JSLALALAND

THE HEALING FREQUENCY

Surya Spa

Surya Spa inside Santa Monica Proper, where Ayurveda meets Chinese medicine: East meets East.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

Full text

  1. Inside Santa Monica Proper

    Surya Spa sits inside the Santa Monica Proper and is all about Ayurveda. For those of us who grew up on Chinese herbal medicine, it's East meets East.

  2. The Ayurveda here is the real thing

    Six treatment rooms, a meditation room and an oil-blending station on site: the oil is a prescription, not a fragrance.

  3. What a four-hands massage is

    Abhyanga is Ayurveda's warm-oil massage; the four-hands version has two therapists working at the same time, in sync, so your body can't keep track of whose hands are where and your brain just gives up thinking.

  4. Ayurveda × Chinese medicine

    Ayurveda talks about your constitution (dosha); Chinese medicine talks about constitution and qi and blood. One uses oil, the other herbs and needles, but the thinking is similar: figure out who you're first, then decide how to rebalance.

  5. Afterward

    Let the oil sit for a bit before you rinse it off, and don't rush to the next thing. The whole point of this massage is slowness.

  6. A half-day plan

    Abhyanga at Surya → hot and cold contrast at the hotel → a matcha → the rooftop for sunset. The full version is in the Santa Monica Proper piece.

  7. Honest reminder

    This is relaxation and self-care, not treatment. If you have a health condition or you're pregnant, tell your therapist first.

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).