Sabai Body Temple is an urban oasis in Minneapolis, a place where you climb the stairs, remove your shoes and enter a place where well-being takes top priority. The spa was founded in 2007, a retreat that combines bodywork with outstanding hospitality. Designed around Eastern bodywork modalities, it is designed in warm reds and browns with living plants contributing to the healthy environment radiating throughout the spa.

Sabai Body Temple is as committed to the health and well-being of the staff as they are of their clients, aware that they must keep their healers healthy if they are to help clients on their journey. In pursuit of this, they offer paid training, a living wage, a steady income, professional development, paid parental leave, and regular opportunities to receive bodywork.

Spa Review: We Tried the Thai Herbal Poultice Treatment at Sabai Body Temple

They are active members of their local community, participating in a local CSA farm program, donating to local charities and providing educational resources for those who visit them. They also support small, local restaurants in their area. Their commitment to economic sustainability is expressed in their use of chemical-free ingredients, recycling, and shopping local.

We spent some time with Maple Conn, owner of Sabai Body Temple, who shared more about what makes her spa so special.

Why You’ll Love It: It definitely depends on the guest. I'll omit names for privacy. If you ask SM, he'd probably say rose tea. KS might discuss our warm floral-scented towels, which he likes to lay over his face as soon as he sits down. LH might mention the flexibility of gently settling in the client lounge after her session...and the option of turning down the music in her treatment room since her massage is quiet time away from her littles at home. And any expecting mama may highlight our face-down pregnancy cushion! All in all, I think our guests love most the opportunity to slow down, have their senses catered to, and to customize their experience.

Key Features: I'd say three key features of Sabai Body Temple are: our client lounge with comfortable seating and water jugs; our gorgeous plant wall which brings greenery to our clientele even during winter; and our practice of starting each session with warm towels on the feet.

Snacks Served: While we don't offer snacks, a huge staple in our client care is herbal tea. When it's chilly out, we make a fresh pot of hot tea first thing in the morning to warm everyone up, and when it's warm out, we offer chilled tea to cool folks down! Some of our favorite tea flavors are Sweet Orange, Honey Chamomile, and Peppermint. We do know that our clients may be hungry after their massage so we try to stay up to date on nearby restaurant offerings and you might hear team members giving recommendations for their favorite sushi, sandwich, or rice bowl options within walking distance. Sabai Body Temple is definitely in a foodie-friendly area. 

Important Touch Points for Every Visit: We are very intentional about encouraging our staff to lean into their training and intuition so every session is definitely unique or customized to the client and visit. The "touch points" we've developed make sure that there are still standard and familiar details for returning clients regardless of with whom they work. Touch points include water or tea and a warm scented towel upon client arrival, warm towels on the feet to start the session, aromatherapy, and a light closing flow at the end of the session that ends at the feet. 

Bonus: A bonus treatment at SBT is a shorter specialized service. Our Studio Massages (60-minute minimum) aim to treat the whole body, so team members go into those services prepared to accommodate a variety of needs and requests over a longer period of time. They also incorporate their professional knowledge to treat what they discover during the session. Bonuses, by contrast, are 30 minutes and are focused on the feet, or head and neck, face, or exfoliation. We encourage clients to book bonuses alongside their studio massage especially if they have specific issues or concerns that may require more time and focus. 

Splurge Treatment: Head Over Heels, one of our two-hour couple's packages. I love this service because it really checks all of the boxes and is such a treat. The best description is the one on the website: "Begin with tip-to-toe exfoliating ginger-rose and sandalwood scrubs to increase circulation and quiet your mind, followed by a luscious hydrating lotion. Slow-flow deep tissue massage with rich cardamom and sesame oil follows to melt away the physical and mental stresses of your day. A warm coconut oil head massage, paired with an intensely relaxing foot massage leaves you both with a profound sense of peace."

We have a lot of couples that book this as a birthday, anniversary, or other celebratory gift so it's an honor for us to also be able to support those moments of bonding for so many people!

Unique Treatment: Our Thai Herbal Poultice Treatment is pretty unique! Our Bonus Face Massage also uses a small Thai herbal poultice. Herbal Poultices were used in traditional Thai health and wellness treatments and an herbal poultice on the face would have been used for royalty/high class as a beauty treatment: a natural glowy face-lift. Sometimes we describe Thai Herbal Poultice Treatment as our version of hot stone massage, but we steam the poultices and the water helps penetrate more deeply into the muscles than dry stone heat. Poultices treat one area at a time which means that they can also be safer for the client in terms of heat exposure.

Wellness Offerings: I've had clients start visiting for relaxation, and notice that their physical ailments diminish when their stress levels are regularly lowered. Our Bonus Face Massage is warm, relaxing, smells delicious, and has a huge wellness impact by treating headaches, sinus congestion, and TMJD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder). Every session at SBT is therapeutic at its core. We recognize the mind-body connection and employ a customizable format so that we can best serve whatever discomfort or stress walks through the door.

Our staff have monthly staff meetings where we discuss different self-care recommendations, stretch techniques, and compare notes on treatment plans for clients facing particular injuries or challenges.  Every client walks out with a "Best Recommendation" from their therapist, which could range from general hydration to an epsom salt bath, to a targeted stretch technique. These recommendations aim to educate and encourage balance and wellness patterns at home.

Staff Favorites:

• Claire: "Frankincense-Lavender CBD oil and Emerald incense!"

• Steph: “Traditional Cupping session with Shiatsu energy points."

• Kayla: "The Amethyst incense and the herbal poultice we use for the Bonus Face Massage."

• Damian: "Auromère Lotion, the Bonus Foot Massage and Diamond incense."

• Diana:  "Our "Relax" oil blend and starting sessions with warm towels on the feet."

• Orsolya: "Our blend of music, variety of teas, and floral-water scented warm towels."

• Maple: "Our Just For Couples menu. I love being a part of so many couples' journeys, birthday celebrations, anniversaries, and everything!"

Featured Products: I think normally you might get an oil/lotion/skin care response to this question, but I honestly want to highlight our soap and incense. At first glance, a client might not recognize that these are staples of the studio, but they have contact with these two details on every single visit. The soap brand we use for Exfoliation services and in our bathrooms is a choice of two bars from Auromère. The scents are Himalayan Rose and Sandalwood-Turmeric and they are both gentle, grounding, and sensitive-skin-friendly. Our incense is from Shoyeido and is pure, low-smoke, and comes in recyclable packaging with a biodegradable mini incense holder in each box. We use a variety of scents from their Jewel series to prepare the studio to receive clients.  

Any retail we stock is either a product we use here in the studio, or a staff self-care favorite so I also want to feature our soap and incense because I know our guests look for ways to take the spa experience home. Soap and incense are simple, relatively useful/consumable, and inexpensive ways to take the spa home until they are next able to visit.

For more information on Sabai Body Temple, visit their website and follow on Instagram: @sabaibodytemple

[Photos courtesy of Sabai Body Temple]

Sabai Body Temple

2753 Hennepin Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55408

612-872-8354