Those poor backs of ours work overtime sitting at desks, hunching over in the cold and carrying the kids around, but our Senior Product Manager Sarah Hill may just have found the solution with the Kundalini back treatment at Ockenden Manor…

Ockenden Manor in Sussex is a beautiful place to go at any time thanks to the location, the combination of historic and contemporary design, and the ilā products in the spa.

As is the spa’s maxim, ‘beyond organic’, all products are free from synthetic chemicals and contain a rare level of natural energy thanks to their use of raw ingredients from local producers who cultivate and harvest them in harmony with nature. ilā then blend their products by hand in peaceful, consciously converted barns in the Cotswolds - this is the basis on which you go into your 60 minute back treatment, and that knowledge alone seems to fill it with an unusual level of relaxation.

The treatment is named for a female goddess of awareness who appears in in the form of a coiled snake, reminiscent of the dormant energy in the base of the spine, which, when awakened, travels up to the third eye. I turn this is believed to lead to increased energy and spiritual enlightenment. Whether you take that part of the process with you or not however, this treatment is a back massage that’s deeply soothing, relaxing and balancing thanks to the essential oils used in conjunction with ancient massage techniques and chakra healing.

Suffice to say i thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it made me smile to know that the music during the treatment (tailored for the experience) includes the dulcet tones of the owner of ilā… so that’s nice.