Health, Beauty and Fitness

It's not always easy to relax. Especially when you know that you really should be relaxing. Forcing yourself to loosen up and let go is a sure-fire way to stiffen up. On the rare occasion when I have fallen asleep during a treatment, woken only by the hushed tones of my therapist, it's been sheer bliss that's had me walking on air for the rest of the day.

The problem is that it takes me a while to relax enough to actually fall asleep, particularly when I know that with every passing minute, I'm ever closer to having to haul myself off the massage table. With the average massage lasting an hour, I tend to resign myself to the prospect of lying wide awake behind closed eyes listening to the metaphorical tick of the clock.

So as I slip into my fluffy robe at the Kohler Spa within the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews ready to sample their new Sea Tides Face & Body Ritual treatment I'm light-headed with excitement. Why? Because it's an ultra-opulent two and a half hours long. And knowing that I wouldn't have to budge from my heated massage table for 150 wonderful minutes felt like the very definition of decadence.

There are few things worse than getting a decent massage but being unable to enjoy it because you're shivering under a towel that has all the heat-retention properties of someone's snotty hanky. No chance of that here, where I luxuriated on a heated bed under a plump duvet.

The treatment is refreshingly simple. There's very little in the way of constant poking, turning and rearranging. It combines a hydrating facial with a full-body massage, and is simultaneously laid-back and thorough. The products used feature "active marine ingredients" that left my skin wonderfully soft, and the treatment incorporates hot lavender poultices to gently massage the skin.

I remember only snippets of this because, for once, I managed to pass out, and woke with only a little persuasion from my therapist. I think I may have entered a state of relaxation beyond sleep; a sort of blissed-out hypnosis that left my limbs wobbly and my mind fuzzy. It was, in short: pure relaxation.

The Sea Tides Face & Body Ritual treatment, 210 for 150 minutes at the Kohler Spa, Old Course Hotel, Old Station Road, Fife, St Andrews (01334 474371, www.oldcoursehotel- .kohler.com)

Fab facts for a beautiful life

HEALTH

Menu for health

Put down that Wispa and instead pick up a copy of Glen Matten's new book, The 100 Foods You Should be Eating. This tome aims to help us think differently about food, but without encouraging a faddy approach to diets. It's organised into eight chapters, such as Breakfast, Lazy Cooking and Desserts and Treats, each of which contains recipes and information about relevant superfoods and their supposed health benefits. Blueberries, anyone?

The 100 Foods You Should be Eating by Glen Matten, 9.99, out now, New Holland Publishers

BEAUTY

Musk-haves

Looking for a signature fragrance for the new decade? If you're feeling flush, invest in a scent from our cover star. Tom Ford Beauty's new Private Blend White Musk Collection consists of four clever variations on musk, such as White Suede (with musk, rose and leather-suede notes), Jasmine Musk (containing musk, vanilla, sandalwood and jasmine) and Urban Musk (with ambrette seed absolute, black plum and white musk). Each version is contained in one of his dressing-table-friendly white glass bottles, complete with gold plaque.

Tom Ford Private Blend White Musk Collection, 110 for 50ml, Harvey Nichols, St Andrews Square, Edinburgh (0131-524 8388)

FITNESS

Flashing blades

If, after watching the latest ITV series of Dancing on Ice, you imagine that you could tackle a double axel, then get along to Murrayfield Ice Rink. Every Sunday afternoon they offer a group Learn to Skate session, which runs from noon to 1:45pm. You don't even have to book in advance – just turn up (at around 11:40am), grab some skates and put yourself in the expert hands of their resident coach, Alice Fell. The pay off, for those willing to persevere on the ice, will be an improvement in core strength and general stamina.

Murrayfield Ice Rink, Riversdale Crescent, Edinburgh (0131-337 6933, www.murrayfieldicerinkltd.co.uk), 4.30 for session without skate hire, 5.50 including skates

• This article first appeared in The Scotsman, 16 January, 2010