On Black Friday, I decided to do something I’ve never done before but have wanted to do for a long time. I treated myself to a day at the King Spa and Sauna.

Talking a friend into the adventure made it easier as a first time experience.

The King Spa & Sauna is in a nearby suburb of Chicago. It puts its own spin on what is essentially a Korean tradition, a family friendly spa that includes therapeutic services as it serves simply as a place to relax and get away from the stresses of everyday life.

When you arrive, you pay a reasonable fee for using the facilities for a 24-hour period. You are also given a key, which you wear on coiled plastic bracelet around your wrist, and swipe it each time you want to charge something.

Then you’re directed into the women’s or men’s locker room where you’re given pink or blue cotton shorts and tees. The ensemble is reminiscent of school gym uniforms although the colors represent the traditional palette for baby nurseries.

Attached to the locker complexes are bathing pools and steam saunas. In the women’s pool area, you’ll also find a row of tables where tiny Korean women clad in black panties and bras practically climb over their clients to give full body scrubs (to exfoliate).

Thank God, I had a friend to wander through the complex with me. It was alluring but pretty strange. This presents a minor dilemma; how a place designed for relaxation can actually be anxiety producing. God forbid you should walk naked into a common area.

Beyond the ladies only area, was a corridor to the common area. You had to follow red footprints on the floor to get there (sort of like tracing dance steps at an Arthur Murray studio).

In the center hall, they had several saunas, or specialized chambers, all for different purposes. Some were for detoxing, some for stimulating blood flow or for building your immune system. You could play a game of chess, take a nap (in a Barcalounger on steroids) or book whole body massages or foot massages.

Say Ahhhh.

My friend and I indulged in a 60 minute massage (we were lucky to be able to book them at the same time), then visited about six different saunas, and managed to eat a small order of hand-rolled shrimp dumplings before hitting the bathing pools in the women’s locker.

Ohhhhhh, there was so much to the day.

I learned that you don’t have to speak the same language as your body worker to be able to communicate what you want more of (or less of).

I was reminded how free I was to re-choose. If one sauna was too crowded or too hot, or if I just didn’t like the vibe, I could move on to a different one easily enough.

I overcame the anxiety of parading around the public bathing pool naked. It didn’t take long to discover there were an equal number of younger, better-toned women as there were women who wore a few extra pounds or stretch marks from their pregnancies.

In other words, being naked with mostly strangers, you realize you’re average. You’re pretty much like everybody else.

Delighting in a little pampering is great. Remembering that you’re just like everyone in the world is no small thing.