Fitness & Aging: Lifelong Activity

She was named the first “Entrepreneur of the Year” recipient by IDEA, the world’s largest membership organization of health and fitness professionals. Additionally, SPA magazine recognized the graduate of Ottawa Teachers College as a pioneer of the American spa industry with a “Trailblazer” tribute. When she and her family resolved to transform a dilapidated Ojai gas station and its grounds into a civic treasure, the result was the beautiful Cluff Vista Park. Most recently, Cluff was one of the first inductees in the Spa Hall of Fame by the Washington Spa Alliance in Washington, D.C.

Cluff’s wellness philosophy flies in the face of most fad diet and fitness regimens. “I advise my spa guests to throw away their scales,” she writes. Instead, she recommends “get a tight pair of non-stretch jeans, and make sure they always fit. Measurements are more important than weight.” At her spas, she rejected the idea of subjecting guests to torturous deprivation. “I wanted neither a fat farm nor a beauty spa,” she writes, “but a place that focused on health and fitness, where people would come to enjoy themselves, not be ‘punished’ with exercise and diet food.

After a 45-year absence, she returned to figure skating as Mrs. Santa Claus in Holiday Magic on Ice and helped raise $6400 for Ventura County Foster Children, a role she reprises each year. Since 2006, Cluff has competed in the Ice Skating Institute Adult Championships and has won a total of 27 Golds in her adult career and has competed in Germany, Las Vegas, New York and Florida. Cluff was a contributing author for Recovery Magazine, a publication designed to help those in recovery from physical or emotional difficulties by extending support and encouragement.  

As American Spa’s 2008 Professional’s Choice Awards called her the “Most Influential Spa Leader,” she keeps on making philanthropic efforts. She speaks regularly on behalf of Go Red for Women to educate women across the country about heart-disease and is the perfect role model for women across the country since she has spent decades transforming people’s lives by helping them make life-altering changes by adopting an easy-to-follow philosophy that combines healthy eating with an active lifestyle.