“It’s definitely about working with the unseen and helping people feel more like themselves.”
-Catherine Wright
Breathe in…relax. Breathe out. Let your mind be still and your thoughts quiet down. Feelings of serenity and contentment surround you as you quietly observe the scene set around you. Prisms catch the bright rays that sneak their way through the sheer curtains of the room’s windows, fracturing them into delicate rainbows that scatter about the room. A warmth invades your senses as your gaze lands on a set of ornate crystals that are observing you curiously from across the room. Above you, a luscious fern hangs suspended, reaching its fronds down towards you in a greeting of sorts. Two hands gently rub circles into your temples and you feel your anxieties drift away. You feel lighter than ever before. Could it be magic? Catherine Wright, owner of Holiday Organic Skin, believes so. Welcome to Holiday, a mystical spa space designed for genuine connection, care, and connecting to your beautiful, spiritual self.
As Catherine logs into our Zoom call, she is bustling about the studio, AirPods in-ear as she prepares for the day to begin. She sets down stacks of towels and spreads fresh linens across the massage tables, meticulously smoothing out every fold as she tells me about her personal vision and business. There is a wisdom about her as she speaks on concepts from skincare to crystals to one’s spiritual body.
Meet Holiday
“Holiday is a clean beauty studio for magical facials and waxing. I really enjoy working with the ancient art of massage,” Catherine said. At the core of their mission, Holiday Organic Skin aims to bring out the best in a person, caring for both skin and spirit.
In regards to the name of the spa, Catherine knew that she wanted to inspire an environment of extravagance. “I am a person of luxury, and I really wanted people to feel like they were on a holiday when they come in here because the vibes are so high,” Catherine said.
Holiday offers a wide variety of services including facials, marma massages, brow work, and waxing. But beyond this work, Holiday also specializes in the services of Reiki and crystal healing. These treatments, including facial services, are focused on bringing balance to the client’s chakras and clearing out energy paths in the body.
“There are customized facials. Those go by time; you can choose 60, 75 or 90 minutes. Then there is a Reiki facial, the sunburst perfectly healing service, and the sunburst crystal healing facial. Even in the customized energy work options, I will give people crystals, palm stones, and I will usually do the marma massage, even if it’s just for a moment. Most of the time when people come in, they want to relax, but they don’t know what they really want. Then in the energy facials and energy work, all of the magic happens.
I’ll do visualizations during the facial massage. We don’t do any body massage, but this is when I do visual meditation to clear their energy field; drop their golden anchor to the earth, bring up earth energy, and cycle it through their body. If anything comes up in this process, I’ll ask my guides if it needs to be cleared and if it’s something for me to help or if it isn’t.” Catherine said.
What is Reiki?
According to Holiday’s website, Reiki is “an energy healing modality from Japan. Universal, white light energy from Source/God/the Universe is channeled by Catherine, a Reiki Master Teacher, to the recipient. Reiki energy brings you into alignment with what the universe already knows you to be: perfect, whole, and complete in this moment.” A Reiki practitioner will gently guide the energy through your body with light touches, promoting calm, healing, and balance. The term “Reiki” comes from the combination of two Japanese kanji characters 霊 (“rei”) and 気 (“ki”) meaning “spiritual, soul” and “energy,” respectively.
How About Chakras?
According to WebMD, chakras are energy pools that are “situated along the spine, from the base of your spine to the crown of your head.” There are seven main chakras, and they work to regulate the energy flow within your body. When chakras are misaligned, it can lead to a barrage of negative effects on one’s life such as heightened anxiety, sleeplessness, and a disconnect from your creativity.
What’s a Marma Massage?
According to Healthline, “In Ayurvedic medicine, marma points are anatomical locations in your body where a concentration of life energy exists.” Similarly to chakras, marma are indeed the dwelling places of energy in the body. However, there is a critical difference between the two. “Marma are points on the body where your invisible, unseen, energetic body actually physically connects with your physical body. There’s practices to release and then build energy in those areas. They’re profoundly shifting.” Catherine said. Understanding and caring for marma can assist you in growing closer to your inherent energetic existence.
Did You Mention Crystals?
We did! Catherine believes strongly in the inherent ability of crystals to heal and communicate with us. According to Holiday’s website, “Crystals are beautiful energies to work with for healing, self development, or simply energetic elevation. The crystal placements help to release, clear, build, and ultimately cycle and refresh your energy body.” Do you believe that crystals can communicate with humans? Think about a time when you were a child and you walked into a shop, immediately fixating on a shining crystal. You feel compelled to pick it up and observe it. Is this a form of nonverbal communication? We’ll let you decide for yourself!
“When you walk into a shop, if you get too close to a nice crystal, you’re going to buy it. The best way to choose a crystal is to let it choose you. They will let you know. Not being drawn to one is the crystal communicating with you that it’s not for you at this time,” Catherine said.
Interested to learn a bit more about crystals? Catherine recommended the book, ‘Crystals Made Easy’ by Judy Hall.
Catherine’s Discoveries
So, you might now be wondering how Catherine came to find herself inspired to open a spa where skin and spirit are cared for equally. It is a story of a series of twists of fate.
“I was floundering really hard after college. I knew I needed further education, but didn’t know what I wanted to go into. It really pained me to think about going back to college and doing more school. So, I was living in Austin and working in restaurants and bars. One of the girls I worked with went to beauty school and she talked me into attending. But at first, I said no. I was like 26 and I’d barely wash my face. I got a facial from her once a week for around six weeks. It was so life-changing and healing. There was so much unseen magic work that happened in relaxation. During that time I realized, ‘Oh! This is what I can do to have an impact on the world!’
After beauty school, I worked for a bunch of chains, but they were awful. Yet, I realized that I would experience this huge energetic exchange between client and practitioner during a facial. That energy, inherently wild, felt so aligned and moving. But, at other times, it was like, ‘Oh, horrible. Who are these curmudgeons?’ Clearly something beyond was happening during the sessions, and I wanted to understand it. I was talking to a massage therapist about this and she said, ‘Oh! Let me give you some Reiki.’
“The experience was so powerful. I could literally feel energy going into my body on my shoulder. She told me to go get some further education on Reiki. I then went through three Reiki courses. But, Reiki is just scratching the surface. If you really want magic, it’s interacting: the act of interacting with your unseen energy body and your physical body. That’s what’s going on in a marma point massage and with crystals. If you wanted to supercharge a Reiki experience, you wouldn’t do Reiki at all. You would actually do a crystal treatment because crystals are sentient beings and they communicate with us. They’re helpful earth energies. It’s more energy-based, whereas Reiki is spirit, God, the universe, whatever you want to call it.”
At this moment, Holiday is currently a studio setup. When asked where she wanted to take the business in the future, Catherine said with a laugh that she will likely not be in the industry for more than 10 years, as her hands will simply stop working. But, with a smile, she said that she truly enjoys what she does. “My goal is just to be booked out for a couple months at a time and enjoy my life.” Catherine said.
Find Catherine & Holiday Organic Skin
holidaybrookline.com
Instagram: holidayorganicskinstudio
or in-spa at 33A Harvard St Suite 301, Brookline, MA
