Massage is one of the oldest healing arts.

3000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians started and ended each day with a massage. Alexander the Great had the wisdom to employ professional massage therapists. In Homer's Odyssey, the heroes were massaged upon their return from battle--a great way to unwind after a long day at war. The Greek physician Hippocrates, father of modern medicine, proclaimed that all physicians must be experienced in the art of massage. In the 18th century, the Swedish physician Pehr Ling established the first standard and scientific system of massage based on the principles of anatomy and physiology. Thus was born the term "Swedish Massage". Thomas Metzger, the father of modern massage, instituted advanced refinements to create massage as we know it today. In the 1850's the U.S. started to participate in the Spa rave. New York's Saratoga Springs became popular with Franklin D. Roosevelt and famed poet Edgar Allen Poe. Manhattan's The Red Door Spa founded by Elizabeth Arden in 1910 was the first Day spa. The first modern resort spa was called Rancho La Puerto near Baja, California created by Edmond and Deborah Szekely in 1940.