Big and Beautiful Natural Beauties
Truth is, there are more of us baby boomers and Healthy Senior Women who are Big and Beautiful, than there are little and cute – once you’re over 50 cute isn’t really so common!
So for all of you Big & Beautiful Baby Boomers out there, I’m going to repeat one of my favorite entries – Big & Beautiful At the Spa! (this was originally published in Spa Index -
Carole Schor of Body Benefits responded to a group of our readers who were searching for a spa to accommodate them. They were all overweight, and were treating themselves to a day at the spa as a reward for reaching certain stages of their weight loss goals. Her warm response put a great many of our readers at ease. We have forwarded it to our readers many times. We have reprinted it, here:
“The topic you bring up is one of great concern to many. The media presents such a distorted image of what an “ideal” body should look like that it is no wonder that none of us (overweight or underweight) believe we can measure up. But the media pictures are often not real — they are airbrushed, taken from many different pictures combined, computer generated fantasy pictures. The ideal image of a woman’s body changes all the time, every decade. In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe’s body was considered the ideal, and many women wanted to look like her. She had an hourglass figure with breasts and hips, and was a size 16.
I applaud your group of women for wanting to take steps to care for themselves. And spas are just the place to do that. There are many different kinds of spas and many different kinds of programs designed for raising body awareness and dispelling the myths of media beauty. For example, the Green Mountain at Fox Run Spa of Vermont has developed a more sensible approach to women’s weight management – both the mind and the body are targeted. The Spa offers comprehensive body image programs to help women rid themselves of negative self-images and unrealistic expectations in an effort to combat unhealthy eating habits. The program is balanced with exercise and instruction in healthy food preparation. Lots of other spas have followed in Green Mountain’s footsteps. New Age Spa in Neversink, NY has an entire program built around body image also.
As a wellness consultant and massage instructor, it has been my pleasure to interview many people interested in marketing services and products to spas. One of the first questions I ask is, “Can you see yourself comfortably making your presentation to a 350 pound or 90 pound woman dressed in a bathrobe? This will be your typical client.” To my massage students, I have said — “By the second class you should be able to look at a client, no matter who they are or what they look like, and realize that ‘parts is parts’ and do your job, period.” So the therapists and practitioners are ready for you. They’ve worked on every kind of body, and they maintain professional respect for each and every one of them.
So the entire industry is aware of different body types, each needing its own special care and all needing pleasure, pampering, and lessons for self-care. All equipment is designed to be comfortable for every body type and size. The typical massage table is designed to hold around 1500 pounds. Hydrotubs are big and deep. So no need to worry!
When you get to a destination spa or even a Day Spa, look around you and you will see an entire range of bodies. Some are thin, some are not, some are old, some are young, some are pregnant, some are on walkers, some are rich, some are poor, some are shy, some are outgoing. The point is they are all there for the same purpose. To honor themselves, to glory in the pampering, to make new friends, to get a jumpstart on a new life, or just to have one heck of a good time.
We all come in different packages. And isn’t that the beauty of it all?! So have your group of women put on comfortable sweat suits and bathing suits, put big smiles on their faces and jump right in and have some fun with the rest of non-ideal beautiful creations!” — Carole Schor.
