The South’s spring-flowering magnolia blossom is put to work at the turn of each season at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Georgia. “The nice thing about magnolia is that it isn’t a heavy floral essence,” says spa director Sherrie Huebner. “It’s very clean. It motivates and improves the mood. And the lovely thing is, we have magnolias right here on the property.”

The spa’s Spring Renewal service is designed to ready the skin for summer by treating it to a deep exfoliation and supermoisturizer. The 80-minute treatment starts with a full-body magnolia scrub in their Vichy shower room, followed by an aloe-and-honey masque. “Honey is incredibly moisturizing. It draws moisture from the air and infuses it into the skin,” explains Huebner. “We let the mixture sit on the skin for 15 to 20 minutes, then take hot towels and wipe off any excess. The amazing thing is the skin is not sticky at all — it emerges baby-soft and glowing.” The final touch: a light massage of magnolia-scented lotion. …

 Click here to read more in the Spring 2012 issue of The Ritz-Carlton Magazine

1. Schedule Strategically
Spas do most of their business on evenings and weekends. Want the run of the hydrotherapy facilities or a coveted appointment with the best therapist? Book in the morning or early afternoon, and ideally midweek, says Melissa McMahon, director of The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Los Angeles, who says it’s also one of the rare times luxury spas like hers offer promotions.

2. First a Massage, Then a Facial
If you get a facial before your massage, an hour with your face in the cradle will mar your just-perfected skin. The ideal spa itinerary gets those quotidian maintenance services out of the way first and ends with finishing touches like manicures and pedicures, with the bulk of the time devoted to body and skin-care treatments. “Typically, waxing services are done first, to get the unpleasantness out of the way. Or body scrubs and wraps. These are followed by massage, then skin care, and hair and nails are last,” McMahon says. A good spa will help schedule your treatments in the right order for the best experience.

3. Study the Menu
Most spas offer the standard array of options, such as the Swedish massage (America’s favorite). But many have unique offerings that are more than worth your while. Besides, you’re on vacation, so why not change it up? If you want results like the kind you get from a great physical therapy or chiropractic appointment, try Thai massage. Or, rather than commit to a whole new treatment, go for a custom-made option that combines massage techniques specially suited to your body’s creaks and complaints, suggests Kristin Carpenter, spa director at Eau Spa by Cornelia at The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, which offers the fusion-style Self-Centered Massage.

4. Eat Intelligently
Spa-going is not the kind of thing you want to do on a full stomach — but when you have a busy day planned, you still need energy. Start with a light, nutrient-rich breakfast: an egg, a whole-grain piece of toast with almond butter, or some yogurt and fruit. But don’t skip breakfast — or lunch either: You might be having the most relaxing day of the year, but your body’s being worked on. Break every two-and-a-half hours for a spa snack, and luxe rituals that go into spa overtime should include a nibble of almonds and sips of water or tea.

5. Skip Seasonal Treatments
Not all change is worth your time, however; many spas like to offer variety to their menus with seasonal offerings, such as lavender in a summer body scrub or pumpkin in a fall facial. This is a good thing for spa-goers who’ve tried it all and eagerly anticipate the next new thing as if it’s Fashion Week. But despite the fanfare these fleeting seasonal menu items get, they’re typically not as compelling as the regular spa services — and if the products used for your spring ginger-lime body scrub come from a jar, couldn’t you really book it any time of year? Skip them unless the spa has actually sourced the ingredients fresh from the farmers market or an organic garden — or you’re just bored with spa perennials.

6. Ask the Experts
If you usually play Russian roulette with a spa menu, let a skilled facialist determine what your skin needs and cater specifically to it once you arrive. Maybe you’ve been going after your fine lines and wrinkles with microdermabrasion treatments when a deeply hydrating treatment with skin-plumping massage or microcurrents would do the trick. And you might miss out on skin-firming acupressure and de-puffing massage that makes your jawline taut and your eyes look like you’ve slept well for a week. “Guests can forget that a skin-care service is a total relaxing and soothing experience,” says Annie Fung, spa manager at ESPA at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong.

7. Avoid the Sun
Newly exfoliated skin is especially vulnerable to the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays. You don’t want to undo the point of your anti-aging facial by inviting the dark brown blotches, fine lines and laxity the sun’s rays can cause. Nor do you want to sunburn newly exposed skin cells. “We gently remind spa-goers who must take in the beach or pool immediately to slather on the sunscreen, and take a hat and umbrella,” says Carpenter, of The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach.

8. Don’t Shave!
Newly shaved legs end up getting stung by the salt or alpha hydroxy acids in the sugar used in body scrubs, so to be safe, give the razor a rest that morning. Spa director Carpenter swears that therapists take a vow of indifference to legs that aren’t perfectly smooth. For men booking facials, shave the night before. Shaving removes dead skin cells, so you really don’t need two exfoliations in a day.

9. Forgo Modesty
Spa therapists have seen it all. Even so, some spa-goers tend to prefer to wear underwear bottoms during a massage — or at least the first few. As people get more comfortable with the ritual, they may feel more at ease with nudity. A pretreatment consultation with the therapist can establish a sense of trust. “After a clear explanation of the treatment, and time to ask questions, guests feel more confident and relaxed about placing their bodies in the hands of the therapist,” says Fung, of ESPA at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong.

10. Early Turndown Service
Your massage therapist will remind you to drink a lot of water. (It’s the standard spa-treatment farewell.) But how to preserve your spa-day bliss? Have an early dinner, skip the wine, and head to bed early. Because too much wine and not enough sleep are what inspire a spa visit in the first place.

Before it became a spa staple in Thailand, Thai massage was considered a medical treatment. That’s why you can still find it offered in that country’s hospitals and at temples like Wat Po.

Thai massage differs dramatically from a Western-style or Swedish massage. For one, it uses yoga-like stretches and pressure-point work to stimulate the body’s energy pathways. And, in most cases, the massage takes you off the massage table and onto a futon on the floor.

That’s all the better for the therapy and the therapist, who uses her body — not so much her hands — as a tool to stretch, twist and elongate yours. That’s the caveat of Thai massage: It demands interaction with your therapist, who will sit on your feet or legs to leverage you through a series of poses. (Amazingly, this allows even the tiniest of therapists to work on the bulkiest of basketball players.)

In a typical stretch, the therapist will sit on the back of your legs and pull your arms behind you to arch your spine and expand your chest. Some of these stretches are not unlike the corrections a yoga teacher might offer in a yoga class, which is why Thai massage is often called lazy man’s yoga.

Because there’s no way your modesty could be maintained under a sheet or towel during these moves, spas usually provide loose-fitting clothing (one-size-fits-most Thai fisherman pants are typical) .

Compared to a Swedish massage, a Thai massage can feel especially intense, particularly if stretching isn’t something you normally do. Many aficionados find the method invigorating — and leave feeling taller, more elongated and energized, instead of sluggish, says Sirikorn Jantawong, spa manager of ESPA at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Thailand.

Thai massage turns the model of massage on its head: It isn’t a submissive practice where someone else unknots your muscles and puts you to sleep, but a limbering, invigorating, participatory experience.

Traditional Chinese massage and Tui Na are purposefully all thumbs. All the better to attack, rather than gently untangle, your knots. If you like deep tissue massage, then this massage goes one better, almost qualifying as an extreme sport. In fact, it’s helpful to know how to say “back off” or ask for less pressure in Mandarin before you enter the spa treatment room. (That said, many luxury spas automatically give Westerners a softer version, a Tui Na lite.)

Tui Na massage offered in spas like the one at The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing shares roots with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture and tai chi. All subscribe to the several-thousand-year-old idea that illnesses and imbalances of the mind and body, from stress to muscular pains, are caused by stagnant energy, or qi. This massage is not for the faint of heart or the fragile. Practitioners use deep pressure, traction and a firm grip as they roll and rub the joints and knead your body to its (almost) breaking point. The literal translation of Tui Na is “push-pull.”

The massage may sound sadistic, but the method is meant to get energy moving along the body’s energy pathways, or meridians, and bring blood to the muscles. According to TCM, meridians line the body, and are the places where stagnation occurs. To that end, the practitioner may also use her fingers and thumbs to stimulate the acupressure points that dot the meridians, all to get your energy flowing smoothly. Noah Rubinstein, an acupuncturist in New York, puts it this way: “Flowing energy equals health; stagnant energy doesn’t do us much good. It’s like maple syrup.”

You might think that a massage style fixated on circulation needn’t be so extreme. But under the vice grip of a Chinese Tui Na therapist, painful knots dissolve. Some spa-goers compare Tui Na to physical therapy or Rolfing, and swear by the relief they’ve gotten, even on intractable muscle pains. Consider it tough love.