October 13, 2006

Relaxation Nao

Ryu-Jitsu Body Treatment

To: DC Editors
Re: Spa Pitch

What: Ryu-Jitsu (“Dragon Magic” in Japanese), a three-part body treatment that just launched at NAO Salon & Spa in midtown.

Why: It’s a-ma-zing. Nothing like it in the U.S. (And we’ve looked.)

You start on the Body Master, a passive workout machine that’s like a shortened treadmill. For fifteen minutes, you stand, squat, and sit as it jiggles you (like so much Jell-O). The machine contracts muscles, does serious lymphatic drainage, and feels kinda funny. (Apparently, this is very big in Japan.)

Then it’s off to the Hot Stone Spa Room filled with lava rocks from Mt. Fuji for twenty minutes of sweating, detoxing, and cool lavender towels.

Part three is the best: the massage, a mix of Shiatsu and Thai, in which your limbs are moved around (more drainage). You quickly lose track of how many people are working on you. Four hands? Eight? When you’re sure it can’t get better, the sheet under you fills with a rush of water, and they wrap you in it like a happy little human burrito. (Don’t worry, you don’t get wet.)

Start to finish? Two hours. Price tag? $350. Effect? Absolutely melt-worthy.

NAO Salon & Spa, 609 Madison Avenue, at 58th Street (212-752-1111 and naonewyork.com).