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Issue link: https://dayspamagazine.epubxp.com/i/109233
Honored Tradition: Smudging Smudging uses smoke from a burned plant���often sage, sweetgrass and cedar���to purify a space physically, energetically and spiritually. Spirits Soar in Arizona Many Native American communities have created employment and sustainability within the gaming industry. As hospitality is the next logical extension, spas are increasingly established upon Native American land. At Aji Spa in the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort (wildhorsepass.com) in Chandler, Arizona, Native American Cultural Caretakers oversee all aspects of the spa. One of those caretakers, Belen Stoneman, is also the sole practitioner to perform the Healing Massage (110 min./$270-$310). ���It takes two hours for this treatment,��� Stoneman says. ���First we have a consultation where I pick up on what���s really going on with this individual. I���ve been doing this for 23 years. I can tap into their spirit.��� Stoneman analyzes bodies��� different ���polarities��� and ���pulls,��� which are not unlike the Traditional Chinese system���s meridians. ���There���s no actual chart like there are with meridians, because our traditions are passed down orally,��� continues Stoneman. ���But I can visualize it in my mind. I can see darkness in a person, like a tumor. I was taught when I was little. ��� Stoneman designs treatments derived from her tribe���s curative stories and myths. The Sacred Salt Energy Balance (50 min./$135-$155) stems from ancestral journeys in which the region���s young men would be taken to the coast of Mexico to gather salt and pray to become great warriors or medicine men, or to uncover their true purposes. During the treatment, guests are walked along the river on the resort property, where they gather their own salt and are told part of a story about this traditional journey. In the treatment room, they are enveloped in a steam capsule, then massaged with shegoi oil and the salt they have gathered. Next comes a scalp massage. Finally, the guest receives a foot massage with the salt while treated to the remainder of the story. They take home a leather pouch ���lled with the remaining salt. 30 DAYSPA | MARCH 2013 Native American Cultural Caretakers help to design and vet Aji Spa���s menu, design and all other aspects of the guest experience. Honored Tradition: The Circle Circles are important in Native American philosophy. The medicine wheel, the most iconic symbol of Native American medicine, depicts four directions, or cycles of life, which can be interpreted in different ways: ��� East: air, rising sun, the eagle, clarity ��� South: ���re, innocence, love, puri���cation ��� West: water, the bear (who is a great dreamer), letting go ��� North: earth, stillness, wisdom, challenge