That's Fit

FitSpirit explores the mind-body connection and the intangible benefits we gain from our efforts to stay physically fit.

New Year's Resolution #8: Get naked with my friends.

Okay, okay. So, I know how that sounds but let me explain. When it came to resolution-making this year, I decided to turn my health focus inward. I'm always trying to stay in shape, pushing and bending my body in countless, crazy ways in the name of exercise. But this year, my goal is to tap into kinder, gentler ways to seek health. Just six days after making that decision, I was invited with a group of friends to Olympus Spa, a Korean-style bath house in Seattle.

If you're not familiar with such a thing, welcome to public bathing in the new millenium. The traditional bath house is not a fancy place, nor a pickup joint, nor a gym. It's a place where all kinds of women soak, scrub, steam and relax, a tradition spanning centuries and the globe -- from the Russian banyas, to the Japanese sentos, Turkish hamams, and German saunas.

I didn't think my new year's list would include parading nude around countless women I've never met, much less my friends (even worse!), but I was willing and interested to join the throngs of women across the country who are participating in the resurgence of the age-old tradition of communal "spa-ing," if you will. And it was a great way to give my body some much-deserved pampering. The place I attended included several therapeutic pools, steam room and dry sauna, a cluster of infra-red, therapeutic heat rooms, and stations for body scrubs (more on this later) and other treatments.

Robed only in pink floppy bathing caps and thin, short robes, my friends and I were ushered into the hydrotherapy pool area, which we were invited to enjoy sans clothing. For the first ten minutes or so, we carefully huddled around, arms strategically draped, eyes averted. Hey, it's one thing to be nude with strangers, but your friends? (The horror! These people know where I live! They'll never look at me the same again!). But after a while, as we poured the antiseptic, mugwort-infused water over our bodies and slithered into the pools, the inhibitions seemed to melt away. We could literally feel our muscles relax and let out a collective "Ahhhh...." that lasted for the next seven (!) hours we were there.

We each indulged in in the spa's cornerstone treatment, the skin-buzzing Korean body scrub, where your body is literally scrubbed everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) into silky goodness. Though you feel a little like you're the car in a car wash (you're in a communal area with other women getting the scrub-down), we all agreed on one thing: We would marry our little Korean car wash attendants if we could. Yes, it was that good. Besides all the therapeutic benefits, for the past few days I've felt like a snake that has shed its scaly skin. I could get addicted to this feeling.

We've decided to make it a New Year's tradition to visit this place. These are the friends I run and ski with but we cherish this time to symbolically thank our bodies for propelling us through life. Yes, it reduced my stress but more importantly, I looked at my body and appreciated it in a new way, for its beauty. I realized how happy I am with this body that is so easy to condemn and judge and push and compare. Yes, I will continue to engage in more assertive activities to strengthen my body in the name of fitness, but it can't be repeated enough how important it is to give it a little pampering, too. So, this year I invite you to appreciate the momentary indulgences, to ensure your spirit is fit, too. It may not be a spa day but even the smallest things -- a bath, lotion at night, a self-given pedicure -- can have a big impact.

Women's bath houses are cropping up in more and more places in the U.S., and I encourage you to run, not walk, to the nearest one. Try Osento in San Francisco, Hothouse Spa in Seattle, or Juvenex Spa in New York City.