Aroma Ki Owner Maryanne Ullman Interviewed
A Woman In Business Interview by Paul Oscar Hamilton
Located opposite beautiful Collaroy beach, Aroma Ki is a haven of serentity offering massage, facials, treatments and bathing. Master healer Maryanne Ullman transformed the former bank into a specialised Sydney retreat with a modern Asian flavour. Treatments have origins in methods and traditions from around the world.
The day spa is a culmination of Maryanne’s background in psychology, natural therapies, market research and her 9 years of extensive travel and study while living in Asia. Her background includes psychology and work in the spa, beauty and relaxation industry.
In Asia, Maryanne immersed herself in natural Ki therapies: Shiatsu in Japan; hand acupuncture, Reiki and massage in Korea; spiritual healing in the UK as well as Reflexology and Aromatherapy at Nature Care College in Sydney. She particularly loved Aromatherapy as well as meditation. She is also a trained counselor, often working with disabled children and telephone counseling. On returning to Australia she completed three diplomas begun whilst overseas: Aromatherapy, Remedial Massage and Healing.
Aroma Ki is the materialization of a dream Maryanne has had for many years. It is a center for uplifting people within a community focused on natural products, holistic treatments, natural therapies and caring. Maryanne has created a haven to truly relax and revive from the stressful workaday world.
OM: Our Manly is very excited about you coming aboard as a foundational columnist. Everyone considers Aroma Ki to be an exceptional spa, which probably has everything to do with your vision and expertise. Women are more and more coming to the internet for information, especially about healing and health. You obviously care about people’s wellbeing. What do you want to share with the readers of Our Manly?
M U: I am a healer. I am very passionate about it. I’ve grown and learned since I first began doing it. Initially I was entirely natural therapies orientated, but I’ve grown into the science side of it, and I think both have much to offer. But it can be very confusing with so many different products and therapies out there. It is so controlled by advertisers that you need someone who is honest and genuine to guide you through the process. 
Read Maryanne's latest column»
O M: There is a burgeoning awareness of natural remedies and organics accompanied by a shift away from chemicals to botanicals concomitant with a desire to live healthier lives.
M U: It is changing isn’t it? People are more and more aware of it, more and more disillusioned with both beauty products and some Western healing practices. Doctors have become drug reps. They have 6 minutes for a patient, they write a prescription and they send them off to buy drugs at the pharmacy. There is no consideration of the healing side. No understanding of the person, what’s going on in their lives.
O M: Can surgery and cosmetic enhancements benefit people? Especially when it comes to self confidence?
MU: Yes, a person might have had a difficult life, battled depression, lack confidence; they’re getting older and feeling dreadful, but you can do all sorts of enhancements- fix their eyes, their nose, their body, and totally change how they feel about themselves and how they relate to the world. Working on the outside can really help how a person feels on the inside.
O M: You must have a natural empathy and appreciation for people to be in the business you’re in. Were you that way as a kid?
M U: Definitely. When someone was getting kicked on the playground, I was the one to go and help them.
O M: Aroma Ki is housed in a renovated bank. Serenity abounds where once was heard bustling transactions. How did you change the building from a monetary institution into a place of healing?
M U: That’s such a good question. I had an architect, interior designer and Feng Shui expert look at it. We knocked down walls and completely redesigned it. We kept the safe. We turned it into a mud treatment room! We joke you’ll get locked in there if you don’t pay! It’s actually turned into a really nice space with fiber optic lighting on the ceiling. It looks like a starry night sky.
O M: How important is touch to well being?
M U: Everybody need to be touched everyday. It’s like food, part of our daily needs. Especially older people who may have lost their partners. Massage, facials can be a great way to battle depression. If you talk about somebody being ‘close’ to you, or ‘that touched me’ you mean it in a heartfelt way. Touching someone actually does do that.
O M: The laying of hands seems natural, but how does mud and hot rock communicate to the human body and psyche?
M U: Some people think stones are just like crystals, that they have an energy. They’re just brilliant when they are heated, intensely relaxing.
Some of our mud is from the deep sea, some of our clays are from France, but all of them have bio-valuable nutrients within them that are absorbed by our bodies. The derive from plants, and the chemistry of plants and our bodies are in synchronicity; obviously we need plants to live. By putting it on your body you can absorb what you need in an almost osmotic way. Clay and mud also draw out toxins. Aborigines paint themselves with mud, much like people all around the world. Consider all the animals that roll around in mud to protect or heal themselves. Read about The Rasul experience»
O M: Before we go, where in the world did you enjoy the traditions of bathing, relaxation most?
M U: Japan. We don’t have the space for communal bathing like the bathhouses of Japan, but at Aroma Ki, we’ve created a place where you are known when you come back. Customers come to know our rituals. There is a connection here, a sense of community that we have lost in modern society.
Watch a video on traditional Japanese communal bathing»
O M: Thanks, Maryanne, we can’t wait to share your expertise with the readers of Our Manly. Not to mention how much we look forward to our next Rasul Experience!
Difficult to find a quiet place to call your own? To escape for just for a few short hours? Look no further than the serene confines of
Aroma Ki Day Spa, Collaroy. Here you can luxuriate in a traditional Arabian cleansing ritual known as The Rasul.
Tucked into the corner of
Pittwater Rd in Collaroy, opposite the Surf Rock, the expansive Aroma Ki Day Spa is far removed from the hustle and bustle of the world outside. One step into this elegantly sensual spa is a thousand miles from concern.
Our Manly suggests trying Aroma Ki's Rasul Experience, an exotic, calming and senuous mudbath treatment.
The Rasul is the preeminent steam experience. Immersed in steam infused with special herbs and essential oils, the body is detoxified and purified. Aroma Ki owner,
Marianne Ullman, brought this unique treatment to Australia after identifying it as a rare Asian speciality.
Rasul Signature Treatment (2 hrs)
$235 for one $205 for each additional person
(max 4)
>> READ MORE ABOUT AROMA KI COLLAROY
Special Promotion
Aroma Ki Body Glow- an AHA body polish and spray tan for just $98, save $40!
Aromka Ki Natural Therapies Include:
- Holistic high performance facials
- Waxing and tinting
- Body scrubs
- Slimming wraps
- Massages-full range including hot stone, remedial, shiatsu, aromatherapy, Kodo
- Reiki
- Li'Tya LiTya, meaning "of the earth", integrates the precious qualities of the Australian earth, its native plants and its spirit. Capturing the potency of indigenous Australian plants, fruits, earth ochres, desert salts and sea plants, each product depicts the wonder and beauty of the country.
- Far infra red sauna
- Geisha baths
- Steam room
- Makeover service
- Spray tanning in seconds in a private booth
- Makeup application
- Full hair salon with Organic and Mineral hair colours
Choose from a half hour treatment for yourself or a whole day indulgence package alone or with a partner in one of the couples rooms, Aroma Ki can cater to all your needs. With beautiful, sensual treatments, some using traditional Aboriginal healing techniques with native Australian ingredients such as wild rosella, desert lime, lillypilly, aniseed myrtle, desert salts and rich Australian clays. Aroma Ki is a sanctuary for pure indulgence.
This Interview
was conducted by
Paul Oscar Hamilton