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I’ve always been a little fascinated by the idea of cruising. The idea of basically a small floating town, albeit a very luxurious town, complete with multiple restaurants, bars, theatres, shops and swimming pools but no way off for sometimes up to two days both repels and excites me. But having read recently about the rise of luxe day spas on cruise ships I find myself being strangely drawn to the idea. (No surprise there, I have yet to meet a day spa which I didn’t want to visit so why should a floating day spa be any different.)
Many cruising day spas are surpassing land based spas with their ultra luxurious surrounds, their state of the art, high tech treatments and their outstanding customer service, so I thought it was about time my spa guide explore the times and tides of the cruising spa that float around Australian waters.
Aqua Health, Spa and Fitness Centre, Pacific Jewel
The largest floating spa in the southern hemisphere is aboard P&O Cruises’ Pacific Jewel. The Aqua Health, Spa and Fitness Centre offers spa and wellness treatments served with a spectacular ocean view. With steam rooms, saunas, whirlpools and relaxation areas a-plenty this is 1300 square meters of pure spa heaven. They have a licensed physician on board who provides full medi-spa services including Botox and Restylane so you could set foot on dry land looking younger than when you got on board! Book in for some acupuncture if you are struggling to find your sea legs and try a fire and ice manicure if you are looking to treat yourself to something a little different.
ShipShape day spas, Royal Caribbean
ShipShape® day spas are run by Elemis and are a feature of all Royal Caribbean (link http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au ) cruise ships. They offer an astonishing array of spa and wellness treatments including everything from yoga classes to hot stone massages and facials. Their Voyager of the Seas liner will be the first ‘mega liner’ to be based in Australia from 2012 and houses the ShipShape® day spa as well as, of course, an ice skating rink, a full size basketball court, three swimming pools and a climbing wall. AquaSpa, Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises (link) http://www.celebritycruises.com - offer a true celeb spa seeker experience at the AquaSpa® and Fitness Centres found aboard all their liners. After you’ve enjoyed your entirely appropriate, Elemis Aroma Spa Seaweed Mask and massage you can have your teeth whitened and have a ‘freshen up’ with a touch of Botox or Restylane before heading to a sunset yoga class! AquaSpa® even cater for teens with their YSpa services, perfect for any grumpy teens travelling with you. If you’re looking for a full on cruising spa retreat you can stay in an AquaSpa state room so you can be close the spa and have access to the Persian Garden with its rain shower, scented steam room and shower for the duration of your stay. Unlike many cruising day spas you can book your spa appointments in before you climb aboard on the majority of Celebrity Cruise liners. This is great news if you want to continue a beauty regime, if you know your hair is going to need that trim in a couple of weeks or if you just want to make sure you don’t miss out on an appointment time during your cruise.
With all these amazing options a life on the ocean waves has never been better for Spa Seekers. Who wouldn’t want to while away the hours being massaged and manicured before stepping onto shore at a new location every other day. Maybe I’m coming round to the idea of cruising after all…
Have you had a spa experience on a cruise ship?
 I’ve always been a little fascinated by the idea of cruising. The idea of basically a small floating town, albeit a very luxurious town, complete with multiple restaurants, bars, theatres, shops and swimming pools...
Blog
It’s the little things that make us happy and hand cream is one of those small things. There’s nothing quite like soothing dry and cracked hands with a luxurious hand cream to inject a bit of happiness into our day.
Hand creams do more than just smell nice and soften your hands, these days they can reduce the appearance of sun spots and blemishes, even out skin tone and calm your senses with their essential oils. It’s worth considering that it’s often the hands that give away the age of even the most ‘refreshed’ looking celebrities so look after your hands and you can keep the paparazzi guessing about your true age!
Here are our pick of the best ‘spa-stocked’ hand creams. Check out the ingredients and benefits to choose the one which is just right to nourish mitts and protect your paws
1.Endota : Lavender and Alpine Pepper Hand Cream
Ingredients: lavender, organic australian alpine pepper, licorice
Results: deeply moisturising, nourishes cracked skin, and evens out skin tone for soft, younger-looking hands.
2.Sodashi: Hand Rescue Cream
Ingredients: organic jojoba oil, vitamin E, shea butter, lemon, rosewood, avocado oil, apricot kernel oil
Results: nourishes, soothes, repairs and protects hands and cuticles.
3.Li’Tya: Munthari Hand Hydrating Lotion
Ingredients:
Results:
4.Uspa: Lavender Hand and Body Cream (75ml $
Ingredients: Macadamia Nut Oil, Olive Leaf Extract, Green Tea Herbal Extract, Lavender
Results: anti-oxidant, good for hands showing signs of premature aging due to photo aging, increases hydration retention and elasticity in skin
5.Thalgo: Youthful Hand Cream
Ingredients: Peach Extracts, Mirual®
Results: Hydrating, lightening, hydrates and nourishes while fighting against the appearance of pigmentation spots and premature skin-ageing.
6.Pevonia Botanica: Multi Active Hand Cream
Ingredients: Sunflower Oil, Vitamins A, E and D, contains UV protection
Results: minimizes visible signs of aging while moisturizing
7.Eminence Organics: Vanilla Mint Hand Cream
Ingredients: Shea Butter, Denatured Grain Alcohol, Vanilla, Peppermint, Aloe Vera
Results: Softening, soothing and hydrating
8.Aveda: Hand relief
Ingredients: Hydrating plant emollients, humectants, exfoliating fruit acids and anti-oxidants—including vitamins A and E
Results: soothes dry, chapped hands. Helps diminish signs of aging with continued use increasing moisture levels and elasticity.
9.Jurlique: Pure Age Defying Hand Cream $55
Ingredients: Soybean, Jojoba, Sunflower Seed and Safflower Seed Oils, Indian Gooseberry and Turmeric
Results: Instantly hydrating, softening and moisturising, can help diminish the appearance of dark spots or skin discolourations.
10.iKou: Organic Mandarin & LillyPilly Hand Therapy $24.95 100ml
Ingredients: LillyPilly extract, organic mandarin essential oil
Results: Richly hydrating, draws moisture to the skin and then retains it
 It’s the little things that make us happy and hand cream is one of those little things.
Blog
My spa guide has a brand new contributor - Sarah Fletcher from Quiet Mind Meditation.
This is the first of a series of blogs from Sarah who is going to take us on a tour of meditation - what it is and how we can use to find peace in our every day lives. Sarah will also show us how to take meditation and mindfulness into our spa visits to get an even more indepth relaxation and benefit from our time out.
What is Meditation?
"I have been lucky over the years to have had some amazing spa and retreat experiences, and appreciate the immense value of touch, and a little pampering, to our sense of wellness, both body and mind.
Modern life is busy. Our days start with an instant charge of sensory overload: the urgent alarm, the family organisation, the crazy commute .. and from there, we are constantly ‘on’, juggling priorities, responding to pings and beeps, the constantly ringing phone and flood of emails. We know that too much busy-ness can lead to stress, and unresolved stress is said to lead to dis-ease, so it is imperative for our health that we find the tools we need to regularly release our stress. One wonderful way to do this is through meditation.
In meditation we deeply relax the body, calm the mind and engage the senses; and begin to notice small spaces of deep peacefulness. Between all the sounds, thoughts, busy-ness and chaos of life, we find there is a really deep and natural stillness within us. With practice this stillness grows, and in this space our body and mind are given the opportunity to rest, replenish and regenerate.
Meditation invites us to stop, breathe and be still: mind and body.
Along with a regular meditation practice, we can also embrace a meditative focus in daily life by deliberately slowing down and paying attention to the present moment .. this is known as mindfulness. When we remove the auto-pilot and tune in to the moment of NOW .. we gain a greater awareness of self, of our senses, our body and our mind. Mindfulness meditation practices are simply about being present, fully aware and present to this perfect moment, so completely engaged in what we are doing that we shift internally to a deeper sense of calm and balance."
Sarah Fletcher - Quiet Mind Meditation
Check our Sarah’s blog - Meditation at the spa
What is Meditation and how we can use to find peace in our every day lives?
Blog
 Mineral make-up lovers suggest the history of the natural alternative to traditional cosmetics dates back to Ancient Egypt and Cleopatra’s own beauty rituals.
Blog
Regular eyebrow waxes and the occasional upper lip wax barely even make me flinch but when it comes to waxing bikini lines my pain threshold gravitates right down as low as possible.
In an unfortunate incident a few years ago a dear friend booked me in for a brazilian with her waxer. Yes I know a brazilian probably wasn't the best place to start for a bikini waxing virgin with a low pain threshold but in for a penny in for a pound and all that. Suffice to say that I yelped like an injured animal and swore like a sailor much to the amusement of my friend waiting outside and the other customers next inline. Never again I swore to my trusty razor.
Well the answer to my waxing fears could be hitting these shores very soon. Waxing goddesses stateside have started offering pain free bikini waxing with a little help from the the BareEase & Cream kit developed by anesthesiologist Dr. Edna Ma at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. The kit promises 'ouchfree' waxing and includes a Lidocaine-based numbing cream and....an accompanying pink latex thong.
Simply apply the cream to the area you intend to have waxed about 30-45 minutes before your spa appointment and slip into something less comfortable, namely that gorgeous pink latex thong. The cream comes in a single use quantity so no danger of overdosing on the Lidocaine and is safe to use on your lady bits.
Aside from looking ridiculous (interesting), the latex panties keep your clothes clean and help the anaesthetic absord into the skin.
If the reports from the States are to believed then you should only feel the warmth of the wax and the only pain will be in your purse from the $25usd that the single use kit costs.
 Eyebrow waxes and the occasional upper lip wax barely make me flinch...
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Blog
We are having a love affair at my spa guide HQ...relax everyone it’s the online website kind of love affair...we have the hots for Wellness WA! (Link)
Wellness WA is ‘the’ website for news, reviews and information about everything beauty, health & wellbeing in Perth & Western Australia.
Whether you are based in WA and want to find out more about health and wellbeing in your home state or if you just have a passion for all things wellness related this fabulous website is for you.
One day the team at Wellness WA are reviewing a new type of ‘body sculpting’ machine, the next it’s a visit to a new hairdressers or yoga class, they are always on the lookout for new and exciting health and lifestyle offerings in Perth and WA to share with their readers.
So check out Wellness WA next time you’re headed out way out west!
 We are having a love affair at my spa guide HQ...relax everyone it’s the online website kind of love affair...we have the hots for Wellness WA!
Blog
How did Pure Energy Spa begin?
In the space of ten years Datin Ramona Suleiman had completed 4 major Malaysian projects including 2 shopping malls and a 550 room 5 star hotel. This hugely successful female executive decided to take a break and replaced board meetings with meditation! After enjoying wellness holidays with her husband, starting a Spa business became a natural progression…. a new business of passion. Shortly after opening Pure Energy Day Spa in Malaysia, Datin together with co-founder Alice Wiseman realized that there is a niche in the market for those low on time but high on stress. Pure Energy in Australia, located at Flinders Street in Melbourne CBD commenced operations in August 2009.
What was the inspiration behind Pure Energy Spa?
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Pure Energy offers a simple but complete menu of spa services for on-the-go, busy global nomads and citizens of the world looking to recharge, revitalize and reconnect in a clean, stylish environment. Whether it is a fully indulgent treatment for those with time or a short respite and a quick fix for those low on time, Pure Energy Spa offers a unique and stylish spa experience. Our treatments combine Balinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Malay and Western techniques, an experience you can expect to receive in a Pure Energy anywhere in the world. Pure Energy is designed to reflect a balance and mixture of contemporary west but its soul is eastern –serene, spiritual and healing.
What is the Pure Energy Spa philosophy?
Recharge – Revitalise - Reconnect
How does Pure Energy Spa give back to the community?
To see the grimace or the frown on a guest’s face melt into a smile by the end of a treatment is enough to know that we have made difference, but Pure Energy gives in the form of charity also. Every year a percentage of the Pure Energy turnover is donated to PAWS, an animal charity in Malaysia for abandoned cats and dogs. Mr Stephen Wong, a well known Malaysian photographer kindly volunteered to capture the essence of the charity and collages of his visual art are on the walls in Pure Energy for guests to feast their eyes on.
What next for Pure Energy Spa?
Pure Energy wants to expand globally, starting with Australia, hoping to have a few Pure Energy Spa’s not just in Melbourne, but also all over Australia - Sydney, Perth,the Gold Coast etc. Whilst exploring the possibilities of expansion in other Asian countries, expansion in Malaysia has seen the successful opening of our latest Pure Energy Spa at Lone Pine Hotel in Penang.
 In our series of spa stories, My spa guide finds some of Australia’s truly unique and beautiful spas with hidden stories of hard work, passion and determination in their creation.
Blog
Meditation at the spa
Our guest contributor Sarah Fletcher from Quiet Mind Meditation is back with some tips on bringing meditation into your spa trips to get the most out of your 'me' time.
Meditation at the spa:
"A few months ago I booked into my local spa for a long overdue massage. At the time I was exploring mindfulness meditation and so decided to bring that meditative focus to my massage by allowing the sense of touch to be my anchor to the ‘present moment’.
Mindful Arriving: my ‘mindfulness massage’ started once I arrived at the spa and settled into the waiting room. I had arrived. I mentally recognised that this was my time to rest, to leave the outside world, outside and to fully engage with my massage experience. I took three deep breaths. I paid attention to the beautiful ambient setting, noticed the soft lights, the warmth of the room and my bare feet on the rug. I reflected on my intention for the next few hours: to focus on my breath and to observe my body relaxing through the sense of touch. To invite a deeper sense of ease and calmness into my body and mind.
Mindful Awareness: I tuned into my sense of hearing, the birds outside the window, the soft bubbling of the oil infuser, the distant sound of a wind chime. I found my sense of smell responding to the beautiful scents in the room, I noticed my shoulders gradually relaxing and my breath naturally slowing. Once settled onto the massage table I brought awareness to the placement of my body, noticing the point of contact with the table and the towels against my skin, the warmth of the room around me, my belly gently expanding as I breathed in, and my mental noting of ‘let go’ as I breathed out.
The key to practicing mindfulness is to slow down and pay attention. We can focus on any of our senses to anchor into the present moment the smells, the sounds, the textures, the visuals, the sensations.
As the therapist directed her attention to my feet, I took my awareness and my breath right down to the soles of my feet. As she moved to different parts of my body I follow her touch with my awareness and my breath, maintaining a really attentive and detailed interest in whatever feelings, sensations or energy I found. If I noticed any tension or holding in the body I breathed into that space to see if I could soften further, and with each exhalation I simply ‘let go’. I observed the step by step process of my body (and mind) relaxing .. to the point of deep and utter stillness. Relaxing from the inside out.
People seek out meditation for many reasons .. to relax, manage stress, improve health, develop greater focus and awareness, inspire creative thinking, cope better with change, or better handle the varied demands of life.
Bringing meditative awareness to our wellness practice, spa treatment or any present moment experience, allows us to focus fully and explore the total experience, giving us an immediate and deeper connection with what is actually happening, and a greater sense of ease and wellbeing."
Sarah Fletcher Quiet Mind Meditation
Check out Sarah's first blog - What is Meditation?
 Our guest contributor Sarah Fletcher from Quiet Mind Meditation is back with some tips on bringing meditation into your spa trips to get the most out of your 'me' time.
Blog
 Australian Spa Seekers, wait no more, myspaguide.com.au will free up your time to ensure you spend more time doing what you love, exploring Australia’s day spas, retreats and medi-spas.
Blog
 Masks give you the perfect excuse to close your eyes, relax and take it easy on a weekly basis.
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The lovely Sarah Fletcher from Quiet Mind Meditation is back to tell us that meditation might not be what we think it is...
