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Too busy to hit the gym or unwind at
a spa? These traveling pros bring the
pampering to you.

By Rose Spinelli Photograph by Mireya Acierto

It's Saturday morning. I lie in bed inert. The weather is gloomy and cold. My first semiconscious thought is of self-reproach: I've overslept and the swarms of weekend workout warriors will already have descended on the gym, threatening to crowd me out. I roll over, seized by a pang of guilt until I remember I don't have to go anywhere! Soon, my workout will come to me in the form of one-hour private yoga instruction. Fifteen minutes later, a masseur will show up at my door—equipped with his own table and essential oils—to rub out whatever stress remains from my hectic week with a 70-minute massage.

It sounds like a fantasy sequence, but thanks to some forward-thinking entrepreneurs, you too can have spa and yoga services delivered to your doorstep. It has a Hollywood starlet dimension, but the goal of this new brand of wellness care is not just sybaritic. The shift of having gurus come to your home instead of you having to go to them is a response to marketplace needs. Businesses are realizing the benefits of keeping their employees' stress levels down, too, and are hiring these folks in increasing numbers to come to the office for spa and stress-reduction services.

Deborah Moroz, founder of GuruToYou and the benefactor of my at-home spa day, says her company's role is "to support people at work and at home to make conscious choices about their health. The key to survival is adaptation. We're seeing higher stress levels due to productivity demands at the workplace. Employees are asked to be accessible all the time."

Moroz, a former stressed-out attorney who likes to end each conversation with "Don't forget to breathe," took her cues from her own life when she launched G2U three years ago. "Until I was 30, I was unaware that I was going through the motions," she says. Once she began meditating, exercising five days a week and cutting what she ate in half, "it was the first step out of low-grade misery." G2U employed that three-pronged approach to form the basis for the company's services. It brings yoga, Pilates, strength and personal training, massage, meditation, and nutrition counseling to the overcommitted, whose never-ending to-do lists threaten to mangle their quality of life.

The company, which employs 75 gurus and arranges every detail so you don't have to, even recently put down stakes in the land of "I"—Los Angeles. "There may be no end to the stress in our lives," Moroz says, "but G2U is a way to bring consciousness to the here and now." It is, she believes, the first step toward self-actualization.

Camille S. Finley, the vice president of wellness services for Body Biz, Inc., also wants to raise awareness. "We're basing our company on a new vision," she says. According to Finley, who was a personal trainer for 27 years, getting to the gym is the end result of personal growth. The old standard of effecting internal change through sheer rigor and routine is not a lasting model. "It just doesn't work," she says. "You don't need someone to coach you to be thin next week—you need someone to coach you how to be well."

To that end, the centerpiece of Body Biz's to-go services is lifestyle coaching. "We like to get intimate," Finley says. A Body Biz wellness practitioner will make a one-hour consultation in your home to find out where your resolve lags. If it reveals that you're not working out because you can't find your gym bag in your messy house, a feng shui practitioner will be dispatched. "[We'll] declutter so you can make space for new situations," she says.

Body Biz's model, which seeks to "merge your subconscious with the conscious," outlines the five levels necessary to change: recognition, investigation, acceptance, implementation and maintenance. The amount of time workers spend with you depends on where you fall on this scale. They can be in and out in a couple of sessions or design a full wellness program employing a combination of ten specialists. "Breathing is one of the first things I teach people," she says. "If you learn to do that, you would slow down, and getting to the gym would be easier."

Sholanda Aikens's company, Body Be Good, has been in business for a year, and is geared to metaphysics seekers, most of whom are women (so far). "I wanted to provide services to people who are curious but may not have access to the information," she says.

Aikens has a regular staff of five who provide a spectrum of at-home, body-to-soul hygiene services: manicures, pedicures, massage, energy readings and reflexology. "People see these things as a luxury," she says. "I don't. If you look at other cultures, the Thai, for example, do massages on each other every day. It's their health care." Aikens believes this shift in consciousness is nothing short of a spiritual revolution of the soul. "It's happening whether you're going for it or not. People are realizing that things that used to work don't work anymore. My goal is to help people realize their greatness, and a big part of that is taking care of yourself. If you're giving all of yourself away, you'll lose your passion."

The newest among the ranks of traveling pamperers is Soul Revival Mobile Spa. Leah Patterson is an engineer-turned-herbalist who recently decided to take her services on the road. "It took me a long time to realize the importance of taking personal time and doting on yourself like we're taught to do for other people," Patterson says. Now she spreads her passion around, servicing individuals, groups of spa partyers and, because part of her mission is to make indulgence affordable, public festivals and events where she offers "mini" treatments. Soul Revival's services include facials—using Patterson's own line of natural products—hot-stone massages and its signature cocoa-mint manicures and pedicures. Other add-ons include tarot-card readings and reflexology. Like the others, her mission has a solid educational component. "We offer workshops to help clients learn basic practices to keep them feeling well," Patterson says.

Getting started

The price of pampering isn't cheap, but if you factor in parking, gas and road rage, most of these services are a steal. Costs of all services vary depending on whether they're individual or group rates.

GuruToYou
(312-558-7224, www.gurutoyou.com)At-home services begin at $95 per hour.

Body Biz, Inc.
(312-467-3779, www.BodyBizInc.com)At-home services begin at $65 per hour.

Body Be Good
(312-226-7128, www.bodybegood.net)At-home service is about $100 per hour.

Soul Revival Mobile Spa
(312-933-0338, www.soulrevivalspa.blogspot.com)"Mini" services at public events (call for more information) run from $5 to $9. At-home services range from $100 to $125 per hour.

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January 12, 2005
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