#75: Courtney Wittich
"After the solar eclipses in 2017, it became clear that my party girl life was starting to have consequences."
Welcome back to Health Gossip. Our guest today is Courtney Wittich, a brand image consultant, writer, and the genius behind S.P.A. — that’s salus per aquam (“health through water”), a blog-newsletter charting the wonders of water-based wellness. You can read more of her work in the Los Angeles Times and Dazed.
As a part of her Winter Bathing Club, Courtney and I are hosting an event at Crystal Spa in LA tomorrow night (details here). Word on the street is there will be banya hats…
#75: Courtney Wittich
Aquarius/Aquarius/Leo
Los Angeles, CA
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Health is SO many concepts wrapped up neatly into a word. It’s important for me to acknowledge the bodies our souls have been dropped into; I believe that we have no control over the who, what, where, when, and how of it all. There is a huge powerball jackpot system at play when it comes to genetics, activating disabilities, diseases, strengths, and ailments coupled with the behaviors and practices we pick up along the way. We are spiritual beings having a human experience!
Being healthy to me means feeling strong in my body (mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually) on any given day, but not necessarily day-over-day gains everyday. It also means the privilege and ability to do the HARD things I want to do in this lifetime — being carried and supported in my container.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
Transitory & Hydrated.
When I began writing these answers, I was on a two-month bonus honeymoon — choosing my own adventure through the Balkans, chasing the sea, sulphur, and springs with nothing but a carry-on. Now, I’m back in LA, learning how to settle into the uncertainty of freelance life while building S.P.A. — salus per aquam, “health through water.” S.P.A. is where I explore bathing culture not just as hygiene or luxury, but as a way to navigate modern life — through rest, ritual, beauty, burnout, and belonging. My obsession with water, baths, saunas, and spas has become a convergence point for thinking about creativity, access, tradition, and people (past and present). I’m exploring how to operate in society from capitalist self-optimization toward communal care and sharing personal anecdotes so people can find lifestyles that work for them. So to sum it up my lifestyle is... Go with the flow? Trial and error? The group is greater than the sum of its parts? Just keep drinking water while you do it. Sparkling with lots of minerals preferably.
“Sparkling water, top three of 2025 so far: Tepelene (Albania), Polcyn Zdroj (Poland), Filette (Italy).”
How do you start and end your days?
My Aquarius stellium rejects consistency; I am generally bad at having routines and following structure. However, I am FASCINATED by it and people who do, hence why I started asking all of my friends, and now the larger world, “What’s in Your Spa Bag?” so I can get a peek into their lives and see what resonates with me.
Anywho, these are some things I love to do, even if I don’t do them perfectly everyday:
Wake up, savor the soft feeling of my sheets and have a big stretch, cuddle my husband if he’s still there (generally he wakes up earlier than me and makes coffee).
Speaking of COFFEE, I love coffee, and I love the coffee we drink! This kooky old man we met in Mexico has the most delicious beans in the world. When I go to bed at night I get excited to wake up and drink this coffee. Logan, my aforementioned husband, usually delivers me a cup of coffee made to my liking (organic whipped honey and alt milk) in bed. There is truly nothing better in the world.
Then I turn to my morning pages, à la Julia Cameron. For me, it’s a version of active meditation that allows me to remember dreams, brain dump anything I don’t need, and reset in the present moment.
I try to sweat everyday, whether by exercise, a sauna blanket, or really hot bath.
Staying connected with my friends and community is really important to me, and the act of reaching out to just say hello is something I’ve been working on. If I have a dream about someone or fleeting thought of them, I try to let them know that day — and most of the time, the sentiment is mutual.