OSMOSIS ENZYME BATH & MASSAGEby Margaret DornausIt had been a four-and-a-half hour trek from New York�s JFK International to San Francisco�s airport. And, except for one brief , breath-catching stop at the Bay overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, I�d been traveling non-stop by train, plane and automobile for longer than I cared to consider as I began a week-long tour of Sonoma County�s wine country. Frazzled from the start, I was looking forward to jump-starting my city-drained battery with a pre-vineyard-hopping spa experience I�d been told was not only unique but exceptional. But when our van beelined its way north to a gravel parking lot set in what seemed the virtual middle of nowhere, I began to have doubts about our tour guides� judgment--if not� their collective sanity. Could this be the Japanese-style spa I�d been promised? The spa�s quaint but distinctly Wild West-inspired exterior did nothing to assuage my apprehension.�
The first impression you have upon entering Freestone, California�s Osmosis spa is that you�ve stepped into a parallel East-meets-West universe graced by a gentler, kinder, more aromatic notion of what is and isn�t important. Behind the spa�s pedestrian storefront facade lies an emporium of transcendental delights--featuring scented soaps, candles and massage oils. The white-noised strains of a New Age melody mingle with this aromatic potpourri to create a potent and heady elixir. I take a deep breath and check my qualms at the door as I prepare to immerse myself in the Zen-like zenith of the moment.� After a few such moments, a soft-spoken woman dressed simply in a Japanese cotton robe--or yukata--pries me and my two companions away from the sensory-laden foyer.� She asks us to make our own selections from the colorful assortment of yukatas hanging in a locker-lined anteroom where we disrobe discreetly. (Although Osmosis patrons have the option of receiving the enzyme bath treatment either �in the buff� or in a swimsuit, we�ve been forewarned to forsake modesty and opt for the more natural approach. The alternative, we have heard, would reduce us to excavating tiny particles of enzymatic matter trapped between crevices too delicate to mention.) Spa TreatmentsAt Osmosis, there is a three-pronged approach to detoxifying the body of impurities. It begins with a tea ritual set in a meditation room overlooking the spa�s landscaped grounds of bamboo and bonsai. As our bath attendant Ann guides us to floor cushions we sink down into, we focus our attention on the minimalist charm of the room and wait for the small clay pot of enzymatic tea to steep.� Ann draws back shoji screens that separate us from the outside and instructs us to let our mind float as the sun washes over us. A wooden footbridge gracefully arches over a waterfalling stream. All the elements combine to create a meditative euphoria. Being the designated uptight.(East Coast) city-dweller in my trio, I�m not quite as free as my companions are to trade in every jangled nerve ending that�s carried me across the spa�s threshold. And, despite the aromatic draw of the tea, I quiz Ann on the beverage�s ingredients before I gingerly ingest a few sipfuls. The tea, Ann tells us, is a special mixture of 25 �natural� plant enzymes designed to help rid the body of toxins by accelerating digestion. A blend of peppermint, red clover, yarrow and nettle leaves tempers the brew and makes it both palatable and fragrant. But the tea�s remaining ingredients--imported directly from Japan by Osmosis proprietor Michael Stusser--are as veiled in mystery as the mist-covered Mt. Fuji. Stusser discovered the concoction--and the enzyme bath that follows it--while studying Zen at a Buddhist monastery.� Temporarily out of questions, I allow Ann to lead the way to the baths--a screened-off room that opens to a steamy mist with the powerful pungency of eucalyptus and cedar.� When the steam momentarily clears, our eyes take in two enormous sunken tubs--one twice as large as the other. It�s a strange sight--but after coming this far, there�s no turning back. I take a deep breath and fill my lungs with aromatherapeutic vapors.
Ann says she�ll stay for the entire detoxifying process to minister to our needs as we adjust to our new digs and temporary immobility. As good as her word, she quietly drapes cool washcloths across our sweat-beaded foreheads and periodically inserts a straw between our parched lips so we can drink chilled, lemon-spiked water. Meanwhile, I am trying hard not to think about the inevitable itch I won�t be able to scratch until I�m �dug out� of my therapeutic cubbyhole. At the end of our enzyme bath treatment, Ann goes to work--dogpaddling her way through the mounded sea of sawdust until the three of us are, by turns, unearthed. With our yukatas once again wrapped around us, we file outdoors to sweep away any leftover debris (or rice bran) from our bodies with small, stiff brooms made of straw. A shower comes next. Then, we wrap ourselves in metallic blankets that flutter in the wind like butterfly wings as we�re guided down the garden path toward screened pagodas. At the end of the lane, three masseuses anxiously await our arrival. Their assignment? To knead any vestige of tension we might unimaginably have retained upon our ascension from the enzyme bath�s heated pit.
Essential InformationOsmosis patrons can choose between following the tea ritual and enzyme bath with a massage--as I did--or a 30-minute blanket wrap with �Meta-music� (a trademarked series of tapes that combine manmade music with nature sounds), designed to �synchronize brainwave patterns� and enhance relaxation.� One-and-a-half hour bath and blanket wraps are $65 per person; or, $55 each for two or more guests booking the spa�s services together.� The longer bath and massage (a two-and-half hour experience) is $140 per person; or, $130 for two or more visitors. Visitors should note that al fresco massages in the garden-shaded pagodas are $15 extra; however, on a sunny California day, the extra money is more than well-spent. If you can afford it, opt for luxuriating your senses to the fullest. You won�t regret it. All treatments include the enzyme tea ritual in a meditation room overlooking the Japanese gardens before submersion into the �pool� of cedar and rice bran. And all treatments are overseen by your personal bath attendant. Pregnant women or people with high blood pressure are cautioned against undergoing heat treatments. And the use of alcohol immediately prior to the enzyme bath is, likewise, not recommended. A Visa or Mastercard is required to secure reservations at Osmosis or to pre-pay for massage. Full payment is due for cancellations made less than 48 hours before scheduled treatments. Since Osmosis is a day spa, there are no accommodations for children.� For more information, contact Osmosis Enzyme Bath & Massage, 209 Bohemian Highway, Freestone, California� 85472; (707) 823-8231; www.osmosis.com . �copyright 2000 Margaret Dornaus. Reproduction of this article and/or images, in whole or in part, including reproduction in electronic media, without the express permission of the author, is prohibited. For reprint information, contact mdornaus@earthlink.net .� Website: http://home.earthlink.net/~mdornaus/index.html Images courtesy of Osmosis Enzyme Bath & Massage |
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From the outside, Osmosis Enzyme Bath & Massage looked like a well-tended storefront saloon in a B-grade Western. Not that it wasn�t picturesque--just not at all in the way I was anticipating. In the spirit of the day, however, I reminded myself that adventure (with a capital �A�) was the key to any successful journey. Still, I sidled through the day spa�s doors half expecting to find pistol-toting desperadoes belting down foam-capped beer and shots of hard whiskey.
A pulpy, reddish-brown matter that resembles finely ground mulch fills the rectangular redwood pits. It is here, Ann tells us, that we�ll be �relaxing� for the next 20 minutes once she�s burrowed out a life-sized cavity for each of us to lie down in. One of us will have an individual �bath.� The other two of us will share the larger pit--a column of the sawdust-like shavings piled between, over and around us until we�re buried up to the neck in a cedar-and-rice-bran mixture laced with 600 imported plant enzymes. Immediately, we feel the effects of this mysterious concoction as it goes to work dry-roasting our exposed pores of� undesirable (i.e., toxic) elements.
After my enzyme bath, my muscles are easily plied. The al fresco massage--a combination of Swedish and deep--lasts a blissful 75 minutes. From time to time, I am so relaxed that I find myself drifting off. This, I think, is as close as it gets to paradise on earth. When I return to the world beyond Osmosis, I feel a rejuvenation I would not have dreamed possible two-and-a-half hours earlier. In the space of that two-and-a-half hours, I�ve been buried and resurrected. And I�d do it all again if I had the chance!