Simple pleasures are a blessing. Some people indulge in food and wine, others treat themselves to uninterrupted beach time, and some head for a day at the spa. Earlier this week, my colleague Annie brought you the Cabana Pedicure at the Four Seasons and Tom followed with luxury shopping in Los Cabos. Today, I offer you this pampering pleasure: the Mandarin Oriental’s Signature Spa Therapies (MOSST).
It’s more than a massage and aromatherapy hour – the MOSST takes into consideration your current emotional, mental and physical state and applies specific techniques to your nearly two hours of pampering.
You start with a questionnaire (filled out while noshing on cucumber water and banana chips) that asks about everything from your sleeping habits to your current state of happiness (or lack thereof). The purpose is to get a sense of your current environment – what hurts, what’s off, what’s right, what’s left, etc. The answers you submit today might not be the same answers you submit a month from now, thus each treatment is created different.
A therapist arrives and brings you into a ‘treatment suite’, which is slightly bigger than the city apartment you’re dwelling in. The suites feature a bathtub, a shower, a massage table and a changing room, and each suite features various flowers and scented candles. Simply put: If tranquility had a home, it would live in this room. As the therapist reviews your current state of stability, you soak your feet in rose-petals and bubbles. The Chinese foot soak is a traditional way to start any Asian therapy treatment and for good reason– the foot soak helps release toxins from the entire body, forcing you into a more relaxed state of mind.
You’re then assigned one of the five Asian elements — fire, metal, earth, wood, or air — and asked to pick out varying scents for your treatment that yin-and-yang with your current mood. About an hour later, after a full massage, you’re walking on air and breathing a little easier.
The price for the entire consultation starts around $280 and varies based on your location (and currency exchange rates).
Get your daily dose of pampering right here.