The sweet sound of stress relief: music-infused spa treatments add depth and harmony to the healing benefits of massage

Massage relaxes aching muscles, brings the body back into balance and helps relieve stress and worry–if only for the hour you spend on the table. But what happens when sound becomes an active part of the treatment?

“You get a holistic spa experience that brings you to a deeper state of relaxation than that reached through massage alone,” explains Kevin MacDonald, spa director at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, Calif., which offers the sounds-on healing shown here, It’s one of our two favorite melodious massages:

• The Claremont Resort and Spa offers the Tibetan Sound Massage ($120 for 50 minutes; claremontresort.com). Throughout the soothing full-body rubdown, imported Tibetan bowls, which have been expertly crafted to “sing” when the rims are rubbed, are placed on or near the body’s various chakras, or energy centers. Each bowl is then “played,” and the resonating vibrations travel through the body to enhance balance and create a deep sense of serenity.
  
  
• At the Sea Change Healing Center in New York City, calming music and nature sounds are played during the Sea Note Musical Massage ($125 for 60 minutes; seachangehealing.com); each stroke of the masseuse’s hands is performed in rhythm with this orchestration. But it’s the subliminal track of tones and vibrations, played at a frequency lower than what the human ear is trained to hear, that’s designed to affect brain waves to promote feelings of peace and relaxation.