In Los Angeles, the art of energetic healing is a given. While working with crystals, setting intentions, and focusing on chakra work might still be waived off in other places, in Santa Monica, they’re popular enough to inspire a whole spa experience. Enter IntoMeSea, the playfully named spiritual clubhouse that former massage therapist Jennifer Williams opened up in November of last year. Located right on Lincoln Boulevard, not too far from the Lincoln exit on the I-10, the studio is fairly unassuming from the outside, but once you’re indoors, a whole world of salts, soaks and floats unfolds.
IntoMeSea offers seven main spa services, but shouldn’t be confused with a traditional spa that’s focused on massages and scrubs. Instead, the studio’s emphasis is on healing modalities and experiences that increase self-awareness and promote spiritual introspection. “Especially with COVID, we’re having a conscious awakening that what we were doing before wasn’t necessarily serving us in the way we need to take care of ourselves,” the founder, Williams, told Spectrum News about the impetus for the spa back when it opened. “Self care is really at the forefront of people’s minds.”
The primary offerings at the studio are as follows: floating sessions in epsom saltwater, soaking in a carved quartz crystal tub, sessions of Lucia light therapy, stimulating the body with a Pyradym physio-acoustic instrument (sound therapy similar to a sound bath), halotherapy in a salt room, and infrared sauna packages. In more simple terms? Float. Soak. Light. Energy. Salt. Sweat. There’s something mesmerizing to it. Along with these main offerings, the studio also provides Akashic record readings upon request, and additional energy work is coming soon. It also has plenty of room for yoga, sound baths and meditation circles, and other special events in a spacious front studio.
While most of these are pretty familiar for those who indulge in the (expensive) healing arts, the most attention-grabbing experience is definitely the crystal tubs. Properly cited, they are Galactic Crystal Intention Tubs, and they seem to be the first of their kind in America. These 4,000 pound quartz crystals were carved out of Brazilian mines in the Minas Gervais region and then shaped into tubs, each with a unique shape and focus. IntoMeSea has two tubs on-site: Pachamama’s grounding tub, which amplifies intentions of chakras 1-3 and channels water, earth, sun, and moon elements, and Lulu’s Higher Realm tub, which is designed to amplify intention-setting around chakras 4-8. Pachamama is sunk into the floor to mimic the lower, grounding energy of the earth, while Lulu is on the floor at ground level.
As someone who practices yoga, meditation, sound baths, and will take a massage anytime I can get one, emphasis on chakras and energetic healing is right up my alley — I wanted to try these soaking tubs for myself. The treatment itself is a bath literally inside a crystal — and that is just as unique as it sounds. A 60-minute session begins with intention setting, selecting a chakra for focus during the soak, and using soaking salts and three smaller crystals, along with a written affirmation, to make the most of the focused session. 60 minutes in the tub will run you $99 flat, although the crystal intention setting kit is an additional $44, and the soaking salts alone seemed to make that worth it.
Getting into the tub just takes a simple walk down the hallway that leads to all the treatment rooms. Inside each tub room is a steam sauna and a changing area, along with the tub, glowing up a few steps above the sauna area. These kinds of soaks work best naked, so after stripping down, and setting the steam sauna up, I stepped in for a very special bath.
Sitting in the darkness in a glowing crystal tub, I slowly began to chant the second chakra mantra to myself: I am a sacred being with my feet planted on earth. I allow feelings to move through me, knowing they are not who my spirit is, and I release any desire to numb them. My sexuality is orange fire, vibrant and playful. I am comfortable in my body. I manifest healthy relationships and create beauty everywhere I go. I am radiant spirit attracting like-minded people. I am living a creative and passionate life.
As with most meditative experiences, it took me about 30 minutes to get settled in, stop itching to check my phone, and get my racing mind to calm. The first half feels like it goes by so slowly, with each minute ticking by as I wait for the healing to begin. Then, after I get into a more zen-like state, the second half zooms by, and I don’t even realize how deeply I was getting into my body before a timer lets me know the soak is done. What resonated with me most, especially after sitting with the mantra, was how often I try to deny or numb my feelings, or self-identify with them instead of feeling them and letting them pass. Feeling everything — good and bad — instead of numbing out is healing. That was my tiny epiphany, and what I took with me out of the tub.
One final note on the studio — it’s a healing center with a “cause no harm” mission. The entire space was designed by environmental architect David Hertz, it’s powered with solar and thermal panels, and a Skywater machine takes moisture from the atmosphere and collects it to provide water for the treatments on offer. If this kind of attention to detail brings to mind deep pockets, you’d be right, but so far Williams has declined to name her private investors. Then again, it also proves that an environmentally aware future is totally possible, it just takes resources to achieve.
Learn more about IntoMeSea here.
