Bath and tea gardens offer tranquility
After more than two years of planning and meticulous attention to detail, Ilene Rubinstein has opened the door at 832 A Street to Chozu Bath and Tea Gardens. The moment you place your hand on the iron handle and push open the 250-pound mesquite door, you notice a change in the way you feel.
Once inside Chozu — located in a renovated home in the historic railroad district — you feel a calm beginning to settle over you. As your eyes travel around the reception area — taking in the neatly folded towels, the subdued colors, the simple yet beautiful architectural elements, the Japanese music playing gently in the background, the smiling attendants moving quietly about — you feel your shoulders relax, your jaw beginning to unclench, your breath deepening, and your mind quieting.
The word Chozu comes from the Japanese word Cho — meaning to become pure, or clear and serene, and zu — meaning with water. Indeed, chozu-bachi can be found at many traditional tea houses, shrines, and temples throughout Japan, and are used before worshipping to symbolize mind and body purification.
Chozu's bath gardens include superbly appointed showers and steam rooms for both men and women, a beautiful outdoor salt water hot pool accented by a graceful waterfall, a roomy dry sauna, and a cold plunge. Two private hot pools are also available. Upon arrival, you receive a koshimaki — a towel wrap that can be worn into the pool and sauna — and slippers to use during your visit. You also receive a complimentary cup of bath salts to use before soaking.
Ilene admits that creating Chozu wasn't easy. "It was an enormous undertaking, especially while also maintaining two other businesses." Ilene goes on to describe how she designed the entire facility, hand-picked every rock for the waterfall, painted the mural with another artist, and put in many hours of hands on labor. "It was challenging, a constant interplay between trying to express my vision while also respecting the incredible artisans who were drawn to be involved. It felt like I was birthing a vision."
In fact, it was a vision of sorts that lead to much of what Ilene has created since moving to the valley in 1997 to start a chiropractic practice.
"I had been in the healing arts since I was 22, but was feeling unclear of my path and went for a really long walk in the forest. I sat down, took out a big piece of paper, and asked myself, 'What does my path look like?' I proceeded to draw my chiropractic center, a dance and pilates/fitness facility, and this (referring to Chozu). In addition to my chiropractic center, and the dance/fitness facility, I envisioned a place where people could just drop in — to themselves. A place where they are their own healer, where no one is telling them what do."
Ilene had already started her chiropractic center on A Street. The Balancing Act came along soon after. And finally, nine years after defining her path, the property next to The Balancing Act became available and Ilene began work on the next part of her vision.
When asked if she ever felt daunted by the things that needed to transpire in order for her vision to come to fruition, Ilene answers, "If you plant a seed deep enough and keep watering the seed, it'll grow!"
Chozu's bath gardens were designed to create harmony of body and mind through deep relaxation; to help rejuvenate and to soothe the tensions we store in our bodies. Blending this philosophy with that of the tea ceremony is not a big leap. Permeating all the experiences to be had at Chozu are the qualities of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquillity. These qualities are also the four principles of tea ceremony.
In the tea room, Etsuko Jensen is the perfect compliment to Chozu. Born in Japan, she recalls first walking in to Chozu and exclaiming, 'It looks like Japan here! Is this just my dream?'"
Etsuko, who moved to the United States in 1979, takes pride in her cooking and in her knowledge of quality teas and Japanese tea ceremony. It's an informative and rather meditative experience as she proceeds to serve her favorite tea, Matcha. She explains how all green teas come from the same plant, but the difference is in how they are grown and harvested. Matcha is made from the tips of the youngest plants and, due to shading that is done before harvest, is full of chlorophyll. Alongside the matcha, Etsuko serves a tasty sample of a traditional sweet, Youkan, made with azuki beans.
Norma Spense lives just down the street and is in the tea room sharing a pot of tea with her daughter Gail who is visiting from Denmark. Norma says, "Walking in is like coming into a different world. It's a little piece of heaven."
It's exactly the feeling Ilene was hoping to create, "My goal when you're here is that you don't necessarily know where you are. You could be a world away."
Indeed, gazing up into the skies while soaking in the outdoor tubs — with the soft Japanese music playing, the bamboo rustling, the gentle cascade of the water, the mist swirling by, the tips of evergreen trees bending in the distance, the simplicity and beauty of everything around you — you really do wonder if somehow you were whisked away to some distant mountainside retreat in the Orient.
From the moment one walks through the front door of Chozu — be it to visit the bath gardens, or for a healing therapy, or simply for an afternoon tea ceremony and a savory treat — one can't help but begin to feel a sense of purification, honor, peace, and centeredness. It's a place and space worth dropping into.
Chozu is open Tuesday through Sunday, and will be holding their grand opening on Feb. 17, offering tours of the facility and samples of the tea garden's offerings. Beginning soon, there will also be a range of therapeutic services available in the treatment rooms: Swedish Massage, Hydrotherapy Wraps, Thalassotherapy, Abhyanga Massage, Shirodhara Massage, Shiatsu, and Reiki.
For information call 541-552-0202 or log onto their Web site www.ChozuGardens.com
