Finding your bliss at the medi-spa

Needles terrify me, so I have no idea why I volunteered to be a human pincushion and ended up on the acupuncturist’s table. It was a nice change from my regular sports massage at the gym, I rationalized. And coffee scrubs, seaweed wraps, and hot stones – I’d tried them all in pursuit of the ultimate de-stress.

But the spa I was in was no ordinary spa. It was a medi-spa – one of the few in the country and the first in the heart of the metropolis. You won’t have to travel to Batangas or Boracay for a wellness weekend or a detox day; you can do it minutes away in a quiet suburb in Quezon City.

Blending Eastern and alternative medicine with therapeutic spa treatments, Amezcua Wellness Centre promises more than just a fleeting glow: they’re more concerned about your overall, long-term health and well-being.

"Setting aside time for yourself is so important," says ABS-CBN Foundation president and CEO Gina Lopez, a wellness advocate who switched to a holistic lifestyle years ago. "You need an inner centeredness to be able to survive a crisis."

Telling words from someone who took time to share her experience with us despite being in the midst of a crisis herself. I’ve always admired people like Lopez who can balance real-life demands with those of spirit, mind and body and still follow their bliss. I’d like to eat healthier, but my family are carnivores who protest at the absence of meat. I’d like to get fitter, but spending time with my daughter overrides time spent at the gym. I try to meditate in the mornings, but more often than not a deadline intrudes.

"They call it a ‘dead-line’ for a reason," says Amezcua general manager Renu Gidoomal, a holistic massage expert who ran her own alternative medicine clinic in the UK. "We offer a lifeline to people."

Set to open Feb. 25, Amezcua is divided into a medical area and a spa, but the modern Filipino interiors, designed by Zarry de la Cruz, are so uniformly soothing and resort-like you probably won’t be able to tell the difference.

On the extensive menu, the signature spa treatments include:

• The Green Tea and Royal Licorice Lift-Off Treatment. Amezcua’s signature facial uses green tea to cleanse, moisturize, and eradicate free radicals. Royal licorice nourishes and stimulates the face, softening fine lines and imbuing radiance.

• The Green Coffee Cocoon. An anti-cellulite and slimming treatment for removing toxins and impurities from the body.

• Serenity Seaweed Wrap. This combines three kinds of seaweed rich in proteins, minerals and vitamins to eliminate toxins and stimulate the skin’s natural metabolism.

• Aromamoor Treatment. Using black Moor mud known for its therapeutic and anti-fatigue properties, this treatment stimulates cell production, circulation and lymphatic drainage.

• Sabai Thai Stone Massage. Smooth granite stones are warmed and placed on the body. The combination of the heat plus rhythmic, synchronized massage helps you unwind and release pent-up tension and fatigue.

Pevonia products, which are free of harmful ingredients like lanolin, are used in all the spa treatments. Traditional hilot and Dagdagay are also offered. Dagdagay is an acupressure foot treatment using sticks instead of finger pressure on the soles of the feet.

Located on what used to be a residential lot in White Plains, Amezcua also has a meditation hut where yoga, Pilates, and t’ai chi classes will be held, as well as belly dancing and traditional Indian dance.

But before you can get to the beautifying goodies, every Amezcua client receives a medical consultation with a doctor. Dr. Edwin Arellano Bien, a family and alternative medicine specialist who trained in the US, heads a medical team composed of an anesthesiologist (for pain management), surgeon, dermatologist, psychiatrist, acupuncturist and nutritionists.

They use a range of alternative methods to diagnose your state of well-being, from cupping (Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan) and Live Blood Analysis to iridology, which claims to show your organs’ internal health through iris analysis.

Shining a penlight into my eyes, they looked at my irises through a TV monitor and saw nerve rings, which indicated that I get easily stressed (surprise, surprise). After hearing my diagnosis, Dr. Bien led me to an acupuncture room, where he proceeded to stick a brand-new needle into each shoulder. For someone with my particular phobia, the sensation actually wasn’t bad. Dr. Bien has a light hand and reassuring bedside manner. While the needles did their de-stressing magic, I was free to nap or enjoy the lush view outside.

Amezcua is the latest addition to the Philippines’ flourishing medical-tourism industry. Tourists are already flocking to countries like Thailand and India for quality medical care at affordable prices, and the Philippines is destined to be the most affordable of them all.

In fact, though Amezcua is Filipino-owned, the majority of its investors are from Singapore. Gidoomal says they chose the Philippines as their pilot site because of its "conducive environment": Filipinos’ innate hospitality and fluency in English make them ideal therapists and staff. She also cites the "favorable exchange rate" compared to key Asian cities like Hong Kong, where the luxurious lifestyle can be quite expensive. The company plans to put up more medi-spas throughout the country in the near future.

Meanwhile, after twirling the needles every 15 minutes to unblock my flow of chi, Dr. Bien took them out and showed how deep they had been embedded – almost an inch! I felt relaxed yet energized, and strangely proud: I had faced the eye of the needle, and lived to tell the tale.

Amezcua Wellness Centre is open for membership at a special 50-percent-off introductory rate of P15,000 for a year to the first 100 members. (Packages normally cost P30,000, P50,000 and P80,000 per year.) The medi-spa is located at 122 Katipunan Ave., White Plains, Quezon City. For details, call 913-1353 or e-mail salesgroup@amezcuawellness.com.