As for The Spa at Ballantyne, they actively seek client feedback through e-mails before annually updating their menu. “We
often receive great feedback and design our menu from there,”
Toth says. “Not only does the [feedback] process demonstrate
the importance of providing prenatal treatments, it also made us
incorporate ‘Family Days’ into our program wherein mothers and
daughters (12 years and older) can bond over a relaxing
massage.”The Spa Ritual, on one hand, combines their consultant’s expertise and feedbacks from moms-to-be to engineer a
treatment menu that best serves their market.
“It took Vivienne O’Keefe, our Spa Profits consultant, nearly
two years to develop the spa’s treatment menu. Along with her
associate, she did extensive product tests in Calgary and
Vancouver. Products were tested based on price, allergens, benefits to guests, availability in our market and whether the product
was being sold elsewhere in Calgary,” says Arthur-Dick.Their
product testing was not limited to massage lotions or body
scrubs alone, but included pre- and post-natal pillows,
massage tables, linens, heated stone loungers and essential
oils—all of which were later subjected to a final test by The
Spa Ritual President Shauna Walker who happened to be
expecting during the treatment menu development stage.
Selecting Aroma Oil for Prenatal Treatments
T
here are many arguments on whether to use aroma oil in prenatal treatments. We asked professional Aromatherapist and
AROMANDINA owner Cristina
Proano-Carrion—who has over 16 years of
experience in formulating aromatherapy
products and who earned her
Complementary Health Education Diploma
in Aromatherapy from the Kevala Center in
the U.K.—to weigh in.
How safe are aroma oil for pregnant
women? In her book “Aromatherapy for
Health Professionals,” Shirley Price
wrote “There is currently very little direct
evidence for the safety of essential oils in
pregnancy—and equally there is a notable
absence of any real proof to the contrary.”
Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt states a similar opinion
in his book “Medical Aromatherapy.”
According to him, “Not much is known
about the safety of essential oil use during pregnancy. Sweeping disclaimers are constantly established, banishing every essential oil that
exhibits only a hint of a problem potential from use during pregnancy.
But these highly defensive statements mostly ignore the potential for
problems from the conventional drug alternatives.”
I agree with his statement, “The reasonable approach is to proceed
with common sense and reason, to try and maintain balance and prevent
infections during pregnancy with those essences that are known to be
easy on the system or ‘tonics of life’.”
34 PULSE
■
March/April 2011
Which oils offer the most benefit for pregnant women? I love
Frankincense for its calming qualities and for its tissue-regeneration
properties. I have used it in combination
with lavender and citrus oil, like mandarin
or grapefruit, mixed with a carrier oil like
jojoba. I have used this combination on
several women in the last 16 years [of my
practice], they have all reported how good
they felt and none of them has had any
stretch marks.
What is the best way for spas to
market aroma oil to their pregnant
clients? The best way is to offer pregnancy
massages [that incorporate the use of
these oils].
What trends, if any, are you seeing in
aroma oil use in spas? Spas are offering
more and more result-oriented massage
treatments [using aroma oil]. Instead of just
adding a couple of drops of lavender, eucalyptus or peppermint to an aromatherapy diffuser, spas are now actually customizing the treatments to
their guests’ needs. For example, if the guest is a busy entrepreneur, spas
will provide an energizing massage with essential oils like pine, rosemary
and spruce known to nourish adrenal glands and help recover from
exhaustion or fatigue.
FOR MORE ABOUT
AROMANDINA and on the benefits of aroma oil, visit
thearomablog.com.