Business & Tech

Wounded Warrior Opening Spa with Eastern Influences

The new business in Lake View will focus natural healing through letting visitors 'press the reset button.'

A new space to unwind is heading to Lake View, with the owner bringing influences from his past in the armed forces to the front lines of his business strategy.

Named “Reflexion Spa, a Warrior’s Retreat,” the new massage and health facility plans to bring eastern medicine to a 1,300-square-foot vacant storefront at 3416 N. Sheffield Ave.

Owner Jason Spencer says he’s a disabled veteran, and after serving for five years in Asia, Africa and South America, he’s ready to bring international treatments to Chicago.

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“I’m a firm believer in alternative therapies,” Spencer said. “I’ve been all over the world, and it’s interesting that westernized nations depend so much on medicine when there’s a more natural way of healing. Post-military, I can see people in our demanding culture literally killing themselves, so the idea here is to come and rejuvenate.”

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Spencer says he purchased the space in Wrigleyville in February, and plans to open sometime in June. The spa will feature Asian and Middle Eastern treatments like Tui Na, and the alternative therapies is how Reflexion got its name.

A license reflexology and massage therapist is Spencer’s partner in the new business. Along with Tui Na, Reflexion plans to offer skin treatments, manicures and pedicures, waxing and threading, and even things like herbal detoxifications and cupping.

“I think the perception of Asian massage styles has a dark shadow over it in Chicago, implying other than purely therapeutic services, and unfortunately that perception limits the ability of those who may benefit the most…” Spencer said in a statement. “Our full intent is to erase that perception at Reflexion, casting a positive light on alternative therapy one service at a time.”

Spencer says he’s now working on bringing the storefront up to code during an extensive buildout that will have three rooms for treatments, a pedicure room and two changing rooms. 

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