Vida Pura Spa offers customers a full-body release without the gimmicks. The workers at the spa gear their treatments toward bettering the body and not succumbing to the latest fads and trends you see in the media for the sake of business.
The owner of Vida Pura Spa, Rebecca Brumfield, has been a massage therapist since 2008 and has legally worked for herself under Vida Pura Spa since 2011. The spa now offers facials, body wax, scrubs and specializes in cupping therapy. Brumfield describes cupping as an inverse massage, meaning that instead of pushing down on the muscles, the cups provide a suction like a vacuum and pull up the muscle. This in turn loosens the muscles and promotes the body’s healing.
Vida Pura Spa offers not only massage therapy but also natural skin care. There are a lot of things that are legal to use in skincare products that Brumfield doesn’t feel comfortable using, and in using these products, Brumfield is able to label her practice as a “holistic spa.”
By putting the “holistic” stamp on its services, the spa shows that they are taking the steps needed to bring something pure to the Baton Rouge area and stressed out students searching for a healthy release.
“The holistic definition would really be ‘whole body approach,’” Brumfield said. “A natural approach from the earth using natural ingredients. I don’t try to sell people on gimmicks or scams or the new fads. I’ve been doing cupping therapy since I started doing massage –– I didn’t do it just because Michael Phelps was doing it. I’ve been doing cupping therapy for almost 10 years now because I love it and it works.”
Brumfield had firsthand experience to show her the lasting benefits of cupping therapy. When she suffered from an injury, she was referred to an acupuncturist that introduced her to the newly popular, ancient form of therapy that has been used by the Chinese, Aztecs, Egyptians and Mayans.
“The acupuncturist did cupping on me and I thought ‘This is strange,’” Brumfield said. “It kind of feels like being hugged by an octopus. It’s tight and it feels awkward, but it doesn’t hurt. After he did cupping on me … I didn’t have any pain after that.”
Not only does Brumfield offer the service in her spa, she travels around the city and the country to teach others how to practice cupping therapy. Brumfield said she finds it important to go out and educate people of the public about what cupping therapy is because it’s not painful, it doesn’t hurt and it is actually good for you.
While anyone could benefit from Vida’s services, Brumfield said students and athletes are two of the largest groups of people that could really benefit from the spa’s stress-relieving techniques.
“Students are the most stressed out people that we see,” Brumfield said. “They’re bent over a desk all day, or their postures aren’t good and they’re always on their phone or on a computer or writing something. I’ve seen students with more muscle tension than I have in people who are Engineers or athletes. I really love working on them because when your body is not holding all this weight, stress and tension, it just feels like a sigh of relief.”
Vida Pura Spa is a great treat for people who want a break from stress and want to better their body. Brumfield thinks people should really take the time out of their day to take care of themselves because it’s what any overworked, overstressed person deserves.
“Taking care of yourself as a full-time job and one thing I tell my clients all the time is self-care is not selfish,” Brumfield said. “It’s OK to take care of yourself.”
