March 2009’s Featured Article:

The modern destination and day spa is a truly international endeavor—from every building material right through to the spa menu. Sheetrock from Indiana, plumbing parts from China, sinks from Mexico, tapestries from India, sheets from some remote island chain in the Pacific, spa products from France, Germany, Africa and Italy and spa menus with Chinese, Thai, Tibetan, Indian and Swedish treatments. In the fusion of culture and commerce, it is virtually impossible to imagine putting together such ventures without drawing on resources from wide and far.
The fusion is an inevitable reality in our ever-shrinking world. At the same time, the forces and mechanisms that have seen especially raw materials and commodities zoom around the planet have run into several obstacles and roadblocks in recent years: overconsumption, the production of inferior quality products that we throw away rather than fix and the resulting scarcity of materials, unrealistic financial decisions and policies that brought about the current world recession and the visible truth and experience of global warming and a planet in peril.

We cannot talk about green without adopting certain morals and ethics in how we procure, handle, use and treat each and every item that comes before us day in and day out.

There have been nature lovers, environmentalists, proponents of organic living and people concerned with ideas of fair trade and sustainability for all—facets and terms of what it means to go green—who have been voicing their concerns for more than 40 years. However, most of us look at these issues and concepts of becoming green because of the growing necessity to do so, fueled by the demands of a clientele savvy enough to know that this is the future. Consequently, if we are going to support local and global efforts to become green, we need to start by greening the spa industry. Because of their inherent international culture of commodities, products and services, spas can be at the forefront of demonstrating and modeling green for its clientele.
That said, let’s look at some of the concepts that are important for going green. Then let’s see how they can be applied to spas, from the ground up.

Sense and sensibility

The term “green” has come to mean any number of things. It is a marketing buzzword. And yet it is defined in so many ways that it has become a cliché that makes consumers think that this product or business is environmentally concerned, friendly, helping the planet, something we should support, etc… Thus, people rarely ask the essential questions about what exactly a company means when they describe an offering as “green.”
All that aside, let me define the term in its most inclusive way. Green means “that which supports and sustains life.” “Life” here does not mean the bank accounts of investors—although it could. Rather, life means all of life. It begs questions such as, How is this product produced? What is the origin of its raw materials? How does the extraction or creation of the material and product impact the quality of air, land and water? What is the impact on all life forms, plants, animals and humans in and around the places where the materials are extracted or created? How are the workers involved in the growing or production of the consumed materials and products treated? What are their working conditions like? Are they provided with health care? Are they compensated fairly? What amount and type of energy is needed to procure, create and ship the commodity? Is the production of the material or commodity being conducted in a way that is regenerative? Does it take into consideration limits on supply or in some way compensate for its production so that it will not leave future generations lacking? Furthermore, there are also levels to the greening issue: the impact it has on our clients, our spa, our city, state, country and the world in general.
Implicit in the definition and all of the questions it brings up is a sense of universal responsibility, which we need to adopt as our sense and sensibility in a world that is showing us the devastating results of a “me first” mentality. Thus, we cannot talk about green living without taking on certain morals and ethics in how we procure, handle, use and treat each and every item we come into contact with on a daily basis.

By going all natural, you can develop a closer connection to those who actually produce the products for us.

Start at the base: clients

So what does that mean for a spa? And if a spa is to go green, how green can it really go? With the list of questions that I just posed, what details in the building, operations, products and services can you apply to truly have a green perspective and vision? Unless you have unlimited financial resources, you will probably be greener in some areas than others. Yet while you will have more control over greening certain aspects of your spa, that does not mean that you should ignore the other levels. We try our best to be as green as possible when considering the environmental impact of where we build our spa and the materials that we use. But, realistically, the level that you need to pay the most attention to has to be your clients and the immediate needs of what it takes to keep your doors open, which provides the life-enhancing, stress reducing services that you offer. In this regard, I am reminded of the ecological slogan: Think globally. Act locally.
Let’s start at the foundation: your clients. Using products that support life, contain high quality organic nutrients and botanicals and are grown with respect for nature and the people who grow, harvest and produce them should be at the top of your greening strategies.
Sadly, when looking at what some “natural” companies have listed as what makes them green, they speak of their packaging, how they ship their products, the energy saving devices they use in manufacturing, etc. This is all well and good. But more than likely, regardless of whether they save or lose money on these measures, the price of their products goes up with their claims of green-ness. Then you look at their products and what they sell you to use on your clients. Basically, you are given a chemical soup that is toxic to manufacture and toxic for your customers.
When you use products like these, you negatively affect your clients and their wellbeing—no matter how exotic the treatment may be. In Ayurveda, 95 percent of our general wellbeing is determined by lifestyle, including the foods that we eat and what we ingest through our pores. To be more life supporting and prevention oriented in our spas, we can contribute to decreasing health care costs for our clients by demanding that companies do not make synthetics, toxic oils, cleansers, moisturizers, shampoos, conditioners, nail products or anything else that stresses skin and the nervous and immune systems, to name just a few affected areas. Furthermore, by going all natural, you can develop a closer connection to those who actually produce the products for us.

A green approach to your staff is to provide the products and facilities that make their jobs easier and to provide them with the proper time it takes to be trained in any given service.

Move on to the staff

The next level you should consider when greening your spa is the staff. These are the people who bring clients through the door and deliver the services that make them want to come back. So if you are talking about sustainability as a green concept, you have to create a physical and emotional environment that stirs the staff’s desire and ability to nurture. Encouraging the staff to do so can be done on a number of levels.
Starting at the physical level, it is obvious that the products used on clients are also on the hands of your therapists. Therefore, the same considerations mentioned earlier apply. Then there are cleaning products and toiletries that staff need to use. More and more of these products are both natural and effective. The ones that are not include caustic chemicals or synthetic perfumes.
Staff members may choose to bring a packed lunch or go out to eat. Encourage health from the inside out: Stock your spa with high quality water, juices and teas and fill snack machines with fresh fruit and vegetable options and protein bars rather than candy and soft drinks. It may actually help morale and encourage people to arrive on time for their appointments.
Along the lines of morale, over the years we have seen far too many spas that overwork their staff. Few have adequate break rooms and most therapists do not have sufficient time between clients for a meal. As a result, discontent, burnout and turnover of staff is widespread. Clearly, negativity is not a sustainable way to go. A green approach to your staff is to provide products and facilities that make their jobs easier and allow adequate time for them to be trained in any given service that they are expected to offer. To find out how you are doing, we advise you to send in a secret shopper with spa treatment knowledge to assess the quality of what you offer.

If you start in the right place—supporting the life of the people you serve and who offer service—then the root of green will grow strong.

Strong, green roots

Clients and staff are the two most important areas to consider if you are truly going to green your spa. Of course, it would not hurt to have straw bail construction, low flow or composting toilets, eco-friendly paints and enamels, décor made of natural fibers and recycled materials that do not demand the clear cutting of virgin forests or endangered hardwoods. Using new petro-chemical based products (i.e., new plastics) and recycled stationary and labels for products, menu cards and so on are all wonderful ways to demonstrate to the public that you are a green, eco-friendly and caring business. But unless you are putting the lion’s share of your green efforts into delivering products and materials that are life-supporting for your clients and staff, all of these items will be mere window treatments. If you are not green at the core—your clients and staff—the appearance of harmony will soon fade and the problems that so many spas encounter with discontented clients or staff will escalate once more. There are spas that invest, for example, in impressive $1000 dollar sinks and other public décor while skimping on training and support for staff and using cheaper products. That approach is not green or sustainable. Greening takes time—it must be done incrementally and organically. And it begins with your clients and staff.
How green can you go? If you start in the right place—supporting the life of the people you serve and who offer service—then the root of green will grow strong. Slowly but surely those very same roots will make the necessary resources available to you to create a beautiful oasis for everyone who walks through your door.
Green is magic. Honor the elements, honor life, and watch a richer life—both within and without —appear right before your eyes.

Robert Sachs is a counselor, licensed massage therapist and educator. He is the author of Tibetan Ayurveda: Health Secrets From The Roof of The World and coauthor with Melanie Sachs of Ayur­vedic Spa. Visit Sachs’ website at
www.DiamondWayAyurveda.com, e-mail ayurveda8@earthlink.net, call toll-free at 866.303.3321 or phone/fax him at 805.543.9291.

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