Mums-to-be and new mums
Antenatal and Postnatal Massage with Ami Hart at The Peak Health Club and Spa at Carlton Tower, London (020-7858 7008, carltontower.com).
Price: £65 for 1 hour, or £35 for 30 minutes.
What you get: Ami Hart isn't just another masseur, she's a massage therapist and reflexologist who specialises in antenatal massage. Incorporating shiatsu massage, relaxation techniques and reflexology, her treatments are dedicated to "just pregnant" and "just about to drop" mums-to-be.
Extra training by Well Mother - a group that provides massage/shiatsu training for midwives, massage therapists and childbirth educators - means Hart is tuned in to the changes in anatomy and physiology during pregnancy and how to tailor a massage for a mum and her bump. Hart can turn her hand to everything from dealing with nausea and dipping energy levels in the early stages of pregnancy, to helping ease labour by teaching pre-labour relaxation techniques. She even teaches dads-to-be/birthing partners labour-friendly massage techniques.
Her womb-like treatment room at The Peak is cooler than most, as women's thermostats tend to rise during pregnancy; darker for the self-conscious; and kitted out with a massage bed, floor mattress, cushions and blankets.
Expect to lie on your side to enable Hart to fully massage your entire back without squashing the bump in any way. Alternatively, get down on the floor and be propped up and supported by cushions. Her intense massage using carefully blended oils aims to relax mums-to-be.
Fatigue and insomnia
Flotation Therapy and Dead Sea Flotation massage with Sarah Connolly at Nirvana Spa Wokingham, Berkshire (0118 989 7575, nirvanaspa.co.uk).
Price: A 40-minute flotation session is included in the Day Package for £95 Mon-Thurs, £105 Fri-Sun - which includes full use of all the pools and facilities, gym, fitness/relaxation classes - or can be booked by itself at £20. Dead Sea Flotation massage in the Celestial Flotation pool costs £15 for 30 minutes.
What you get: Renowned for its own source of spring water fed to an array of relaxation pools, Nirvana's unique Dead Sea Flotation Pool in particular is an instant tonic for the stressed, knackered and generally run down.
The effects of the 40-minute Flotation Therapy alone - which takes place in a large circular flotation pool dense with imported Dead Sea salt in the softly-lit Celestial Room in - has been likened to eight hours of refreshing uninterrupted sleep. By removing gravity and depriving your body of its usual external stimuli, as you float, your body relaxes, your mind switches off and you achieve your own Nirvana. Plus the salts and minerals have an excellent soothing, restoring effect on the skin.
Couple this with the 30-minute Dead Sea Flotation massage with chief therapist Sarah Connolly in the Ocean pool. You are both in the water and she uses the buoyancy of your floating body to work with shiatsu principles and pressure point massage to restore balance by releasing energy blockages trapped in the body.
Posture problems
Release & Align at Grayshott Hall Health Fitness Retreat, Surrey (01428 602020, grayshotthall.com).
Price: £250 for the Release & Align programme, £160pp per night including all meals, 40-minute daily massage and use of all facilities and exercise/ relaxation classes.
What you get: A pioneer in the UK health retreat market, Grayshott Hall has always excelled in providing specialists in alternative healthcare (and they have the best low fat, healthy spa cuisine in the country). The Release & Align programme is part of their new Regeneration Series - workshops grouping complimentary treatments together over three-night stays.
Release & Align has been developed to improve posture, strengthen your core back muscles and support system; the exercises (tailored to your problem and lifestyle) can be continued long after your departure.
Included in your stay are a cranial osteopathy session that works on releasing tension patterns within the body through gentle manipulation of the cranium, an oriental wisdom massage that aims to balance the body's chi (energy) and a knot-busting shiatsu massage.
Back ache
Backcare Awareness at Champneys Springs, Leicestershire (08703 300 300, champneys.com).
Price: Starts at around £340 for a standard twin room, £370 for single room, per person including all meals, back care workshop, and full use of facilities.
What you get: Champneys Springs Leicestershire is also running a Backcare Awareness weekend on October 13-15 with Cherry Baker (no, not the woman from Bucks Fizz, she's a back care specialist) who aims to highlight the importance of back care with a focus on the themes of prevention, deportment and general back care. She offers advice on either improving your condition or preventing a possible problem.
This two-night programme includes a relaxed and informative lifestyle seminar on exercise and back care, a back care workshop, introduction to Modern Day Pilates, 25-minute back massage, Natural Moor Back Heat Treatment, Aqua Jet Treatment and free Champneys Better Backs Booklet.
Skin problems
The Hurlingham Medi Spa at Urban Retreat Harrods (020-7893 8333).
Price: £65 for a Skin peel (dependent on consultation).
What you get: The concept of a Medispa (medical spa, where beauty treatments fuse with medical procedures and cosmetic surgery) is relatively new in the UK and comes from America. Introduced to the UK by Daniel Goldberg, an American cosmetic surgeon and medical director of the Hurlingham Clinic and Spa based in Parsons Green, London, the outpost at the Urban Retreat in Harrods has a collection of medically advanced, effective, non-surgical treatments and offers a range of skin peels to suit different needs and different skin types.
DDF peels are formulated for clinical use by an American dermatologist and are designed to deliver effective corrective solutions for skin niggles from fine lines, hyper-pigmentation, oily blemished skins and sun damage. All peels require a patch test but as they are relatively light, you can continue your daily activities after each treatment without wearing a balaclava.
Emotional healing
Usui Reiki healing with Reiki Master Louise Cazanove at Westin Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland (01655 331000, turnberry.co.uk).
Price: From £30 for 25 mins, £55 for an hour.
What you get: Reiki is a gentle, yet powerful, hands-on healing using ancient energy flow techniques carried out by a specially "attuned" practitioner. It claims to raise energy levels, producing a deep cleansing effect on the mind, body, emotions and spirit.
Reiki Master, (aka experienced Reiki practitioner) Cazanove carries out treatments every Sunday at the Westin Turnberry Spa to help "loosen up blocked energy, cleanse the body of toxins and support each individual's healing process". Although there is no scientific data to back up this unique treatment, brain wave patterns appear to slow down to more meditative levels and oxygen in the haemoglobin rises by up to 30% during and after sessions.
The treatment lasts for an hour and a half (TBC) during which you lie fully clothed on a table while Cazanove places her hands in various positions over the whole body. Prepare for a kind of flowing sensation, quite dramatic temperature changes and a deep sense of relaxation that can feel like the equivalent of three to four hours' sleep.
On the other hand you may feel quite giggly or nothing at all - it all depends on the individual.
Sublime to the ridiculous
High five
What is it? Ten-handed energy massage with five masseurs.
What does it involve? One therapist takes the head while the other four concentrate on legs and arms, each giving special attention to recharging your energy points.
Does it work? It's like having five massages in one go and while your tense, aching body benefits, lying semi-naked in a room full of strangers is, ironically, quite stressful.
How much? £280 for 1 hour.
Where? Energy Clinic, London (020-7247 8464)
On the rocks
What is it? Temazcal Stone Igloo Massage Ritual.
What does it involve? A herb and flower scented hot stone steam bath inside a traditional Temazcal ("bath home" in the native Mayan dialect) followed by music, native mantra chanting and massage.
Does it work? Lying around sweating on leaves in a pizza oven isn't an obvious way to cleanse, de-stress and purify your body and spirit but the ceremony itself is quite uplifting.
How much? £55 for 1 hour.
Where? Ikal del Mar, Riviera Maya, Mexico (0052 984 877 3000, ikaldelmar.com).
This little piggy
What is it? Peat Bath.
What does it involve? Wallowing in a trough of raw mud heated to 37C for 15 minutes and, with mud still on your body, drying out on a sun deck before a hot mineral water shower and a brief steam.
Does it work? Peat Bath may sound like a 70s folk singer, but it uses heat, natural minerals and enzymes to soothe muscular aches, boost circulation and purify the skin by drawing out toxins.
How much? £52 for 1 hour Mud, Sun and Steam package.
Where? Two Bunch Palms, Desert Hot Springs, California (001 760 329 8791, twobunchpalms.com).
Oil be back
What is it? Ayurvedic nose enema with oil.
What does it involve? The gandusa or kaval Ayurvedic rituals (an ancient Indian medical practice) are designed to purify and cleanse by gargling herb oil, holding warm oil in your mouth for several minutes and then sniffing cleansing oil through your nose.
Does it work? Unless performed regularly, the apparent effects of improving the voice, ironing out facial wrinkles and cleansing the sinuses are unlikely to have a lasting effect.
How much? £15 for a 20-minute gandusa or kaval.
Where? Wellness Centre at Ananda in the Himalayas, Uttar Pradesh, India (0091 137 827 500, anandaspa.com)
Oriental surprise
What is it? Japanese nightingale poo facial.
What does it involve? Processed nightingale droppings which have been dried, pulverised and sanitised with ultraviolet light, are blended with essential oils formulated to your skin type and then packed on to your face.
Does it work? Japanese Geishas have been swearing by this exfoliating facial for centuries, as the softening facial mask keeps their skin white, pure and young looking.
How much? £60 for 55-minutes complete nightingale facial including cleansing, exfoliation, deep pore extraction and a facial massage using essential oils.
Where? Ten Thousand Waves, Santa Fe (001 505 992 5025, tenthousandwaves.com).
