Shangri-la meets South Tacoma Way
Getting naked and feeling good about it at Olympus Women's Spa
Jessica Corey-Butler
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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I'm lying naked, on my stomach, while a tiny Korean woman briskly scrubs up and down my body. I look up in time to see olive oil midair, drizzling over the bare buttocks of the woman lying on the table directly in front of mine.
This surreal moment is not a dream, or a movie set-I am at the Olympus Women's Health Spa on South Tacoma Way, enjoying every moment of the anti-massage full-body scrub-down I am receiving. I feel like I suppose my dog must feel as I scrub him down-curiously violated, somewhat ashamed, and blissfully attended to. The rushing of the waterfall makes me remember I'm not my dog standing in the tub, and as hot water sluices over my body, I sigh with pleasure.
For the uninitiated, the Olympus Women's Health Spa is a women-only spa experience unlike any you've probably had. Hae-Kyung Kim opened the spa over eight years ago to bring the traditional Korean bathhouse experience to Tacoma. Says Kim, "It was Korean ladies, at first, but then they started bringing their friends."
As the recent opening of a Lynnwood location attests, friends started bringing friends for the unique environment and variety of services at spa-bargain prices.
Private massage therapy is offered, in addition to body scrubs, moisturizing treatments, and body wraps. While the massage therapy is private, the body scrubs and moisturizing treatments happen in shared space. I had my scrub done in an area off of the main "wet room," which contains a variety of whirlpools, a sauna and a steam room. In this area, there is no clothing worn, only the striped shower cap.
In the heated energy rooms, the temperatures range from 130 degrees to 160 degrees. These rooms serve a variety of healing purposes, from soothing sore muscles to detoxification, and beyond. In these areas, as well, robes and caps are worn.
Rounding out the spa are large open spaces with radiant-heat ed floors, perfect for lounging with a magazine, and a restaurant, ideal for a healthy post-energy room, pre-soak snack. Here, robes are worn (as well as those ubiquitous caps!)
This surreal moment is not a dream, or a movie set-I am at the Olympus Women's Health Spa on South Tacoma Way, enjoying every moment of the anti-massage full-body scrub-down I am receiving. I feel like I suppose my dog must feel as I scrub him down-curiously violated, somewhat ashamed, and blissfully attended to. The rushing of the waterfall makes me remember I'm not my dog standing in the tub, and as hot water sluices over my body, I sigh with pleasure.
For the uninitiated, the Olympus Women's Health Spa is a women-only spa experience unlike any you've probably had. Hae-Kyung Kim opened the spa over eight years ago to bring the traditional Korean bathhouse experience to Tacoma. Says Kim, "It was Korean ladies, at first, but then they started bringing their friends."
As the recent opening of a Lynnwood location attests, friends started bringing friends for the unique environment and variety of services at spa-bargain prices.
Private massage therapy is offered, in addition to body scrubs, moisturizing treatments, and body wraps. While the massage therapy is private, the body scrubs and moisturizing treatments happen in shared space. I had my scrub done in an area off of the main "wet room," which contains a variety of whirlpools, a sauna and a steam room. In this area, there is no clothing worn, only the striped shower cap.
In the heated energy rooms, the temperatures range from 130 degrees to 160 degrees. These rooms serve a variety of healing purposes, from soothing sore muscles to detoxification, and beyond. In these areas, as well, robes and caps are worn.
Rounding out the spa are large open spaces with radiant-heat ed floors, perfect for lounging with a magazine, and a restaurant, ideal for a healthy post-energy room, pre-soak snack. Here, robes are worn (as well as those ubiquitous caps!)