Healing Stones Find New Roles

KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP
Published: November 23, 2009
New York Times

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but semi-precious stones are catching up fast - not just in jewelry but increasingly in skin care, beauty and health treatments.

Throughout the ages, gemstones have been associated, in cultures ranging from China and India to the Americas, with healing properties. In crystal therapy, a form of alternative medicine, agate is said to slow the pulse and counter insomnia, while amber is said to have both calming and energizing properties. One of the most popular crystals in spa treatments, rose quartz, is reputed among believers to rejuvenate skin and cells and heal emotional wounds.

While medical research indicates any such benefits are imaginary, it also suggests that - such is the power of the mind - the imaginary sometimes works pretty well.

“The use of crystals and other semi-precious stones to help with energy healing is nothing new; it’s been around for centuries, said Cathy Feliciano-Chon, managing director of CatchOn, a Hong Kong-based marketing and communications consultancy specializing in spa and wellness sector brand development.

“In the Asian cultures, people wear crystal and jade because they’ve long believed in their healing properties,” Ms. Chon said. “But there appears to be a new trend gaining momentum in spa treatments. You certainly see it with the use of jade and quartz for example.” These, she said, are often being used in treatments in which the client’s body is massaged with heated stones.

Spas around Asia are increasingly offering treatments such as skin massage with crystal wands - said to help revitalize skin cells, leaving them velvety soft - or the placement of crystals on specific chakras, the force centers associated with traditional Indian medicine, to relieve pain and promote relaxation.

“The chakras are the energy centers in the body, usually from the torso to the top of the head, and they’re linked to colors and through color they’re also linked to the stones and their properties,” said Sheila McCann, the director in charge of spa brand quality for the Shangri-La hotels and resorts chain.

Traditional hot stone massages usually use basalt, a black volcanic rock that absorbs and retains heat. But more exotic stones, apart from being more expensive, can offer physical advantages.

“Jade doesn’t hold the intense heat of basalt, which some people find uncomfortable; Jade has a gentler warmth that works very well in treatment,” Ms. McCann said. A new Shangri-La hotel in Beijing will offer a massage with amber, which until now has been rarely used.

Going a step beyond the use of stones for body massages, a new fashion is developing for using gemstone powders in skin care products.

The Chi spa at the Pudong Shangri-La in Shanghai has introduced a facial treatment that combines a crystal wand massage with the use of Royal Aquamarine Formula, a product from the German skin care brand Biodroga which contains powdered aquamarine.

Other brands touting gem products include American Beauty, which uses “diamond-powder extract” in one of its anti-aging creams; Natura Bissé, which uses diamond dust mixed with micronized iron and wild lavender essential oil in its Magnetic Therapy face cream and Bulgari, which uses “gem essence” - a formula which the brand claims contains “extracts of precious stones” in its skin care line.

Some spas have started using a mix of diamond and iron dust in their abrasive scrub treatments. After the dust is rubbed into the body or face, the therapist uses a magnet to draw it out again and, “with it extracting negative ions, energy, toxins and other negative environmental impacts,” said Sabrina Cormack, spa director at the Joya Spa at InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Ms. Cormack’s spa offers two treatments using diamond dust - a facial costing $315 and a Diamond Magnetic Body Experience for $305. Both are “extremely popular with spa guests, particularly more mature guests who are seeking visible results from a facial treatment, and an extremely moisturizing treatment,” Ms. Cormack said.

Started in Dubai in 2004, the organic luxury Shiffa skin care line sells gem-infused oils, which a few high-end spas in the Middle East and the United States have started to offer to customers. Each gemstone, formed under specific earth pressures, is imbued with a specific energy, the brand says.

“The Shiffa gemstone treatments are highly sought after and they are very much wellness driven,” said Bonnie Kyle, spa director at the Peninsula Spa in Beverly Hills, California. “The sapphire is for calmness and balance, the ruby is for harmony and love, the emerald is detoxifying and the diamond is for balancing your entire system. Our most popular is the sapphire treatment which is for 90 minutes and is very calming and healing,” she said.