Review: Bump-friendly massage for mums-to-be at Spa by SensAsia at Mövenpick Media City

The treatment rooms are called Floating, Breathing, Living, Being and Sensing, at Spa by SensAsia at the Grand Plaza Movenpick Media City

I feel like the princess without the pea, so elevated and draped am I by bedding and fluffy towels as I lie sideways on a heated table. Both my legs are hugging another rolled-up towel to make space for my bulging pregnant belly, as pink crystals and argan oil are softly, slowly rubbed into my back.

I'm not sure how long I snoozed (snored?) for before being asked to turn over so the same indulgence could be repeated on my left side. Soothing music drifts over me, from classical piano to ocean sounds and meditative melodies; the lights are soft and low; and the temperature is not too hot, not too cold. Later, I'm transported into a second slumber as a vitamin C face mask works its magic on my dull, hormonal skin and my head is lightly massaged. When you're pregnant, fatigued, and suffering gnawing aches and pains in places you never knew existed, this is literally the stuff dreams are made of.

I've been invited to review the Super Mum package, one of five bespoke "sensorial journeys" offered at the new Spa by SensAsia – a brand extension of UAE-born SensAsia Urban Spas – at the recently opened Grand Plaza Movenpick Media City. Ever so stressed and sloth-like at six months' pregnant, I don't need to be asked twice.

My three hours kick off with my shoes being whisked away upon arrival, on a tray no less Downton Abbey-style, and replaced by snuggly slippers. A glass of fresh cucumber water is placed in one hand, and a cool wet towel – to remove any lingering stickiness from the real world outside – in the other.

Memories of traffic and angry drivers diffuse as I am shown to a “Tasting Bar” dotted with glass bell jars in various shapes and sizes, bunches of lavender, tall white lilies and a pretty potpourri of argan butters, dried ­grapefruit and lemon, Dead Sea salts and oils from the Orient, such as ­orange blossom, vanilla and amber. Here, clients are invited to choose products of their liking, but given my “condition”, I go with the therapist’s recommendation of a body scrub with pink salt and argan oil, followed by a massage with orange-blossom-­fragranced shea butter.

The Tasting Bar

Next, I’m led to a white marble changing room that contains a large rose-head shower, steam room and sauna. My locker gifts me a seriously thick, fluffy robe (what is it about robes and instant relaxation?), a vanity and shaving set should I need one, and disposable pants, but not of the grossly unpleasant plastic G-string variety. These black microfibre shorts are comfortable and velvety soft. I am snug as a bug and ready for take-off.

My treatment room, named Floating, sits across the corridor from Breathing, and just down a candlelit hallway from Living, Being and Sensing. It's a ­calming sanctuary with five tall ambitions that speak to the basic desires of the human condition. Some of the other treatments offered at the spa include: the Repair treatment with Dead Sea salt polish (Dh475); a hot salt and pepper scrub body polish (Dh395); a warm milk and honey body wrap (Dh399); a Better than Botox facial, which targets the forehead, smile lines and neck area (Dh560); and the recovery massage for post-workout tension (Dh429), among others. 

Men can enjoy a cleansing or ­rejuvenating facial (Dh425); and ­tension-taming massages targeting the back, neck and shoulder (Dh265) and glutes and thighs (Dh345). Mums-to-be can also opt for just the 150-­minute exfoliation and bump-friendly massage (Dh875), or a 60 or 90-minute nurturing massage (from Dh489), both of which ease fatigue and can help to prevent stretch marks.  

Once inside the Floating chamber, this mum-to-be collapses into a huge armchair in the corner of an ­ambient room. My aching feet undergo a much-needed cleanse, first bathed in rosewood, a refreshing antiseptic that’s beneficial during pregnancy I’m told, then exfoliated using the same pink scrub that will soon be applied over my body. After the scrub, I’m invited to take a quick shower and then resume my position for a prenatal massage, during which my bump is treated to a tender rub. My little one is kicking and rolling around inside me, reassuring me that he enjoyed himself as much as I did.

The session, which costs Dh1,010, ends with an hour-long “plumped-up facial”. After my therapist tells me my skin is dry and dehydrated (isn’t ­everyone’s?), a dermal roller is moved back and forth across my face and neck to allow an anti-ageing mask, serum and cream to penetrate my skin more deeply. I silently pray it will ­flatten out some of my 40-year-old wrinkles.

I'm then led to a relaxation room and invited to lie back and process the tranquility, given a hot pack for my shoulders, and served a deliciously sweet pot of ginger tea with ­cucumber and carrot slices, and my choice of lemon or cucumber water. I have access to an outdoor pool, sauna and steam room should I wish to extend my stay for as long as reasonably possible. Maybe I should ask if I can stay the night, I think to myself, feeling almost deliriously relaxed after two naps. I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind babysitting our two-year-old.