Spa Review: Inner Temple

We expect spa treatments to alleviate weeks of accumulated stress and drown out the clamour of thoughts that contribute to that stress. The occasional superlative treatment does all of this and also reacquaints you with parts of your anatomy that have suffered from neglect. The foot reflexology treatment at Bandra’s month-old spa and “wholistic healing centre” Inner Temple more than met the latter criterion.

The spa, which belongs to Mandira Sharma, a yoga instructor of ten years, is a modest fifth floor studio apartment that has been smartly utilised to accommodate an all-in-white waiting area, and an equally immaculate and serene therapy room decorated with eggshell tiles, and frill-fringed white curtains. They have two spa beds and one male masseur from Kerala who has trained and worked at the expensive Ananda Spa Resort in Uttaranchal. Even though it’s a home set up, the space is visibly clean. They provide a set of fragrantly fresh towels for each treatment and Das regularly rinses his hands in between treatments. The lack of space and staff limits them to one customer at a time, which is a good thing in our books as it means attentive and unhurried treatments.

From the succinct seven-item spa menu that includes Swedish (Rs2,000) and Thai (Rs2,500) massages as well as an Ayurvedic therapy called Marma (Rs3,000), we chose the ancient Indian head massage (Rs1,200) and the foot reflexology (Rs1,200). During the 45-minute foot massage, Arun Das doggedly targeted pressure points across the weary soles of our feet using only his nimble fingers to relieve the body of stress and induce a blissful stupor. Thankfully little time was wasted on props and the citrus- or lemongrass-scented oils that are liberally used by most other spas in the city. The face, neck and shoulders were the points of focus during the ancient Indian head massage. This massage got off to an awkward start while Das studied the face using his hands, but the constant pressing, patting and kneading of the skin as though it were putty resulted in a sense of deep relaxation.

The advertised time for both treatments was 45 minutes, but our massages lasted for an hour each, which is often the case Sharma told us as they prefer to leave gaps between appointments. Basking in the post-treatment glow and sense of well-being, you might find yourself committing to more sessions at Inner Temple regardless of the price tag.

Inner Temple is offering a 30 per cent discount on all treatments until Monday, December 31.

Inner Temple

LocationHill Heaven
Fifth Floor
In the same building as Snow Bite
Opposite Mehboob Studios
Bandra (West)

Phone98923 11024

HoursDaily, 10am to 10pm