Spa Spotlight – March 2019

Agustina Caminos, Operations Director, Spa Development Tierra Santa Healing House, Faena Hotel Miami Beach

Agustina is the Wellness Director for Faena Group and Spa Director at Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Agustina is a Pranic Healing instructor, therapist, and spiritual guide as well as a professor of yoga and alternative medicine practitioner. A graduate of the Institute of Inner Studies in the Philippines, she comes from a family of yogis and has absorbed knowledge of different modalities and healing approaches since childhood.

Getting to know Agustina!

How many years have you been involved in the spa and hospitality industry?
I have worked in the spa industry for the past 16 years and have studied yoga and healing methods since I was young.

What was the path that led you into the spa industry?
Providing quality service has always been something I love to do. I originally started my career in gastronomy, but my love for practicing yoga and meditation lead me to my first job in Buzios, Brazil, at Casa da Paz Hotel. As a receptionist and meditation instructor, I utilized both my love for customer service and teaching. After becoming a massage therapist and yoga instructor at Casa Brancas Boutique Hotel & Spa, I loved it so much I knew I wanted to continue my career

What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of being in the spa industry?
The most rewarding aspect of working in the spa industry is visibly seeing the evolution of a customer’s wellbeing, not only as they arrive to the time they finish their treatment, but changing their lives over the course of months and years. When you work with a group of healers who are used to giving to those around them, the biggest challenge is ensuring everyone balances each other and gives to their own spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health.

What is your proudest accomplishment?
About 11 years ago, I started as the director of the Faena Spa in Buenos Aires. In just our first year, demand for treatments was so unexpected that our therapist count grew from four employees to 30, because sales grew 400 percent.

What has surprised you most about working in the spa industry?
I’m most surprised by the openness of our guests to embark on a spiritual quest with us.  It is our mission to not only restore balance to those who enter Tierra Santa but also to elevate human consciousness and be part of a global awakening.

Where do you think the industry is heading? 
We are at a great moment in the industry as modalities rooted in science are merging with spiritual practices. Our guests are becoming more open to the ancient healing practices and spas are responding by not only addressing physical body, but also the mind and spirit, to treat each person as a whole.

What’s your favorite skincare ingredient?
I can’t choose just one! I have to say that the components in the Biologique Recherche Biomagic Mask, Elastine Pure Serum, and Mrs. H Final Cream work magic!

If you could work in any other profession in the world, what would you be?
If I were to choose another profession, it would have to do with the study of the brain, maybe focusing on psychology or a profession where I could drive the improvement of the lives of others in education or human rights.

What’s the best advice you’ve received? 
When I was young, I was writing a letter to my grandparents at an airport in Brazil, and an old man sat down next to me. As we were speaking about the world, he shared that the best way to connect to people and the divine is “always connect through the light.” I didn’t understand it at the time, but through the years, I have come to understand that the “light” he spoke about is to always connect to others using our most compassionate and best self.

How would you sum up your personal philosophy?
Like the old man in Brazil told me, always be the highest version of myself so I can connect to others and promote peace and wellbeing.

How do you like to spend your time away from work?
I usually spend my free time playing the guitar or piano, singing, painting, and walking along the ocean. I also try to practice yoga as much as I can and attend retreats.

What are your three greatest priorities in life?
Develop a universal love for everyone. Practice the five principle virtues in character building that include loving kindness, generosity, honesty, consistency of aim and effort, and moderation. Be ever evolving, evolve with others.