Body by Brooklyn

by Kate Hanley

LYING ON A DECK CHAIR by the hot tub, sipping a cocktail and plotting your next hydrotherapy treatment, you'd never know that traffic on the BQE was whizzing by three stories above your head. Everything about Body by Brooklyn, a 10,000 square foot spa on the ground floor of the converted chocolate factory on the corner of Washington and Park, is designed to help you forget about daily stresses and indulge in the fine art of lounging.

Its approach is more European than New Age - there's an expansive lounge area where you can sip a tall glass of water or something a little more potent, such as a martini. You can also order lunch, dinner, or brunch. And then there's the Wet Lounge, which includes a hot tub, cold plunge, steam room and two saunas set to two different temperatures. All-day access to the Wet Lounge costs $44, or is included for free when you book any treatment over $80.

I like to gradually work my way up the thermometer: loosen up in the hot tub (102-104 degrees), hit the Turkish steam room to continue the warm up, move to the Russian sauna for a while, then top off in the hottest room: the Swedish sauna (160-200 degrees). Once you've got your shvitz on, immerse yourself in the cold pool (52 degrees) for an incredible physical and energetic rush. It's definitely not for the faint of heart - your skin will flush and you'll likely experience a strong pins-and-needles sensation - but this form of hydrotherapy has been used in many cultures to promote circulation and detoxification. I can vouch that you will feel undeniably alive. (Although I must confess that so far, I've only gone in up to my neck and tilted my head back to get my hair wet. Next time: full submersion!)

If you want to take your adventures in heat one step further, you can pay extra for a spa employee to come in to the steam room or Russian sauna and vigorously thwack you with a tree branch, known as a Platza treatment and believed to further stimulate circulation and the immune system.

Body by Brooklyn offers a full menu of spa services. I have had a reflexology treatment - where the therapist massages and stimulates trigger points on your feet, three massages, and a bikini wax. Every therapist I've worked with there has been very friendly, knowledgeable, and extremely capable. My favorite treatment was the Swedish massage I got from Yuri. I've had lots of massages, and this was the most transformative. Yuri gave me a new back - I went in hunched and achy and left feeling expansive and supported. I will definitely be back to see him.

If you book a treatment, leave plenty of time to experience the wet lounge, and bring your bathing suit (no nudity allowed). For a more communal experience, go on a weekend, when it can be downright boisterous in the wet lounge (there were so many people in the hot tub one Saturday afternoon that it was more tepid than hot). For more serenity, go on a weekday. Either way, expect to be so relaxed when you leave that you don't even hear the traffic rushing by overhead.

--Kate Hanley lives in the Graham Home for Old Ladies.