On the last day of the 10-day trip JapanI took the elevator to 40th floor of Bulgari Tokyo For a spa treatment that promised to reconnect me to my divine feminine. It was a big question. ever since Cancer treatment Put me into medical menopause at age 32, I’ve never felt more connected to the divine and feminine, as I navigate premature midlife pleasures like hot flashes, mood swings, and rogue hair everywhere except where I want it: on my head. Chemo post-chemo hair.
While sipping pine tea in the spa lobby, taking in sweeping views of the geometric cityscape, I took a quiz to determine my “dosha,” or Ayurvedic energy pattern that dictates our physical and mental health: vata (wind), pitta (fire), or kapha. (water). My skin tends to be… I checked “dry, cold, rough, thin, dull”. I would describe it as my hair … “Okay, skinny.” I feel the pressure … “Irregular, anxious, lack of attention.” Anna, my massage therapist, pored over the results and prepared individual oils for the treatment, while I stepped into the somewhat wet, shiny, mosaic-tiled hot tub by the window and watched. Tokyo Continue below me. After a lifetime of following feminine beauty standards, I wasn’t sure how to understand myself without them, or what to do with my mind if I didn’t follow them. The new hormonal normal—irritability, infertility, and inability to regulate my temperature—was making me feel invisible and miserable to the world. My soft belly, that sac of flesh that held nothing but womb and sorrow, had become a stranger to me, and it needed some love.
As if on cue, I overheated in the hot tub and stepped into a cold shower, weighing whether to blame the power of suggestion — the quiz told me I was pitta (prone to moody and overheated) — or cursing my hormones. When my therapist came to retrieve me from the relaxation area, she asked why I chose this treatment. All I could muster was, “I’m all off.”
Launched in 2023, and intended for women only, Bulgari’s Divine Feminine Nurturing Ritual is a “bespoke nourishing pregnancy treatment” designed to “balance the hormonal cycle phases of women of all ages and stages,” according to the spa menu. The treatment is one of a growing number of spa offerings designed to help people with pregnancy-related problems, from endometriosis to menopause to pregnancy loss. The term “womb therapy” has spread beyond the spa space, often referring to some form of abdominal massage—a healing tradition that dates back to the ancient Mayans—but also services like vaginal steam (which has its roots in Korean and indigenous cultures in Africa) and reproductive doula. Many spas are starting to offer it as well Wellness program for menopausal and perimenopausal womenFrom yoga retreats to mental health counseling “Pelvic Floor Wisdom” classes. Of course, space is as random and undefined as it is loosely defined. But there’s something beautiful about offering uterus-centered care in a world that often devalues women’s pain, and it’s not just marketing, either: abdominal-centered massage therapy, for example, is shown Effectively relieve pain in endometriosis patients, and fertility massage Can help reduce stress (Though not an immaculate concept, sadly). Spa treatments certainly aren’t equipped to cure menopause, or make me fertile again, but they make us feel pampered, taken care of, and sometimes, a little more beautiful.