The Heeling Pressure Massage The Oil Change

If you could start every day with warm oil drizzled down your spine—as it does when you take a Sensory Journey (from $630) at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia’s Sense spa—well, every day would almost certainly be excellent. The “journey” is a half-day session at the spa that covers Sense’s most popular treatments—from massage to facial to mani/pedi— with a recharge of a spa lunch at your midpoint (a mod Cobb salad loaded with healthy chunks of lobster, perfect avocado, eggs... and a blissful moment to dive into a rom-com novel, a warmed pillow resting on your once-tense shoulders). And what a journey it is. Once your therapist moves from the full-body massage to a double-cleansing facial, her fingers dancing like raindrops across your face, you’ll wonder why all massages and facials don’t come as a duo treatment by default. (Particularly when she revisits that knot behind your scapula as the enzymatic exfoliant does its tingling good work on your face.) By the time you’re tilted back in a zero-gravity chair for your soakless pedi three hours later, you’ll be as zen as a woman who started her day with warm oil poured down her spine—and ready to float down Georgia Street on your way back home. rosewoodhotels.com

If you’ve ever gone for a full-body massage and wished the time spent on your feet had been longer, run (don’t walk) to the Barefoot Oasis for their one-hour foot reflexology ($78). Disclaimer: you’ll never want your loving partner to rub your feet again. This isn’t just any foot massage; it’s a euphoric escape into tension relief that radiates all through your body. It also doesn’t tickle in the least bit, so don’t let that give you cold feet. After starting with the neck and shoulders, your massage therapist pokes and prods at your pressure points like a hired assassin whose target is strain (finding tight spots you didn’t even know you had) to get you primed for supreme relaxation. Meanwhile, your feet are soaking their cares away in a warm basin of lavender, tea tree oil and lemongrass. Then, you can ooze into your reclining chair, curl up under your blanket and roll up your pantlegs as your tension assassin lathers your feet in unscented lotion and coconut oil and skillfully tackles your toes, feet and calves with hands-on pressure—pushing, pulling, digging and tenderizing every joint and muscle to sole-crushing relief. Hot towels on your legs and feet mark the end of your reflexology massage (and your ability to hold tension in your muscles) as you Bambi-leg your way out of the chair and back into the world. But first, take a few sips of complimentary tea and enjoy your newfound spring in your step before you skip away into the rest of your day. barefootoasis.ca