Forget Bangkok’s big, big night life scene for one night. This powerful new holistic spa treatment calms and rewires your whole body and brain for a refreshing, restorative, real night’s sleep.

I’m the kind of person who can sleep anywhere – airplanes, desks, cars, restaurants. This is partly because I’m the size of a pocket monster and can easily curl into my own body, retracting my limbs into a cute little  hedgehog ball and be asleep in minutes. I’ve never really liked being small since one of my best friends is a model and I feel short and invisible next to her tall, elegant frame. The one time in my life when I’m grateful for my small size is when I hear tall people complaining that they can’t sleep on airplanes because of how cramped it is.   I can happily say that airplane seats don’t bother me at all!

One key reason I can fall asleep so easily is that I’m often horribly exhausted and lately, sleep deprivation is a big part of this. I won’t get into details, but my family disturbs my sleep at night, and my dogs bark wildly at outside noises at odd hours of the night, which ruins my beauty sleep.  ( They’re doing their job, which is to be cute and cuddly in the day time  and be scary and guard the house at night time). I often get up in the morning with dark circles under my eyes, still feeling groggy, and usually take a nap after lunch. Hey, I can do this; I work at home. The boss lady (that’s me), says it’s okay. Though to be honest, even when I had a full-time job working in an office I sometimes took after-lunch naps on a pillow on my desk. I know none of my former bosses will be reading this.

Food makes me sleepy. And food plus alcohol are a lethal combination. Recently I rolled myself into a hedgehog ball and fell asleep under the table at an outdoor Japanese restaurant in Bali. I blame it on the weather which was so unbearably hot that I couldn’t breathe in the thick air, combined with the plum wine that knocked me unconscious.

The floor was a Japanese tatami mat with cushions as seats, so it’s not as horrible as it sounds, and was very clean.  I curled up on one of the seat cushions like a cat. And the friend of a friend who I’d invited to join us for dinner didn’t even notice I’d disappeared under the table because I could hear her high voice droning on and on and on, rudely piercing my slumber (she was talking about herself, her favourite topic. Maybe that was another contributing factor that put me to sleep. I don’t know. Don’t worry, she will never read this, and wouldn’t recognize herself even if she did).

So when I first heard about the new Sleep Therapy treatment at 137 Pillars House’s Nitra Spa recently, I didn’t think I was the ideal candidate for it. My problem is staying awake, not falling asleep. However the treatment description included Reiki energy healing, which I love and find extremely soothing. After an especially tiring week of travel, I felt all worn out and hoped this treatment might help me relax, feel more rested and renew some of my energy.

137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok is the sister property of the brand’s flagship 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai, a gorgeous luxury boutique hotel centered around a historic Thai teak house built on 137 pillars, hence the name.  In contrast, the Bangkok property is a contemporary new high-rise located in the middle of Sukhumvit Soi 39, not far from the bustling Emquartier and Emporium luxury malls and Bangkok’s Sukhumvit business district.

The Sleep Therapy treatment here was created especially for the Nitra Spa to address problems of sleeplessness that affects so many people these days. It combines holistic therapies with modern technology, and I discovered that it really is a different experience unlike a regular massage.

I lay down on the massage bed face up and was given headphones that played binaural beats – ethereal, spacey music that sounded like an astral visitation from a high ranking deity. I was almost expecting Morgan Freeman’s voice to enlighten me with statements of humanitarian significance. This music is custom created to lull the brain waves from the overworked, busy beta waves state to the calmer, resting alpha waves state. It was an unusual, intriguing sound, and very soothing. The therapist applied rolling magnesium oil onto ten key pulse points of my body, followed by a short Reiki treatment on the seven chakra points, and then applied more chakra oil drops to each of the chakra points.

Then a very light massage was administered on my legs, midriff, and arms. I like my massages strong (the better to iron out all the muscle tension) and didn’t think I would like the light massage, but this was really very relaxing and I quickly drifted off to sleep, waking briefly when the therapist finished one part of my body and moved onto the next.

After she finished the front part of my body I was hoping I could turn over and get a repeat massage on my back, but sadly the treatment was over. 90 minutes had gone by so quickly and I wished it could go on for another 90 minutes.

After the treatment I had a quick tour of the hotel. I wasn’t staying the night but if you’re a guest staying here I recommend you to book this treatment at the end of the day and combine it with the hotel’s Sleepdown Service which is administered by a Sleep Butler. Plan to spend the evening in your room going to bed early  and getting a good rest, because you won’t want to go out partying after this treatment.

Driving around in the Bangkok traffic usually makes me stressed and exhausted from having my body tensed up for hours behind the wheel and leaves me with a headache by the time I get home, but while driving home after this treatment I noticed my whole body felt light and relaxed. I wasn’t tensing up as usual.  Most noticeably my mind was clear and calm, free of worried thoughts, as if I’d just had a meditation session. I had a restful sleep that night and the refreshed, peaceful feeling lasted for days. A week later, I still felt fresh, energized, and I was in a happier, more positive mood.

Sleep Therapy at 137 Pillars Bangkok is a unique and very effective treatment to help ease sleep dysfunctions in our stressful lives. When you’re exhausted and feeling low energy, it’s easy to feel negative, and when your body and mind are refreshed from a good sleep, it restores you to a positive state of mind again.

I would definitely go back and get this treatment again when I feel that I need it, and highly recommend it to anyone suffering from insomnia, or simply feel exhausted and grumpy from lack of sleep or stress.

*

Have you ever had any kind of sleep treatments before? How was your experience?