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Fans of ESPA Life at Corinthia’s new fitness service,
BodySPace, are calling the concept “revolutionary”. Lauretta Ihonor speaks to its founders to discover what sets it apart from the competition – and how it fits in with the flagship spa
By Dr Lauretta Ihonor | Published in Spa Business 2017 issue 4
BodySPace is the brainchild of co-founders David Higgins (left) and Stephen Price
Since its opening in 2011, ESPA’s flagship ESPA Life at Corinthia spa in London has shown a distinct commitment to combining fitness with innovative holistic therapies. Last summer the spa added mindful fitness sessions to its mindfulness services. And earlier this year, it upgraded its fitness centre with the installation of a new, state-of-the-art Technogym.
In a further step, ESPA Life at Corinthia has now partnered with the new UK company BodySPace to offer a bespoke hybrid fitness concept that combines exercise, nutrition and innovative technology to help guests improve not only their physical fitness, but their overall quality of life. “Clients often say ‘I want to lose 15 pounds,’ but when you dig deeper, this evolves into ‘I want to be fitter, feel better, have more energy and have more time for my partner’,” says BodySPace co-founder Stephen Price. “Once you nail it down, it’s really all about quality of life.”
ESPA founder Sue Harmsworth agrees. She says the concept’s focus on maximising quality of life through technology and multiple treatment modalities perfectly complements ESPA Life’s “philosophy of creating next-generation experiences.”
“BodySPace is bringing a new, highly evolved fitness and nutrition offering, which fits flawlessly within the existing ESPA Life offering,” says Harmsworth.
The birth of BodySPace BodySPace is the brainchild of wellness consultant Price and David Higgins, the man behind the London Pilates brands Ten Pilates and Bootcamp Pilates. Price, who founded the health, fitness and medical wellness consultancy SP&Co in 2001, has worked in wellness consulting for 16 years. Prior to that, he spent six years overseeing the development of luxury hotels in Africa and Asia. Higgins began his career as a Pilates trainer, and has also worked as a cast trainer and exercise rehabilitationist for film studios around the world.
The duo say it’s this amalgamation of expertise that sets BodySPace apart from anything else on the market today. “David and I have consulted in the hotel industry for years and we wanted to put our experience together and launch BodySPace,” Price explains. “So we brought in health technologies from medical wellness clinics and from the sports world, and added them to David’s vast Pilates and body movement experience – and it works perfectly.”
The BodySPace brand was created in early 2017, and its first project, Kingwood – a state-of-the-art gym and wellness complex in a residential development in Knightsbridge, London – opened in June of this year. ESPA Life at Corinthia is the team’s second project, and serves as their flagship hotel concept.
Unique selling point While traditional fitness services focus on metrics, such as fat percentage, weight and VO2max, BodySPace is centred on heart rate variability monitoring, which Price says is “probably the biggest physiological marker for those interested in reaping the benefits of personalised training for fitness and overall wellness. It’s a great marker of things like hydration and sleep, as they all affect variability.”
BodySPace uses technology from Firstbeat, a physiological analytics company, to provide guests with personalised insights on stress, exercise and recovery – all calculated from heart variability data. “This technology times the heartbeat,” explains Price. “We then look for the time between the beats and use this information to personalise the effect our training is having on you.”
Heart rate variability data is also used to determine clients’ heart coherence – a measure of the pattern of the heart’s rhythm. Research by the US HeartMath Institute has shown that coherence is an indicator of harmony between the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous system, and as such, the ultimate measure of total body health. “Sometimes how you feel and the condition you’re truly in are disjointed, so having an objective measure is useful,” says Price. “We want to help clients gain a better idea of their current state of health and wellbeing, measuring how this improves as they progress through programmes.”
These bespoke programmes – which cost anywhere from £750 (US$995, €848) to £4,400 (US$5,840, €4,973) and last between 10 days and 12 weeks – combine tailored fitness training with gut health and nutrition services, recovery, regeneration and compression treatments, and myofascial release therapy, alongside the other therapies on offer at the 3,300sq ft (307sq m) luxury spa.
The road ahead Price and Higgins plan to open more BodySPaces around the globe, but they’re firm in their vision. “It’s very important for us to create a platform where a positive evidence-based message is used to promote long-term health and wellness,” says Higgins. “We aim to deliver this to clients so they understand their bodies and minds better, and function at their most optimal across all aspects of life.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Promotional feature: Anne Semonin
Katherine Connolly, newly appointed global
director of retail and spa operations at Anne
Semonin, discusses her plans for the brand
Promotional feature: Thalion
Thalion is the first company to develop highly
specialised mineral therapies for clients, says
training manager Sophie Alemany
Research: Finishing touch
A new study shows that massage can
help muscle re-growth after an injury –
even when applied to the opposite limb
About ESPA Life at Corinthia • Located in the heart of London, ESPA Life at Corinthia is spread over four floors, covering 3,300 sq m.
• The spa, which opened in 2011, offers lifestyle programmes that incorporate complementary and alternative medicine, targeted fitness and injury rehabilitation.
• Offers include treatment pods, sleep rooms, Technogym's Artis range, a spa lounge and large thermal floor area that features a swimming pool, vitality pool, glass amphitheatre sauna, steam room and heated marble loungers.
• In June 2016, ESPA Life launched a suite of six mindfulness therapies for the restoration of mental and emotional wellbeing: mindful breathing, mindful meditation, mindful sleep, mindful fitness, mindful facial and mindful massage.
• In November 2016, the Corinthia Hotel and ESPA Life launched a year-long Neuroscience in Residence programme, led by US leadership coach and MIT lecturer Dr Tara Swart. Its aim is to examine the mental resilience of the spa and hotel’s staff and guests. The resulting data will be used to to create a special brain power study at the end of 2017.
The Corinthia Hotel London is located near the city’s West End and the River Thames
ESPA Life at Corinthia is
the brand’s flagship, covering 3,300sq m and four floors
ESPA Life at Corinthia is
the brand’s flagship, covering 3,300sq m and four floors
The spa lounge is one of several areas for relaxation at ESPA Life at Corinthia
Lauretta Ihonor is editor of Spa Business’ sister publication, Health Club Management. email: [email protected]
David Higgins (left) is behind the London brands Ten Pilates and Bootcamp Pilates
BodySPace
BodySPace uses technology from Firstbeat to provide personalised insight
Sometimes how you feel and the condition you’re truly in are disjointed, so having an objective measure is useful
Contrast therapy, based on the alternation of hot and cold rituals, has become one of the
most valued practices in the fields of wellness and recovery. [more...]
In the fast-paced world of fitness and wellness, where high-intensity workouts push us to
our limits and the sweat pours, the importance of efficient recovery cannot be overstated. [more...]
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Fans of ESPA Life at Corinthia’s new fitness service,
BodySPace, are calling the concept “revolutionary”. Lauretta Ihonor speaks to its founders to discover what sets it apart from the competition – and how it fits in with the flagship spa
By Dr Lauretta Ihonor | Published in Spa Business 2017 issue 4
BodySPace is the brainchild of co-founders David Higgins (left) and Stephen Price
Since its opening in 2011, ESPA’s flagship ESPA Life at Corinthia spa in London has shown a distinct commitment to combining fitness with innovative holistic therapies. Last summer the spa added mindful fitness sessions to its mindfulness services. And earlier this year, it upgraded its fitness centre with the installation of a new, state-of-the-art Technogym.
In a further step, ESPA Life at Corinthia has now partnered with the new UK company BodySPace to offer a bespoke hybrid fitness concept that combines exercise, nutrition and innovative technology to help guests improve not only their physical fitness, but their overall quality of life. “Clients often say ‘I want to lose 15 pounds,’ but when you dig deeper, this evolves into ‘I want to be fitter, feel better, have more energy and have more time for my partner’,” says BodySPace co-founder Stephen Price. “Once you nail it down, it’s really all about quality of life.”
ESPA founder Sue Harmsworth agrees. She says the concept’s focus on maximising quality of life through technology and multiple treatment modalities perfectly complements ESPA Life’s “philosophy of creating next-generation experiences.”
“BodySPace is bringing a new, highly evolved fitness and nutrition offering, which fits flawlessly within the existing ESPA Life offering,” says Harmsworth.
The birth of BodySPace BodySPace is the brainchild of wellness consultant Price and David Higgins, the man behind the London Pilates brands Ten Pilates and Bootcamp Pilates. Price, who founded the health, fitness and medical wellness consultancy SP&Co in 2001, has worked in wellness consulting for 16 years. Prior to that, he spent six years overseeing the development of luxury hotels in Africa and Asia. Higgins began his career as a Pilates trainer, and has also worked as a cast trainer and exercise rehabilitationist for film studios around the world.
The duo say it’s this amalgamation of expertise that sets BodySPace apart from anything else on the market today. “David and I have consulted in the hotel industry for years and we wanted to put our experience together and launch BodySPace,” Price explains. “So we brought in health technologies from medical wellness clinics and from the sports world, and added them to David’s vast Pilates and body movement experience – and it works perfectly.”
The BodySPace brand was created in early 2017, and its first project, Kingwood – a state-of-the-art gym and wellness complex in a residential development in Knightsbridge, London – opened in June of this year. ESPA Life at Corinthia is the team’s second project, and serves as their flagship hotel concept.
Unique selling point While traditional fitness services focus on metrics, such as fat percentage, weight and VO2max, BodySPace is centred on heart rate variability monitoring, which Price says is “probably the biggest physiological marker for those interested in reaping the benefits of personalised training for fitness and overall wellness. It’s a great marker of things like hydration and sleep, as they all affect variability.”
BodySPace uses technology from Firstbeat, a physiological analytics company, to provide guests with personalised insights on stress, exercise and recovery – all calculated from heart variability data. “This technology times the heartbeat,” explains Price. “We then look for the time between the beats and use this information to personalise the effect our training is having on you.”
Heart rate variability data is also used to determine clients’ heart coherence – a measure of the pattern of the heart’s rhythm. Research by the US HeartMath Institute has shown that coherence is an indicator of harmony between the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous system, and as such, the ultimate measure of total body health. “Sometimes how you feel and the condition you’re truly in are disjointed, so having an objective measure is useful,” says Price. “We want to help clients gain a better idea of their current state of health and wellbeing, measuring how this improves as they progress through programmes.”
These bespoke programmes – which cost anywhere from £750 (US$995, €848) to £4,400 (US$5,840, €4,973) and last between 10 days and 12 weeks – combine tailored fitness training with gut health and nutrition services, recovery, regeneration and compression treatments, and myofascial release therapy, alongside the other therapies on offer at the 3,300sq ft (307sq m) luxury spa.
The road ahead Price and Higgins plan to open more BodySPaces around the globe, but they’re firm in their vision. “It’s very important for us to create a platform where a positive evidence-based message is used to promote long-term health and wellness,” says Higgins. “We aim to deliver this to clients so they understand their bodies and minds better, and function at their most optimal across all aspects of life.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Promotional feature: Anne Semonin
Katherine Connolly, newly appointed global
director of retail and spa operations at Anne
Semonin, discusses her plans for the brand
Promotional feature: Thalion
Thalion is the first company to develop highly
specialised mineral therapies for clients, says
training manager Sophie Alemany
Research: Finishing touch
A new study shows that massage can
help muscle re-growth after an injury –
even when applied to the opposite limb
About ESPA Life at Corinthia • Located in the heart of London, ESPA Life at Corinthia is spread over four floors, covering 3,300 sq m.
• The spa, which opened in 2011, offers lifestyle programmes that incorporate complementary and alternative medicine, targeted fitness and injury rehabilitation.
• Offers include treatment pods, sleep rooms, Technogym's Artis range, a spa lounge and large thermal floor area that features a swimming pool, vitality pool, glass amphitheatre sauna, steam room and heated marble loungers.
• In June 2016, ESPA Life launched a suite of six mindfulness therapies for the restoration of mental and emotional wellbeing: mindful breathing, mindful meditation, mindful sleep, mindful fitness, mindful facial and mindful massage.
• In November 2016, the Corinthia Hotel and ESPA Life launched a year-long Neuroscience in Residence programme, led by US leadership coach and MIT lecturer Dr Tara Swart. Its aim is to examine the mental resilience of the spa and hotel’s staff and guests. The resulting data will be used to to create a special brain power study at the end of 2017.
The Corinthia Hotel London is located near the city’s West End and the River Thames
ESPA Life at Corinthia is
the brand’s flagship, covering 3,300sq m and four floors
ESPA Life at Corinthia is
the brand’s flagship, covering 3,300sq m and four floors
The spa lounge is one of several areas for relaxation at ESPA Life at Corinthia
Lauretta Ihonor is editor of Spa Business’ sister publication, Health Club Management. email: [email protected]
David Higgins (left) is behind the London brands Ten Pilates and Bootcamp Pilates
BodySPace
BodySPace uses technology from Firstbeat to provide personalised insight
Sometimes how you feel and the condition you’re truly in are disjointed, so having an objective measure is useful
Bel Hotel Oléron Thalasso and Spa, MGallery Collection has opened on the French island Île
d'Oléron off the country’s western coast with a 27-treatment-room spa.
Manipulating the gut microbiome could become a powerful tool for preserving brain health and
resilience as people age, according to research led by Professor Paola Tognini, a neuroscientist
at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.
Jessica Sloyan, a wellness operations and training expert, has established an independent
private training academy to provide professional qualifications for practitioners looking to offer
immersive wellness experiences.
The International Spa Association (ISPA) has published its full 2026 US Spa Industry Study,
providing further insights into the region’s total US$1 billion (€855 million, £780 million)
industry revenue increase from 2024 to 2025.
Ameyalli, the 78-acre wellbeing resort and residential community in Midway in Utah, US, has
broken ground on phase two of the hot spring development – the Ameyalli Resort and Spa –
which is due to open in 2028.
TLee Spas and Wellness has revealed the design concept for a high-tech spa with body
mapping scanners to improve public health, for AI company Midjourney.
Gran Hotel Taoro in northern Tenerife, Spain, has completed the final phase of its three-year
renovation with the debut of its Sandára Wellness Centre.
Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa, the spa business with more than 650 locations across
the US and Canada, has appointed franchise expert Carrie Walsh as CEO as the company plans
to expand.
Synergy – The Retreat Show, the global trade show for retreats, has launched a global research
initiative that will provide insights into the retreat sector from both consumer and industry
perspectives.
Contrast therapy, based on the alternation of hot and cold rituals, has become one of the
most valued practices in the fields of wellness and recovery. [more...]
In the fast-paced world of fitness and wellness, where high-intensity workouts push us to
our limits and the sweat pours, the importance of efficient recovery cannot be overstated. [more...]
+ More featured suppliers
COMPANY PROFILES
Fenix Group srl Founded in Italy by Gianluca Cavalletti, Fenix Group introduced Endospheres with the aim of redefini [more...]
