Fitness comes in many forms. Sometimes its a gruelling hour at Crossfit, or a six-day hike in the rain on the West Coast Trail with 65 pounds on your back. Other times its stretching and bending over a bamboo stick wearing nothing but a plush bathrobe before a soft-spoken woman, whose name translates to dreams and visions, massages you into putty in a warm, dimly-lit room high above the bustle of the city.
The latter is the Wushu Body Wisdom Massage at CHI The Spa at Shangri-La Hotel and, yes, it counts as part of your fitness regime the restorative part of it, after youve worked up a sweat doing the Grind or whatever other workout suits you.
CHIs website advises that the Wushu treatments are inspired by Chinese martial arts stretching and post-activity body care methods. Translation: utilizing natural healing methods, the Wushu treatments are a series of stretching and breathing exercises and movements used, post-workout or alongside your workouts, to get you nimble, loose and relaxed, and to open up the meridians (the 20 paths identified in Chinese medicine that connect about 400 acupuncture points in the body) before you sink into a deep massage.
The experience begins the moment I step off the elevator on the hotels fifth floor: the sound of a gentle waterfall greets my ears while calming scents slow your heart rate, and the tension across my forehead, through my jaw and behind my eyes begins to unfurl. In this serene environment, the pop quiz that comes next a bit out of left field, but its nothing too taxing. Rather, its a questionnaire to determine what aromatherapy best matches my Chinese element: wood, earth, fire, metal or water. What is my favourite colour? Flavour? Time of the day? Weather condition? I fret slightly when several of my automatic responses arent on the list of answers provided to choose from, but the spa manager assures me that my therapist will get my scents and element right. I finish the form and am ushered to my treatment room.
By room, I mean a space bigger than the new micro-lofts in Gastown, with cozy wood walls, heated floors and soft lighting. There, I slip into the provided robe and loose sandals before joining my therapist, Raya, in what can only be described as the foyer of the space. Raya asks me a few questions about my usual fitness routine and then we begin guided, slow stretches coupled with breathing exercises.
This is conscious stretching, like youd do in Hatha yoga (a very gentle style of the practice). I dont break a sweat, but my body begins to warm up. After several stretches, Raya hands me a long bamboo rod and gently twists me around and over it so that I can feel my muscles lengthening and loosening my meridians, she says, are gently opening. She encourages me to take long, deep breaths to stimulate relaxation.
After around 15 or 20 minutes of unhurried stretching (Ive eased so happily into the process of achieving relaxation that Im, frankly, unaware how many minutes have passed), she directs me to the massage bed. I crawl beneath the soft linens and feel, almost immediately, like I could doze off especially when Raya rubs calming scents on her hands, places them near my nose and instructs me to breathe deeply. But as she starts to knead the muscles in my back, hitting various acupressure points, the urge to sleep vanishes and the impulse to savour the feeling rushes in. The oils for my massage reflect earth, my Chinese element, but Im already in heaven. Officially, shes harmonizing my bodys energy for better body balance, the process of which eases stressed nerves and releases back and shoulder tension.
Raya works a bit overtime (you needed it, she tells me after), and by the time she rings a delicate bell, signifying the end of the 90-minute treatment, Im in a state of semi-consciousness.
A a spritz of mineral water to my face and a cup of sweet tea later, and Im released into the real world. Outside, the sun shines brightly down on West Georgia Street, rush hour traffic surges past, and I float home through it all, restored.
Wushu treatments are available exclusively in Vancouver, from $160, at CHI The Spa at Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver, Shangri-la.com/vancouver/
