NEVA face + body

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San Antonio Magazine

2011 BEST OF CITY ISSUE 

BEST FACIAL SPA - Reader's and Editor's Pick:  Bigger isn't always better in the beauty world.  Personalized service in a relaxing, intimate setting is what makes NEVA the secret among SA's beauty insiders.   Customized treatment plans, top-of-the-line products, and a menu of soothing and rejuvenating facials help us put our best face forward.  

 

San Antonio Magazine- JAN 2010

For those who treat their bodies like temples, here's a new place to worship. Owner Neva Fernandez lends her name and expertise to NEVA face and body, offering a variety of traditional face and body treatments at her "very cute" new digs. Neva is also certified to perform prenatal and postpartum massage, not on the average spa menu. Fernandez (a massage therapist, college educator and aesthetician) and the NEVA staff are among the few to offer the treatment, which can improve blood flow and ease the effects of hormones for expectant and new mommies. Locally, Fernandez partners with Baptist Health Systems to give postpartum massage for maternity ward patients. "Some pregnant women can't take medicine to relieve pain, so there has to be an alternatiave for them," says Fernandez. The spa name spells out another area of expertise: skin care, specifically for the face, where acne, sun damage and other issues are addressed with a holistic approach. "Spreading the philosophy of healing through massage therapy and educating people about their skin and bodies is something I hope to accomplish with my business," Fernandez says. It's a philosophy that goes beyond skin deep.
-Daphne Barahona

 

Voted BEST MASSAGE 2010 by SpaWeek voters and San Antonio Magazine - Reader's Choice

 

SAN ANTONIO MAGAZINE 

BEST NEIGHBORHOODS 2011

Leaders in Tobin Hill are claiming a rebirth for the community once forgotten by those who looked north for greener pastures and zip codes. Now at the heart of a growing arts district, young professionals, artists, musicians, visionaries and investors looking to raise the profile of one of the city’s earliest subdivisions populate the diverse neighborhood.

“I think what’s great about Tobin Hill is that everybody lives there. It’s got a little bit of everything that makes the city what it is,” says Diego Bernal, recently elected to represent District 1 on the City Council.

If you’re looking for a deciding factor to make Tobin Hill home, take your pick. At the top of our list for this budding enclave are arts and education—defining attributes (and major draws) for new life among classic homes and repurposed commercial buildings.

“What’s attractive about living here is a combination of a diversity of housing stock and geography,” Bernal says. “It’s near art, it’s near music, it’s close to downtown, it’s close to the freeway. It’s right in the middle of a bunch of great things.”

On the subject of San Antonio’s substantive art districts, the conversation must include Tobin Hill. A well-established Arts Alliance, founded in 2009 by artist Luis Lopez, has championed Art on the Hill, a monthly “art walk” through galleries and shops where artists can show and sell. The second-Friday outing is from 6 to 10 p.m., with venues posted on the group’s website, tobinarts.com. Quarterly community socials and healthy support for public art projects make this the sort of community that encourages hobnobbing.

The vibe in Tobin Hill is friendly, nostalgic and quirky, with well-used sidewalks that lead from house to house and through unique commercial pockets. Most homes in the area were built between 1900 and 1930. Many maintain the architectural integrity and character of the historic district. Plenty of houses in need of TLC make the market
ripe for homeowners looking to renovate as values rise.

“This is a neighborhood that has tapped in to and improved all sorts of resources and they have made a variety of characteristics the main characteristic,” Bernal says. “That’s what I find to be most brilliant, its diversity is its strength.”

Innovative business owners find fertile ground here. Neva Face and Body, an upscale spa that recently relocated to the edge of Tobin Hill’s historic district, on East Dewey Place, re-imagined an old office building into an oasis. Across the street the G2 Haus is a main attraction. A remodeled 1948 “modernist” building was transformed by G2 Interior + Lighting Designers. Now two furnished one-bedroom apartments are available for rent and marketed as hotel alternatives to visitors.

Among planned commercial growth in Tobin Hill, a recently approved mixed-use development near San Antonio College—one of five higher learning centers in the area—will include student housing, retail and parking space and space for an academic building.

“There is a renewed interest in urban living and folks looking for a residential place that’s not downtown,” Bernal says. “You have active neighbors who have helped set the new objective for Tobin Hill. A good neighborhood results when people talk to each other. It’s something we support and nurture and at the same time try to replicate elsewhere.”

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWSPAPER  February 2006

North central baptist offers massage to new mothers

It's been two days since Veronyka Bass' Caesarean-section delivery at North Central Baptist Hospital, and she has been feeling a burning pain in her abdomen whenever the painkillers wear off.
But as massage therapist Neva Fernandez swirls a blend of grape-seed oil, lavender and eucalyptus on her back and neck, that pain is only a memory.
"How do you feel?" Fernandez asks the new mom, who is lying in her hospital bed, staring dreamily out the window.
"I feel good," she replies, as her new son Anthony Armani naps in his nearby bassinette and her husband, Cleon Bass, looks on. "I'm going to sleep now."
"You deserve it," Fernandez says.
Bass is one of hundreds of new mothers who have received a free, 15-minute massage at the hospital after giving birth.
Hospital officials said the postpartum massage program, which began a year ago, can alleviate pain associated with childbirth, combat postpartum depression, help with breastfeeding and increase overall energy.
"We are a massage friendly hospital," said Jay Duval, vice president of business development. "We just see the benefits of it."
Even the blend of oil used on the mothers has healing properties, said Fernandez, whose business, Massage for Everyone, provides the massages seven days a week.
The grape-seed oil base provides nourishing vitamin E for the skin, the lavender promotes relaxation and eucalyptus is great for sore muscles, she said.
But being touched is powerful, too.
"We know exactly where they hurt without them even having to tell us," Fernandez said. "It helps them to relax."
Nurses working in the postpartum unit said almost all of the women who give birth at North Central Baptist take advantage of the program.
"The first thing they ask for is the lactation consultant and massage therapist," said Amy Ramos, a registered nurse lactation consultant.
Fernandez said she is proud that the hospital has embraced postpartum massage and believes it is a signal that the health-care industry is starting to recognize the medical benefits of massage.
Veronyka Bass also is glad that massage is available at North Central Baptist.
"I like this hospital," she said. "I paid cash to stay here, so I am like, 'What else is free?'"
But watching Fernandez gently knead the tension away from his wife's back has left Cleon Bass a little envious.
"That was a great service," he said to Fernandez. "But you really need to work on the husband part."
nlessin@express-news.net