Del Ray, Doing Well With Wellness

In the space of a handful of blocks along Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray, one could get a hot stone massage followed by a bone-cracking chiropractic session, breathe deeply in a yoga class, firm flabby core muscles with a Pilates trainer, pick up some Chinese herbs, clear chi with acupuncture needles or realign one's chakras with reiki, analyze one's past with a psychotherapist or envision the perfect future with a life coach. And perhaps top it all off with a cleansing colonic.

Add in foot reflexology, a facial and a meditation class and it's clear why some people are saying that Del Ray, the funky Alexandria neighborhood where, as locals like to say, "Main Street still exists," is beginning to look a lot like "Well Ray."

So long Rent-a-Center, locksmith and down-at-the-heels dry cleaner. Just say Om.

"Everywhere you look, there's another yoga studio, a Pilates studio, five massage places," said Megan Bellamy Brown. "You wonder, how can the avenue support all this? But somehow it does."

Brown, a physical therapist, is co-owner of a yoga/Pilates/meditation studio called Mind the Mat that she opened in the summer on Mount Vernon Avenue. At first, some people told her she was crazy. "I knew the market would be tough given that there were so many other wellness centers nearby. But we all feed off each other," she said. "We all have our place."

"It's kind of like having a Restaurant Row," said Lola Capps of nearby Chrysalis Chiropractic. "Except we're Health and Wellness Row."

Some, like Del Ray Business Association President Maria Wasowski, have watched the transformation into Well Ray with a mixture of awe, incredulity and trepidation.

"I think the reason why some people say, 'Oh no, not another health studio,' is because they would like to see more of a critical mass of retail that would make Del Ray more of a destination," Wasowski said. "But small-business owners should be able to open their businesses where they think they are going to do well. And they're doing well. The newest place, Mind the Mat, is filling up their classes. People are constantly coming in and out of there. So clearly the market was not saturated."

They succeed, practitioners say, not only because the wellness industry is booming, but also because everyone does things a little differently. Studio Body Logic specializes in Pilates classes on a contraption of springs and weights. Mind the Mat offers kid yoga as well as classes for those recovering from injuries. Stephanie Simmons at the Healing Tree offers acupuncture for fertility. Capps adjusts even newborn spines.

"There's a surprisingly huge variety," Wasowski said. "It's kind of fascinating to me that this all evolved. There's been no plan. It's all been very organic."

Although no one can quite explain how it happened, most trace the beginnings of Well Ray to Maryellen Thorp. In 2001, Thorp was working in Old Town at an athletic club and going to massage school. She had just bought a house in Del Ray and liked the small-town feel of Mount Vernon Avenue, its main street, and how easy it was to walk to shops. Then she spotted a sign that Spurlock's, an old watch-repair shop, was going out of business. The place was for rent. "Once I saw that For Rent sign, that was it," Thorp said.

She opened the Healing Tree, providing massage therapy and "therapeutic body work," first working just two days a week.