Consider the therapeutic benefits of mineral springs spas, where you can soak to relieve various ailments while simply relaxing.
    It was on a visit to California’s wine country in1996, when a friend and I toured the famous Calistoga winery Chateau Montelena, that I first experienced soaking in mineral springs. I was in the area to sample the cabernets, pinots, and syrahs for which this corridor of Northern California is famous.

    The wine, of course, was delicious, but it was another local attraction that made a far greater impression on me. My friend and I chanced upon Indian Springs, a collection of bungalows with a spa and swimming pool, and decided to overnight there. Built in 1913, the gracious Olympic-sized pool was filled with warm mineral water that gushed naturally, heated 4,000 feet below the earth. From behind the arts and crafts–style bathhouse, cinematic plumes of steam rose from holding tanks where the water cools to 102 degrees — a comfortable temperature for human skin. There was no odor of chlorine (each day roughly 2,000 gallons of fresh water are added to the pool, meaning that only trace amounts of chlorine are needed), and swimming in mineral water — the same stuff you’d pay two dollars a bottle to drink — was a kick, not to mention a complete delight. Forget the local grapes; we were smitten by the local water.
     At the time, I didn’t know that Calistoga was once referred to as “the Saratoga Springs of the West,” nor would the reference have meant anything to me. (To really drive the point home, Sam Brannon, the town’s founder, merged the words California and Saratoga to create the name.) For me, Saratoga Springs, New York, was home to Skidmore College; I had no clue that the town was once bustling with the well-heeled, who would spend three weeks there each summer doing daily dunks at the Lincoln Bathhouse under a doctor’s careful supervision. While my friend and I were “taking the waters,” we had yet to learn that our lazy breaststrokes through the hot pool, mud baths at the spa, and runs in the vineyard were what Europeans considered “a cure.” We were simply attracted to the spark of healthy energy the combination ignited.
     Since then, the waters have pulled me back again and again, and I’ve spent much time in this belt of Northern California sampling various springs and falling in love with them all. I love Harbin Hot Springs for its holdover hippie vibe and homegrown therapy, Watsu; Esalen for its cliffside baths daringly cantilevered over the Pacific in sight of migrating whales; and the remote Wilbur Hot Springs for its off-the-grid feel, alkaline waters, and soothing Japanese architecture surrounding the baths. At each, I meet ardent regulars who swear by the local water. Each mineral springs retreat has its own unique water composition, just as each parcel of vineyard produces different grapes. This is another pursuit that’s all about terroir — an ethereal sense of place.

tradition of immersion “Taking the waters,” often considered a European tradition, conjures 18th century aristocrats and connected artists converging on Baden-Baden in Germany, Montecatini Terme in Italy, or Bath in England for a three- to four-week kur (course of treatments) to alleviate gout, calm nerves, or dispel other quaint-sounding afflictions. Resident doctors would oversee the treatment, which included a combination of mineral baths and other less pleasant protocols with ample time for spa town amusements like casino gambling, classical concerts, and enough illicit love affairs to keep Jane Austen’s writing quill moving. (Bath, where Austen spent much time, is a featured setting in both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.)
     The Europeans, of course, inherited the spa concept from the Romans. “Spas are a 2,000-year-old tradition,” explains Deborah Coryell, the director of health and wellness for King Ventures, a real estate development company that manages three California mineral spas including the recently acquired Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs, California. “The Romans developed the idea, which was always centered on healing with water.” In fact, the two competing derivations of the word spa both spring from water. Many believe that spa is an acronym for the Latin phrase sanitas per aquam, which means “health through water.” Emperor Nero supposedly uttered the expression when unveiling a series of large-scale Roman bath projects. Others believe the word is a case of the specific becoming the generic, much like Kleenex or Xerox. A historic town in Belgium is called Spa, derived from the word espa, which means “fountain” in the Walloon language. The town was so famous for its iron-rich waters that eventually, perhaps, its name became shorthand for all towns with salutary springs. Whichever story you prefer, water is undeniably at the heart of the spa experience.
    On this continent, mineral springs have been healing places for thousands of years. Every major American spring has some record of use by Native Americans, and the land surrounding the springs was designated as sacred, which meant that tribes could not fight there. When European settlers arrived, they set up spas that emulated those in Europe. George Washington was a hot springs fanatic, favoring Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, which he credited with curing his rheumatic fever, as well as Saratoga Springs, part of which he even tried to purchase. Thomas Jefferson shared Washington’s enthusiasm and went so far as to design the men’s pool at Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1761. He also frequently visited White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
     Spa medicine’s heyday lasted until the discovery of penicillin in 1943, when suddenly a quick injection could actually cure the same infections and illnesses that the waters ameliorated. At the same time, widespread automobile ownership meant that Americans could take to the highways for their vacations rather than settle in one place. European spa towns also slowed down but continued to operate because the tradition was more ingrained there. Moreover, Europeans had incorporated soaking in thermal waters into their national health care system. Part of being Italian, French, or German meant that if your doctor prescribed it, you were entitled to a three-week kur at a spa town specializing in your ailment. The time off did not count as vacation, and the government picked up most of the tab.

 a rising tideThe spa boom of the last decade has brought about renewed interest in mineral springs. In fact, mineral springs spas are among the top draws for today’s spa-goer. In 2004, there were 338 commercial mineral springs spas in the United States and Canada that attracted over two million visits. Most tellingly, in the fast-expanding spa industry, mineral springs spas are experiencing the third highest growth rate after resort and medical spas.
      Other countries are engaged in similar revivals. In Japan, arguably the world’s most balneologically obsessed country, there are 2,500 hot springs resorts, and Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, recently purchased 50 of them with plans to renovate. In Bath, England, the springs were reopened in summer 2006 for the first time since 1979. Architect Nicholas Grimshaw designed the city’s Thermae Bath Spa, featuring a 21st century glass cube filled with pools, underwater vibrating beds, steam pods, and, best of all, a rooftop soaking pool, all just a few hundred yards from the ancient Roman baths.
      The American revival is every bit as exciting and expansive. Coryell, who is in the process of starting an association exclusively for mineral springs spas, thinks that for Americans it’s all a matter of education. “Americans like to know ‘why?’” she says. “Once we get the message out about the benefits of mineral springs retreats, they’ll respond.”
     Coryell’s plan, in partnership with Dr. Andrew Weil’s medical practice and the Natural Balance Integrative Wellness Center in Arroyo Grande, California, is to introduce Americans to a new paradigm of taking to the waters. “Springs are a sacred gift, and we should be using them,” she says. “Wherever mineral springs come up from the earth, it’s healing ground.”
    And the commitment King Ventures is making is part of a ripple. French Lick Resort Casino, in the historic Indiana spa town that played host to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cole Porter, and the Marx Brothers, just reopened after a $382 million renovation. The new resort retains all the grandeur and trappings you’d expect of a 19th century retreat — 684 rooms, a massive casino, and a 41,000-square-foot spa with two processing rooms designed to remove the smell from the water. “In order to remove the unpleasant odor, the designers have installed a negative pressure ventilation system,” explains spa consultant Angela Gebhardt. Other mineral water revivals are afoot in Hot Springs, Arkansas, home to the once booming Bathhouse Row, where hotels with mineral baths are again gaining in popularity.

 more than just water Calistoga’s springs are enriched with calcium, sodium, chloride, potassium, and several other minerals picked up as they rise through ancient seabeds, emerging as a geyser that spouts 60 feet into the air, 24 hours a day. Jeremy Flynn, spa director at Indian Springs, says, “The water warms the muscles and relieves stress on the joints, and many even claim their arthritis symptoms disappear. In the end you physically just feel better.”
      In some countries, such as Japan, mineral water is classified with all the painstaking care of choosing sushigrade tuna. There is an official balneological society that decides which places can call themselves an onsen, a designation that indicates the water is healing. In America, where the water is used more preventatively than medicin medicinally, mineral water is defined more loosely as “spring or well water that contains significant amounts of inorganic matter such as iron, sulfates, or chlorides,” according to Nathaniel Altman in his book Healing Springs: The Ultimate Guide to Taking the Waters, a great resource for anyone who wants to understand the benefits conferred by different types of springs.
     Even hazardous sounding water can be good for you. Lithium water, which is poisonous when ingested in large amounts, has a mellowing effect in small doses and has been used to treat sleep disorders and manic depression. Two Bunch Palms, former hangout of Al Capone and a current Hollywood magnet, boasts water with trace levels of lithium. Perhaps that explains the resort’s slow-paced Xanadu vibe. Other popular minerals include iron, magnesium, and calcium. When bathing in warm water, the minerals enter your body transdermally. The heat of the water opens the pores, and the minerals are small enough to pass through the skin and get absorbed into the bloodstream. Doctors debate whether taking just a few mineral water baths can have an immediate therapeutic effect. Dr. Piergiorgio Calcaterra, the head physician at Italy’s famed Terme di Saturnia, notes, “Thermal spring water is able to produce different therapeutic benefits arising from both the aspecific properties (such as the different temperature of application) and the specific therapeutic effects related to the minerals in the water. In order to obtain a good therapeutic effect, it is ideal to follow at least a week of thermal treatments.” Saturnia plays host to both weekenders who come to try ayurvedic treatments and enjoy relaxing, languid swims in the historic pool and those who stay for a 12-day minimum cure.
      According to Cathy Giumini, a physical therapist trained in European spa techniques, “Many older women with arthritis will notice a change after a week of bathing at Avila Hot Springs.” Giumini is part of Coryell’s team of complementary medicine practitioners who are creating the philosophy and designing the therapeutic protocols for Two Bunch Palms, Sycamore Mineral Springs, and Avila Hot Springs. “The path that I see is taking the European model into our American spas, but with a more integrative approach,” she says. “Each center will emphasize the surrounding natural elements, and nutrition will play as big a role as the baths. Various conditions will be treated completely differently.”
     American mineral springs spas are tapping into the source of wellness, offering a thoughtful hybrid of European-style spa medicine and the fitness, nutrition, and stress reduction focus of American spas. There’s never been a better time to jump in.

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