The ritual of a ‘beating’ massage, where the therapist repeatedly hits the spa guest with bundles of oak leaves, is performed inside a steam room known as the Russian Banya.
This ‘beating’ is followed by a dip in an ice-water pool and then the whole ‘hot-cold-rest-repeat’ process is generally repeated many times in a session.
It’s worth noting that a Russian Banya steam room is much more humid than a sauna, so the heating is less aggressive but has a deeper effect.
To read more about this unusual treatment, as personally experienced by spa consultant Marisa Dimitriadis, go to pages 24 and 25 of the May issue of Professional Beauty magazine. Click here