If your body and mind are feeling the strain of your daily routine, a health retreat offers the perfect reset. While there are many tried and true destinations across the globe, we spoke to our experts at Quintessentially Travel about which offer genuinely unique therapies. Aiming to restore using remarkable methods that pair tradition with the newest cutting-edge modalities, below are their recommendations for uncovering a new you.
FORESTIS Dolomites, Italy
The alpine location of FORESTIS, 1,800 meters above sea level, offers ideal conditions for maintaining health, strengthening the constitution and recuperating in accordance with preventive and high-altitude medicine. Offering many treatments based on the principle of the four trees – mountain pine, spruce, larch and Swiss stone pine – that each activate unique frequencies, the resort optimizes its mountain location and allows the human body to reawaken.
Incorporating the surroundings and the positive effect nature has in prevention and healing, the tree circle ceremony calls upon the vibrations of each different tree. Participants select a healing wood before cleansing and wrapping the body, incorporating the wood itself to release tensions and restore the body.
Turtle Spa Concept® at Schloss Elmau, Germany
Journey to Schloss Elmau to experience a distinctive medical spa that pairs the therapies and intuitions of traditional Chinese medicine with the latest insights from sports science, nutrition, herbal medicine and aromatherapy. The spa blends an ideal balance of East-meets-West; the therapies aim to holistically address all aspects of life using exercises such as qigong and tai chi in combination with European phytotherapy and aromatherapy.
Nutrition plays a huge part in healing – Schloss Elmau is home to nine restaurants – and the spa restaurant, Ananda, features healthy cuisine that is used to address specific concerns. After a stay here, look forward to a deeper awareness about issues and remedies; pleasant treatments and lasting recommendations can be taken home to help shape your long-term life and health.
Sleep at Six Senses Vana, India
Sleep is one of the core foundations of overall wellness, and this program at Six Senses Vana aims to rectify sleep struggles and unhealthy patterns. You begin with a consultation with an Ayurvedic doctor before starting treatment, which involves yoga, holistic massage and adaptogenic drinks.
Supplemented with Six Senses’ signature high-tech health screening – a complementary assessment that drills down into the causes of any health complaints more quickly – the team can now customize the program with precision. For example, insomniacs might receive a sleep ring to ascertain precisely which phase of their sleep cycle is being disrupted.
While there, experience the Aarti ritual on the Ganges River at Rishikesh. It is an unforgettable Hindu ceremony of fire, where visitors can join the priests sitting cross-legged beside the Ganges during prayers before floating flower offerings down the river.
Chenot Palace Weggis, Switzerland
The Chenot Molecular Lab for Optimal Living employs groundbreaking epigenetic technology to analyze gene activity and determine guests’ biological aging. This is then used to prescribe a personalized treatment plan that will maximize longevity, health and wellbeing. The future-forward clinic utilizes mRNA-based molecular tests to analyze the body’s stress and imbalance at a cellular level, with treatments including scientifically proven therapies such as photobiomodulation and heart rate variability biofeedback training to improve mitochondrial function and strengthen the nervous system.
There are also acoustically engineered sleep suites, NASA-designed anti-gravity treadmills for effective exercise without joint pressure and a neuro-acoustic treatment that uses sound waves to divert the nervous system out of fight-or-flight mode and into a state of deep relaxation.
Panchakarma at Ananda in the Himalayas, India
Drawing upon the traditions and therapies of Ayurveda, Ananda’s unique selling point is to prolong life through its comprehensive wellness program, detoxifying and restoring healing from the inside out. Understanding the gut is essential for overall wellness, and Panchakarma is a three-week delve into your digestive health, employing Ayurvedic science to heal the gut to create a glow from the inside out.
Three stages include cleansing prep, elimination of toxins and rejuvenation of the digestive tract with the help of herbs, oils and more. In tandem with yoga and meditation, this comprehensive reset addresses emotional and mental barriers alongside physical ailments for a truly restorative experience.
Sound Healing at Joali Being, Maldives
With wellbeing at its core, Joali Being is billed as the first ‘nature immersive wellbeing island’ in the Maldives. Utilizing the therapeutic qualities of sound, vibration and resonance, sound healing is incorporated into each wellness experience. Drawing on the wisdom of experts and artists, the team have created a sound discovery path that traverses the jungle – a self-guided trail that spotlights nine instruments along the pathway, each creating different remedial vibrations.
At the resort itself, two dedicated meditation spaces employ sound therapy. Within your private villa, instruments encourage interaction with sound, while in each treatment room Joali Being’s signature sound – aligned with the planetary frequencies of specific locations on the island – facilitates more profound health benefits.
