European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Soaking Pat an enzyme spa Sylvia Rubin an Francisco chronicle i is West of Sebastopol calif., the stressed Oul come to soak in deep Redwood Tbs tilled with a hot fragrant Potpourri. Of Wood Libers Rice bran and enzyme powder that is like mulch and smells like a Cedar Chest h osmosis touted As the Only enzyme spa in the states which officially opened last week Psak in private rooms while listening to piped a i Miki Cand fhe bleats and cackles of the sheep Quot a m live on the other Side of the nearby Creek. The resident cat May also chime in. Irs a very Northern California where a Large group i holistic health doctors Massage therapists and other Ealing professionals have made their Homes. The japanese style Retreat housed in a two Story Ood Frame building on six acres of land fits right in in thine nuclear free zone of Sebastopol alongside the Heep ranches organic vegetable gardens free Range Hicken farms and two Lane country roads. A 20-minute rest in an enzyme Bath which is something like lying Down in your backyard mulch pile said to improve circulation break Down toxins in the Ody and energize the system. Bui judging from the faces of several customers who at in the waiting room looking Rosy and relaxed after a ath. The Overall feeling was hardly energetic. Chris Bertoli a Deputy sheriff from Santa Rosa calif., Hows on an excursion with his wife Patti compared he afterglow to a the opening stages of a workout the your body begins to open up he vowed he would return a give me a month and a All dealing with people on the Street and ill be  most people in the waiting room said they had tried farm mud Baths once or twice. Is Gross. It feels heavy on the body. This feels More like you Are suspended. This has a much greater  a said Trice Gruhler a los Angeles Massage therapist. Quot mud is Squishy gooey Sinky a said osmosis owner Michael Stusser a 43-year-old landscape designer and  student who lived in Japan for Many years. Quot in an enzyme Bath you feel blanketed poached  Slusser said he is trying to replicate the Serene minimal atmosphere of the japanese meditative relaxing in an enzyme Bath at osmosis a new Sonoma county Bath experience in Northern California. By i gardens he found in Kyoto and other cities. A i want this to be a place where people can come and feel the weight of the world being lifted  the enzyme Bath a form of heat therapy generated through a natural fermentation process originated in Japan about 25 years ago and is used today mainly by the elderly. The Baths Are found in dozens of settings from tiny hamlets to big cities where tubs the size of a football Field can accommodate 100 people. Lying buried up to my neck in the springy sawdust i Felt comfortable and warm though after about 10 minutes the heat which can reach 140 degrees can become intense. Just when i Felt sweaty an attendant quietly padded in to Lay a Cool Washcloth on my forehead. Afterwards the fuzzy sawdust was brushed off my body and i was sent to the Shower. My skin was Pink and tingly. After a deep Massage and a half hour in the a Blanket wrap Quot room where i was covered in a baby Blue Blanket and Given new age tapes to listen to i returned to the waiting room in a Daze glad i had booked a room for the night at the inn Down the Road. The full experience which begins with a cup of Pale Green enzyme Tea served in a japanese Rock Garden and ends with the Blanket wrap lasts about 2v2 hours and costs $85. Most patrons just opt for the Bath and Blanket wrap alone which last an hour and Cost $40. Whether or not the enzymes actually cause a change in body chemistry As Stusser believes has not been medically proved. Many health practitioners even those with holistic backgrounds Are sceptical. A enzymes Are everywhere in the body they Aid in digestion they Are what make the various biochemical processes of the body work said or. Michael Volin a general practitioner in Mill Valley with an interest in holistic Medicine. Quot but i would doubt that soaking in enzymes externally could have the same effect that enzymes have  Stusser who after taking enzyme Baths twice a Day for a week claims it cured his sciatica is convinced that it works a something is definitely taking place Between the body and the enzymes. I m addicted. The balls Are alive. I can feel a metabolic  after returning from Japan in 1984, where he studied landscape gardening and became hooked on enzyme bathing Stusser became a businessman determined to open his own enzyme Baths Here. He opened his first place which held two tubs live years ago in Sebastopol in a Small building in the Back of Small ranch. Word go out slowly but by Iasi year it was evident he needed More space. It took roughly $300,000 and a year s Worth of haggling with bureaucrats to move to nearby Freestone Stusser said. Quot i took enzyme Baths every Day last summer it was the Only Way i could get to sleep. What was once an abandoned hippie commune is now a japanese style Retreat painted Cream and tan with wooden sliding doors japanese screens soft lights and Rock gardens. Stars and stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores a stars and stripes $5 discount As Long As the people of pern could remember the holds had protected them from thread the deadly Silver strands that fell from the sky and ravaged the land. In Exchange for Sanctuary in the huge Stone fortresses the people titled to their lord holders who in turn supported the wears whose dragons were pern s greatest weapon against thread. But not everyone on pern was part of that system of Mutual care and Protection particularly those who had been rendered hold less As punishment for wrongdoing. And there were some like Jayne s trader clan who simply preferred the Freedom of the roads to the Security of a hold. Others like Aramina s family had lost their holds through injustice and cruelty. For All the hold less life was a constant struggle for survival. Then from the ranks of the criminals and the disaffected Rose a band of renegades led by the lady Thella. Of one was Safe from Thella s depredations and now her Quarry was Aramina reputed to have a telepathic link with dragons. But when Thella mistakenly vented her rage on Jayne s family she made a dangerous enemy for Jayne was Bent on revenge. And he would never let her have the girl who heard dragons / it 3jin it a oin a a 2 a cum inc o o7s it the renegades of pern is available for $14.95 regular Price $19.95 at most stars and stripes bookstores. O stars and stripes bookstores Are Well stocked with hardcover paperback and Magazine titles All discounted for you. Customer savings in fiscal 1990 already total More than $770,000 a a stars and stripes bookstores stars and stripes bookstores saturday March 24, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17