Sva Spa & Salon endeavours to empower its guests with a variety of treatments promising to indulge and rejuvenate. Our experience with the flower of love at Sva? Read on
By: Karishma Parkash
Posted on: January 10, 2011
Sva Spa and Salon endeavors to empower its guests with a variety of treatments promising to indulge and rejuvenate. Our experience with the flower of love at Sva? Read on.
The Red Tale
While every flower has a magnificent anecdote to tell, the rose stands tall with its splendid colours and affable boldness. Through the years, every woman has grown to love the rose and the thorns that adorn the striking flower. Its exclusive splendor and subtle fragrance conveys a message guaranteed to elicit nothing but delight from the recipient and looks of envy from others.
Read back in time and you will see how roses were considered the most sacred flowers in ancient Egypt and were used as offerings for the Goddess Isis. Even China put the rose on a pedestal as the flower of the Kings. Romans used fragrant rose petals to produce perfume and as a symbol of luxury. But little did I know that Indians would take so much of an affinity for the flower that symbolizes love and romance.
Indians have been using the flower for a variety of purposes ranging from herbal and Ayurvedic remedies to adorning wash bowls with lemon to naturally cleanse grease off hands. But that’s not where the experimentation stops.
The Sva Experience
Orchestrating an especially content marriage between luxury and the gorgeous flower is the Sva Spa and Salon, which promises to be a destination for wellness and beautification. Being enchanted by the flower and its properties, I opted for the Ultimate SVA Rose Signature Treatment.
Why Sva and what does it mean? Geeta Morar, CEO, Sva Spa and Salon, says, “Our adage ‘Empowering The Self’ gleams on the beauty chart with an amalgam of several components: Self, Respect, Wellness, Style and Panache and Divine odyssey. A visit to Sva means truly 'me' time and an eternity lifestyle while adding to a person’s wellness quotient by healing in the long run and not for mere massage purposes. And our spa logo - SVA - represents peace, harmony and a burst of sunshine. All of which promote growth and prosperity of oneself."
Sva is the only spa in India to have created a benchmark in the Indian Spa sector by maintaining several international protocols and standards. They have also positioned themselves as prominent members of prestigious industry organizations like Spa Finder, New York and the International Spa Association (iSPA).
Breathe in, breathe out
Take a seat in the reception area and revive yourself with a glass of water. A quick questionnaire requiring your details, preferences and medical history keeps you occupied while a therapist preps the room for you.
Your therapist will guide you into your room and wait while you slip into a pair of disposables and a robe in an adjoining washroom. It is strongly advised to stick to a light meal at least two hours before the treatment since in most treatments the stomach gets massaged with swift and rapid hand movements. A glass of juice is recommended after the treatment as it is essential for the body to be replenished after such an invigorating experience. Avoid wearing jewellery as your therapist will ask you to take it off anyways.
Soft music and dim lights welcome you into the room while your feet enjoy a cleansing ritual with rose water and rose petals. Why a specific ritual for your feet you may wonder. The therapist is quick to inform that it is necessary to cleanse out any negative vibes and de-stress you before the treatment.
A steam bath as they call it at Sva, but actually just a hot water shower, opens up the pores, which is perfect for the absorption of the rose scrub that will follow the bath. The rose scrub is prepared with rose petals. It not only gives off a great scent while being massaged all over the body, but also feels warm and smooth to the touch. Lie back and relax while your legs are pampered first, followed by the back and then the hands.
Another hot shower follows the scrub to rid the body of granules from the scrub that exfoliate the skin of dead cells. A luke warm hot rose oil massage follows this shower to shut the pores and complete the treatment. Whether left feeling like a rose or not, this scrub will definitely leave you with emotional wholeness. Hot sanitized towels are placed on the skin and then wiped over the body to rid the skin of any oily feeling. When on the back, your eyes are covered with a towel to make sure that you relax, thereby shutting out your worldly problems.
This treatment is efficient for anyone who wants to remove tan marks, rejuvenate and hydrate the skin or just pamper themselves. The entire treatment, though long, left me calm with a soothing effect on the nerves and provided relief from my daily stress. According to me, it would benefit all kinds of skin, though more effective on sensitive and dry skin.
The few thorns
A rose without a thorn is no rose at all. Like me, if the portrayal of the rose treatment on the menu specifying a floral bath excites you, curb your excitement, as at Sva, a floral bath simply means a normal hot shower with a few rose petals on the floor.
Prompt and friendly services are a must at any hospitality joint and Sva earns a few positive points in this segment. Immune yourself to the voices of the people chatting outside your treatment area and your experience may be almost wholesome.
Don’t forget to fill out a comment card after your treatment with details about your experience. If you want to tip your therapist, take an envelope from the reception desk to show your gratitude for the service provided and return it with your comment card.
The ultimate SVA Rose treatment is not for the impatient as it lasts for about 2 hours 15 minutes. So be sure to calm down and prepare for a peaceful and soothing treatment…Blooming flower anyone?
Coordinates: Sahara Star Hotel, Near Domestic Airport, Vileparle (E), Mumbai - 400099.
Ph no: +91-22-39807300
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