The use of gemstones for healing purposes has moved mainstream and is no longer viewed as “woo-woo” or “hippy-dippy.” Savvy spa operators are improving the guest experience at every touch point by incorporating gems of all types and sizes. Gemstones enhance the physical space, contribute to next-level treatments, and send guests home with something deeply personal to commemorate their experience.
Gemstones are mineral clusters excavated in crude form and carved or polished. Precious and semiprecious stones are then ranked by their quality, cut and color. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are considered precious stones, while semiprecious stones include quartz, topaz, tourmaline, amethyst and moonstone.
Healing Claims
Gemstones are purported to have healing properties, each carrying an individual vibration with different benefits. Although there is little research on the power of gemstones and their ability to influence the human body, there is a litany of folklore and anecdotal evidence. The use of gems for healing rituals and protection is well documented.
History tells a story of reverence, from shamans and healers to kings and queens. The Vedas in ancient India believed imbalances could be set right by wearing gems against the skin or using them as ingredients in medicines. Leonardo da Vinci reportedly kept an amethyst on his desk to “dispel evil thoughts and speed up thinking.”
Chanda Schmidt, co-founder of Energy Empowered Jewelry in Sedona, Arizona, (a beautiful experience, I visited during my year long stay in Arizona) is an expert on healing gemstones, but she is conservative about the language she uses when explaining the benefits. “I have a very down-to-earth understanding about what gemstones can do for you. Each gemstone sends out a resonant impulse, a pure vibration,” she says. “That vibration doesn’t change because crystals are in a bad mood, but our vibration changes because we’re human beings. Because our bodies are made up of the same minerals as the gems, they make us feel grounded and centered.”
Schmidt recommends exercising caution when it comes to health claims such as curing specific medical conditions. “Substitute the words ‘grounding,’ ‘harmonizing’ and ‘balancing,’ and carefully sail around the word ‘healing,’” she advises.
Gemstones for Spa Spaces
These are some of my favorite gemstones for treatment rooms, along with their benefits.
Amethyst: Amethyst is the best-known variety of quartz, distinguished by its rich purple or violet color. It is used for protection and grounding and is especially effective on the third eye (sixth chakra), known as the seeing chakra.
Rose quartz: Considered the love stone, this pink crystal is most often associated with the heart chakra. Its calming energy encourages forgiveness and reconciliation.
Clear quartz: One of the most common types of crystals made of silicon and oxygen, clear quartz is known for having a high vibration and amplifying the effects of other stones.
Citrine: Naturally formed as smoky quartz that is slowly heated inside the earth, citrine is thought to encourage confidence, good luck, new beginnings and joy.
Black tourmaline: Black tourmaline is a stone for protection that works well for clearing out negativity. When placed at the first chakra, it can help ground the person’s energy. Place black tourmaline in the four corners of the treatment room to seal the area with the energy of protection.
Jasper: This quartz variety is a vibrant, stimulating stone that is ideal for boosting confidence and courage. Jasper is both grounding and stimulates physical life force.
Sodalite: Sodalite is named after its sodium content. Believed to calm emotions and clarify thoughts, it is typically a rich royal blue color.
Creating Crystal Treatments
Crystals are wonderful additions to spa treatments. There are many affordable and powerful ways to integrate crystals into your protocols.
Top your treatment table with a health mat such as Biomat. These combine amethyst and other gemstones with wellness technologies like far infrared or PEMF to help ease aches and pains, improve circulation and promote a sense of well-being.
You can ground guests with gemstones placed underneath the treatment table corresponding to the chakras. Put a smoky quartz underneath the table at the feet (first chakra), rose quartz at the heart (fourth chakra) and amethyst at the head (sixth chakra).
Incorporate crystals into signature treatments or offer them as add-ons. Place gemstones on the body to balance energy or use gemstone-infused products in other treatments for added harmony. Crystal-infused roll-ons are a great option, combining essential oil blends with gemstones in one product.
Allow guests to choose stones to hold when they are face up on the treatment table. “Guests will reach a deeper state of relaxation when holding the stones,” advises Schmidt. “There is something powerful about the hands.”
Finally, recommend retail. Gemstone jewelry is a deeply personal keepsake and a continuation of the treatment. Schmidt notes that wearing a pendant or bracelet is the best way to benefit from the harmonizing and balancing properties of gemstones.
Spas and gemstones are a match made in heaven. Join the growing number of spas integrating gemstones for décor, therapy and energy clearing. Gemstones connect us to the earth and bring us joy. They are the perfect solution for guests searching for something they can connect to and that makes them feel better. They bring the essence of nature into your environment.
“There is no negativity around gemstones, and they do no harm,” adds Schmidt. “They are beautiful miracles our planet produces. Just looking at something we find beautiful can have a healing effect.”
Pam Sculthorp is the CEO and co-owner of Body Bliss and the Body Bliss Factory Direct Store in Sedona, Arizona, which manufactures natural, therapeutic aromatherapy products for luxury resorts and spas nationwide. Sculthorp spends her days surrounded by aromatherapy, shiny stones, and her puppy.
