It’s 6 p.m. on a January evening. It’s cold, and downtown Highland Park hums with post-holiday life.
A contrast exists inside the newly opened Serene Head and Wellness Spa.
There, Marilyn Metz, a Berklee College of Music alumna and a trained sound bath therapist, is leading 18 women through a guided meditative session. For the next hour, a gong, sound bowls, chimes and ocean sounds provide resonant rhythm and varying frequencies to encourage deep relaxation.
Sound bath, one of the most-watched-out wellness trends for 2026, is one of the unique services offered at the town’s newest boutique wellness destination, which opened in mid-December.
The 4,000-square-foot, basement-level space at 784 Central Ave. is the brainchild of Laura Serene. Designed in muted tones as a quiet sanctuary beneath one of downtown’s busiest blocks, the space opens to an expansive walkway lined with dozens of flickering candles, setting a Zen-like tone. The hallway leads to private treatment chambers promising seclusion and tranquility.
An expert curator, Serene has handpicked every piece of decor to enable a sensory escape. Handwoven wicker baskets, handmade wool rugs sourced from India and home-brewed green tea infused with 20 different Asian herbs encourage mindfulness through every detail of the space.
But the thing Serene remains most proud of is the spa’s extensive head treatments, a first for the North Shore, she said.
Laura Serene said her spa’s head treatments aim at healing and wellness.
“Hair treatments are sacred in the part of the world I come from,” Serene said, citing her Asian roots. “While here in the U.S. the focus is on blow-drying or styling, in Asia it is centered on healing and wellness, guided by philosophies honed over centuries.”
Her team researched and found that no place on the North Shore offers head and scalp therapy. They even brought in a veteran head spa therapist with decades of experience in ritualistic hair-care techniques from Mongolia, Japan and Korea.
“Together we developed our own personalized Serene hair spa treatments. The staff underwent intensive training before we opened,” Serene said.
Some of the novel treatments at the spa include Halo Rainfall Therapy, where streams of water mimic rainfall as they flow down the scalp, boosting circulation, while vibrant chakra (energy center) colors play in the background. Chakra healing, a technique dating back to 500 B.C. and originating in ancient India, is still practiced across Asia.
Serene also recently created a kids version, Rainbow Waterfall, of the treatment. She also plans to introduce short sound bath sessions for teenagers. There is also a dedicated men’s head spa therapy. The idea, the owners said, was to make the spa an inclusive place and not just a place for women.
Haley Levine Wills, a resident of Glencoe and realtor, said that her recent treatment at Serene Spa exceeded her expectations.
“There aren’t a lot of relaxing spas on the North Shore; it’s mostly med spas,” she told The Record. “I also liked that the treatment was done in a private room.”
She even enjoyed the chocolates served during her session — a treat with a bit of a secret: a high cocoa concentration for added health benefits, Serene said.
For Serene, Highland Park is home turf. Just minutes from the spa, her first business, Serene Nails, has been a Highland Park staple for more than a decade.
She co-owns the new spa with Dolly Bold, her longtime collaborator at Serene Nails. The two, driven by the same passion, chose to partner again for this new local venture.
“We love to grow together and share the same heart for this work,” Serene said. “We also wanted to change the perception that spas are expensive and checking in means getting booked for an entire day.”
Following this philosophy, Serene Spa offers services that you can book for an hour or even less, even in the middle of a stressful day.
Other popular services are their curated foot detox experiences. The Milk and Honey Foot Detox features flowers, organic milk, honey and sea salt. Another hot favorite, Citrus Foot Detox, brings in seasonal citrus and a salt soak followed by a deep foot massage designed to draw out impurities, reduce stress and improve circulation.
Highland Park brings both nostalgia and a sense of belonging for Serene. She first came to the United States from Mongolia 15 years ago as a student. She met her husband (a fellow Mongolian-American) and together they made Highland Park their first home.
“When my husband and I opened Serene Nails in HP, we got overwhelming support from the community,” she said. “As immigrants from another country, the community members knew we had no family here and poured in so much love and encouragement. We really felt cared for.”
The couple went on to have their three kids here while working hard on their nail salon.
“We recently moved to Glenview, but HP is where our heart and work are,” Serene said.
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