Three spa rituals (way) south of the border

In Texas, the Lantana Spa at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa presents each guest with a piece of red ribbon to perform the Seven Knots Ritual, which originated among the traditional village healers in Latin America. As each knot is tied, a concern or worry is to be considered while visualizing the best outcome; the seventh knot creates a circle. Tying the knots is said to release worry and stress, while the red colour signifies courage, strength, health, energy, passion and survival.

The SE Spa’s Four-Hand Tequila & Nopal Massage at the AAA Five Diamond Grand Velas Los Cabos in Mexico begins with an energy purification ritual to call forth the four elements, with sage to symbolize earth, a floating candle to represent fire and water, and a feather to conjure air. During treatment, the ancestral technique of stretching using a Mexican shawl helps to release tension.

Also in Mexico, the Kinan Spa at Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa offers an authentic Mayan cleansing ritual in the temazcal, which is a pre-Columbian sweat lodge used by Indigenous Central Americans as a curative ceremony to purify the body. Ancestral drums and chants accompany a session with herbal infusions poured over heated volcanic stones.