I’m lying in a darkened room with images of the planets and stars twirling gently above my head. Very gently Lindsey Juniper, my therapist, is wafting the aroma of rose oil over me with a fan. It started over two hours ago. And it’s not finished yet.

The Planets is one of the most comprehensive, luxurious and unique experiences you could ever undergo. It was dreamed up by Lush’s co-founder, Mark Constantine, after an evening spent gazing out at a starry night.

The point of it – because there is a big point – is that you will be taken on a journey through your past, present and future.

According to Lindsey, Lush therapists had noticed that sometimes during treatments, when clients were talking, tensions in particular parts of their bodies were released as they voiced their concerns or fears. “But some of them were saying they felt almost vulnerable as they left, because they had literally opened up,” says Lindsey.

This led to Lush researching a treatment which would help clients who felt this way to obtain a release from their concerns and a closure. “Like tidying up a messy drawer before closing it again,” says Lindsey.

So we start off with a glass of citrus water and I’m invited to shuffle a little pack of cards representing the individual planets. I lay them down before choosing one and its corresponding issue that I want to address. I pick Mercury and ‘change’ - one of the most popular, along with ‘challenge’ and ‘release’.

Then follows, for an hour and 25 minutes, the longest and most comprehensive massage I’ve ever undergone but there’s no falling asleep because I’m invited to talk about particular issues as Lindsey works on knots in my muscles in the corresponding body area.

Throughout this time – and during the entire treatment – we are listening to an epic soundtrack, composed to accompany The Planets and inspired, naturally, by Holst’s Planet Suite.

Phase II is the fun section, representing the present, in which Lindsey brings me delicious Maharani tea plus a chocolate for people undergoing the Mercury path, and then tips water over a bowl with a planet-shaped bath bomb and a load of dry ice.

Dressed in a sumptuous patterned robe; “Mark has one like that,” says Lindsey, I feel like Professor Dumbledore as I flick the ice vapour into shapes and Lindsey reads my dominant right palm which, she says, represents my present. I also get a delightful hand and arm massage with particular emphasis on the points ruled by the planet Mercury.

After this comes what is, for me, the most incredible part of his whole incredible experience; a specially designed facial which represents the future allowing, says Lindsey, the client to walk out with uplifted, confident skin.

We start with the fan: “Breathe in the future, breathe out the past,” instructs Lindsey as she wafts the scent of rose oil towards me. During this part of the treatment clients are encouraged to completely relax and with the amazing ritual it’s not at all difficult. Lindsey brushes my face with two tiny brushes and it’s one of the most soothing sensations I’ve ever felt. Then it’s massage; by fingertips and rose quartz – good for the skin and the sense of well-being - then a facial with cool cucumber on my eyelids and some Lush facial serum. In the best way possible I start to feel as if I’m having an out-of-body experience. At the end my cheeks look plumper and pinker; as if I’ve received a gentle ironing. 

That night I enjoy a sleep like no other I’ve had; deep and sumptuous with no nightmares or waking up with a stiff neck. I feel slimmer and lighter and things I’ve been worrying about don’t feel quite so important. Change, indeed.

And, because they hand you back your half-used massage bars and a good-sized sample of the solid facial serum used, it only takes one sniff to take me right back, to that heavenly, amazing experience.

The Planets, Lush Spa, £285 for three hours, www.lush.co.uk