"Face to Face" - Santa Fean Magazine

RENEW: REJUVENATING CHERRY BLOSSOM FACIAL
- by Marin Sandy

In possibly the most idyllic spa setting in the downtown area, with a walled garden at the end of a quiet street, Absolute Nirvana hides in a casita beside a porch-wrapped Victorian - the Madeleine Inn.
Inside the Asian-styled casita, aesthetician Janis Gordon's touch is gentle but her words are blunt: "This climate is one of the worst," she says. "It wreaks havoc on your face." To that end, she personalized every step of the Cherry Blossom facial - touted as a means to revive dull skin - to the needs of my face.
This included following the title enzyme peel, whcih combines cherry puree with extracts of pomegranate and red grape seed, with a seaweed mask to calm my sensitive skin.
Plus, Gordon is a doctor of Oriental medicine, and performed acupressure on facial points to support the regenerative work of the peel. The result? Renewed skin and a second chance to take care of it the right way.

"Hotel & Day Spas Directory - The best places to unwind, from Manhattan to Maui" - Allure Magazine

By Jessica Matlin

Most Luxurious Treatment:
The Balinese Boreh, a ginger, nutmeg, and coriander body mask said to relieve muscle aches, soften skin, and even fight the common cold, plus a 20-minute foot massage. $220.
Top Pros: Janis Gordon for face; Lauren Janson for body. Best Amenity: All of the 120-minute Deluxe Treatments coe with teas, fruit and chocolates.

"Santa Fe's Absolute Nirvana is a Gem" - Dallas Morning News

By SOPHIA DEMBLING / Special Contributor

The history of Carolyn Lee's spa and inns reads like an autobiography.

The diplomat's daughter moved from Paris to Santa Fe in 1987, and, a year later, opened her first bed and breakfast named Alexander's Inn, for her son. Twins born in 1996 were similarly honored when Lee transformed two historic buildings into Hacienda Nicholas and the nearby Madeleine Inn. After two trips to Bali, Lee was so taken by the island she decided to recreate its grace in a luxury spa. Opened in 2005, Absolute Nirvana is part of the Madeleine Inn and within walking distance of her two other hotels on a quiet Santa Fe side street, a few blocks from the busy plaza.

The spa: While spas elsewhere vie for honors as grandest and glitziest, Absolute Nirvana is a little gem where bliss is in the details. Check in at the inn, then cross the lush gardens to a building housing four treatment rooms -- two for singles, one for couples (with tub for two and fireplace), and one exclusively for facials.

All of the senses are caressed here. The massage table is covered in rich shades of purple and persimmon, a wicker chair is draped in silk, a ceiling fan gently stirs the air, a perfect spray of peach-colored blossoms in a blue vase is bathed in sunshine and birdsong drifts in through the open window.

Absolute Nirvana pampers the earth, too. A full 80 percent of the spa's energy is wind-generated. It has its own water-treatment system. And only natural and organic ingredients are used for the Indonesian-inspired treatments.

Top treatment: The Javanese Lulur, one of four two-hour deluxe treatments, originated as a wedding ritual for princesses in the 17th century. It begins with a foot scrub and a jasmine-infused tonic drink. But surreal relaxation comes with the hourlong massage in which the masseuse uses long, intense strokes. You're awakened with a gentle scrub of sandalwood, brown rice powder and turmeric, followed by a body mask of yogurt and honey.

While most treatments could end here, Absolute Nirvana lives up to its name with a post-shower bath, the tub filled with hot water and topped by a thick layer of rose petals.While soaking, you'll breathe rose-scented air, sip spicy-sweet ginger tea and nibble fresh fruits and an organic chocolate truffle.

The word nirvana is Sanskrit for "a place or condition of sublime happiness or fulfillment." That about sums up this New Mexico haven.

Details: A deluxe romance package for two, from $740, includes two nights at the Madeleine Inn or one of Lee's other properties, and includes champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries and a deluxe couple's treatment.

September 15, 2008

"Spa Greening is a Healthy Trend for Earth, Clients"-Bienvenidos 2008 Summer Guide

When owner Carolyn Lee opened Absolute Nirvana Spa and Gardens more than two years ago, she didn't set out to open a "green" spa. Yet, it didn't take her long to realize she wanted to run the spa in the same eco-friendly way she tries to live her life.

Now, whenever Lee needs to make upgrades or purchase supplies for the spa, she always has the same question on her mind: How can she operate the business in a more environmentally friendly way?

Lee has made a commitment to go green at Absolute Nirvana, and it seems she is not the only one taking a step in that direction. Spas locally and nationwide are beginning to understand the importance of becoming eco-friendly in an industry that often uses substantial resources.

Lee admitted the idea of "greening" a spa could be daunting. But, she said, the first step is the spas "to make a conscious decision to go green."

Greening the industry makes sense, she says, because, "people are going to spas for health and wellness."

Absolute Nirvana practices many basics when it comes to conservation, including the use of organic products for treatments, use of natural, chemical-free products for cleaning, and the use of solar-powered lights to illuminate the spa's outdoor gardens.

But perhaps one of its most expensive practices is the use of a filtration system that recycles water. Several of the spa's signature treatments include soaking in rose-petal baths. After each bath, the water is released into a large holding tank before it goes through a sophisticated filtration system. It is reused, and the water is purged just twice a year, Lee said.

Absolute Nirvana recently became part of a group of spas nationwide to comprise the founding membership of the Greenspa Network. The Sonoma, Calif.-based network was created last year by a group of people in the industry who'd been meeting informally for four years on the issue and decided more should be done to encourage environmentally sound spas across the globe, said Rosalind Robinson, project coordinator for the network.

As awareness has increased, the network has received more and more calls from spa owners wanting to know what they can do to go green, Robinson said. The network will eventually offer spas support and resources to help them address their environmental goals, she said.

• By Erika Davila

"Sunset Boulevard" - Western Living

Take this spa trail across New Mexico in search of authentic indigenous rituals, holistic treatments, industry-leading eco-consciousness--and night skies as vivid as a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

• By Charlene Rooke

Just a short drive away to downtown Santa Fe and a short walk from its famous central plaza is Absolute Nirvana, one of the greenest spas in America. On this chilly spring day it feels like a slice of the tropics. "This is the treatment that started it all when Carolyn had it in Indonesia," spa manager George Padilla tells me before my Mandi Lulur session, a ritual treatment traditionally given to young Javanese women for 40 consecutive days before their marriage.
Spa owner Carolyn Lee, who also operates nearby B & B-style accommodations, has long been committed to environmental practices. This four-room spa practices comprehensive "Greenistics": organic products, natural cleaning agents, wind-generated power and treatment water repurposed for heating. "We're green right down to the roots of our operation, though it's not easy to operate this way and it's expensive. People are still really unsure of what green means. But the awareness is coming," says Padilla.
My therapist Georgina (who is from New Sarepta, Alberta--small world) shows me the house-made treatments: a mask of honey and yogurt, a scrub of ground brown rice with sandalwood and bright-yellow turmeric that makes my body look like a piece of performance art against the scarlet and ochre sheets. Her massage technique is "based in Swedish but ranges from rolfing to shiatsu to cranial sacral and deep-tissue work," Georgina says. "And Hawaiian lomi lomi: when I get a massage I just love those long, flowing strokes." After a steam shower I relax in a rose petal-topped granite tub, snacking on sharp ginger tea, fresh fruit--and one perfect, round chocolate truffle.
That night when I change into pajamas a rose petal clinging to my back floats to the floor, making me feel like an Indonesian princess all over again.

"Nirvana Lived Up to Its Name" - Simon & Baker

Click to read the latest review of Absolute Nirvana on the Simon & Baker Travel Review website.

"Nirvana Found in Santa Fe" - Healing Lifestyles & Spas

Download the Review

"...Hottest New Spas in the World" - Conde Naste Traveler

The New Age Vortex of Santa Fe has perhaps the nation's highest concentration of massage therapists per square mile, so it can be hard to know where to begin. Thankfully, Absolute Nirvana body-workers have a minimum of five years' experience. The Indonesian-themed day-spa has only four rooms; you can indulge in facials, hot stone and Thai massages, and two-hour treatments such as the Javanese Lulur ($240). Dating back to the seventeenth century, it begins with a foot-bath and continues with an hour-long hot oil massage before clients are slathered with yogurt and honey; rubbed with turmeric, sandalwood, and rice power; stuck in a steam shower; and finally dunked in a hot rose-petal bath in a granite tub before a crackling fire.
by A Global Guide: The 10th Annual Hot List of the Top New 55 Spas Conde Naste Traveler, May 2006

"Absolute Nirvana Does Not Mess Around" - Santa Fean

There's something kind of ironic about hunting down the latest in Santa Fe spa treatments in a hurry. But after a week on this Spring's beautification beat, I can now say with authority that nothing quashes deadline pressure like a head-to-little-toe seaweed exfoliation, followed by a steamy rose-petal bath and a coconut dusted truffle (organic, of course). As its name implies, Absolute Nirvana does not mess around. This three-room boutique spa - which opened last summer in the Madeleine Inn, a downtown B & B - is Santa Fe's smallest and most decadent, a pleasing blend of the high-end and the homemade. The inn's ivy-shrouded brick exterior screams old-fashioned charm, but inside the casita the treatments are 100 percent exotic. Inspired by a vacation in Bali, Carolyn Lee designed her deluxe treatments using such Indonesian elements as soothing footbaths and all-natural body scrubs, along with tinctures she makes herself. For two delicious 'Ocean and Flowers' hours ($240) I was massaged, coated with seaweed, steamed, and left to lounge in the aforementioned rosewater soak while inhaling a truffle that Lee had whipped up that afternoon.
by Santa Fean Magazine, May 2007

"Best Over-the-Top Indulgence" - Santa Fean

With Santa Fe boasting the highest number of licensed massage therapists per capita, we could easily be considered the de-stresssing capital of the country. Choosing the one ultimate indulgence from the city's numerous full-service destination spas was no easy feat. Absolute Nirvana absolutely lives up to its name. This Balinese-inspired retreat at The Madeleine Bed & Breakfast offers an otherworldly two-hour indulgence that begins with a cup of an Indonesian herbal elixir and a ritual foot cleansing. Next comes a full-body massage, after which a melange of cinnamon and brown sugar is mixed with warm oil for an all-over body scrub, followed by a honey and papaya mask. Then comes a stint in the steam room and a leisurely soak in a granite tub filled with hundreds of rose petals, a roaring fire nearby. A tray of chocolate truffles and piquant ginger honey tea provides the perfect finale.
by Santa Fean, May 2006

"Exotic and Spiritual" - Bliss

The Deluxe Spa treatments include a ritual footbath, an hour-long massage, your choice of a skin conditioning or detoxifying treatment, a steam room, and a rose petal bath. All supplemented by wonderful teas, lemon water, strawberries, and the faint essence of Bali. There are three different Deluxe Treatments: the Javanese Lulur (wedding day preparation, or for fun); the Ocean and Flowers Treatment, which has detoxifying seaweed, and the Brown Sugar and Papaya, for revitalization. For the descriptions, see ABSOLUTE NIRVANA's Web site. I chose the Papaya and Brown Sugar Treatment, which uses the Spicy Bali Massage Oil, and perhaps it was this smell that took me more completely into the exotic. Besides the medical benefits of massage, which are numerous, (to name just a few: it helps your lymph glands to cleanse themselves, your muscles to relax and release toxic build-up) and besides the medical benefits for your skin (your largest organ) of exfoliation and cleansing with steam, what really happens is that you find the spa is a door you step through that allows you to find your own path, your own way, into the exotic and sensual and spiritual ever-expanding, ever-becoming you, as though you were always right there, waiting for the Nirvana Spa that will allow you to tap into the person you always wanted to be."
by Bliss Magazine, October 2005

"It Was Pure Nirvana" - DAYSPA

Delivering on the promises their beautiful images provide, Nirvana spa touches every nerve and every stressed point in your body. From the welcoming fire and bath, to the sensitive, yet firm touch of the practitioners, Santa Feans are in for a rare treat. Memories of my visit still linger. It truly was pure nirvana.
by J. Elaine Spear, Santa Fe resident, Editor-at-Large for DAYSPA magazine

"Nothing Could Be Sweeter" - American Spa Magazine

Nothing could be sweeter than the Brown Sugar & Papaya Extravaganza ($240, 120 minutes) at Absolute Nirvana Spa (Santa Fe, NM). The treatment begins with a ritual footbath, followed by a full-body massage using the spa's signature Spicy Bali massage oil, a completely organic blend of jojoba oil and essential oils. Next, an exfoliation is performed using organic brown sugar and cinnamon, and a freshly blended papaya-pulp body mask is applied. After a 10-minute steam shower to help the papaya and oils penetrate, the session wraps with a 25-minute fireside soak in a rose petal-filled granite tub that is accompanied by hot ginger tea and a tray of homemade chocolate truffles (and fruit). This fruit-filled infusion is most certainly the path to total bliss.