#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…
Health Gossip #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.
Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?
One of the biggest turning points in my health has been getting sober from drugs and alcohol. This January, I’ll celebrate eight years of continuous sobriety, which is a g-damn miracle. I’m shocked at how fast the time has gone by and really proud of myself and the close friends who are choosing this life with me. The path wasn’t necessarily linear or “all or nothing,” but after the solar eclipses in 2017 (Leo/Aquarius axis, no less), it became clear that my party girl life was starting to have consequences.
I was young, living in Paris, where the general public barely considered wine an alcoholic beverage, working in fashion PR with a work-hard, play-hard mentality. After some months tinkering with my own versions of substance use rules and experiments, I decided to go all in on sobriety, one day at a time. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made, and if this is the only thing I’m consistent with, I’m okay with that! If anyone reading this has questions about their drinking and wants to talk, my line is always open.
From physical sobriety, came other health consciousness. I was looking for relief, and that’s where I found my local gym with a sauna and steam room. It was a hefty investment for my meager paycheck at the time, but worth every penny. I started lifting weights and getting into a daily sweat practice. I could take all the stress of the day and sweat it out in a little wooden box.
Since then, I tend to think of my relationship to health and wellness as a spiral path: always going somewhere, even if I can’t see the full picture. I’ve taken many mini-retirements, including a month at Esalen in Big Sur; practicing The Artist’s Way in groups; getting really into hot yoga and Pilates; and the never-ending gift of being obsessed with water and anything related to bathing or spa-ing.
A phrase I love is, “We deal with our dis-eases in the order they are killing us.” From this ideology, I’ve been able to approach other situations that cause dis-ease (i.e., malaise and suffering), including overworking, toxic relationships, emotional eating, self-pity, and smoking/vaping, in a more compassionate way. Ultimately, it lets me hold the dualities of life and all the versions of myself I’ve been so lucky to live while I ricochet on my path like a metal ball in a pinball machine.
“Pain is the touchstone for growth, but we also have to actively choose a different path if we want different results.”
Shoutout to the past identities, including young Floridian beach and mall rat; the Texas college sorority girl; Courtney in Paris (think Emily but grungier, underground fashion and poppers); bi-continental sauna sweating and sober; bicoastal fashion victory lap; and protein princess pilates fiancée at a dead-end day job. I am grateful to acknowledge each of them, take the findings that work for the version of “me” now, and grow into the future — uncertain but always adding more hope, courage, and confidence, which is always a win for my health and well-being overall.
Do you have a spiritual practice?
I do! The world is too big and too chaotic for me not to have faith in a system of benevolence.
I try to be honest and admit when I am wrong or don’t know something, while also channeling compassion and empathy for all beings; spiritually, that helps keep me free. Keeping tabs on synchronicity and serendipity (chance run-ins, right place, right time, etc.) helps me remember that we’re all looking for signs in the dark, and sometimes a déjà vu is reconfirmation that I’m where I need to be.
Another fun one is talking to the moon. Depending on where it’s at between void and full, and which astrological sign it’s in, I tell her what’s going on in my life, how I’m feeling, and what I’m hoping for, along with anything I’m letting go of or calling in.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
I’ve been getting over some kind of sickness while revisiting these answers again, so this feels relevant timing-wise. Generally, I wait things out and try at-home solutions until a) symptoms get worse or b) I have no more plausible connections to explore on my own. Pain is the touchstone for growth, but we also have to actively choose a different path if we want different results.
I approach most healing with a healthy mix of Eastern, Western, modern, and traditional methods. Balance and moderation seem to be a magic combination, as, ironically, the body is both constantly healing and dying.
I will try not to get too meta here. :)
The body is made mostly of water, and our actions, emotions, and experiences can imprint emotional and energetic vibrations within us. Since I carry all the eggs I will ever have before I am born, while inside my mother, any future children I might have felt the vibrations while she was in her mother. Therefore, each person is even more connected to their mother’s and grandmother’s feelings, behaviors, and environments across generations, possibly carrying down big joys and/or big traumas. If you don’t believe the environment has something to do with our “natural state,” please look up Masaru Emoto’s work on water.
The workshop I recently attended at Esalen was based on the idea that we are our greatest healers. By looking at the physical, emotional, spiritual, and soul bodies, we have the capacity to fix generational patterns and traumas (both capital T and t), ask for forgiveness, and transmute or transform our current life and the generations that will come after us.
In short, I think we have a responsibility to heal as best we can for ourselves and past generations, in service of the future generations who will inherit the aftermath of our world.
Do you work with any practitioners, texts, or modalities on a regular basis?
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Ari Kiev’s A Strategy for Daily Living, V.Vale’s RE/Search (principals printed on my refrigerator), A Year with Rumi Daily Readings, Tarot & Goddess Oracle, Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening.
When do you feel the most nourished?
Belly laughing until I cry, surfing, sleeping, reading next to a fireplace, a trip to the Korean spa, or eating a warm and hearty meal.
How do you reset?
Traveling, sweating, walking/running, meditating, writing, a really intense massage.
Do you have a favorite meal?
Chicken Parmesan. Italian tomatoes and stone fruits. English tea and scones with jam and clotted cream.
I’m so happy it’s soup season! Italian Penicillin with the teeny mini stars. In the summertime my go to lunch is a tortilla wrap with halloumi, spinach, and hot sauce.
Sparkling water, top three of 2025 so far: Tepelene (Albania), Polcyn Zdroj (Poland), Filette (Italy).
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Not having a specific path to follow is not a bad thing. Being a flaneur is so much more fun.
To the person reading this?
I love you! You’re doing amazing and incredible life moments are coming your way <3
What would you like to see or create more of in the world?
I’m trying to create more WATER BASED PLEASURE!!!! More WET, more SPA, more SWEAT, more HOT SPRINGIN’, FLOATING, SCRUBBING, SPARKLING, SOAKING. Health and sanity through water. More love for our bodies, more joy in living, and feeling good doing it.
Thank you for reading this edition of Health Gossip! Infinite love to all 3,333 of you.
After putting together our recent piece on winter and upward spirals, I jetted off to Arizona for my cousin’s wedding. Concentrated time with family always feels like a test of sorts, especially after going through deep internal shifts. Forever grateful for the mirrors that are our relationships.
Anyway…see you in LA?
