By Amy Barone
Save the subtle calls of the wild, La Reserve Spa sits quietly in the middle of Italy’s La Maiella National Park. I was drawn back to its remote location for the stark natural beauty of its surroundings, the delectable meals based on fresh local ingredients, and the affordable first-class spa treatments. In the summer of 1997, La Reserve Spa and its handsome four-star hotel opened in the spa town of Caramanico Terme. For centuries the medieval village has attracted visitors seeking the physical and aesthetic benefits of the region’s five natural water sources.
According to the spa director, Luigi Di Ciaccio, “Our tradition and expertise is thermal water; everything departs from there. But massage is our specialty and we are constantly adding treatments to show guests new ways to relax. Many of these treatments can’t be found anywhere else.”
One interesting discovery I made is that some of the spa’s newest treatments appeal to the neglected sense of sound. Incorporating such musical props as tubular bells, crystal bowls, and tuning forks, the unique therapies combine bodywork and sound waves to stimulate vital organs, induce healing and relaxation, and at times, send one to another world.
All stays at La Reserve begin with a brief medical visit where guests choose their “Path” for the week. Although the spa offers specific Paths, Di Ciaccio says that most guests prefer to customize a twenty-treatment Path from the spa menu which offers more than seventy services.
Each formal Path includes a complimentary “Introduction to Well-Being,” comprising a medical visit, thermal mud body peel, thermal facial, sulfuric water bath, visit to the three-chamber grotto where sulfur vapors of varying intensities are dispersed, and six glasses of Pisciarello spring water a day to help cleanse the body of toxins and purify the system.
Designed for weight loss, the twenty-one-treatment Body Path includes a special diet program, three anti-cellulite mud treatments, and three lymphatic drainage massages. The nine-treatment Eastern Path includes two shiatsu treatments, a water stretching massage, an Ayurvedic massage, and three mud baths followed by a sulfuric bath and reactivating massage. Other options include the Discovery Path, the Rest Path, the Figure Path, the Thermal Path, the Skin Path, and the Breathing Path.
I wanted a mix of old and new world treatments. Selecting the Rest Path as my focal point, I enjoyed three mud baths followed by reactivating massages, four relaxing massages, and a lymphatic drainage facial. I also added several of the most alluring treatments and some of the spa’s recommendations, including daily nose showers and inhalation treatments to help allay sinus and bronchial ailments; foot reflexology; the California massage; a facial for sensitive skin; and Shiro Dhara, a treatment based on the Ayurvedic practice of opening the “third eye.”
For my first sound therapy, I chose T.E.P., a treatment in which the sound specialist, Daniela, alternated between playing a set of tubular bells and placing her hands on areas of my body that correspond to acupuncture meridians. The goal is to unblock any constrictions in the system and the results were amazing. I experienced an intense state of relaxation that I can only describe as a deep calm.
After the T.E.P. treatment, Daniela advised me to return to my room and lie down for a half-hour. I softly left her studio, but the concept of healing with sound piqued my curiosity, so later I tracked her down to learn more about the philosophy.
One afternoon we met and sat in the brilliant sun to discuss the power of sound stimulation. Wearing her long blonde hair in a ponytail, Daniela Risser seemed too young to have lived in Italy twenty years. She left her native Germany at sixteen and traveled the world to hone her skills in yoga, Thai massage, Shin Tai, Shiatsu, and other self-healing and self-exploration techniques.
An individual who gives in to impulses and shifts in energy, Daniela was deeply moved by a concert she attended in 1994 featuring crystal bowls. In 1998, she enrolled at the Tama-Do Academy in Boulder, Colorado, where she studied under French acupuncturist, Fabien Maman, who believes that sound therapy promotes physical and emotional wellness.
Daniela explained, “Cells react to acoustic sound. The change is very obvious. Healthy cells get nourished, stronger. I work with many guests who have just had surgery or suffer from a deep depression and we both see a difference after sound therapy.” In the Crystal Bowls treatment, she uses the pure sounds of the instruments to modify the rhythm of brain waves and induce deep relaxation and cellular regeneration. As for her approach, Daniela explained that she uses more dissonant notes when she detects that a guest is encountering some form of energy blockage.
For the Shu Points treatment, Daniela stimulates color-coded tuning forks, each of which corresponds to a vital organ, then places them on the body points targeted in acupuncture. During the Yusen treatment, one lies supine on a hollow sound table with fifty-five bronze strings underneath it, all tuned to the same frequency. Daniela stimulates one string at a time to calm the nervous system and relax the vertebrae. Yusen especially benefits those who are stressed out, depressed, or experience difficulty sleeping.
Daniela’s many passions include performing crystal bowl concerts around the world and studying the traditions and strong ties to nature of the Lakota-Sioux Indian tribe of South Dakota. She now has an adopted tribal mother and is co-founder of Cangleshka Oyate, an organization that teaches Italians about the Lakota-Sioux philosophy.
La Reserve also incorporates the sound theme in a summer course called, “The Voice as Garden of the Soul.” Taught by actress, dancer, and theatrical director, Luna Pizzo Greco, the workshop brings participants in touch with their own sounds and shows them how to use their voices to enhance energy levels and achieve higher states of well being. A playful experience, participants go through exercises to enhance breathing, articulation, and resonance. Luna explained that she concentrates on the mask of the face, which is the optimal point for creating one’s true and proper sound.
The spa also features an indoor pool, an outdoor pool with warm sulphur water, men’s and women’s saunas, Turkish baths, and an exercise room.
A spa’s success can be measured in many ways, but repeat visits are a strong indicator. During my stay in late May, still considered off-season, I encountered several loyal clientele: Nadia, a housewife from the nearby town of Nocciano, two couples from the Adriatic city of Ancona, two elegant women from Bari, and a couple from the Northern Italian city of Modena.
La Reserve reports that about forty percent of guests return, and the spa promises to boost this figure. My body and heart agree with Luigi Di Ciaccio, who said with certainty, “Our formula is simple – we give excellent service, high quality treatments, and good food.”
The Latest Scoop at La Reserve
• This year La Reserve launched Fitoreserve, a line of eleven herbal supplements. Fermenti Lattici is a good bacteria to aid those with digestive and stomach problems. Tonificante is a pick-me-up that includes ginkgo biloba, ginseng, and grape seeds. Antiossidante is armed with broccoli, pumpkin, wheat germ, lycopene, selenium, and other ingredients to fight free radicals.
• Among the popular medical treatments at La Reserve is a Chinese technique that determines what foods should be avoided for optimal health and shows which organs are impacted by particular foods. Another treatment determines one’s biological age following a functionality test of the organs.
• In June of this year, the spa will host a week-long yoga class with Jamie Allison, a certified Anusara Yoga Instructor based in Edwards, Colorado. (For more information visit www.omzoneyoga.com.)
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La Reserve is about a two-hour car ride from Rome. Prices for a typical seven-day stay based on an exchange rate of $1=Euro 1. Stays based on full board, double occupancy, and the top tier Prestige Room. Rates start at Euro 578 – 1363 depending on length of stay, package plan, and time of year. (39) 085-92391. www.lareserve.it
May/June 2003
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