Healthy Relaxation In Hanalei
Couples massages in the open-air beachside hale sets Hanalei Day Spa apart. Photos from Darci Frankel
Darci Frankel
Owner, Hanalei Day Spa
Please tell us about your business. We are a modest boutique day spa. Our focus is on customer service and giving great body treatments. We offer what I call massages of the world, from Ayurveda massage to Zen shiatsu from A to Z. We also offer Hawaiian-style lomi lomi hot-stone massage.
Do you offer both indoor and outdoor massages? Yes. As a matter of fact, our beachside massage is something that sets us apart from a lot of people: our beachside lomi hale.
What can people expect from an outdoor massage?
They can expect to receive a beautiful massage of an hour, hour-and-a-half or two hours’ duration under skilled, experienced hands with the warm ocean breeze blowing through the thatched-roof structure.
How many employees do you have?
I have about 12 employees. I contract all my massage therapists for their skill, their experience and their communication skills.
What is a lomi lomi massage?
A lomi lomi massage uses a series of flowing, fluid movements usually in succession of three. It’s like the tai chi of massage. And it uses a lot of forearms. It’s very flowing and connective.
What’s your favorite massage?
The Darci-Palooza is a fourhand, warm oil Ayurveda massage. I love two-person massage, it’s my favorite. Our most popular menu item is our couple’s massage and the couple’s deluxe.
Darci Frankel’s favorite massage is the ‘Darci-Palooza. Photo from Darci Frankel
What is Ayurveda?
A system of healing from India kind of like Chinese medicine. It’s about 70,000 years old, so it’s tried and true. We have many healing modalities within Ayurveda all types of massage, herbs, essential oils, foods, yoga postures, breathing exercises. Anything can be looked at in an Ayurvedic point of view. We have a cleansing and rejuvenation program called Pancha Karma, which is something I’ve been offering for about 17 years.
What is Pancha Karma? It’s a cleansing and rejuvenation program that’s an average of seven days long. Pancha Karma works on the physical body, the mind and emotions; it helps to eliminate the causes of disease, disorder and imbalance. We begin with an assessment to see if somebody is even eligible for it because you have to have certain criteria, and then I help people prepare for about a week before. They eliminate junk foods and start taking more whole foods into their diet. I also help them prepare mentally and emotionally. During the program, people receive daily four-hand warm herbalized oil massage followed by some type of heat or steam treatment. All these aspects can be customized the herbal oils, the style of the massage, the time of the steam, even the herbs that I put in the full-body steam treatment. We also prepare fresh food daily for everybody: It’s a blend of basmati rice and dahl or spiced lentils and vegetables. Then the rejuvenation happens.
Who are your clientele?
We have a large group of visitors who come back either each year or every other year we’ve been open for seven years. And we also have a lot of kama’aina because our prices are so competitive and affordable.
What sets your business apart from others? We give quality attention to the individual. Also, I’m a seasoned massage therapist of 21 years and practice Ayurveda medicine, so I know how to take good care of our guests and the fact that we’re not corporate. We’re a beautiful, open-air environment.
What are some of the environmentally friendly aspects of your business? A lot of our items are from recycled material and are biodegradable, like our mats. We use green cleaning products and biodegradable trash bags. We recycle wherever possible, like our plastic containers and jars. We also recycle the oil, which goes into biodiesel cars.
What makes you get up and go to work every day?
The connections and relationships with our staff members and our guests. And I feel like we’re contributing and doing something good.
Hanalei Day Spa
Located adjacent to Hanalei Colony Resort
Open 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday
826-6621
hanaleidayspa.com
