Episode 210 : Three Ways to Make Life Feel Like a Spa
As a licensed esthetician for over 20 years, a feminine embodiment coach, and lover of all things lush — I’m so excited to share with you today three practical, sensory-rich ways to bring the magic of spa living into your everyday world.
From cucumber-and-kiwi water in your fridge to silky robes and five-minute beauty breaks, this episode is an invitation to stop waiting for your next vacation and start creating micro-moments of rich pleasure right where you are.
In this episode, you'll discover:
Why spa rituals are not just self care, but a form of self-mothering and somatic restoration
1–5 minute rituals that move energy, boost blood flow, and create real radiance from within
Small sensory touches you can add to your home and workspace today
A loungewear investment that makes every morning feel like a hug
Robes on, hit play, and let’s sink into 20-minutes of spa magic.
LINKS FROM THE SHOW
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Hello beautiful beings, and welcome to this episode of Come to Your Senses three ways to make your life more like a spa. So as I share in the intro to this podcast, I am licensed esthetician or facial spa. Therapist is what we're sometimes called, and I have been a licensed esthetician since 1998.
My friends, I became licensed when I was 18 years old. And so over two decades in the skincare industry, not working in spa that entire time, but always with a connection with my fingertips on somewhat of the pulse of the industry. And, you know, spa like when I think about come to your senses and all the different types of sensual training I've done in my life, that foundational training of the spa environment, I would say, is probably the thing that most informs my daily practice of sensory, sensual, embodied presence. And so in today's episode, whether it's your freezing cold office where the office air conditioning is always on too strong, or it's your little feedings as they rest under your desk while you're typing an email or it's your morning coffee. I am so excited to surround you with bubbles, like a bubble bath of tips and tricks and items to have within reach to make your home, your life, your environment more friendly to you, opening and melting into sensory relaxation.
So let's dive in to our gems. And so where we're going to begin today is with a little bit of context, because if you've listened to this podcast before, you know that I'm a big believer of that. You know, there's so much knowledge and so many tips and so many how to's in this world, but without context, it's kind of like scattering seeds at pavement, you know, it's like without the soil of context in which those seeds can rest. Those tips and tricks are just going to go one in, one in, one ear out the other. And a story I want to share to kind of set this up is a few years ago I was visiting San Francisco, and it was before I made the move to actually live here.
I live in the Bay area and I experienced something that awoke some past trauma I. And I remember I was in Santa Cruz at the time, and I was just like, I know when my body is in a trauma response and a past trauma response, like living, reliving an emotional flashback. And so my little eyes were beady. My jaw was clenched. My, you know, my startle reflex, which is super sensitive to begin with, could, like, jump at the sound of a dog snoring, you know? And sometimes these responses will come up in an acute way where, you know, for a few minutes or for a few hours. We feel super activated, but we're able to deactivate through our body's own natural healing process or through Co regulation. But this experience went on for a couple of days as just a generalized state of being. And I've been through this before and I know how this process goes for my body and for my mind. And I had a lot of support in my life. But being in a new place, I needed some contact support, you know, because I didn't really know anyone here yet. And all of my beloveds were back on the East Coast, and I thought a wonderful way to get some of that quite literal contact, as in hand to hand support would be to visit a spa and get a massage. And as soon as I walked in to this spa, there was delicious aroma on the air. Gorgeous products like jewels lined the shelves. There were hot water bottles for sale, jewelry and adornments. CBD gummies, like everything that supports a feathered nest of relaxation and pleasure. And I ended up going to that spa twice in one week and spending way beyond my budget. But it was so worth it, because my experience of spa is that when a spa is done well and right, it's not just an experience of pampering and luxury, it's an experience of being mothered, like walking into the great big arms of the feminine and saying, let me stroke your hair.
Let me prepare you this golden lavender milk to soothe your body. Let me support you like my massage therapist. I mean, bless her heart. She was so skillful at saying, you know, I started the massage by just kind of telling her what was going on. I didn't like trauma dump on her, but I just said, you know, I'm. I'm activated and my body is really feeling it. And she was like, would you like to start with a hug? Like she was just so emotionally attuned. And in the absence, you know, I was traveling. So it was like in the absence of being near my friends who mother me and my actual mother. I got to be mothered by this spa environment, and how that might relate to you in your life is life can be frigging harsh. You know, we move around in boxes all day, sitting, standing, walking, driving in our cars, being in our little houses. And there's a lot of sharp edges to life and spa cues like the cucumber water that you pour when you might go into the relaxation room to wait for your therapist.
The robes that they give you, it's like they're these tiny, sensual touches and gestures that you can soften here. You can let down your guard a little bit. We're here to take care of you. And so that's our first gem is small sensory touches woven throughout your life. Examples of how you might bring more spa like sensory touches. Our jugs of delicious water in your refrigerator filled with fruit. Oh my goddess. The other day I made this strawberry mint simple syrup and I at the end of the day, I just pour a bit of that into the bottom of a mason jar and I top it off with some sparkling water. It is so heavenly. You chop up some frozen kiwi and you pop it in there. I mean, beyond so sensory taste, refreshment. Like one of the things, the word spa, what it really means is healing through water. And it comes from, you know, the times of Roman baths and ancient bathing rituals that have a therapeutic effect and hot springs and things like that. And so giving your water a little extra adornment with something that not only brings color and flavor, but also brings the health giving benefits of something like kiwi. Which personal addendum if you ever get constipated, which I do, I have IBS. Kiwi is amazing for that. Do you pop two kiwis on your breakfast plate and you will be singing The Hills Are Alive the next morning and I highly recommend.
But it's like at a spa. These tiny sensory touches aren't just about giving you pleasure, but they're also about giving you support and nutrition and health and restoration. So delicious water with some herbs and fruit. Beautiful way to offer yourself a spa like beverage in the afternoon when you open your refrigerator. Another sensory touch might be something comfy that you keep at your desk. So I used to live in Asheville, North Carolina, and there's this wonderful place they're called the Asheville Salt Cave. I highly recommend getting a treatment when you're there if you're ever visiting.
Shout out to Jody and the team there who I love. And in the gift shop they would sell these dome like foot warmers. So it was Himalayan salt shaped like a dome. And you put it under your desk and you plug it in and you just place the bottoms of your feet on this hunk of pink salt that's warmed from within. I mean, can you even imagine? And so that's one example. You know, having a hot water bottle are the comfort of going to sleep at night. Sometimes I take a hot water bottle and I'll put it on my chest if I'm anxious. And just that weight and that warmth. It's like in the in lieu of having someone in my bed to cuddle with. Although now I have Little Man who's my Chihuahua that I just adopted recently in lieu of having somebody else to cuddle with that wait.
And that warmth is just an instant anxiety reliever. So these are just some of the small sensory touches that can bring a little bit more of a spa flavor to your life. I have many more. And in fact in the sanctuary community, which is our presence, practice, community. We're all about sensory touches, y'all. There are so many little charms and rituals and tutorials on how to bring this experience of presence that is not just centering, but is sumptuous to your day through the senses. So if you're interested in learning more, you can join us at Mary Löfgren com Slash Sanctuary, and I'll put a link to that in the show notes. The next gem is something I call Beauty Breaks, and these are tiny 1 to 5 minute rituals that offer your body a break.
So if it's the middle of your day or the end of your day, or maybe you're in a difficult conversation with someone and you need to take a pause. You need to take a break. Becoming skilled at your own. And I don't even really like to call it beauty. My friends like it's called the beauty industry, which I think is just kind of BS and is just another way that the health and healing industry can sometimes get in bed with patriarchy and the male gaze and elitism and white supremacy. You know, for those of you who might be aesthetician, you know, the trade magazines. And truthfully, I've been out of the industry for a while, so I can't really speak to it currently. But when I was a practicing aesthetician, I would read these trade magazines and just the ads were so absurd.
And often the images that dominate the health and wellness and the spa industry tend to be heteronormative couples, white couples in a white waffle weave robe, laughing and drinking green tea. You know what I'm saying? and when that kind of imagery is dominating an industry that we assign to the concept of beauty, that is problematic because when we call something a beauty treatment, what we're really talking about is the way that touch and aroma and, you know, these ingredients like oils and aromatherapy and the action of exfoliation creates human radiance.
And while radiance and beauty are akin to one another, they are not always the same thing. When we perform these treatments like an acupressure, facial massage or an aromatherapy anointing treatment on yourself, or even a slow therapeutic hand washing at the sink, the relaxation that comes over us. Creates more pathways for vitality to flow. And so one minute of facial massage while you're breathing deeply or just kneading your fingertips into your scalp, literally brings blood flow to the face and moves lymph and toxins down through the lymphatic channels, detoxifying your body, which results in radiance. And so to kind of go back to the origin of this gem, which is being skillful at these rituals, is something that I experience as self mothering. You know, it's a way of tending not just my mind through things like meditation, but tending my senses and exfoliating off the old to make room for the new.
And you know, when I think about being mothered, it's like it's a very sensory experience of nurturance that happens through touch and through scent, and for babies, through taste and through skin to skin contact. And all of these spa rituals, which are often portrayed as a way of preserving and grasping onto youth. A helpful mindset shift that you might want to try on is spa and what is commonly called beauty ritual, as a way to dive below the surface of stress and unleash your inner radiance and glow. That happens, you know, biologically and physically, certainly from lymph and blood and all the things that I talked about, but also the spiritual restoration of entering the temple of ritual around your senses and around your radiance offers a kind of glow that no serum can really compete with. And to go back to the sanctuary. If you're interested in learning more of this style of caring for your body and caring for your spirit through this sensory radiance kind of ritual. Inside the sanctuary we have the Spa Lagoon, which has over 12 gorgeous video tutorials, sensory video tutorials that I guide you through in a meditative way. And it's really just the tip of the iceberg in our on demand library of practices and rituals. So again, marylofgren.com/sanctuary If that sounds like something you'd like more of in your life, and the last make your life more like a spa is your collection of loungewear my friends.
So I cannot tell you the reliance that I put on the comfort of my robe and slippers. Oh. I just. Every single day of my life I look forward to. I sleep, usually with no clothes on, waking up and wrapping myself in this super soft, cuddly robe, slipping my tootsies into my cushioned slippers and padding out to make my coffee in the morning. It is so delicious. And at night, God, the comfort of taking off my clothes, putting myself inside that cloud chrysalis of nurturance. Friends, I just cannot recommend it highly enough. Invest in your robe. I am such a robe person. I have robes that are of that fluffy cloud variety. I also have more spring summer robes. A place I have gotten great robes is at World Market. Um, I don't know if they're a global company, but here in the US it's a store, and while not 100% fair trade, World Market does take steps towards sustainability and towards promoting and supporting artisans in their merchandise.
And I've definitely gotten some really beautiful handcrafted garments there, so I recommend checking them out for robes and they're pretty affordable. My favorite slipper on planet Earth is Acorn. Acorn. They make this chinchilla. I mean, it's not real chinchilla. Of course it's faux chinchilla, but it's furry and fuzzy. They also make one that looks like the Snuggle Bear sheep wool deliciousness, and they're like a shoe slipper. So it's not the kind where the back is open, which you may like more in the spring and summer. But for me, I love having my foot enveloped an acorn has a really cushy, steady support base. Also slipper booties. Oh my gosh, throw those on. I mean, I work from home and so if I can have at home slipper comfort while also feeling like I'm wearing shoes. Like if I'm just wearing leggings with my slipper booties. Oh god, it's just so pleasurable and I just can't recommend it highly enough. So I'm going to put all of these links in the show notes for you to indulge in and check out. If you would like to furnish your own loungewear collection with some of these brands.
And the last thing I want to share is that, you know, inside the sanctuary, the sanctuary at the time of this recording is a monthly membership. But if you're not ready to dive into the membership or you want just a smaller way to access these guided rituals, I recently released Daily Rituals for Delicious Mornings, which is a collection of rituals from the sanctuary that really can be done any time of day, but are particularly magical in the morning, like a barefoot beginnings morning ritual where outside you are invited to stand on the earth and you're guided through ten minutes of movement and breath and centering and intention setting. There's a bathroom sink confidence conjuring that takes five minutes, where I guide you through your morning skincare ritual.
And while you're doing it, we invoke, I hesitate to say, affirmations. I don't really like the word affirmations. Let's say confidence conjuring enchantments, which is much closer to what they actually are. There's an incense divination ritual, there's a sensual, tea sipping ten minute ritual, and all of these are guided experiences where you take me with you, and I am leading you through the rituals so that you don't have to work at it and effort at it.
You just follow the sound of my voice. And in the spirit of today's episode, bringing that energy of relaxation and sensory aliveness and healing into your everyday life, I couldn't let you go without telling you about daily rituals for delicious mornings, so you can check that out at the link below this episode or at Mary Lofgren. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would be so grateful if you share it with a friend or take a moment to write a five star review. These tiny gestures of gratitude and reciprocity really do support creators like myself. So my thanks in advance. My thanks for listening today. And me and little Man say. See you in the next episode.
PS - If you're craving more of this kind of slowness in your daily life, I invite you to come unwrap a bonbon of a practice. It's a free five minute velvet reset to lead you back home to your body. Whenever your thoughts are spinning, your shoulders are tensing, or you just need to reconnect to the compass within yourself. It's waiting for you in the show notes.