AP PHOTOS: Spa show is a feast for the senses

In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, warm stone massages for hands and feet are demonstrated by Omni Hotels & Resorts, at the International Spa Association event, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, Massage Envy Spas offers sugar scrub foot therapy at the International Spa Association event, in New York. The franchise opens its 1,000th location nationwide in Philadelphia this week. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, a chef prepares a dish as part of a presentation by the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, based in Rochester, Minn., at the International Spa Association event, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, Lindsay Martin, from Hilton Head Health, in Hilton Head Island, S.C., demonstrates muscle therapy using a small hard rubber ball that's rolled on feet, shoulders and other trigger points, at the International Spa Association event, in New York. Wellness programs are being added to center's original focus on weight loss, with a 30-room inn opening in November. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, Mindy Jacquat, from the Aspira Spa, at Elkhart Lake, Wis., demonstrates massages and other services inspired by indigenous traditions, using lake water, fresh cedar and other ingredients grown on site, at the International Spa Association event, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014 photo, Kim Grabosky, farm manager of Travaasa, from Austin, Texas, and Hana, Hawaii, makes sugar scrubs from ingredients like rose petals and lavender, grown on the spa's urban farm in Austin, at the International Spa Association event, in New York. The ISPA's annual industry show was a feast for the senses, with treats and treatments that smelled good, felt good and tasted good. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Spa of the Rockies, from Glenwood Springs, Colo., displays skin products from Eminence Organics, with ingredients like strawberry rhubarb and pink grapefruit, at the International Spa Association event, in New York, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
To soothe puffy eyes, cold Limoges porcelain spoons are applied to a woman's face, a treatment from The Spa at The Hotel Hershey, Hershey, Pa., during a demonstration at the International Spa Association event, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A "Muds & Suds" hand or foot scrub, made from Dogfish Head Brewery beer, offered at The Lodge at Woodloch, in Hawley, Pa., is demonstrated at the International Spa Association event, in New York, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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BETH J. HARPAZ
AP Travel Editor

NEW YORK (AP) — Smells good, tastes good, feels good: The International Spa Association’s annual industry show was a feast for the senses.

Spas showed products and treatments that seemed good enough to eat — and a few demonstrations actually did involve edibles. Others at the show held last week in Manhattan offered services inspired by indigenous healing rituals and traditions.

The Spa of the Rockies in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, featured skin products from Eminence Organics in creamy pastel colors with ingredients like strawberry rhubarb and pink grapefruit. The Lodge at Woodloch, in Hawley, Pennsylvania, offered a beer-based hand-and-foot scrub, in addition to an actual edible: Tuscan melon gazpacho with Thai basil and blush-tiger tomatoes.

Chocolate’s always on the menu at The Spa at The Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the form of chocolate body wraps, facials and scrubs. But at the show, Hershey demonstrated a treatment using chilled Limoges porcelain spoons to soothe puffy eyes.

The Travaasa spa demonstrated handmade sugar scrubs using ingredients like rose petals and lavender, grown on the spa’s urban farm in Austin, Texas. Massage Envy Spas, a chain of day spas that just opened its 1,000th franchise in Philadelphia, also showed off a sugar scrub used in foot therapy.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, demonstrated vegetarian stir-fry cooking to promote its Healthy Living Program. The program offers a class trip to a restaurant to teach participants how to order healthy menu items.

Hilton Head Health, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is also focusing on wellness, adding that to the center’s original focus on weight loss. At the spa show, representatives demonstrated muscle therapy using small balls rolled on feet, shoulders and other trigger points.

Omni Hotels & Resorts also demonstrated massage for hands and feet, using warm, smooth black stones.

Several spas featured services inspired by indigenous or spiritual traditions. Aspira The Spa in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, uses lake water, fresh cedar and other ingredients grown on-site in massages and other treatments. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s Will Schneider demonstrated a meditation program designed to teach mindfulness and how to slow the body down. And the Sedona, Arizona spa Mii amo offered the Native American-inspired Hozhooji ritual, in which blessings are sought as tobacco is placed in a small pouch.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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