Against The Grain
Sculpting bodies with wood—a Bay Area guide
WRITER Flora Tsapovsky
Wood tools—image courtesy of Shaped AF
You think you know all there is to know about wellness, but then you find yourself in a boat pose (for those lacking yoga lingo, essentially a V shape with legs and shoulders raised), laughing uncontrollably as your stomach is being scrubbed by a wooden roller composed of cubes.
Welcome to 2026, the year of wood therapy—a brand-new experience that’s been hiding in plain sight, and just the right thing to shake things up a little, quite literally.
I discovered the treatment as I searched for a transformative, energetic way to enter the new year and feel actual, tangible renewal. Rooted in ancient Asian practices and popularized in ’90s Colombia as a tool for body sculpting, wood therapy utilizes various wooden tools—rollers, suction cups, “mushrooms” with rounded spikes, and even a wavy paddle resembling a boomerang, to break down body fat, smooth contours, and stimulate lymphatic drainage. The promise? A smoother, toned body; better overall sensation; positive effects on energy levels and metabolism.
If that sounds too good to be true, consider this: The lymphatic system, practitioners told me, can be viewed as the body’s “garbage disposal,” filtering out toxins and reducing water retention. Wood therapy, with its various shaping, scrubbing, and pressure techniques, aims to get rid of our body’s junk faster. It is also a metaphor, if you will: Who doesn’t want to release toxic stuff that gets under one’s skin?
Growingly popular in the Bay Area, it is also a whimsical, surprising, and curiously personal practice that stands out in the sea of relaxing, meditative treatments. Am I looking all contoured up? Perhaps. But more than that, I wanted to be moved, in more ways than one; stirred into existence, and I found just that. You can, too. Here’s how.
SHAPED AF
956 Valencia Street
On a sunny corner of Valencia Street in San Francisco, Shaped is quite possibly the most Instagram-friendly Bay Area spot to seek wood therapy (facials and a head spa are also available). Behind the welcoming reception area curtained-off treatment rooms await, designed to evoke Tulum vacation vibes that contrast the treatment nicely. That’s because the vigorous succession of movements performed by my experienced practitioner, who had taken classes from the Brazilian lymphatic drainage guru Renata França, were anything but chill, in the best way imaginable.
Rather, during the full-body session, my thighs, belly, arms, and backside are positively tenderized by the various wooden tools, in addition to gentle tapping on lymph nodes, soothing manual massage, and machine-operated suction cups that help mobilize the cells. By the end of the treatment, my stomach has a nice, desirable dip, and my legs and arms feel as light as a feather.
Nourishment: As you’re asked not to eat before treatment due to the pressure on your stomach and organs, you’ll naturally get hungry after. The nearby Japanese café Bon, Nene is the perfect accompaniment to my newly found weightlessness—get the pristine Maguro Bowl for a zen lunch.
Price: $250–$300 per session
SERENITY WELLNESS SPA
2087 Union Street #2
Nestled above a busy commercial street in the Marina, Serenity is a discreet, straightforward wellness spa that includes wood therapy—titled Manual Lymphatic Drainage—among its many offerings. In the cozy room, to the sounds of classical music, my practitioner tells me she’s from Miami, where body sculpting is extremely popular, as she asks me to stiffen my core in the aforementioned boat pose as she starts rolling me with a cubed massage roller “to hit deeper tissue.” Then comes a wooden cup moved around my stomach and sides, after I assume the fetal position. The roller, I’m informed, helps break fat while the cups aid drainage.
The treatment is accompanied by generous smears of a velvety countering concentrate that promises to guard my skin’s collagen, which makes me look and feel like a svelte glistening seal—a sensation I didn’t exactly have on my bingo card, but nevertheless is timely and empowering.
Nourishment: It’s advised, I learn, to consume leafy greens and healthy fats after a treatment, to further “flush” the lymphatic system. Conveniently, less than a block away is Wildseed: a vegan haven where salads and green bowls abound. Munch on a kale Caesar while you contemplate how novel it feels to have your belly—yes, that part of your body toned and sucked in endlessly—pinched and confronted in such unapologetic ways.
Price: $169–$209 per session
HEART YOUR CURVES AT VILANESSE WELLNESS CENTER
3728 Macdonald Avenue, Suite B, Richmond
If wood therapy has let’s-get-down-to-business appeal, this tucked-away gem offers a slightly more holistic approach and a spa-like vibe. Vilansse, hiding in plain sight on a downtown Richmond block, is a well-known mecca for all things beauty and wellness and within it, Da’Shanti Bernstine offers wood therapy and lymphatic massage sessions that start with an inhale of fragrant geranium oil. They then focus on the desired parts of the body, going over them with textured rollers, mushrooms, and suction cups, using varying pressure and intensity. Here we focus on the stomach and the back of the legs, two areas Bernstine reports as popular among her clients, who are looking to reduce fat cells and cellulite.
One thing to remember: While wood therapy can get, as practitioners put it, somewhat “spicy” on the body, the special tools also have powerful massaging effects. Upon my request they are applied to my tense ankles, and as a result I walk out of Villanse floating on a cloud.
Nourishment: A nice surprise, the nearby Naturally Herbs & More is more than meets the eye. The wellness store is a great place to grab a healthful lunch box filled with proteins, grains, and veggies.
Price: $89–$125 per session
Care for more options? Try FitWise Pilates in Mill Valley, where the treatment can be paired with a Pilates class, and Revive Body Therapy in San Jose, where you can sneak in red light therapy while there.