From: New York Magazine
By
It’s all about healing at this low-key spa, where everything from the facials to the foot treatments aim to detoxify and re-balance the body. Founded in 1993 by psychoanalyst Dr. Jane Goldberg, the center offers an ever-growing list of alternative treatments that have each been extensively researched and vetted by the doctor herself. The large front room of the building-length space holds a wicker couch and a few chairs for waiting patrons on one side, and on the other the Whole Body Vibration machine—a moving platform that is said to increase bone density, alleviate pain, and reduce the appearance of cellulite—and a curtained-off nook for the Super-Enriched Oxygen Steam Bath and inhalation, which uses medical-grade O3 to purify the lymphatic system, normalize hormones, and reduce inflammation.
In the back, there’s a small changing and locker room, a remineralizing salt sauna, and a deeply relaxing flotation tank (one of only a couple left in the city), in which clients are suspended in body-temperature water and 800 pounds of Epsom salts. In one of the four treatments rooms, therapists perform La Casa’s famous colonics (there’s a cult following for their intensive, magnetic-pulse versions), as well as a host of body scrubs, wraps, facials, and massages. Of the latter, the most popular are the Acussage, a 90-minute combination of several therapeutic styles with gentle acupuncture, and the Cayce-Reilly, which slathers the body in healing castor oil. The use of magnetic pads, vibration-rebalancing machines, and low-grade-radiation stone therapy are just some of the available add-ons.
Medicine Woman
In late 2008, Dr. Goldberg became a certified “medicine woman” (courtesy of an out-of-state Native American tribe), which allows her to work with therapeutic stones and crystals. Though she continues to practice as a psychoanalyst, she does see clients at the spa for vibration and rebalancing treatments.
For the Kids
La Casa also offers private and group infant-massage sessions, which includes hands-on instruction for parents.