Mask Policy

Like millions of other businesses across the U.S. at the moment, we’ve had to have a lot of internal conversation and make decisions about our mask policy in light of both the CDC and the State of Washington announcing that masks are no longer needed in most places.  We’re as excited as anybody else to get this mask phase behind us, but it’s also naturally a contentious issue, and unfortunately businesses, especially small businesses, risk being in a damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don’t position with whatever policy change they decide for themselves.  There’s certainly some arguments that de-masking is too soon (it’s still winter, though spring is trying hard), and there’s also a lot of mask fatigue after two years of having them strapped to our faces and hiding our human emotional expressions.

Whatever we do, we have to accept that some clients will be happy and some will be unhappy.  

Here’s where we’ve landed on the issue:

Lobby, Common Spaces & Private Rooms

  • Masks are now optional for clients in all common spaces (the lobby and lounge areas) and in private solo treatment rooms (the float rooms and the infrared sauna)
  • Masks are optional for our front desk team, though most will likely continue to wear one for now, per their own personal choice. 
     

Treatment Rooms

  • Our massage and acupuncture team, as licensed healthcare practitioners working in enclosed respiratory spaces with you, will continue to wear masks until further direction from the state and from regulatory bodies like the American Massage Therapy Association.   Masks are now optional for massage and acupuncture clients
  • Our Craniosacral Therapy service will continue to require masks for both practitioner and client, given that the nature of CST work often has both face to face with each other for prolonged periods of time.  This will stay in place until at least May, at which time we’ll re-review covid case rates.  This is not optional, so please don’t ask your craniosacral therapist if it’s okay to remove your mask. 
  • For our counseling-based services, masks are optional for clients. Your provider may or may not already be wearing a mask, based on their own personal choice, but you are welcome to request that your provider wear a mask for the duration of your session.  No offense at all will be taken by this request.  This includes: somatic coaching, intuitive counseling and hypnotherapy.  

All Other Covid Protocols Remain In Effect

To be clear: none of our other covid protocols are changing for now.  We’ll continue doing everything we can to make the space itself as safe as reasonably possible.

  • Hand sanitization will continue to be requested at the front door
  • Our thousands of dollars’ worth of HEPA+UV air filtration systems throughout the center will remain in place.  (Clean air is awesome, covid or not.)
  • Our use of UV+ozone sanitization in each room between every single use will continue for now. 
  • In some areas, we’re also now using photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) air filtration – originally used in the International Space Station to provide clean air for astronauts – and will likely continue to invest in this as an additional way of keeping our air clean and free of viruses, bacterias and molds.  

We don’t expect that this policy change is going to make everybody happy, as this pandemic situation has taught us that that’s just not possible; but hopefully the combination of approaches will keep the majority of you (and our team) feeling safe and respected when you visit us.  

This is a weird tail end of the pandemic to navigate, but as with all things, this too shall pass.