HealthWinds Spa is EXCEPTIONAL!

*I’m warning you, this is a long post filled with great information!*

I’ve been to a lot of spas in my lifetime because I love them so much.

A lot of spas I’ve been to are mediocre and I would never set foot there again. I’ve had a chance to discover a few good ones where I have gone back and then I have the good fortune of discovering some really great spas.

I’ll be honest, I rarely go to spas when I travel because it takes me so long to do research before settling on a spa and when I’m in Europe, it would sadden me if I spent 4 or 5 hours indoors when I could be enjoying the city or the company of my friends. I still have plans to take a few spa vacations with the intention of doing nothing more than enjoying spa treatments.

I believe that if you have a chance to find an exceptional spa in your city, then you have an oasis close by where you can run to when life becomes too much to handle.

>>> What do you look for in a spa?

We all look for the same things in a spa: a spotless environment, friendly (and happy) staff, experienced professionals and genuine concern about your conditions/concerns. If you are able to find those elements, you will surely want to keep going back to that spa. Sometimes, if you are really lucky, you are able to find all these essential elements in a spa, but on top of that you are able to find a place where you feel compelled to book future dates in your Outlook well in advance and the kind of spa that makes you want to email ALL your friends to let them know that you’ve found “THE” spa to put all other spas to shame.

I don’t know if you remember a few months ago, I had visited the Blitz Spa and really never wanted to leave that spa because the experience was surreal. Well, I’ve located another one of those places and the best part about this spa is that they have a holistic approach that made me almost want to cry because I felt that I had arrived home!

Everything about the HealthWinds Spa is created to trick you into believing that you got into your car and drove two hours outside of the city in one of those quaint weekend spas: the décor is clean, serene and peaceful.

The philosophy of spa owner Kailee Kline permeates every aspects of the spa: from the organic skincare lines like Eminence (from Hungary), to the Cellcosmet and Guinot anti-aging lines, to a number of German salts, to Zoya nail polish (which is safe for expecting moms), to the healthy juice bar (I was so taken by that I had to write a separate review), to the zen feel in each room!

Another thing I should mention early on is that Kailee has a real understanding about how stress affects our lives, our body and our skin and her spa, her staff and all her treatments are created to help alleviate one of the biggest health/beauty busters there is!

You’ll say that Kailee has an unfair advantage over so many other spa owners. She has almost 30 years of experience in the sap industry and as a Registered Massage Therapist. In 2000, Kailee spearheaded the Premier Spas of Ontario program that set the standards of quality for most spas in the province (international readers will want to take note because if you are visiting Ontario or Toronto … you’ll surely want to schedule a quiet beauty afternoon because we have some exceptional spas).

>>> HealthWinds Spa helps you block out the outside world!

I’ll be honest, for once I didn’t go to review a spa completely drained because I’ve actually been sleeping well for the past week. That said, I had no idea that you could feel the way I did after leaving HealthWinds Spa!

I decided that it was time for another body scrub so I booked the HealthWinds ‘body polish with one hour massage’ package. If you’ve never tried a body polish with natural salts, you are missing out big time.

The one my HealthWinds therapist suggested was a sugar scrub since my skin is not sensitive to a more vigorous scrub because I’ve been using a German Riffi massage/exfoliant glove for over a decade. I then had to figure out which scent I wanted. After much debate between two antioxidant scrubs (blueberry versus pomegranate), I decided that pomegranate and cranberry not only sounded divine, but it was an antioxidant powerhouse!

My body polish lasted maybe 45 minutes and it was incredible to feel all the dead cells on my body slough off thanks to the scented salt.

Once my scrub was done, my HealthWinds therapist, Jennifer, suggested I step into the shower and I could select whichever shower type I wanted. She did emphasize on how amazing the 6 shower head (keep reading because I describe it below) felt so it was really a natural selection for me.

Although, I was fully aware of which type of shower I had selected, NOTHING (I mean NOTHING) prepared me for how amazing a 6 shower head felt.

Let me describe my experience in more details: so imagine that you have three shower heads on each side of the walls in your shower dispensing water! It’s not only one of the most incredible feelings, but it’s also excellent to increase circulation.

I would have stayed longer if I could, but the massage was next so I reluctantly stepped out of the shower on to the massage table.

Now, I’ve had my share of massages to help with the fact that I hold my stress in my shoulders and upper back. I’ve had a number of massages that felt like gentle strokes (not my idea of a massage). At one massage, the therapist used so much pressure that I ended up with bruises the next day. After experiencing a few of those massages, I started asking for male masseuses because a lot of the female therapists weren’t applying the right type of pressure.

Wow – can I tell you how much this was a non issue with Jennifer! That had to be the absolute best massage I’ve ever received in my entire life! Seriously!

I had to struggle to remain aware of what was happening so that I could actually share that with you, but this level of deep massage is so soothing that I was really struggling not to fall asleep. By the time Jennifer put me on my back and started massaging the back of my neck, I had lost it. I was mush and there was not an once of stress in my body!

Before I forget, this is the first time I have been to a spa for a massage where they actually took note that I have acne-prone skin. Jennifer selected lotions for my massage instead of oils … not to clog my pores.

After an hour of massage, I was relaxed beyond belief and thought my experience was over until Jennifer suggested a cup of tea! I could not resist and I sat there in their wonderful seating area with a cup of Japanese Green tea from David’s Tea and a magazine. I was also offered one of their healthy cookies (you’ll hear more about this later) and of course that made the whole post-treatment experience unbelievable.

>>> But, it’s not over yet.

I was about to get dressed when I thought why not jump into the steam room (my favourite!!!) for a few minutes. After already being completely relaxed, I was able to sit quietly in a steam room and just blank out the entire world and the many emails I had in my inbox.

I wasn’t happy at all about having to shower and get dressed because I knew it was a prelude to my leaving HealthWinds and I just didn’t want this incredible experience to end.

I suggested the idea of my renting the locker room and permanently moving in, but I got a smile … which led me to believe that many other clients before me have also considered electing a permanent residence at the HealthWinds spa because it’s that amazing.

Here’s another thought … compared to many other spas where I’ve had a massage, HealthWinds spa is very reasonably priced Also keep in mind that because Kailee is herself a Registered Massage Therapist, she’s trained her staff and I will repeat this again just in case you missed it: my massage at the HealthWinds spa was the BEST MASSAGE OF MY LIFE!

>>> You’ll find all the details on the HealthWinds spa here: HealthWinds spa

>>> International readers coming to visit Toronto will surely want to check out the HealthWinds spa Web site because this is surely worth your time. I’m not saying that you don’t have amazing spas in your city, but this is one oasis worth exploring!