by josie
Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat in Australia offers various water treatments and an infinity pool.
Some 156 million visits were made to 19,850 spas worldwide last year, according to the International Spa Association. To attract visitors, the industry is continually reinventing itself with innovative treatments, including healthy feet programs, health coaching, sensory experiences and culinary classes and outings.
Here are four of the hottest trends, identified in the SpaFinder 2012 report, that VIVmag readers won’t want to miss.(Count me in!)
1. Services to perk up your feet. Spas are emphasizing foot fitness this year to counteract the aging process and the trend toward towering high heels, which lead to bunions, hammertoes and other foot ailments.
Massage Envy, for example, will introduce foot scrubs and rubs in early 2013 to go with its signature massages and facials. And this Sept. 19, the chain, with nearly 800 locations in North America, is hosting a one-day event called Healing Hands for Arthritis. Massage Envy will donate $10 from every massage and facial that day to the Arthritis Foundation to fund research and education efforts.
At Canyon Ranch SpaClub in Las Vegas, visitors can take advantage of the Healthy Feet center, developed by Glenn Copeland, D.P.M., author of The Good Foot Book (Hunter House, 2005). Healthy Feet services include herbal foot treatments, massages and assessments of your gait and possible need for orthotics.
Other spas offer foot and calf massages and stretches and “medi-pedi” services that ease painful conditions such as ingrown toenails.
2. Health coaching. Coaching is an emerging concept nationwide, helping consumers to improve health by offering motivation, accountability and information to turn their best intentions into actions. A health coach can offer a well-rounded package of nutrition, exercise, and overall health and mental wellness services customized to your specific needs and goals.
Thousands of health coaches have been trained in the United States at centers such as the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Duke Integrative Medicine and the National Society of Health Coaches. Given the limited amount of time physicians can spend with individual patients, health coaches are increasingly being recognized by the medical field as an essential addition. (Harvard Medical School even underwrites an annual conference on health coaching, validating its place in the health-care arena.)
Many destination spas are offering both at-the-spa and post-stay coaching. For instance, Miraval Resort & Spa has an integrative wellness program that was designed by Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Spontaneous Happiness (Little, Brown and Co., 2011). The program provides ongoing wellness consultations and advice to participants once they return home.
Similarly, Canyon Ranch in Tucson, AZ, offers a full scope of wellness checkups and services with medical professionals at its Health & Healing Center, as well as a “Follow Up at Home” program that includes phone, email and Skype sessions with doctors, nutritionists, life-management therapists and traditional Chinese medicine experts.
3. Culinary cooking experiences, dining and spa-ing. Foodie/spa packages are now commonplace, and the emphasis on healthy hedonism appeals not only to women but to men and couples as well. Along with daily spa treatments, some resorts are offering the chance to harvest and cook food, attend cooking and wine-pairing classes, and make outings to local wineries and restaurants.
At Rancho La Puerta’s La Cocina Que Canta (meaning “The Kitchen That Sings”), for instance, guests can prepare and consume a lunch or dinner alongside culinary experts, cookbook authors and chefs in the resort’s oversized kitchen. The cooking center is located in the heart of a six-acre organic farm in Baja California, Mexico.
Outside of North America, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, on the Gold Coast of Australia, offers “Nourishing You” and “For the Love of Food” nutrition education/cooking demonstration/spa getaways. Italy’s Cascina Papaveri resort in Piedmont has “Plates and Pilates” retreats run by local chef Gino Minacapilli and a Pilates instructor, so you can work off the food you eat. (Guests can also hunt for truffles in the nearby hills.)
4. Sensory experiences. Most spas offer some form of sound, music, color, light and aromatherapy treatments. Now, however, these sensory experiences are becoming more central to treatments on the theory that they can help you unwind more quickly, clear energy blocks and perhaps even reduce pain.
In a previous post, I reported on Miraval’s Taiz Sensorium treatment, which uses music vibrations to deliver a deep sense of relaxation. A variety of other multisensory experiences are now being offered at spas throughout the world.
At Gwinganna, for instance, you can have the new “Australian Spirit of Sound” treatment, which combines deeply resonating (vibrating) Aboriginal sounds and music with massage and meditation.
If you prefer a European spa, you can visit the Toskana Therme Spa in Bad Sulza, Germany. This resort offers a “Liquid Sound” treatment that has you floating through seven warm salt-water pools encased in a spectacular domed building while listening to recorded or live music. The sound effects, which are enhanced when you dip your head underwater, are often combined with laser light shows. The spa also offers an “Aqua Wellness” treatment during which you are gently cradled and massaged by a therapist in the water.
The Kohler Waters Spa in Wisconsin has a “VibrAcoustic Room” that broadcasts sound waves underwater choreographed to music, providing a unique bathing experience that is both invigorating and relaxing.
Which of these treatments would you most like to try?
Photo credit: Courtesy Gwinganna
