Spa Glossary | F

Fango Skin Treatment
A type of spa mud treatment where mud is applied to the entire body. The Fango skin treatment--which means mud in Italian--cleanses, detoxifies, nourishes, and soothes the client's skin. This type of spa skin treatment has also been known to help relieve muscular and arthritic pain.

Feldenkrais
A type of body work developed by Moshe Feldenkrais. This spa treatment tries to reprogram the nervous system through deliberate movement, physical pressure, and manipulation of the joints and muscles.

Finnish Sauna
This sauna treatment is the traditional kind on which the modern saunas in most health clubs, gyms, and spas today are based upon. In a Finnish sauna, a fire (preferably using birch wood) heats a pile of stones until they are red hot. Water is then thrown on the stones to create steam. The client is then gently beaten with leafy birch twigs to stimulate circulation. The heat of the sauna helps to cleanse the client's body through perspiration.

Floatation
A sensory deprivation spa technique, floatation uses a tank close in size to a twin bed. The tank is filled with approximately a foot of water, mixed with Epsom salts, at roughly the same temperature as the client's body. The client lies in the water, floating in perfect darkness, with no sound or sensory impulse intruding on the solitude. This spa treatment can be claustrophic feeling for some people; for others it is deeply relaxing. Alternatively, music or images can be shown as the client floats in the water