Nestled in the coastal hills of bucolic Sonoma County, Osmosis, the only cedar enzyme bath spa outside of Japan, recently opened its four-years-in-the-making meditation garden.Ê Featuring a large koi pond, water irises, aromatic chamomile lawns, sculpted conifers, Japanese maples, a soothing waterfall, and swaying bamboo, the serene sanctuary was thoughtfully designed to deepen spa guests’ journeys to inner peace and rejuvenation.The garden, created by renowned British horticulturalist and Japanese Garden Society chairman Robert Ketchell, is the brainchild of Osmosis founder Michael Stusser.Ê “Over twenty years ago, in Kyoto, I visited a Japanese Garden and fell into a profound sense of inner peace that changed my life.Ê This experience became the inspiration for the creation of Osmosis, and the new meditation garden is the realization of the dream,” says Stusser.

Combining traditional Japanese and Chinese elements, the one-acre garden can be read as a metaphor of the journey to self-realization.Ê As guests walk its winding path and navigate its stepping stones, they pass rock arrangements representing the ten stages of the Zen parable of The Ox and Ox Herder.Ê According to Stusser, “The effort to capture and train the Ox can be likened to the struggle with the unruly nature of our mind in the quest for inner peace.”Ê ÊComplimentary for all Osmosis guests, the beautiful meditation garden allows spa guests to savor the heightened state of sensory awareness that often follows a soothing cedar enzyme bath and massage.Ê

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ÊA healing sanctuary nestled in the rolling hills of Sonoma County, Osmosis is the only enzyme bath spa of its kind in the country.Ê Osmosis offers calming meditation gardens, unique enzyme cedar baths with over 600 active enzymes imported from Japan, nurturing 75-minute massages, organic aromatherapy facials, and an environment in resonance with nature. Providing the ideal setting for the ultimate massage, Osmosis also offers alfresco massages in traditional pagodas placed along the quiet, wooded banks of Sonoma County’s Salmon Creek.

Public meditation garden tours led by owner Michael Stusser and gardeners Louis Fameli and Michael Alliger will take place on Tuesdays, May 25th, June 22nd, and October 12th, 2004 at 9:00 a.m.Ê Cost is $5 per person, and tea will be served.Ê For reservations, please call (707) 823-8231 or visit online at www.osmosis.com.Ê Ê
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