The Bodhi Spa LLC co-owner Harmony Oschefski has built her business around family memories full of free-spirited living and simple, sustainable habits with hydrotherapy built right in.
As it turns out, these water-wellness practices are now resonating with clients looking for health and relaxation in Newport, Providence and soon in Boston.
Oschefski’s parents, who had Rhode Island ties, first introduced Oschefski to the water therapy that would eventually become the core of her business, which she runs with her sister, Cedar Hwang.
Born in Hopkinton, Oschefski moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, when she was 3. That’s where her family lived in a log cabin, creating a farm on 80 acres. She describes it as a childhood close to nature. “Playing in the mud and drinking from a hose” was a daily occurrence.
So was steam. A van on the property was used as a sauna, she said.
Hot sauna sessions were followed by a cold plunge in the closest body of water, she says, with the two steps always going hand in hand – an overall invigorating experience and one that has become standard practice for her parents, siblings and other members of their community.
Oschefski believes that every life experience leads to one’s ultimate path.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, in human kinetics with a minor in life sciences and nutrition. She worked for a time as a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company.
“The fact that trillions of cells can work together as they do … it was the only area in which I could imagine working,” she said.
But at 25, she decided to make a dramatic change. She left her job and traveled for several years, sailing with Hwang, a competitive sailor.
At one point, after visiting countries such as Australia where reusable grocery bags were common, she used her contact in the manufacturing and grocery store sectors to launch a project designed to increase the popularity of reusable bags in Canada.
“Being as young as I was, it just kind of fizzled out, I guess,” she said of the initiative.
Another business idea wasn’t far behind.
It was on a trip to Hawaii visiting what Oschefski calls a “hole-in-the-wall spa,” with a delivery method much like her sauna-cold water experience, that got her entrepreneurial wheels turning. The Hawaiian spa – though just a low-budget splash pool – still delivered that same feeling of euphoria, Oschefski says.
“Such a business was never on my radar as attainable until then,” she said. “But then I realized that maybe I could do it for affordable money. My sister, working as a Newport charter-boat captain, was interested in being a partner with me as my husband and I didn’t have any credit here at the time. I went home and began crunching numbers.”
Oschefski had concerns, as water is expensive on Aquidneck Island. She credits the U.S. Small Business Administration and pool builder Pools by Richard Inc. in Cranston with giving her confidence that her business plan could work.
She was unsure how the business would be received initially. Bodhi Spa opened in Newport in 2015 with six employees. Almost immediately, demand was strong enough to keep the doors open year-round, not just during the tourism season.
Though an ancient method from European hydrotherapy spas, many people have never experienced the sauna/cold-water plunge combination, Oschefski says. It’s proved to be a unique, successful business offering that she and Hwang have branded the Water Journey.
It involves a recommended series of steps that include a soak in a Dead Sea salt pool, steam room, cold plunges, Epsom salt pool and showers in between. Oschefski says benefits include reduction of muscle swelling, improved cardiovascular function and a flood of neurotransmitters, which provides the euphoric feeling.
Now with 59 staff members, Bodhi Spa opened its Providence location in the fall of 2020 in a former cigar bar on Federal Hill, with the same offerings as Newport at double the size. Oschefski and Hwang are seeking a 10,000-square-foot spa location in Boston.
COVID-19 brought difficulties. The spa, classified as a public pool, was initially ordered to shut down, a decision that Oschefski lobbied strongly against.
“People got to know my name,” Oschefski said of local officials. “We had to plead our case and show we were going to be safe.”
The spa permanently adopted several pandemic safety practices, as they made for better guest experiences overall, such as pre-packing lockers and allowing more time between clients in the Water Journey area.
The business continues to grow. But the joy of providing the steam heat-cold plunge experience of her youth to others never fades.
“Once, a little old lady came into our spa and took part in our Water Journey. She’d never done anything like that before. She said as she was leaving, ‘I feel like I am floating on a magic carpet,’ ” Oschefski said. “I will never forget it.”
