Spanish Wellbeing

We couldn’t resist the opportunity for another short trip to Javea.  The early mornings and evenings in Spain are such a magical time in summer  – that wonderful light, cloudless skies, warm air and of course, the promise of more gloriously sunny days to follow. In late June and early July,  the gardens are abundant with brightly coloured flowers, fruit is ripening on the trees and grapes sweetening on the vine.

On one of my trips into the town, I noticed a fish spa had opened in the town – the Natural Fish Spa offers treatments for hands and feet, along with other beauty services. Fish therapy originated centuries ago in hot springs in Turkey, where being nibbled by tiny ‘Garra Rufa ‘ fish was found to improve skin disorders like psoriasis and eczema. Fish spas have been popular in the Far East fo some years – I visited the Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa in Singapore in 2009 (see my feature on Singapore) and are now opening  up all over Europe and in the UK.

Earlier this year I had a session with some friends in the Aqua Sheko fish spa in Soho, London. It’s an enjoyable way of spending half an hour or so, and your feet really feel smooth and refreshed afterwards. There’s been some bad press about hygiene issues relating to fish spas recently, but well run operations like the ones mentioned ensure clients wash hands and feet  before a session and use state-of-the-art tanks that are filtered and sterilised by industrial grade systems to ensure a healthy environment for the fish.

If you can bear having your feet gently tickled, it’s relaxing and worth having a go! Will the trend continue? Who knows? At least the tiny fish are economic as well as exotic therapists !