A sanctuary for restorative skin and body offerings
| SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY
| SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY | SKINCARE | MASSAGE | BODYWORK | FACIALS | SAUNA | LASHES | WOMB HEALING | RITUALS | WELLNESS | BUCCAL THERAPY
Hello Beautiful Being,
Beauty & The Body is a wholistic wellness and esthetic studio for women and their families located in Manchester, New Hampshire—our values are grounded in efficacious treatments and products that have the ability to support the skin & body’s innate ability to self-repair. We provide facials, bodywork, sauna therapy, and natural lash enhancement services in a quaint historic carriage house.
We are weaving together the worlds of herbal wisdom, therapeutic bodywork, evidence based skincare, modern technologies, and healthy lifestyle coaching to achieve results that are in harmony with the mind, body, and spirit.
We prioritize the use of botanical ingredients but do not turn a blind eye to safe, effective, and researched performance ingredients. We are non-dogmatic, open-minded, and curious learners with a keen desire to find solutions to complex skin conditions and tense bodies that span an integrative and holistic approach.
At our very core we are in service to the feminine body through the lens of body-literacy, personal empowerment, and creating a resilient community of well-being.
May you navigate this site with ease while feeling a sense of connection and place within the words and images;
you belong here.
Warmly,
Gretchen
OFFERINGS
MAYA ABDOMINAL THERAPY
Abdominal Therapy is best known for addressing misalignment and stagnation within the reproductive and digestive systems. It is a supportive modality for women who are trying to conceive and offers support for menstruation ailments, postpartum recovery, scar tissue healing due to c-sections and abdominal surgeries; all while providing a restorative experience to help women connect more deeply to their own body wisdom.
SKIN THERAPY
Professional treatments that nourish both skin and spirit. Intentional and effective treatments based on science, not trends. Choose from a variety of offerings that are customizable to fit the unique needs of each person and every skin condition. Wholistic Skin Therapy combines the use of modern skincare with ancient healing modalities. Each treatment provides a balanced blend of relaxation and results oriented skincare that focuses on restoring health and radiance to the skin via sculpting facial massage, lymphatic drainage, and various modern protocols.
MASSAGE THERAPY
Wholistic Massage focuses on the health of the mind, body, and spirit. Each session awakens conscious awareness into the body’s subconscious patterns of disharmony, which often are the root cause of tension, pain, and discomfort. With a focus on connective tissue health, energetic vitality, and nervous system integration, wholistic massage is a valuable addition to wellness routines that wish to incorporate states of relaxation and therapeutic touch.
FIRE CUPPING
Fire Cupping is an ancient healing technique where heat is added to a glass cup causing a vacuum effect when applied to the skin. The cups may be placed on the body and left in one spot for an amount of time or moved around on the skin in a gliding motion. By creating this vacuum effect, the cups drain or pull toxins out of the body which allows the blood to flow, stimulates chi, breaks up lymphatic stagnation, and releases congested tissue.
HAIR REMOVAL
There really is nothing better than having smooth freshly waxed skin. Beyond the personal pleasure of feeling soft and exfoliated from the waxing process—waxing is better and more hygienic than shaving and more economical than laser hair removal. We use a low heat Starpil hard or soft wax suitable for the most sensitive of skins.
BUCCAL & TMJ MASSAGE
Buccal intra-oral massage rejuvenates the face naturally by releasing adhered connective tissue that produces fine lines and wrinkles—while stimulating micro-circulation and lymphatic flow. This treatment helps manage symptoms of TMJ, migraines, headaches, and bruxism.
INFRARED SAUNA
Sweating is ancestral—it was practiced by many cultures from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the Russians and the Native Americans. Skin is our largest organ and sweat is a major elimination channel for toxins. Beyond the sauna’s incredible relaxation effect(endorphin levels increase after a sauna session), it’s proven to be beneficial for musculoskeletal ailments, heavy metal detoxification, increased blood flow, and boosting the immune system’s cell activity.
LASH & BROW ARTISTRY
The beautification of the human body has such ancient roots it’s hard to imagine a world where lush lashes and full eyebrows do not reign as natural powers of physical beauty and elegance. This lash and brow artistry offering is an homage to using what mama nature gave us while giving her a little extra oomph! A lash lift is a great alternative to extensions and works beautifully for those with longer lashes—results last between 6-8 weeks. Completely mascara and lash serum compatible.
THE STUDIO
Hours of Operation
Monday 10am to 5pm
Tuesday 10:30am to 6pm
Wednesday Closed
Thursday 9am to 3:30pm
Friday 9am to 4:00pm
Saturday (By request only—appointments are prepaid & nonrefundable)
Sunday Closed
BODY TENDING
We are living in an era of great extremes, collectively we are overexerted, chronically stressed, living with mysterious illnesses, deeply disconnected from nature, and barely getting by in our day to day lives.
The effects of our stressful and fast pace modern lifestyle shows up in the body as pain, tension, fatigue, anxiety, depression, menstrual discomfort, hormonal imbalances, autoimmunity, skin issues, and so much more.
It is well known in the bodywork community that—
“The issues are in the tissues”
Creating space in our schedules to receive therapeutic touch is a powerful ally in helping the body to access states of homeostasis through supporting muscular, lymphatic, circulatory, and energetic vitality. All of which helps to integrate the mind-body-spirit connection and thus facilitates states of well-being and relief.
Throughout time antiquity, humanity has practiced various forms of hands on healing. The current uprise in holistic modalities marks a return of our remembrance of just how important holistic medicine is to our collective well-being.
Hands on healing is an ancient form of health-care that finally has the backing of scientific theory.
Clinical studies of regular massage have been shown to decrease cortisol levels(stress hormone), increases immune cell quality and strength, and increase dopamine(pleasure neurotransmitter).
Just as exercise and proper nutrition are essential for optimal functioning of the human body, massage and body-care therapies should be considered an essential aspect of one’s goal toward whole-health and happiness.
The foundation of our practice is therapeutic touch and compassionate listening, we are witnesses to the journey while providing a safe, warm, and nurturing space to unwind and reconnect with the wisdom of the body.
“Hi Gretchen—I’d like to learn more about your approach to physical and spiritual healing.”
I think spiritual healing happens through the body; with body as conduit for spirit/energy/god if you will. Spiritual healing is very personal, so I don’t take it on myself to know exactly what occurs for each person when they are on the massage table. However what I can say is that I think massage provides the space to go within the body (interoception) while improving ones sense of body awareness (proprioception). In order to define words like spiritual we would need to have one finite understanding of what “spirit” is… which in this case there are many different ways to be or experience "spiritual”.
I believe in grounded spirituality by my own terms; which can feel like the sensation of recognizing how amazing it feels to fully inhale after an abdominal massage, or the liberated experience of having the knots in ones shoulder released. Those experiences lead to a subtle shift in ones experience of being in a body, which influence the way that one perceives reality—massage slows down brain waves which can stimulate a dream like state and thus one enters a sort of liminal magical realm where deep healing and self inquiry can occur effortlessly.
There is so much that can unfold via therapeutic touch… in fact so much that we as a whole do not full comprehend. My current offerings reflect my own personal journey of discovering just how deeply interwoven the fabric of the body is to the soul and psyche. They are but one; and I truly think there are moments of that deep knowing on a somatic(soma; of or relating to the body) level during a bodywork session, which helps to bring all facets into a state of oneness/wholeness… which is the truest essence of “holistic healing” for the ‘whole being’.
TESTIMONIALS