From "Crazy Concept" to Spa Consultant
Karen Menehan

Three years ago, everyone to whom Sarah Hazel described her business plan thought she was "a little crazy," she says. Quite simply, they hadn't seen anything like it; Hazel's concept was brand-new in the spa industry - so new that she couldn't even get a business loan, and had to start her project on a shoestring budget. Yet today her spa concept is wildly popular - both with clients and with spas that want to incorporate her ideas into their facilities.

What was Hazel's idea? A spa that caters to an often-overlooked area of the body. At The Barefoot Sage, in Portland, Oregon, clients receive massage, hydrotherapy, clay and seaweed baths, essential-oil therapy, Asian bodywork, and rock-and-gemstone therapy - all targeting the feet.

The idea that addressing the feet can have a healing effect on the body is not a new idea; many traditions around the world have some form of therapeutic foot-massage techniques, Hazel says, and some Asian countries address the feet in ways similar to The Barefoot Sage's. "But I knew of no spa that placed it at the center of its service and placed that service in the context of a social teahouse atmosphere," as her spa does, she says.

"I love feet, and I felt they were deserving of tremendously more care and attention," she adds.

Many elements of the therapies offered at The Barefoot Sage are a synthesis of techniques stemming from many cultures.

"The massage techniques incorporate Chinese meridian and point theory; the social aspect of bathing together and little things like the brisk rubdown with towels after massage are derived from Turkish bath houses," Hazel explains. "The essential-oil combinations are based in part on Egyptian and Ayurvedic references, and the Ayurvedic warm-oil bath is an adaptation of a vata-reducing treatment."

The spa's alternating hot-and-cold baths are derived from Hazel's hydrotherapy training as a naturopath. Her training also included botanical and physical medicine. She also earned a massage license, and has studied Ayurvedic and Oriental medicine, as well as reflexology.

Client Mary Roney's favorite treatment is the 60-minute Foot Zen, a combination hot-water bath and cold-water splash followed by a 30-minute foot reflexology session.

"I love the atmosphere that they've created," Roney says of the spa. "It's as if you walk in off the street and all your cares are gone, from the moment you walk in, and then you sit down and have one of the foot therapies - and it's as if you never want to leave."

Hazel had planned to launch a marketing campaign for her spa, but found that business grew rapidly, simply by word of mouth. The Barefoot Sage sees between 100 and 250 clients per week, both for the foot treatments and for full-body massage, and organizations often book the spa for group sessions. Business owners' staff or clientele, book-club members, birthday celebrants, couples on dates, families, and bridal-shower parties have all booked group treatments at the spa.

For Hazel, the addition of "spa owner" to her resume has been fulfilling, both personally and professionally.

"I was busy and successful [as a naturopath] in many ways, but I felt I was missing something," she says. "I felt that there was some element to my work that was unique to myself that I wasn't expressing. Finally, I had a vision, [and] the whole concept came to me in one big flash."

In addition to maintaining her naturopathic practice, directing the spa, formulating new therapies and training her staff of 30 therapists, Hazel stays busy consulting to the spa industry, helping spas incorporate her therapy concepts. And along with her clients, she's enjoying the therapies at The Barefoot Sage.