Go beyond facials and massages with a series of wellness treatments. Let Chinese medicine, chiropractics, juice cleanses, and, yes, even colonics take you to the next level of beauty.
Active Transformational Hypnotherapy: Physical Therapy (Pac Heights)
Studies show that after 600 sessions, just 38 percent of people undergoing psychoanalysis overcome their issues. But after six sessions of hypnotherapy, 93 percent of clients experience freedom from the ties that bind. During each mesmerizing 90-minute treatment at ATH, techniques such as progressive relaxation, direct suggestion, and guided imagery are used to help patients conquer whatever ails them, from insomnia to weight gain. Hypnotherapist Sandra Andersch calls this kind of healing “a luxurious massage for the mind.”
Chiro-Medical Group: Physical Therapy (SoMa)
Because 15 or so minds are better than one, the Chiro-Medical Group brings to the table wizards of medicine, chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, nutrition, and athletic training. It’s a one-stop wellness shop for us busy worker bees.
Dakini Ayurveda: Ayruvedic Analysis (Potrero Hill)
Courtney LaCava gains a full perspective of our everyday lifestyle, body build, and social tendencies to decipher which of three Ayurvedic doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) we fall under. Diet, water intake, sleep patterns, and other factors can be defined by your dosha, so feel free to use her wisdom to live more purposefully.
FitWell Chiropractic Sports Medicine: Chiropractic (Noe Valley)
Marathoners, mountain climbers, and the SF Giants trust Lisa Covey and her team to find the source of their mysterious aches and pains and to cure acute injuries and chronic nuisances. If you’re new to (or nervous about) chiropractic, the docs here will take the time to educate you. Fear not, relief is on the way.
Juice Shop: Juice Cleanse (various locations)
We’ll take our juice cleanse without the flowery wellness mumbo jumbo, thank you very much. Juice Shop packs options for everyone, with six tasty, nutrient-rich bottles of organic juice per day. We add supplemental vials of aloe and blue-green algae for the perfect cleanse that doesn’t leave us (too) hungry.
Kabuki Springs & Spa: Abhyanga Oil Massage with Shirodhara (Japantown)
We like to enhance our immune systems and reduce stress with the Abhyanga oil massage with Shirodhara—the traditional Ayurvedic treatment in which warm essential oil is slowly poured in a continuous stream across the forehead. Unless you’re going for that I-just-bathed-in-an-oil-slick look, make no plans for post-treatment revelry.
Life Chiropractic: Chiropractic (Hayes Valley)
Encamped in a sunny little office just off Hayes Street, Life Chiropractic is the place to go for wimps afraid of neck adjustments. Dr. Austin, as we affectionately call him, has the manner of a friend you’ve known forever, an easy ability to articulate his knowledge in a way that humans can understand, and a gentle approach that leaves us euphoric.
Moss Acupuncture: Traditional Chinese Medicine (Presidio Heights)
In her spare but well-appointed office, Jennifer Moss uses acupuncture, herbal medicine, reiki, and cupping to address conditions from fertility to tennis elbow. Got brutal PMS? Trust us, Moss can handle it. A careful listener, she considers a patient’s entire medical history and lifestyle before determining the best approach.
San Francisco Colonics: Coffee Enema (Nob Hill)
The popular coffee enema at this über-chic salon begins with the painless insertion of a small tube into the derrière. Cue the coffee enema, which stimulates the gallbladder and detoxifies the liver. Besides leaving you feeling light and energized, the 90-minute procedure also reportedly clears the skin and has been used as a form of cancer treatment.
Tanya Corona Ascension Alchemy: Crystal Therapy (Mission)
To clear our chakras, we sign up for healing crystal therapy at Tanya Corona Ascension Alchemy. During the 90-minute sessions, we relax on the massage table as the therapist creates grids of crystals around our head and feet. Allegedly, they are clearing the path to our true life purpose. And who doesn’t need that?
TMI Colonics: Colonic (Noe Valley)
When Elvis Presley died, his colon reportedly weighed more than 60 pounds. Urban legend or not, it appears the King was in need of a royal flush. At TMI Colonics, hydrotherapists Marianne Morrison and Julianne Bice relieve clogged-up clients with the Libbe “open” system, which involves relaxing in a reclining bed with a hole in the center (for you-know-what). Water is gently pulled by gravity into your nether region, until you flush it out using those strong bathroom muscles. TMI? But, of course.
Beauty product pick:
When heated, Heliotrope Massage Candles ($25), made from soy and shea butter, double as unwinding massage oils in scents such as black fig cardamom.
This article was published in 7x7's March 2015 issue. Be sure to check our comprehensive 2015 Beauty Guide.