Insider’s Guide to Spas recently launched Hush: The Spa Culture Companion, a new limited-edition quarterly broadsheet devoted to the fundamentals, traditions, and cultural lineage of the global spa profession. Conceived as a counterpoint to the industry’s increasing pace and digital saturation, Hush is an intentionally tactile publication designed for slow reading. It was designed to be unfolded, carried, revisited, and shared among spa professionals.
The inaugural issue debuted on February 1 at Premiere Spa and Wellness Talks, the advanced education curriculum curated by Mary Bemis, founder and editorial director of Insider’s Guide to Spas, during Premiere Anaheim.
“Hush was born from a simple impulse: to create something tactile and enduring in an increasingly weightless world,” says Bemis. “It is designed as a place for thoughtful essays, quiet observations, and stories that don’t require urgency to matter—a printed space for the deeper rhythms of spa. This reflective editorial space is dedicated to the inner life of spa culture—its rituals, lineage, makers, and enduring relationship with water and the practices of care that define the spa tradition.”
Published quarterly—winter, spring, summer, and fall—each issue of Hush will feature original essays, profiles of spa thinkers and builders, reflections on restoration, sensory rituals for everyday life, and unexpected cultural pathways that reveal how deeply spa is woven into history, design, and human wellbeing. The broadsheet format draws inspiration from traditional literary publications, reflecting Bemis’ early experience reviving and founding independent literary reviews prior to her nearly 30-year career covering spa and wellness.
“Hush delivers elevated storytelling that inspires creativity and reimagines the spa experience, while simultaneously equipping professionals with practical guidance around self-care, engagement, and sustainability in a high-energy industry,” says Margaret Lora, co-founder of Wonders of Wellbeing Consulting. “I’ve never seen a platform weave those priorities together so seamlessly, pairing inspiration with actionable insight in a way that advances the entire industry. Hush belongs in many places, but I love that it can live in every spa prep room and serve as a reminder why we love this work.”
Insider’s Guide to Spas, launched in 2013, is the brainchild of Bemis, whose career has been devoted to advancing spa culture. The platform exists to keep spa culture alive and to uphold its timeless truths at a moment when depth, integrity, and discernment matter more than ever.
