Putting Enjoyment, Not Perfection, in the Spa Light

COSTA MESA —  Like many an Orange County newcomer, Toni Beck is feeling a bit overwhelmed. The ocean, the mountains, the freeways, the housing costs and just the scope and pace of the place have all combined to leave her head spinning. But what has astonished her most since she moved here in June are the bodies.

She sees them everywhere: beautiful, perfect bodies, naturally so, or surgically altered to seem that way, or at least working hard to become as close to the mark as possible. Even after three decades in the fitness world, and before that a successful career as a dancer on Broadway, Beck says she’s never seen such a concentration.

“There are more beautiful bodies here than any other place,” she says. “People are more fit here, and they also know more about fitness. I’ve never encountered such a place.”

Fitness is what brought Beck here.

As executive director of The Spa at The Center scheduled to open in January as part of the Orange County Performing Arts Center complex in Costa Mesa, her job is to make sure the exclusive combination health club and “urban spa” lives up to its advance billing as “equal to, or better than, any facility of its kind in the world,” in the words of Jeffrey Jones, managing general partner for the spa.

But if Beck accomplishes that lofty goal, it won’t mean that clients of The Spa at The Center will have the most perfect bodies of all. Instead, she hopes they’ll be happier with the bodies they have “in an environment that’s not judgmental.”

Striving to be the best we can be is commendable, she says. But taken to extremes or twisted into competitiveness, it may not be so healthy.

“We’re too obsessive about the need to be perfect,” Beck says. “We need to accept our imperfections, because they’re what make a person interesting. Besides, after awhile, perfection is just not really exciting. It gets boring. We’re better if we can just be ourselves.”

Beck herself lives by that philosophy now, although she hasn’t always.

At 65, she just can’t do the leaps and pirouettes she once executed so well when she danced for such legendary choreographers as Bob Fosse and Martha Graham, and wrinkles now lend character to her face.

“It was hard for me to give up on perfection,” she says. “It’s taken me a lifetime.”

Part of that process was making the switch from dance, where “you’re old by 30,” to fitness, which can begin at any age. She opened and was executive director of the Greenhouse Spa and The Spa at The Crescent in Texas, and has served as consultant to other spas as well.

Beck reached an important turning point a decade ago, when she became uncomfortably aware of the signs of aging and wrestled with the idea of getting a face-lift. Ultimately, she decided against it.

“I don’t like aging,” she says. “But this is who I am, and where I am in my life. I’m not saying people shouldn’t (get a face-lift) if they want to. If it helps enhance what you are, fine. But no one should feel like they have to.

“If you feel old, it’s because you’re focusing on the fact that you’re getting older. Instead of trying to be where you were, it’s much more fun to enjoy being where you are.”

A doctoral candidate in exercise physiology, Beck keeps a close watch on the medical literature relating to her work. And she says more and more research is showing that “you can be fit at any age. You can start with nothing and improve it at any point in your life.”

Too many of us, however, are afraid to try.

“It’s been proven that people over 40 take longer to learn something new,” she says. “And that’s not because they don’t have the ability. It’s because they’re more self-conscious, more afraid of failure.”

Working out should be a pleasure, not punishment, Beck says.

“I know people who will go spend an hour on the treadmill or the exercise bike to punish themselves for the cheesecake they had at lunch. That’s not what fitness is about. It’s about doing something you enjoy, some kind of movement that makes you feel comfortable in your body and feeds your spirit as well. So many people are too frenetic about their workouts. Martha Graham taught me that sometimes it’s just as important to be still and quiet.

“Competition is important in sports, but not in a fitness workout. But I’ve seen so much competition in the gyms here. Instead of competing with each other, we need to be giving each other validation, so that we feel better about ourselves.”

Until the spa is completed, Beck has been doing her workouts at other Orange County clubs, both to keep up with her own fitness routine and to check out the competition.

“I’ve been taking a step aerobics class, and I’m by far the oldest person in it. I find myself almost wanting to apologize because I can’t move quite as quickly as everyone else, and I don’t want to feel that way,” she says.

“When you exercise, you do it for yourself. And we shouldn’t be worrying so much about everyone else.”