When Yuan Spa offered me and a friend use of their hydro pools in exchange for a review, I immediately thought “I should invite my spa-loving Mama.” So earlier this week we headed to downtown Bellevue to unwind and get pampered. As the person who introduced me to all things skin and body care, my Mom was obviously the right choice for this hydrotherapy experience. Plus, we had a blast. Probably more fun than you’re supposed to have at a spa but oh well! That’s the Amodt women for ya.
Yuan Spa features all the regular spa services like massages, facials, mani, pedi, hair and salon treatments, but also wellness services like hydrotherapy, acupuncture, and Reiki among others. One that I found particularly interesting is the Five Elements Rejuvenation service, a mixture of dry brushing, acupressure, massage, and aromatherapy. What’s great about Yuan Spa is that the hydrotherapy $45 day pass is complimentary with any single service of $115 or more (excluding hair and nails), so if you book a massage, you can enjoy the hydro pools, steam room, and sauna as a bonus.
After the very informative Jacqui gave us a quick tour of the facility and answered all our questions, she took us to the locker room where we found slip on sandals in our shoe size, a super soft robe, and towel. As we changed into our swimsuits my Mom and I immediately fell in love with the sandals which were comfortable and super cute (they’re the Oka-B Grace slides). We even stopped to take a shoe selfie.
The 104 degree hot pool was amazing. I’m not the best at unwinding and to be honest I don’t usually treat myself to things like this so I felt totally pampered sitting in a hot pool. My Mom goes to this one spa where you get naked, but um as I am so not into the idea of being naked in front of everyone, I have never tagged along. She’s also tried spas here, there, everywhere, they are totally her thing, while I’m pretty inexperienced with them. Because of this I wanted to see what she thought of Yuan Spa.
As we sat in the hot pool trying to “quietly” discuss different spas she exhaled, “this is really lovely.” And it really was – we instantly felt comfortable in Yuan’s extremely clean and inviting facility. Whatever mental baggage we had before we got into that first pool quickly faded away.
You’re only supposed to stay in each section for 15 minutes so after the hot pool we were off to the eucalyptus steam room with our salt scrub. There’s a salt scrub bar outside the steam room where you fill up a little bowl with your choice of salt. I have to say that steam rooms are tough. I’m not used to being attacked by hot steam in a dark room but the room itself was beautiful. It had sparkling turquoise/purple tile and twinkling lights on the ceiling. And actually scrubbing yourself down with salt and then showering off in the steam room was delightful. Plus, my legs felt deliciously soft when I got home. I want super soft legs all the time please.
I may look like the embodiment of calm in that photo but oh my god the cool sea salt pool is COLD. Mom and I looked hilarious getting into this pool trying to avoid screaming from the sheer shock of the cold. Just two women with looks of horror as they quickly dunked themselves into the cold water, mouthing oh my god! After five minutes you kinda got used to it (not really) but the drop in temp was for the sake of the circulatory system. Gotta get that blood moving through the body.
From there we went to the cedar sauna room which felt like a nice warm blanket. I was happy to have brought in one of the cold towels because I laid it on my face and chilled out for a bit. And then it was time for lunch of a surprisingly tasty buckwheat noodle salad. Yep, you can order lunch and have it brought to you in the relaxation room which is a small room with comfortable chairs, tea and snacks where you can hang out. And hang out we did. In fact we completely lost track of time until I remembered that if we didn’t leave soon we were going to get a parking ticket!
Taking your time is another nice part about the hydrotherapy pass, there’s no time limit which means you can stay there doing the hydro circuit all day if you want. We didn’t stay ALL day but we were there for four relaxing hours.
For the sake of writing an entertaining post, I kept waiting for something awkward or funny to happen (beyond the shock of a cold pool) so I could write “and then hilarity ensued!” but honestly it was all just blissful. I spent the rest of the day in a space-cadet, zen-zombie state. My body and mind felt totally at ease. I will definitely go back with friends and probably Mom again, she totally loved it. As did I.
For more information about Yuan Spa, check out their website yuanspa.com and follow them on Twitter @YuanSpa and Instagram @yuan_spa.
