Specializing in healing and spiritual arts, this massage parlor offers a few traditional massages and treatments and many alternative ones. There are massages from many countries of origin, including holistic massages from Japan and Abhyanga massages from India. Facials usually use natural products and include hydrating, ‘greasy skin,’ and anti-ageing treatments. Visitors with a taste for alternative practices can try psychic readings, music therapy, and traditional Oaxaca spirit cleansings. Healing therapies make use of flowers and crystals, and a Japanese tradition called Reiki.
Visitors looking to relax in the shadow of one of Oaxaca’s best hotels should not miss out on the Petit Spa. Located inside the luxurious Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles, the full-service spa is the only one of its kind in Oaxaca. Well-appointed, La Petit offers packages with private rooms, specialized services, tours of the charming hotel, and massages. Taking a cue from its rising popularity among tourists, the spa also offers temazcal ritual cleansing, which involve a small sweat lodge, chanting, and burning of traditional herbs. Standard massages, aromatherapies, and relaxation and reflexology services are also offered.
The Temazcal is the Oaxacan equivalent of a sweat-lodge, an ancestral tradition that involves guided sessions inside a hut with a heated stone base while burning traditional herbs. Sessions typically last between one hour and one hour and a half and are said to cleanse the physical, energetic, and emotional body. Visitors consistently marvel at the warmth of the husband and wife hosts, and the relaxing atmosphere of the Temazcal and surrounding grounds. Please note that the Temazcal Ceviarem is open nearly every day of the year by appointment, and offers transportation to and from some hotels closer to the city center.