinks, with recipe cards.
• Lifestyle - Learn simple at-home techniques for reducing stress, which ages you.
• Beauty Regimen - Mini-treatments and interactive demos to show you how to take care of your skin.
• Home Routine - Take-home skin care products recommended for your skin.

It costs $45, but includes a subscription to Spa Magazine, a $25 gift certificate for Skin Authority products, a spa music CD, a 30-day "beauty work-out plan" with recipes and tips, and on-going support from your "personal skin-care coach."

Some of the list of participating spas is pretty impressive -- Read more...

The Greenhouse in Dallas, Texas, one of the earliest and most famous upscale destination spas, closed back in June. Personally, I didn't think it would be coming back. But I'm happy to report I was wrong! The Greenhouse just reopened, with drastically lower prices and an interesting new option -- all-day packages that include your own guest room.

The Greenhouse opened in 1965 and made its name pampering wealthy ladies in a Southern mansion-style setting while they lost weight or recovered from plastic surgery during week-long stays. It used to cost $5,900 to go to The Greenhouse for a week. Now you can go for $2,850 a week, but they've cut down the number of massages and facials in the package to three each. (Still plenty!!)

Being served breakfast in bed on fine china -- a signature Greenhouse experience that not everyone is into -- is Read more...

The first day I arrived at Miraval Spa in Tucson I asked, "Will I really be able jump off a platform 25-feet in the air? I have vertigo!" Quantum Leap is considered one of the most difficult of Miraval's "challenges" -- a variety of tasks that take place (mostly high in the air) on an impressive challenge course behind the famous destination spa. They can be both mentally and physically challenging.

I'll admit to you now that I regretted asking that question. I remembered hyperventilating with fear while rock climbing at Red Mountain Spa in Utah, and decided that "A Swing And A Prayer," the challenge that Oprah did when she filmed a show there, would be adequate.

Then someone who worked at the spa said that "A Swing and a Prayer" was not really very challenging. In fact, it the easiest challenge, and "Quantam Leap" was the hardest. So I decided to go for it, to see what would happen when I really did go WAY out of my comfort zone.

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I'm at Miraval in Tucson, AZ., for the week, and today I tried the Equine Experience, where you interact with a horse and learn about yourself. The idea is that the way you do one thing is the way you do most things. So they teach you how to do simple tasks -- picking out a horse's hooves, brushing, walking (that's me and Elvis) and lunging a horse around a ring -- observe how you do it, and give you feedback.

The idea is to at look how you do things and see if it works for you. If it works, keep doing it. If something's not working, don't do it anymore. Try something different (and repeat until it works). And if that doesn't work, ASK FOR HELP....even though it's seen as weak in our culture.

The Equine Experience is something Miraval is known for -- and another one of those experiences that can get you out of your comfort zone. Some people who do the Equine Experience have tremendous fear of horses, either because they've been hurt (trampled kicked, stepped on, you name it), or because they've never been around them.

This is not me. I use to ride a bit and love horses, even though I fell off them and was once bitten by a horse named Angel! Another thing that comes up: people who are used to being in control have a hard time when the horse doesn't pick up its foot. This a place where tears can flow, and more than one person told me The Equine Experience changed their life.

There wasn't much drama in our group, but I still got a lot out of it. I noticed some things about myself as I went about the simple tasks. Read more...

I'm mid-way through my stay here are Miraval, and today I had "Spirit Flight", a 100-minute metaphysical spa treatment that is truly unique. In fact, Dr. Tim Frank, the naturopathic doctor who created it, says it's not a spa treatment, it's a ceremony. Miraval is known for pushing you a bit past your comfort zone to get you to a better place, and Spirit Flight definitely does that.

As we walked to the outdoor heated tents, (see my photo) , Dr. Frank asked me why I had come to Miraval. I gave a glib answer, but he said people come to Miraval to change their lives, and promised me that the Spirit Flight could help me do that through the power of the prayers that were passed on to him by his grandfather, a Cherokee.

The purpose of the ceremony is to get rid of anything hurtful or negative that had ever happened to you, and access the higher realms for healing. He asked if there was one thing I could let go of, what would it be? Well, we all have something we need to let go of. So I gave him my answer, and we set that as an intention for the ceremony.

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I'm fitting a lot in here at Miraval in Tucson -- hiking in the Catalinas, yoga, a great massage (ask for Lolita!), a drumming class where I felt like a five-year-old (joyous and free!), a cooking demonstration, and three talks by Dr. Andrew Weil, the leading expert in integrative medicine in the country. And this is just day-two! Weil also taught us a simple technique that he says can dramatically improve health. I'm practicing it in this photo by a hiking buddy -- more on that later!

"Weil on Wellness," a four-day program with lectures by Weil and like-minded health experts, is going to be offered a few times next year. It's been an amazing opportunity to spend time with this brilliant individual, who cares passionately about wellness. (He just published a new book on reforming our health care system called "Why Our Health Matters." (Buy Now).

Weil's message is that we don't HAVE a health care system in America. We have a disease management system, because there's almost no emphasis on prevention! And he doesn't think we can really expect politicians to do much about it, because they can't go against their big contributors.

So it's up to us! Spas have a role to play in health and wellness, including teaching us how to take better care of ourselves. And I'm going to pass on a simple tool that Weil claims has the capacity to improve your health, if you do it twice a day, consistently, over time.

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