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Photo by Nicole Aufderhar
Nell Rueckl performs a massage on a client.
By Sarah McKenzie
You don’t have to fly all the way to Hawaii to get a sense of what it feels like to experience bodywork on the island. Nell Rueckl, owner of Spot Spa in Northeast and Uptown, is an expert in Lomi Lomi Hawaiian Massage. The specialty is rooted in the Hawaiian philosophy called Huna, which emphasizes healing and harmony. It involves deep, flowing massage strokes.
Rueckl has been in the wellness business for 16 years. She has studied chi qigong and has experience with many other body treatments.
Before she opened Spot Spa in Northeast in 2001, she worked at the Horst Salon in St. Paul (now known as JUUT) and the Aveda spa in Osceola, Wis., before it closed. She did more than 3,000 massages when she worked there.
She opened Spot Spa in Northeast in 2001. It’s tucked below the Bulldog bar. She has 15 other therapists on board who do all kinds of treatments, including reiki (a Japanese healing method designed to reduce stress) and Thai massage (a deep massage that involves slow yogic stretches).
Massage therapy has many benefits, she notes, including improved sleep, a bolstered immune and stress relief.
SWJ: What drew you to bodywork?
Rueckl: I started to go school for sign language. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I moved around quite a bit. I lived in Wyoming. I lived in Hawaii. I moved back here and I just decided out of the blue [to go to massage school]. I had never even gotten a massage.
What are your goals for the business?
I’d like to see Spot grow quite a bit this year. The last two years I’ve been really OK with just holding because of the economy. I’ve been trying to look for ways were we can really grow. I want to feel more grounded in the community that we’re in. I want to feel like we’re here — we’re a stable part of this community. I’m working on another spa concept, too. This business is great, but I would like to branch out a bit. I will always do bodywork though.
What does it mean to you to be a small business owner?
To be a small business owner is to be myself. It fits the way I function. I think you need to be comfortable in your own skin and willing to look into the dark corners of your business as well as celebrate the accomplishments. This gives me the strength and courage to expand.
What is unique about your Hawaiian massage specialty?
Hawaiian massage is unique in every way. It is a ritual-based massage. Lomi Lomi in Hawaiian means ‘to massage.’ The lomi I am trained in uses breath, dance and movement to clear the past, and help nurture and transition the client for the future. The practitioner uses breath to assure there is no stagnation in they body. … This massage uses the forearms, and long, full body strokes — shoulder to toe — for most of the treatment and repetition. Therefore it is very deep, but not invasive. When people leave after a lomi they usually have a sensation of feeling lighter and a bit like something has been lifted.
What are some of your favorite treatments at Spot?
I love the ashiatsu, when I am feeling jammed up and compressed; the traditional, when I am feeling acute injuries cropping up. Thai massage when I need to release blockages; and a facial for the change of every season or before on event.
Our traditional Spot massage varies from practitioner to practitioner, but I’d like to note that we have four practitioners who are also trained in shiatsu and cupping. This can be very restorative and healing. What I’d like to get across is there is not one way to heal for anyone it depends on the day and what your body is needing.
What have you learned since opening?
Make sure you have advertising funds. I didn’t have any money when I first opened. I worked to pay for the build-out. I had no real sense of what was achievable as far as business goes. … I feel like I’m still learning all the time. Infrastructure is so important. I’ve always been pretty good at knowing what the customer vibration is just because I was so entrenched in it for so long. Customer service and being good to yourself. Being able to handle the blows and to learn from even the hardest feedback.
Who comes to see you?
Our range of clients vary because the Twin Cities has so much to offer in alternative care. We get clients that really know what they want, and usually have found us by word of mouth because of our scope and quality of our services. I just had a client the other day who drives from Apple Valley because she knows she’ll get a service that she values. With that said I would say that our clients are discerning and want what proves to be effective.
What are your thoughts on the Uptown area?
Uptown’s business corridor seems to be under a rebirthing and I think the future is unknown. It does continue to provide important small businesses like Barbette, Lucia’s and Bryant Lake Bowl. As these businesses stand tall and strong they are being eclipsed by big businesses like Victoria’s Secret.
I would like to see more of what is happening in Lyn-lake where small businesses are able to plant their seeds and grow. To be more forward, I think the residents and shoppers in Uptown need to stand strong in their support of these businesses that have provided comfort and inspiration to us all over the years.
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Spot Spa
Where: 401 E. Hennepin Ave. & 1600 W. Lake St.
Website: spotspas.com
Services: Bodywork and skincare
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Art beat // Closing and opening
By Dylan Thomas
Art of This leaving current space, but won’t cease to existLYNDALE — A few weeks before they planned to shutter their Nicollet Avenue art space for good, John Marks and David Petersen of Art of This Gallery reflected on “Open Summer,” their ongoing, open door, last blast summer project. A free-for-all residency program that eventually enrolled 80-some artists, the slowly percolating “Open Summer” was building steam as it headed into its, and the gallery’s, grand finale at the end of August. And for all the potential pitfalls in telling some seven dozen people where the gallery key is hidden, about the worst thing that happened all summer was when someone spilled salsa in the refrigerator and never cleaned it up.
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On the mat // Green yogis in Linden Hills
By Sarah McKenzie
Devanadi Yoga, a new studio near Lake Harriet, is a trailblazer in the local yoga community. The small 525-square-foot studio, tucked behind the Bruley Center on West 43rd Street in Linden Hills, is the first yoga studio in the state to be certified by the Green Yoga Association for its environmentally friendly efforts. The studio’s green practices include using non-VOC paint, controlling the thermostat to keep the building energy efficient and encouraging students to walk, bus or bike to class. Tanya Boigenzahn Sowards, studio director/owner of Devanadi Yoga, said being green is “core value of the studio and it ties back to the yogic philosophy of doing no harm.” “Minneapolis frequently ranks as one of the top green
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Everyday gardener // Q&A
By Meleah Maynard
Struggling tomatoes, rain barrels and rootbound plantsEven though spring started in earnest in March this year, it still seems like summer is going by too fast. So, fast, in fact, my inbox has been a bit stuffed with questions. As always, I’ve replied directly to people who asked for help with various things. But here in the column I’m going to cover some of the questions that seem likely to be of interest to a lot of gardeners. By far, the questions I’m getting most are about tomatoes, so I’ll start there. Q: My tomato plants look good and have a lot of flowers, but I’m not getting a lot of fruit this year. What’s going on?A: It’s been too hot for tomatoes to set fruit
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Flavor // A smokin’ sensation on Nicollet
By Carla Waldemar
If you’re wondering what caused the traffic stand-still on South Nicollet the other evening, let’s just say I should have kept my window shut. When passing cars got a whiff of possibly the best aroma in the galaxy — I’m talking about barbecue, of course — they halted to demand, “Where’d you get that?” At C&G’s, of course. Greg Alford launched C&G’s Smoking Barbecue exactly a year ago; the anniversary balloons in the otherwise-Spartan, clean-as-a-whistle hole in the wall provided the only touch of whimsy in this serious business. Greg was born in Louisiana, which may explain his superior taste in food. He grew up in Detroit, one of 12 kids whose mamma set him to cooking when he was 5, he
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Wild city // Eating the yard
By Mary Jean Port
I love August. It is so lush. All summer, as I nurse the garden along, I anticipate these eating days. We now have too much of everything: tomatoes, green beans, heat, humidity, and also thunder, for those of us who have a dog frightened by it. I have been working our piece of ground for 14 years, and have good soil to show for it. Back when we first started, my husband was more of a lawn guy. He liked the idea of a garden, but drew a line in the grass with his toe. Don’t dig up anything beyond here, he said. So I dug my first of what are now 10 beds, and planted the pumpkin right on his line. The vines ran out of the garden and took over the whole backyard. My husband good-naturedly threw up his hands. We started with vegetables, and
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Kid rock
By Sam Lane
Twin Town Guitars hosts a camp that gives young musicians a chance to play and perform in a bandMore than 60 excited, camera-toting fans packed Cause Spirits and Soundbar on a warm August afternoon waiting for two headline bands to take the stage. The hotly anticipated musicians weren’t well known. They weren’t 20-somethings trying to strike a record deal. They weren’t middle-aged men trying to relive their youth. They were kids, ages 8–17, who spent prior weeks at Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., preparing for their first concert. In an economy where budget cuts deal constant blows to public school music programs, the owners of Twin Town have spent the last three summers providing a haven for aspiring
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