A Great Spa for Your Every Need

by Valerie Gladstone — February 27, 2008

Every once in a very great while one comes across a person in the beauty field who is genuinely interested in her clients and not simply focused on selling her services and products. I was lucky to have this experience last fall, when I went for a massage with Tim Chambers, who I wrote about in a September blog. He had just moved into a new spa called Sage Laser (www.sagelaser.com or call 212.362.7322.) on Mulberry Street in Little Italy here in New York. He raved about the owner Dr. Pushpa Chauhan, a medically trained foot doctor who planned to offer numerous services in her lovely tranquil suite of treatment rooms.

An attractive, vivacious woman, who speaks with the English accent of her native London, Pushpa happily showed me around her pastel-colored spa, explaining her services, which include skin rejuvenation, skin tightening, laser wrinkle reduction, laser hair removal, acupuncture and acupressure, micro-dermabrasion, facials, medical pedicures and manicures, hot wax foot and hand therapy, nutrition and various kinds of massage. Of course, I couldn't try all the services. But Pushpa did give me three laser treatments -- utterly quick and painless -- that almost miraculously cleared my skin.

The beautiful, former dancer Elissaveta Iodanova offers very special services at Sage Laser. She gives wonderfully innovative sessions in posture and balance that have literally changed the lives of people by teaching them about their bodies. A former Fulbright scholar with master's degrees in contemporary dance and physical theater, she is the founder of Essential Learning of Energy and Awareness (ELEA) -- a movement laboratory that mainly focuses on the healthy and injury-free kinetic maintenance of the body. Her methods are a synthesis of ancient body arts such as Yoga, Chi Gong, and Tai chi and their contemporary implications - breathing coordination and Alexander technique. I spent just 30 minutes with her and I was stretched out and far calmer. Standing straighter too.

Although some procedures at the spa can be expensive, like microdermabrasion, which costs about $150 a session, Pushpa prices them all well below the rates of most doctors and other spa specialists. Moreover, she has 20 years of experience, both as a doctor and skin specialist, not a background that you find in most spas. She looks at her clients as individuals and tries to figure out not only what will make them look and feel better but also what they can afford. She is not about to make anyone uncomfortable for not having the resources for every treatment. Instead, she finds out what is possible. If anyone could be said to work organically and holistically, it is Pushpa. And everyone in her establishment has the same sweet, good-natured way about them: her friendly receptionist and jack-of-all-trades, Teresa, lovely Elissa, and spiritual Tim.

All I can say is that if you live in the area or come for a visit, give Pushpa a call. And as you pass through the neighborhood on your way home -- after she and her staff have transformed you -- pick up some wonderful cheeses, homemade pasta, and sinfully delicious pastries at the nearby Italian specialty stores. It should make for an altogether deeply sensual and refreshing experience.