Lumbar Lounge

Working with just 900 square feet, the two women behind this Rogers Park spa have managed to create a warm, relaxing space that doesn?t skimp on luxurious touches. Slip off your shoes in the plant-filled, sun-splashed waiting area, head to one of three dimly lit treatment rooms, climb onto the heated massage table and snuggle up against butter-soft flannel sheets. Both Liz Ellis and Suzen Cook are trained doulas (midwives), and offer massage from pregnancy to deep tissue. Cook, who worked at Santa Fe's Ten Thousand Waves, also specializes in body treatments such as herbal wraps, salt or sugar glows, and a fantastic head and neck treatment: Warm oil is massaged into your hair and scalp, and refreshingly cool marble stones are used to work the oil into your face. Also soothing is the hot stone massage, in which Cook kneads heated basalt stones into tight muscles, then places them on your chakras.