How to Make Your Own Spa at Home

How often do you relax? Really relax? Relaxation is something you do, not something that just happens when you're not busy. It’s a gift you give yourself, but it’s also a necessity of life.

While we can’t ignore life’s demands and the grasp of industrialized society’s leavings of “progress” (synthetic pesticides and toxic pollutants), we can use simple, effective techniques used in health spas to cleanse and rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. Using natural products frees you from chemicals and toxicity of the body.

You can take an hour or two each week and create your own home spa. Start with the atmosphere.

Atmosphere
Choose just one room in your house where you can be alone and quiet. The bathroom is the usual choice, but it can be anywhere. Prepare you space ahead of time so you can relax during your spa time. Clean, declutter, and dust the space. It doesn’t have to be perfect; but your mind needs to be at peace , not looking around at reminders.

To avoid toxic chemicals in cleaning solutions, here is an easy recipe for a soft scrub cleanser for the bathroom tub/shower, sink, and toilet, yet it’s easy to rinse off:

1/2-cup baking soda
Enough liquid natural soap to make a frosting-like consistency
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree oil, or rosemary

Pour the baking soda in a bowl; slowly pour in the liquid soap, stirring all the while, until the consistency reaches that of frosting. Scoop the creamy mixture onto a sponge, wash the surface, and rinse.

Now that the space is cleared and cleaned, begin adding the things that will help you relax. Add peaceful sound of soft music, aromatherapy soy candles, aromatherapy shower gel or bar, body scrub, moisturizer, and cup of green tea.

Light the candles and place them all around you and the room, turn down or off the other lights, let the soft music drift you to a peaceful place, and let the green tea steep.

Add a plate of foods high in potassium, like bananas, kiwi, or avocado, to help relieve stress and anxiety ; papaya that cleanses the digestive system; celery that combats anxiety and depression . Other foods to indulge in include sunflower seeds to help balance blood sugar and fight tiredness and irritability, and natural oat bars to calm nerves.

As the first step of your home spa experience, cleanse your body with a shower to prepare yourself. Use all natural body soaps or gels for a healthy, clean body that are free from toxic chemicals. Spa bathing massagers are available (with or without soap dispenser) with different brushes for you to enjoy a deep clean, exfoliate, and massage . Take this time for hair removal with any razor instrument or electric hair removal appliance.

Rinse everything off and prepare The Bath.

The Bath
Fill the tub with hot water; 104 degrees is the maximum. Add bubble bath, bath confetti, or aromatherapy bath salts for a softening effect. The bath salts help to cleanse and detoxify your body. The bath salts raise the pH of the soaking water higher than that of the body's, thereby drawing fluid and toxins out through the skin. Allow it to stand for at least 10 minutes, to heat up the tub and diffuse the bubble bath or bath confetti or aromatherapy bath salts.

Create your home foot spa by pampering your feet with feet-soothing products to remove dry, callus skin and to heal the skin, and the massage of your feet. There are small hand-held devices to smooth away dry skin or callus skin from your feet. Products are available that you can drip your feet into hot wax for relief sore muscles and tired feet. This hot wax treatment can be used before or after your soaking.

Now it is time to slip down into your bath filled with aroma and relaxing warm water. Begin with your facial.

Your FacialFacial treatment system is beneficial for all skin types. Make sure your facial treatment is made with natural ingredients. A facial can stimulate circulation, remove impurities and toxins, exfoliate the top layer of dead skin cells, and leave skin radiant. Using facial cleaning machines provide a deeper treatment. Lean back and relax on a cervical collar pillow and on a massaging back pad receiving the full benefits from your facial.

The next step of your spa is conditioning your hair.

Deep Conditioning Your HairUse natural ingredients for your shampoo and conditioner for beautiful hair and healthy scalp. Shampoo your hair for about five minutes making sure that you have massaged the scalp and cleansed the hair and shaft. Apply a deep conditioner therapy for dehydrated and damaged hair or for even healthy hair. Natural ingredients in shampoo or conditioner provide a balanced pH to keep hair and scalp shinny and beautiful. Some conditioners even suggest leaving it your hair and wrapped in a warm towel for deep saturation.

Turn on the shower and rinse your hair under cool water.

Body Scrub
Apply a layer of body scrub to exfoliate your skin. It will rid the skin’s surface of any dirt or oil residue and removes the uppermost layer of dead skin cells, while effecting the secretion and production of the body’s natural oils. It also prepares the skin to effectively absorb or react to products utilized in other treatments. Exfoliation helps stimulate and circulate lymph fluid, which aid in the elimination of toxins, while also serving as a stimulating massage and improving blood circulation.

The entire body should be scrubbed at least weekly. Exfoliation should be done in a circular motion, beginning with the feet and up the legs, then hands up the arms, down the back finally up the front to the heart. It is usually best to rinse with tepid or cool water after the scrub to further activate circulation.

SoakingSit down in your tub and again lean back and relax on a cervical collar to comfort your head and neck and lean back on a massaging back pad. Close your eyes and place on your eyes an aromatherapy eye mask filled with lavender and flaxseed. This product is especially good for people who suffer from headaches or constantly burning, watering eyes due to eye strain from reading, or staring at a computer for long hours.

Spend at least 20 minutes visualizing drifting away to serenity while you inhale the aromatherapy of calming and detoxifying splendors, discovering a renewed, revitalized, regenerated, and soothed self. All the while listening to the soft music and sipping on your green tea, taking in its full health benefits.

Drying OffPat skin softly with a dry fluffy cotton towel and apply 100% Shea Butter moisturizer. Applying the moisturizer while the skin is still warm and moist will help its absorption.

To use your shea butter, since it melts at skin temperatures, rub between your palms to melt the butter until smooth and liquid and apply. Shea Butter may feel greasy at first, but your skin will absorb it and you will be left feeling silky smooth. To avoid the greasy feel, apply a small amount at a time. Make sure the rough areas of your elbows and heels are covered.

Wax TreatmentDip one hand or foot one at a time into a paraffin wax bath until completely covered by the wax. Take your hand or foot out of the wax and wait about 8 minutes for the wax to set up. Peel the wax off.

A wax spa takes advantage of wax’s heat-retaining capacity via a simple process called heat transfer, which as the term implies transfers heat to the affected area. As the wax melts into liquid form, it has the ability to retain more heat. When the affected part of the body is immersed in the spa or bath, the wax that surrounds this area becomes solid and emits a heat that is known as the "heat of fusion". In simple terms, the heat involved in melting the wax is transferred to the affected part of the body. It reduces pain and stiffness around joints by removing excess fluid from surrounding tissue and providing lubrication.

Cover yourself in a two-piece lounging outfit for the last part of your home spa.

Yoga
Send 15 minutes practicing yoga in deep breathing or yoga moves sitting on mats using CDs or DVDs. It’s peaceful and calming--many people do yoga to help them gain peace . Yoga will help you to find your inner self and to help you find some calming in your stressful world.

Royal Touch
The royal treatment of a body massage! Massage can bring about physical, mental, and emotional changes. A massage is not only soothing, but can reduce blood pressure, stimulate the release of mood-lifting neurotransmitters, improve lymphatic circulation, and speed the elimination of toxins. Not only is it useful as a relaxation technique, but also as a form of injury rehabilitation and pain management. Use aromatherapy essential massage oils and equipment to bring the massage to you. Self-applied massage equipment or ask your loved one to use masseuse-applied equipment.

Bed TimeFalling asleep comes easy when your body is kept in alignment and without pain. Choosing the right pillow and supports for your neck, shoulders, and back is important. Your muscles throughout your whole body will relax and, you can sleep in comfort all night long. If you experience pain, even chronic pain, choose from available magnetic mattress pads for painless sleep.