22 asiaSpa India March-April 2016
WELCOMING WELLNESS
The new JIVA Spa at Taj Palace New Delhi is ready, steady and all set to impress
BY PARVATI M. KRISHNANTAJ PALACE NEW DELHI
SARDAR PATEL MARG, DIPLOMATIC
ENCLAVE, NEW DELHI - 110021
TELEPHONE: 011 26 11 02 02
WWW.TAJHOTELS.COMM
y eyes are shut,
and my senses are
overwhelmed by
the all-too-familiar
fragrance, and the
sounds of nature pouring out of the
speakers. Guiding me through the
sensory journey is my therapist Dolkar,
who’s massaging my back with the
powerful massage blend oil. I am a
couple of hours into ‘Sukha’ – a three-
and-a-half-hour signature treatment –
at the brand new JIVA Spa at the
Taj Palace New Delhi.
I had entered the spa a little
under three hours ago to be greeted by
Dr. Vinod Balakrishnan, the director
of the spa. And he had walked me
through the length and breadth of the
13,000-square-feet space – taking me
from the impressive gym into the yoga
room, through the reception to the
wet areas (where a vitality pool was
bubbling with excitement, waiting to
receive and rejuvenate its next guest)
into the beautifully appointed treatment
rooms with hand-combed organic
cotton linen, presenting me, finally,
with the spa’s pièce de résistance, the
Halotherapy room (the first of its kind
in India, covered from ceiling to floor in
salt sourced from Pakistan).
I had sat pouring over the spa
menu with a cup of delicious detox tea,
trying to pick from the wide variety of
tempting treatments on offer for quite
some time before I had let Dolkar make
my greedy mind up for me. After a
quick steam and shower in the en-
suite room, I had happily given myself
over to Dolkar, who had introduced
me to ‘Sukha’ or the ‘bliss treatment’through the products she was to use on
me – fragrant oils and the posha scrub
and wrap. An hour-long gentle scrub
had followed, leaving my skin tingling
and receptive for the body wrap. And
while I had lain covered in the delicious
smelling pack, trussed up in layers of
towels, Dolkar had given me a relaxing
head and neck massage. A quick rinse
later, my massage had started.
Three hours into the treatment,
my massage comes to an end, but not
the treatment – there’s still the ‘Spa
Energizing Facial’ to come, and I’m in
no hurry to leave...S
NEW SPA