I arrived at Osmosis wound pretty tight. I don't know why. Maybe it was the quick trip to Bodega Bay I squeezed into that morning before arriving at Osmosis. Maybe it was just one too many cups of coffee. Whatever the reason, Osmosis was just what I needed. The layers of stress that enveloped me were peeled away one by one as I worked my way from the front of the spa to the back of the 5-acre property during my treatments.

Entry

The experience started at the door before I even entered the building. There were instructions posted to leave shoes on the shelves on either sie of the door. I tucked my clogs on a shelf and walked in. Abandoning my shoes made me feel slightly vulnerable, but at the same time open.

The Wait

I checked in at the reception desk. Since it was about 20 minutes before my appointment, I was asked to wait on the sofa in the retail area. I wandered into the area. However, I couldn't sit still. I hopped up and down taking a closer look at the books on Japanese gardening, kneeling stools, CD's, flannel robes, and other items for sale. After a few minutes, the receptionist brought a warm, scented neck wrap filled with healing Yucca root and aromatic spices. I was finally able to sit down and relax. The soothing warmth immediately started calming my mind and pushing the stress from my neck and shoulders right out the bottom of my stocking-footed soles. One layer of stress gone!

Tea Ceremony and The Japanese Tea Garden

*At the appointed time, I was escorted to the tea room by my bath attendent, Kirana. This sparse room held a low sofa, a low table, 2 kneeling benches, 2 pillows and a simple screen. The most amazing thing it held was the view of the beautiful, private Japanese Tea Garden outside - water flowed down a hill, under an arched bridge and into a koi pond just outside the door. Kirana brought a tea service into the room. The pot of herbal tea blended specifically for Osmosis was mixed with enzymes made from over 25 different organically grown plants. This is a digestive aid that is soothing to the whole body and works with the metabolic processes that occur during the bath that follows. According to Kirana, this tea starts the de-stressing process from the inside out. Kirana left me to enjoy my tea and contemplate the garden. I sipped the tea, but my feet and head were not quite ready to be perfectly still. I slid the doors open, and stepped into the garden. I brought my tea with me, taking sips on the bridge and resting on a bench at the back of the garden. The sound of running water, the serene beauty of the garden, and the warm tea removed one more layer of stress.

 

Japanese Enzyme Bath

I wandered back into the tea room just in time for Kirana to take me to the enzyme bath room. On the way, we stopped at a changing room where I exchanged my clothes for a flannel robe. From there, we entered a room containing a redwood box - large enough to accommodate two - filled with a mixture of shredded cedar, rice bran and over 600 active plant enzymes imported from Japan. Steam rose from the mounds of damp sawdust. These ingredients heat naturally, by fermentation, creating biologically generated warmth that mimics the body's natural heating process. Windows in the room overlooked another garden. Kirana instructed me to remove my robe, step into the box and then lay down in the depression she had scooped out to support my body. I crawled in and she covered me to the chin with the steaming sawdust. The heat enveloped me completely. Relaxing was not an option, it was a necessity. It was finally time for my mind to be in the present, to ingore stray thoughts, to get centered, and to enjoy the sensation and the view. Every 5 minutes or so, Kirana came into the room to put a cool compress on my forehead and give me a sip of water. After about 20 minutes, it was time to get out. Sawdust stuck to the perspiration on my skin. Kirana handed me a brush. I brushed off my front, and Kirana brushed off my back. I stepped into the adjoining shower to rinse off the rest of the wood fiber.

The enzyme bath is a therapeutic heat treatment that originated in Japan. Osmosis is the first location in the US to offer this unique form of heat therapy. The treatment relieves aches and pains, improves mobiility and boosts metabolism. The largest organ of the body, the skin, comes in direct contact with intense enzyme activity in the enzyme bath, which, in addition to heat, produces its own electro-chemical environment. This combination of heat and energy influences body chemistry and natural cleansing processes, and breaks down body wastes in the subcutaneous layer of the skin. The surface of the skin, pores, and even the cells themselves are thoroughly cleansed.

I emerged much more deeply relaxed than I went in - more layers of stress evaporated in the heat.

Pagoda Massage

Kirana waited for me after the shower with a glass of water and garden clogs. She then escorted me outside to show me where my massage would be. (If you don't have a massage following your enzyme bath, you would be taken for a blanket wrap for a cool-down period.) I followed Kirana down a path along Salmon Creek to an outdoor waiting area. She gave me a cloak in case I got cool. However, I was still quite warm from the enzyme bath and didn't need it. Shortly, Janice came to escort me to the one of the Japanese-style massage pagodas. Janice gave me an excellent massage over the next 75 minutes. She periodically checked to ensure I was comfortable with the temperature. The pagoda has a small heater and extra blankets if I was cool and the windows and shoji doors opened in case I was hot. Fresh air, natural light, the sound of birds and the gurgle of the creek make this natural setting perfect for massage. Another layer of stress sunk from my body and was left behind on the massage table.

Japanese Meditation Garden

Massage over and close to total bliss, I slowly strolled back towards the spa building and was drawn into another beautiful, but much larger, Japanese Meditation Garden. There I met and spoke with Michael Stusser, the owner of Osmosis, who was puttering around the pond. Gardening is Michael's passion. While in Japan studying gardening in the 80's, he became acquainted with the use of enzyme baths by the Japanese and was inspired to combine his passion for gardening with the healing benefits of the enzyme baths - opening Osmosis in 1985. He moved it to its current locatioin in 1989. This garden, he explained, was dedicated in June 2003 after four years of work. Designed by a freind, Robert Ketchell, who is master gardener in England, the garden is laid out to recreate the ancient Chinese parable called The Story of the Ox and His Herder based on a sequence of illustrations depicting the levels of realization in Zen. Large stones are arranged throughout the garden to represent various stages of the story - the search for the ox, finding the path, seeing the ox, capturing the ox, taming the ox, riding the ox home, ox forgotten, ox and self transcended, back to the origin, and illuminated man helping others.

*The garden was also designed using the princples of Feng Shui. A large red boulder is located in one corner of the garden. 9 gold coins were placed beneath to ensure prosperity. Rocks are arranged as a turtle in the pond facing just the right direction to eat up the bad energy. There were other interesting symbols used thoughout the garde. Sadly, I don't recall them all.

Michael showed me three aromatic chamomile beds where you can lie down in the garden. The weight of the body crushes the plants and releases the natural oils and a fabulous scent - a wonderful form of aromatherapy. This unique form of chamomile was used in Roman times to promote sleep, stop headaches and create a profound sense of relaxation.

This garden is a lovely, peaceful place where Osmosis guests can savor their heightened state of sensory awareness and inner peace - meditate, journal or just be one with the surrounding beauty and tranquility. Osmosis is inspired by a vision of healing, beauty and inner peace and shares it with all who visit. Every last trace of my stress had taken flight. I left relaxed to the core.

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