Body and Image - Spas, Bells and Whistles

By Natalie Logan

There is something great about A-list living and Body and Image, the tenth book of a twenty-one book series (The Insiders Lifestyle Guides), is yet another pleasure step in enjoying the good life. Whether at home or at the spa, giving yourself license to really soak in a calming moment deepens and prolongs your happiness as you transition back into the real world.

Look Inside: Body Work and Massage; Bathhouse - Baths and Heated Towels; Nap Room - Cap Off a Session with a Siesta; Annual Trip to Spa is a Must; Spas and Services - VIP Treatment; Spa Secrets to Perfect Skin; Couples Spa Treatments - The New Trend; Spa Location Recommendations; Spa Treatments Recommendations; and Post Spa - Lingering Intensifies the Experience.

Body and Image - Spas, Bells and Whistles by Natalie Logan is a fun and entertaining short read. Since jet setting is part of such a grand lifestyle, the Insiders' Lifestyle Guide series theme includes a cultural or travel experience with every book.

Information is Timeless: Everyone holds a secret desire to be part of the A-list seeking a confident, fashionable, and extraordinary life. These series guides make transformation routine to which all men and women will relate - The Complete Makeover Series.

Actionable Strategies: The Insiders' Lifestyle Guide series contains specific strategies in each book and edition that can transform lives. It details social skills of boosting confidence, replacing bad habits, and reinventing one's self. This book will appeal to professionals, parents, and generations of young adults.

Appeal of the Authors: The Insiders' Lifestyle Guides are written by a team of contributing authors, all with a witty, quirky, slapstick appeal.

Series Overview: The Insiders' Lifestyle Guides is a first, of a twenty-one book series, that will be revised and re-launched periodically with all new material. Each book features famous themed cities represented of the book covers and includes an introduction comprising a short story about its featured city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aauvi House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301524518

Natalie Logan

Natalie Logan is one of the contributing writers for the several Insiders' Lifestyle Guides book series (A Complete Makeover Series). See the several press releases below to learn more about each book. Author Backstory: Natalie Logan has been a trusted personal image consultant for high-profile Silicon Valley individuals. Much more than a savvy professional dresser, she uses her depth of knowledge in personal branding and personal image to help her clients feel secure in aligning their inner traits and outer qualities. Her clients care about how they are perceived and are stimulated by style. Smashwords Titles by Natalie Logan: First Impressions - Social, Business, Boardroom Mind and Spirit - Every Decade Should Be the Best Decade of Your Life Body and Image - Spas, Bells and Whistles Press Releases at AauviHouse.com Press & Media: San Jose, CA (May 24, 2012) - Aauvi House Publishing Group, Rags to Riches Entertainment Division, Announces New Book Release - Body and Image - Spas, Bells and Whistles by Natalie Logan San Jose, CA (May 17, 2012) - Aauvi House Publishing Group, Rags to Riches Entertainment Division, Announces New Book Release - Mind and Spirit - Every Decade Should Be the Best Decade of Your Life by Natalie Logan San Jose, CA (March 7, 2012) - Aauvi House Publishing Group, Rags to Riches Entertainment Division, Announces New Book Release - First Impressions - Social, Business, Boardroom by Natalie Logan

Book preview

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Body and Image

Spa, Bells and Whistles

NATALIE LOGAN

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Rags to Riches Entertainment Group

An imprint of Aauvi House Publishing Group

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Published by Aauvi House Publishing Group at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Natalie Logan

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

E-ISBN: Smashwords Edition

Aauvi House Publishing Group, the portrayal of double-A’s formed in a broken circle, and the Aauvi name are registered trademarks of Aauvi Group, Inc.

Aauvi House books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available. For more information, contact us at [e-mail].

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

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Titles by Natalie Logan

First Impressions – Social, Business, Boardroom

Mind and Spirit – Every Decade Should Be the Best Decade of Your Life

Body and Image – Spas, Bells and Whistles

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Contents

Book Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

1 – Body Work and Massage

2 – Bathhouse

3 – Nap Room

4 – Annual Trip To Spa

5 – Spas and Services

6 – Spa Secrets To Perfect Skin

7 – Couples Spa Treatments

8 – Spa Location Recommendations

9 – Spa Treatments

10 – Post Spa

Closing Remarks

End of Book

About the Author

About the Publisher

Books by Aauvi House

Excerpts by Aauvi House

Credits

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Introduction

In its brief history, Aauvi House Publishing Group has become the new it marketers of information-based lifestyle solutions in the self-help and how-to markets for all age groups. Reinforcing a belief that living a planned extraordinarily fulfilled lifestyle is of paramount importance to its readers.

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series is a first, of a twenty-one book series, that will be revised and re-launched periodically with all new material. These books feature famous themed cities represented by the book covers and include an introduction comprising a short story about its featured city. Annually, the series guides will be rolled up as chapter inserts into a single book and sold during the holiday season.

Anyone who desires the secrets to A-list living, values their appearance, is concerned about lifestyle or just needs more information can benefit from reading and continually referring back to the Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series. Each book – practical in its approach – is full of facts that teach you how to make the most of your life, how to achieve peak performance, and how to maintain general health. In short, the Aauvi House Publishing Group, Rags to Riches Entertainment imprint’s ability to offer its readers a more complete and concise migration path to an extraordinary red carpet lifestyle, just got better.

Information Is Timeless

Everyone holds a secret desire to be part of the A-list seeking a confident, fashionable, and extraordinary life. These series guides make transformation routine to which all men and women will relate.

Actionable Strategies

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series contains specific strategies in each book and edition that can transform lives. It details social skills of boosting confidence, replacing bad habits, and re-inventing one’s self. These books will appeal to professionals, parents, and generations of young adults.

About the Authors

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series are written by a team of contributing authors, all of whom have a witty, quirky, slapstick appeal.

About Our Cover Story – Milan Italy

Since jet setting is part of such a grand lifestyle, the Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series theme includes a cultural or travel experience with every book. That is, between promotional junkets, film festivals and red carpet appearances, celebrities can rack up as many frequent-flyer miles as they do trips to rehab. And so can you, once you have an insider bird’s eye view of the possibilities.

Whether traveling by plane or virtually by way of these pages, our cover story, Milan Italy highlights the grand Milan Cathedral. The Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano) is one of the most famous buildings in Europe. It is a particularly large and elaborate Gothic cathedral on the main square in the city center of Milan Italy. It is also the second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the world.

Milan itself is Italy’s second largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. It has a population of about 1.3 million, while in urban area is the 5th largest in the European Union and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of approximately 5.2 million. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. Its health care and education system is considered one of the best in Europe.

Milan is perhaps one of the most important and stylish cities in Italy and is full of history. There are countless impressive buildings in the city that have tremendous character, in many different styles ranging from old Neo-classical Milanese palaces (palazzos) to ultra-modern towers and office blocks.

The commercial metropolis is home to many important business centers, financial institutions and Italy’s stock market. Milan is also known throughout the world for its leading high fashion and design excellence. Shopping opportunities are at their very best in the Golden Quad area, where streets are filled with leading fashion houses. The Via Marconi is the location of Milan’s main tourist information center, among others, as well as at both nearby Linate and Malpensa airports.

About Body and Image

There is something great about A-list living and Body and Image, the tenth book of a twenty-one book series, is yet another pleasure stage in enjoying the good life. Whether at home or at the spa, giving yourself license to really soak in a calming moment deepens and prolongs your happiness as you transition back into the real world.

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Body Work and Massage

We’re all for a beautiful mind – we’d also like our bodies to match. Body products accompanied with massage get us in prime condition from head to toe.

Body Lotions and Scents

Body products come in various forms: body wash, body scrub, self-tanner, body lotion, bath product, deodorant, hand cream, sunscreen, hair removal, and shaving cream. In addition, there are scented and unscented versions of each. Just remember, when choosing a scented body product, there’s more to think about than the first whiff or how the tub will look in your bathroom.

Match the right base to the right scent. For a dense cream, try heady florals or rich oriental notes. Shower gels are usually best with light, fresh scents such as citrus.

Lotion and cream base products aren’t always the best quality. The classics are usually better than most. The Essey Miyake range, in particular, is well done; plus, it’s true to the Essey Miyake scent.

Look beyond perfumes. There are some great body products that aren’t extensions of perfume lines.

If you can’t find a scented lotion you like, use an unscented one and spritz your favorite fragrance on top while the lotion sinks in. Essentially, you’ll be creating your own signature body lotion scent.

Soaps are made to perfume your skin and your bathroom; scent has to be as good in the air as it is on the body.

Body Work Oils

As you prepare to work on each part of the body during massage, you begin by oiling it. Oil is rubbed into the skin by using long gliding strokes. Sandalwood, jasmine, orange blossom and tangerine oils all have a relaxing and toning effect on the nervous system; sage is good for muscular problems.

Keep your oil in a corked bottle or flipped top plastic bottle.

Warm oil. Stand the container of oil in a hot water bath or place in front of a heater.

Before applying oil let your hands gently rest briefly on your partner’s body establishing contact.

Then pour a quarter-size dab of oil into your palm. Rub palms together to spread the oil.

Apply oil, letting your hands float slowly down toward the part of the body you are about to massage.

When moving from one body part to the other, make sure your breaks are smooth and gentle.

Body Massage

Before giving any form of touch therapy, spend a few minutes centering yourself and connecting the energy between your hara (belly or abdomen) and hands. Deep breathes. The slower and more rhythmical your strokes are, the more relaxed and safe your partner will feel. When performing a body massage, your hands should flow from one movement into another, without breaking contact.

Gliding Strokes Tips

Gliding strokes are used on all parts of the body to begin and end a massage, and as transitional strokes to ease the flow from movement to another. They are never used to work deeply on the muscle masses.

1. Long stroke. Long strokes are used on each part of the body to apply oil and to warm and relax the area. Keeping your hands together, each stroke should mold to the curves of your partner’s body. When you come to the limit of your natural reach, separate your hands and pull back along the sides. Circle around to repeat the stroke.

2. Broad circling. In broad circling, the hands glide as if doing the breaststroke on each body part. It also serves to distribute the oil more evenly over the body. Moving your hands in fairly wide circles along the body, let the circles overlap to form a continuous spiral pattern.

3. Feathering. Feathering strokes are light delicate strokes used to break contact gradually. Lightly brush your partner’s skin with your fingertips, using your hands alternately. Keep your arms and hands relaxed so that you can cover a wide area without changing position.

Medium-Depth Strokes Tips

Medium-depth strokes follow gliding strokes, working more deeply on the large muscle masses, using kneading, pulling and wringing stroke techniques. In all three, your hands echo one another’s movement in a continuously alternating rhythm, relaxing the muscles, and aiding circulation.

1. Kneading. Kneading consists of alternately squeezing and releasing handfuls of flesh in a broad, circular motion – rocking smoothly from hand to hand. It is useful for stretching and relaxing the soft, fleshy areas of the body – buttocks and thighs.

2. Pulling. Pulling is a firm-lifting stroke used on the sides of the torso and limbs. Place one hand on your partner’s far side, fingertips touching the surface from which you are working. Pull up with alternate hands, each time overlapping the place where the last hand was. Movements should be rhythmical as you slowly work your way along the side.

3. Wringing. In wringing, the hands move toward each other from opposite sides, so that the flesh is first bunched up, then stretched between them. Place your left hand on your partner’s nearest side, heel down and your right hand on the far side, fingers down. Now push firmly forward with your left hand and pull back with your right. Without stopping, change directions and wring the hands back to the opposite side. Keep the flow continuous, moving slowly along with each new stroke.

Deep Tissue Strokes Tips

Deep tissue movements are friction movements using your thumbs, fingertips or heels of hands to reach right down into the tissue to where more hidden tension may lie. Having soothed and relaxed your partner with the broader, lighter gliding and medium-depth strokes, you now penetrate below the superficial muscle layers or work around the joints with deep tissue strokes, gradually. Use your body weight to add depth to your pressure, allowing your hands to remain strong but relaxed.

1. Thumb-rolling. Press the balls of your thumbs away from you into your partner’s flesh, using short deep strokes or small circles, depending where you are working. Bring one thumb down just behind the other but push on a little further with each successive stroke so that you eventually cover a fairly broad area.

2. Heel of hand pressure. Push the heels of your hands gently but firmly forward into the flesh, bringing one heel down just behind the other. Let your hands move alternately and rhythmically.

3. Fingertip pressure. Using tiny oval circles, push in around the joints with your fingertips. Make sure that you are moving the underlying tissue, rather than sliding over the skin surface.

Percussion Strokes Tips

Unlike the other strokes, its movements are stimulating rather than relaxing. It encompasses a range of brisk rhythmic strokes performed repeatedly with alternate hands. Hacking, cupping, and pummeling are all fairly noisy to apply; plucking is quieter. The main value of percussion is to stimulate the soft-tissue areas, such as thighs and buttocks, toning the skin and improving the circulation. However, percussion is not always appropriate; reserve it for occasions where a vigorous approach is required.

1. Hacking. First, shake your hands well to relax them. Now bounce the sides of your hands alternately and fairly rapidly up and down, palms facing one another and fingers loosely together. Wait until you have developed a good rhythm before hacking muscles directly.

2. Cupping. Cup your hands, arching them at the knuckles, fingers straight. Now repeat the same rapid sequence of alternate drumming strokes as hacking and pummeling. Your cupped hands trap air against the skin, then release it, making a loud sucking sound.

3. Pummeling. Loosely clench your fists, then repeat the same rhythmic succession of alternate strokes with the flesh sides of your fists. Let your hands be relaxed so that they bounce firmly yet lightly up and down.

4. Plucking. Alternately pluck or pinch small bunches of flesh between your thumbs and fingertips. The flesh should slip easily away between the fingers with each plucking stroke.

Full Body Massage

You start by massaging the back of the body, working down from head to feet, then turn the person over and massage the front of the body, once again working down from the top. A massage sequence is made up of seven distinct areas – two on the back of the body, five on the front. But no matter which area you are working on, you follow roughly the same order of strokes. For example, first you oil the part of the body you are working on thoroughly, then work from lighter, broader strokes to the deeper, more specific ones, ending once more with lighter ones. When giving a full body massage, you are affecting many of the body’s systems, including the lymphatic and venous circulation, the nervous system and the subtle energies.

Back

You start your massage with the back, first working broadly over the whole area, then concentrating on the smaller portions in turn: the shoulder-blades and upper back; the lower back, buttocks and sides of the torso; and finally, the spine itself.

Oiling. To massage the back, lie your partner down on his or her stomach, arms by their sides. Now position yourself at your partner’s head before beginning the long oiling stroke. With this stroke, you not only spread the oil and warm the back, but you also acquaint yourself with your partner’s body. As you move slowly over the forms, shut your eyes and feel the range of sensations beneath your hands – the softness of the skin, the shapes of the bones and muscles, the tightness and tensions. Let your stroking be an adventure, and exploration.

1. Long stroke. Bring your hands down gently on to the upper back; then begin to travel down the center, alongside the spinal column. At the base of the spine, let your hands divide and curve around to the sides of the buttocks; then pull slowly up the sides, across the shoulders. Repeat until the back is thoroughly oiled.

Shoulder from head. After oiling the back, you start to work on the shoulders, one at a time. Begin with the shoulder away from which your partner’s head is facing. First, circle around the blade and up the side of the rib-cage. Then start to work more firmly, kneading all the fleshy areas of the shoulders. Gradually begin to use more pressure, applying the thumb-rolling stroke around the base of the neck and the trapezius muscle. Dwell on any little knots of tension you may find, interspersing this more concentrated work with soothing broader strokes. Finish with deep alternate thumb strokes along the side of the spine.

1. Kneading the shoulder. Using alternate hands, rhythmically squeeze and gather pockets of flesh. Knead around the blade and along this side of the rib-cage, as well as on the shoulder itself, letting your hand follow the contours.

2. Thumb-rolling at base of neck. Start to work more deeply with thumb-rolling strokes in the fleshy triangle at the top of the shoulder and the base of your partner’s neck. Use small, firm strokes, working increasingly deeply to release any tension. Check that your pressure is acceptable to your partner.

3. Thumb beside spine. Beginning at the base of the neck, push your thumbs alternately along the groove beside the spine in short firm strokes. Travel down as far as the middle of the back, then glide your hands back to the base of the neck and repeat.

Shoulder from side. You now shift your position to work on the same shoulder from the side, facing your partner’s head. Lift the forearm carefully on to the lower back. Anchoring the arm on the back, cup your other hand under the shoulder joint – left hand under left shoulder and vice versa. Having isolated the shoulder blade by raising it, use your free hand to begin to work around and across it. Once you have squeezed along the spine of the blade and kneaded the back of the neck, slide your partner’s arm down gently off the back and reposition yourself at the head. Ask you partner to run his or her head the other way, when ready, then repeat the sequence on the other shoulder.

4. Working under the rim of the