Aqua Spa Hosts Open House To Showcase Amenities

 

After 3.5 years of research, development and building, the City of Oswego’s Aqua Spa float center hosted an open house on Tuesday, June 15, after opening in November.

The wellness boutique hosts a variety of services intended to improve the health of its customers with resources such as float therapy, an infrared sauna, cryotherapy, salt therapy and others.

Trials of these services were offered at the three open house times on Tuesday.

Many of the benefits from these, according to co-owner Tammy Wilkinson, include immunity boosting, detoxification, pain and inflammation reduction, as well as better sleep.

The “health sanctuary,” as co-owner and Wilkinson’s partner Terry LeRoi describes it, planned on debuting much earlier if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many others, the pandemic threw a wrench in its plans but actually was a “blessing in disguise,” as LeRoi said.

“If you’d have a choice to open during COVID, during a pandemic or not we would obviously pick not, but it actually had some benefits for us,” LeRoi said. “It allowed us to have a little more time, not feel so rushed … It extended [the opening] out another year. That gave us time to train people, bring friends and family from the community and test out the services and learn how exactly the flow of the place should go.”

According to Wilkinson, the community has been “incredibly supportive,” sharing the duo’s love of health and wellness. While the storefront is relatively new, the two have used these “modalities” for many years. They are things that they swear by, helping them keep their bodies in the best shape possible.

“We’ve always tried to push boundaries in terms of what our bodies can do and how healthy we can be. Terry is an athlete and I am a dancer and a thespian, so we just need to be at the top of our game,” Wilkinson said. “I also have a chronic illness, so finding modalities that help with that was certainly important. We were blown away by the benefits … We just really wanted to share it and explore it.”

The crown jewel of Aqua Spa is its float suites and pods. These are massive tanks of skin temperature water and 1,500 pounds of epsom salt that allow users to float without gravity for 60-90 minutes. During this time, users can go through guided meditation, listen to music and lay in the dark or dimly lit pods. According to Wilkinson, these offer great effects like a reduction of pain and inflammation, as well as recovery for athletes. Wilkinson added there are roughly 500 float centers in the country.

“People love the idea of a sanctuary in their own town, they don’t have to travel very far,” LeRoi said. “Although we do have folks traveling from other states.”

While the hour-plus float is a scary thought for those who cannot imagine being without their phone or the outside world, Wilkinson, LeRoi and the team of 13 other employees offer advice and their experiences for first-timers.

“When I talk to people and sit them down as first time floaters, we like to give them our encouragements because we’ve been doing this for so long,” Wilkinson said. “There is definitely some anticipation attached to that, but you’re going to get an amazing orientation from one of our float ambassadors, and I promise that your brain knows what to do, your body knows what to do. It might take you a little while to get there, but once you do, it is such a beautiful thing.”

Float therapy has been around since the 1950s, according to Wilkinson, although it is just recently gaining popularity due to an increased focus on health and wellness.

Beyond the equipment, LeRoi and Wilkinson have created a calming setting with a waterfall along one of its walls, as well as a wing wall for customers to snap photos once they complete their floats. Aqua spa is about “relaxing, rejuvenating and regenerating your spirit,” as LeRoi said, with an overall commitment to customer service and helping the community members on their journey.

“I always say it is an honor to do these things for our community,” Wilkinson said. “We have found the things that are helpful to us, and we just want to bring those to the community. We invite folks to come in and whether you are at the beginning of your journey … or an extreme athlete with all of your goals right in line, there’s a place for you here.”

-Matt Watling, Oswego County Today