Local day spa gives the big rub

This archived article was written by: Scott Frederick

My breathing became serious as masseuse Juanita Valdez, owner of Body Glo Day & Medical Spa, gently pushed her elbow into a mass of knotted muscle in my gluteus maximus. My right butt cheek had been a balled up mess for months, but it was no match for Valdez’s skilled placement and pressure of that elbow. “That’s the spot” I said through my body’s reaction to the pressure. “I know” she said. Her skilled hands found more spots that needed work. Spots I didn’t know needed attention until she kneaded the tension and pain out of them.
As a CEU student, I do a lot of sitting and slouching. I probably don’t get enough exercise, and I am almost constantly stressed by quizzes, assignments, papers and tests. For my money, nothing beats a good workout followed by a massage to relieve that stress and get myself back to feeling like I am ready to take on another day. I also feel like I retain more when studying if I take care of my stress first.
The immediate sensation of a good massage is both pleasure and a little pain. The pain comes from pressure being applied to a tensed muscle that hasn’t been taken care of properly. The pleasure comes from knowing that when that elbow comes out of the muscle, relief and a reduction in the pain will follow. Pleasure also comes from knowing you have done something to take care of yourself that you have been putting off for a long time.
“I want to take massage and massage therapy out of the realm of luxury,” explains Randy Herrera one of four-certified massage therapists at Body Glo Day & Medical Spa and “help people understand the benefits of spending a little time and money on themselves.” “Everyone has trouble spots, everyone can benefit from a good massage,” Randy continues. “For the price of a steak dinner, you can come into our spa get one of many different kinds of massages and leave feeling better than you have in years.” A one-hour massage at Body Glo Day Spa is $60, a 90-minute massage is $75.
It was true for me. After my session with Valdez, my lower back and butt felt better than they had in years. “Just wait till you get on our new Migun bed” she said. “Migun bed” I asked? “Our new Migun thermal massage bed with rollers and deep infra-red heat” she explained. I was ready … more than ready. It had been years since I had had a massage, a chiropractic adjustment, or any kind of therapy to help my chronic lower-back pain. Not to mention the knot of muscles now residing in my right butt cheek.
A couple days later I was lying on the Migun bed (fully clothed) as Valdez covered me with a jade heating pad and blanket and adjusted headphones over my ears. “This is soothing music and an explanation of what the table is doing to you” she said.
“Hit it” I said … and she did. As she lowered the lights and left the room closing the door, the rollers in the table began rolling and stretching my terminally tense back, shoulders, legs and neck. I could feel years of tightness stored in my lower back begin to be worked out as the bed did its thing. As the rollers rolled, some sort of mild electricity tingled my legs. The pad on my chest was warm and comfortable. When she came back 35 minutes later, I did not want to get up. I felt good, and felt half an inch taller than when I came in. The rest of the day I felt sharper, clearer and more alert than I had in awhile. It was a subtle feeling, but there.
According to a brochure Valdez gave me [the Migun bed uses] “Acupressure and far-infrared rays, generated by a combination of helium light and the jade massage probes [that] will penetrate into your blood stream and stimulate blood circulation which will dissolve toxic materials and waste in your body.” A 40-minute session on the Migun bed is $35.
“I should write a story about this,” I told Valdez, “fine,” she said, “come back and get a Russian massage from Alisa so you can write about that too.” “Twist my arm,” I replied.
A few days later Alisa told me to “strip and get on the table.” Actually she didn’t say that. Everyone has their own comfort level she said. We don’t want people to feel uncomfortable getting a massage so they can dress down to whatever level they feel comfortable. “So I can leave all my clothes on,” I asked. “Sure,” she said. “If all my clothes are on will it affect the effectiveness of the massage,” I continued? Most people leave their underwear on, she said, it’s easy to work around that, one can leave more clothes on than that but it starts to affect the effectiveness of the massage.
I’m no Matt Damon but I thought: heck every guy has a butt, and some plumbing, and Alisa has probably seen worse than me so I am not letting any cotton come between her fingers and my skin so I dropped my clothes and got between the warm sheets on the table. For you that are a bit more modest, take comfort in that all of the therapists are skilled in placing the sheets so they don’t reveal parts of your body you are uncomfortable with.
Russian massage was new to me before that … those Ruskies know what they’re doing though. It was different than your everyday Swiss massage. She used several techniques I had never experienced before. She explained later the goal is to get your circulation going. With a combination of rubbing until friction warmed my skin and muscles and working the muscles in my legs and arms towards my torso (in all my experience with massage they work the muscles away from ones torso) Alisa was able to make me feel a whole lot better than when I walked in.
To complete my massage sampler for this story, Randy gave me a focused massage. This is where the masseuse only works on the problem areas of one’s body. This helped me a lot because he spent a lot of time working out the kinks of my lower back and my troubled right cheek. He worked the muscles of my lower back long and hard enough to relax them more than they had been in years.
The Body Glo Day & Medical Spa at 69 West Main is nicely decorated with a staff committed to your comfort and most importantly committed to making you feel better than when you came in.
Body Glo also has a hair cutting room just for kids. With a TV/DVD player and cool airplane chairs, hopefully your tykes will sit still long enough for the dreaded trimming to be completed.
Body Glo is a full-service day spa offering everything one would expect from a fancy day spa on the Wasatch Front. They are open from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and by appointment. Everything from pedicures, manicures, hairdos, tanning, and several types of body work are available for reasonable prices. If you have extra time during your lunch break, if you have had a stressful week, if you do a lot of sitting or your job is physically demanding, or if you want to maintain healthy muscles and help your spine stay in good shape the staff and facilities of Body Glo are there to help.