Cryo chambers, hyperbaric oxygen masks, and other gadgets that sound straight out of sci-fi — only here, you get to try them
The IVT pod
Just last week, Japan declared 114-year-old Shigeko Kagawa — one among the country’s thousands of centenarians — as its oldest living person. While Japan grapples with caring for its ever-growing older population, the rest of the world continues to romanticise — and monetise — its ways of living, in service of longevity (“anti-ageing” having quietly become frowned-upon in the holistic marketer’s dictionary).
With even OTT programming having caught on to our scrolling habits, with shows like Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones playing on my TV at 3 am, I didn’t refuse the opportunity to visit and try Fairmont Spa & Longevity — complete with its special Blu Xone, inspired by the haloed spots of the world.
At Fairmont, you start with a doctor who asks about your health and lifestyle, to decide which of the futuristic machines you’ll meet first. The Blu Xone might be tucked inside a five-star spa, but the longevity treatments are personalised.
The HBOT machine
Beyond the Blu Xone, the space also houses a technogym-powered fitness centre, and the kind of spa menu where you could sign up for a shirodhara treatment, a spirulina seaweed wrap, and then step into a NASA-inspired Intermittent Vacuum Therapy (IVT) pod.
In the Blu Xone, you can choose from five therapies — cryotherapy in a cryochamber, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), Red-light therapy, IVT and Intermittent Hypoxic Therapy (IHT).
Dr Rashmi Ambastha, director of Spa, Wellness and Recreation, suggests that we try the IVT machine first, and finish with three minutes in -85 degrees in the cryo chamber. Together these will help lighten the creaks and aches of a 30-something. Multiple sessions have multiple benefits, we are told. The 25-minute IVT session feels like being worked over by an industrial vacuum cleaner. Next is the cryo room, a brave step for someone who starts shivering in a car backseat when AC is on at full blast. The chamber is dry — just a short, intensely frosty blast.
Once we have changed we realise that the rubberband-feel of our nerve behind the knee has disappeared! The body feels lighter, and — placebo or not — my joints do feel lighter, too. The price per session is R6500 (plus taxes, R4500 for the red light therapy), and you will need multiple sessions based on your wellness goals. So can you really buy a long life today? Longevity might be priceless, but it comes with a bill.
Where: Level 3, Fairmont Mumbai, T2 Terminal
When: Fairmont Spa & Longevity: 8 am – 11 pm; Blu Xone: 8 am – 8 pm
Call: 69332222, 80975 55288
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