Hola! Soy Connie Braden, Laser Technician at Luminaire Laser Center inside The Spa at Willow Bend. I have been working in the spa industry since 1985. I want to share with you that I have been seeing many changes since then. I want to thank Dr. Lam and his mother, Mrs. Carol Lam, for inviting me to be part of this incredible project. When I was asked to help open the spa, I was determined to make it a huge success. Finally, after a long awaited opening, The Spa at Willow Bend gives a new meaning to the idea of high-end luxury. This spa sets a new standard in this thriving industry. Outside of superior services and top-notch technicians, you will first notice the beatuiful architecture and design along with the soothing and comfortable atmosphere. These feautres enable us to be the number one spa in Texas. I like to call the spa “Espa at Willow Bend” because the letter “E” in Espa represents the word “education”. This is a very important element in The Spa at Willow Bend philosophy. Teaching the staff to elevate their understanding, intuition and techniques to a far superior level within the industry. The sky is the limit for learning. I would like to invite you to experience some of our world-class treatments. You will relax and regain your sense of equilibrium. Next week I will explain to you some of the effective laser treatments that I perform. Come see how you can “Attain Nirvana at The Spa at Willow Bend”!

Connie B.

Next week we, the staff of The Spa at Willow Bend, will start to write our own blogs. We are excited and a little stressed since we will be following in Dr. Lam’s steps in the “blogging world”. Stress most of time is related to bad emotions, situations, but stress actually helps us to move from one place to another. We as humans, are creatures of routine and if we don’t have an extra “push” which in most of the time is “stressful” we will be stagnated in the same place. Thank God for those “pushes”…this way we always keep going and moving towards a different place in life.

Every time we move, we learn something different… I love the way Fernando Pessoa a Portuguese writer says about learning…he says that he is not ashamed to change opinions, because he is not afraid of thinking and learning. And this is what is going to happen, in the following days, we will be in the process of “learning how to blog” but once we are more relaxed and familiar with this “art of blogging” we will be able to share our knowledge and receive feedbacks. We want to educate our clients, as well we want to share our knowledge and our opinions.

Thank you for stopping by…welcome to our new journey….

Waleska

I have had the pleasure of knowing a bright and charming young man who has touched all of our lives. Unfortunately, our beloved Daigo is returning to his native Japan. He has been a tremendous addition to the staff at the Spa at Willow Bend, and I am certain that all of us will miss him dearly. Well educated and fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, and English, Daigo brought a joy to our little spa family for the short time he was with us. Today is Daigo’s last day so I would encourage everyone who reads this blog to please offer him our very best wishes to a successful life in the Land of the Rising Sun. Daigo, we hope you return to visit in the future and grace us with your presence again. You are always welcome back here!

Here’s a blog about blogs. I was speaking with Victoria Francis, my nail specialist, today about her concern in taking over my blogs coming up. She was mentioning to me that she really did not know how she could fill all those blog entries. I said, “You have been doing nails close to 10 years. I am sure you have a wealth of knowledge that you would like to share with others.” I gave her examples, including the types of nail polish, the type of wax treatments, calluses, cuticle care, etc. That started her thinking and all of a sudden she had about 20 ideas.

Oftentimes, we assume too much knowledge on the part of the consumer. I call that the “curse of knowledge”. I have to always remember that when i hire new staff. We cannot assume anything. In that spirit, I wanted to explain to you, the readership, why I have this blog. The goal is for my staff, who I think is the best in the world and the most knowledgeable, to impart those years of wisdom to you. We are not into “salesmanship”. It is about knowledge and education. At heart, I guess I am a frustrated professor. I love writing and speaking and I have imparted that culture to my spa staff. I think they will start getting into becoming an educator of sorts. An I am very proud of that.

In order to get that information to you more handily, I think what would be important is to give you that knowledge regularly and consistently. Therefore, I have asked that a specific day be dedicated to a certain type of spa knowledge. For example, every Tuesday would be about nails and every Wednesday would be about massage. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what my staff has set up. That is up to them. In order for you guys to appreciate what the blog is about in case you forget Tuesday’s is about nails, I would have a title for the blog like “Cuticle Corner” (Okay, my nail specialists don’t care for that name that I came up with but they will probably come up with something more creative). However, I really like “Kneading Knowledge” for the bodywork/massage section. Heaven knows if my staff will.

Anyway, I wanted you guys to know not only the mission of my spa but also the mission of this blog and why you should read it and learn from it. I hope you enjoy it.

The terms “med-spa”, “medi-spa”, and “medical spa” make me want to throw up. I used to be on the Medical Spa Professional Alliance’s teaching docket, but I have truly grown weary of the idea of a med-spa. Every corner you see a “med-spa”. Do we offer “med-spa” services like laser hair removal and other laser services? Yes. Then how are we not a med-spa? Okay, I want to lay out in no uncertain terms my vision for the spa.

Think of this. When you go into a spa for relaxation, do you want to hear the whirl of the laser hair removal machine next door or a lady yelping from some waxing or the beeping noise from a Pixel treatment? The answer should be no. Do you want to feel as if you have entered a “clinical” environment? I think not. Now, what if you want to have these services? Would you like to get dressed again and walk through to another office, then get undressed again? No. So how did I solve this riddle?

Basically, I divided the two sections of my spa into the “Spa at Willow Bend” which occupies the front end of the center and the “Luminaire Laser & Skin Care Center” at the back divided by a glass door. That way, you have to walk through the quiet of the spa before you get to the Laser and Skin Care Center where you can get all of the therapeutic treatments like waxing, laser hair removal, IPL, fractionated skin care, cellulite and skin tightening with Accent XL, oxygen facial therapies, microdermabrasion, dermaculture, and spray (or better used term application) tanning.

Then, am I just “pampering” myself in your “spa”. No. Again, you need to read my blog from yesterday to get a better idea of my position on that thought. I think that all of my services in my spa are ultimately “therapeutic”. They serve a different end than what a “med-spa” does. They are meant for you to RELAX & REVITALIZE yourself using Asian techniques: chinese herbs, Shirodhara treatments, and modern techniques of manicure, pedicure, hydroinfusion, body sudatonic treatments, foot detox, great massage and reflexology, etc. Can I encapsulate all of these terms into a synthetic philosophical construct? Yes, my spa is a wellness spa. It encourages mind-body alignment. It is time for yourself. It is using ancient and modern therapies to bring the mind and body into better unity. You will feel the difference in a very short time. I have therefore partitioned out the “med-spa” from the “wellness spa” and created a ying and a yang if you will. You can have the best of both worlds.