photo: rakxa yapao

Bangkok’s medi-wellness facility RAKxa has created a Long COVID package that uses traditional Thai medicine’s (TTM) ya-pao ritual where a herbal paste is placed on guests’ stomachs and then lit to help detoxify respiratory systems.

The practice follows TTM’s philosophy which upholds that the body is based on the four elements. The heat from the treatment is to help ‘remove excess water elements’ such as phlegm and mucus. After the ritual, guests also spend time in a herbal steamroom to encourage total body detoxification.

As part of RAKxa’s integrative approach, the package also includes IV treatments, hyperbaric therapy, acupuncture, abhyanga and more.

• Location: RAKxa Wellness and Medical Retreat, Bangkok, Thailand
• Duration: Three days
• Cost: THB150,000 (US$4,542, €3,821, £3,261)

Holistic destination spa Euphoria has launched a Feel Alive retreat to help purge and process negative emotions built up during the pandemic.

Between July and November, the retreat is being hosted by Euphoria’s founder Marina Efraimoglou and spiritual mentor Mary Vandorou, who guide guests through a daily three-hour one-on-one session.

Every morning guests do meditation, qi gong and breathwork, bodywork, forest walks, capoeira and expressive dancing.

With a maximum of nine participants, activities include emotional expression work and theatrical improvisations, and creating personal mandalas with a vision of guests’ future. In the afternoon, attendees are encouraged to spend time at the spa or immersed in nature.

• Location: Euphoria, Greece
• Duration: Four nights
• €950 (£820, US$1,163)

photo credit: forestis

Italy’s woodland inspired hotel and spa, Forestis, has a signature Tree Circle Ceremony body treatment which begins with guests choosing an indigenous tree they physically and emotionally align with – mountain pine, spruce, larch or Swiss stone pine – after smelling, seeing and touching each wood.

Each corresponds to its own treatment using therapeutic wood, healing stones, acoustic frequencies and movement.

During the ritual, guests are treated to a foot bath while sipping on a drink containing their chosen tree’s sap in a room spritzed with its refreshing fragrance. This is complemented by an energy-balancing massage using the tree’s corresponding healing tools and Forestis’ in-house bodycare line, powered by tree essences.

• Location: Forestis, South Tyrol, Italy
• Duration: 110 minutes
• Cost: €220 (US$250, £188)

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London is collaborating with Echelon Health to offer guests a comprehensive personal health assessment using state-of-the-art medical screening technology.

Guests receive Echelon’s comprehensive Platinum health assessment and a two-night stay at the hotel.

Assessments include imaging of guests’ heart, brain, bones and thyroid, among others.

Within two weeks of testing, Echelon founder, chair and medical director Dr Paul Jenkins follows up personally with a detailed health analysis and healthcare suggestions.

If treatment is required, Jenkins will refer the client to selected specialists and practitioners.

• Location: Echelon Health, London, UK
• Duration: Two days
• Price: £14,000 (€16,400, US$19,400)

Preidlhof has been certified as a “Quiet Stay” by Quiet Parks, a non-profit committed to the preservation of quiet places.

To protect the essential need for silence, Preidlhof’s spa director, Patrizia Bortolin has created five new holistic experiences.

Available to guests on retreats or programmes, the journeys promote inner peace and communion with nature, including woodland walks at night, trails along mountain streams, mindfulness practices in the Mediterranean herb garden and Kneipping amidst natural waterfalls.

Each one embraces silence and teaches guests to observe and appreciate the benefits it can bring to their wellbeing.

• Location: Preidlhof, South Tyrol, Italy
• Cost: Journeys free to anyone attending retreats, which start at €1,292 (£1,099, US$1,543) each

Anantara’s new retreat on the banks of the Zambezi River includes three 60-minute spa treatments from a menu that draws on revered local wellness traditions, including the African ukuchina massage.

In this treatment, warm towels are used in kneading and compression movements to relieve muscle tension.

Traditionally performed to rejuvenate and cure malaria, inflammation and other ailments, ukuchina is also a postnatal treatment and has been passed down through generations.

The package also includes riverfront meditation sessions, a sunset cruise, soothing evening aromatherapy turndown service and a self-guided nature walk.

The retreat is completed with a private cooking demo, express spa treatment and a wellness dinner on the final evening.

• Location: The Royal Livingstone Hotel by Anantara in Zambia, Africa
• Duration: Three days
• Cost: US$1,108 (€937, £802)

Lorelei Bulan specialises in dance therapy, organic movement and breathwork / photo: the ozen collection

The Ozen Collection’s Bolifushi resort has unveiled a visiting practitioner programme that features Lorelei Bulan – a specialist in dance therapy, organic movement and breathing.

Bulan’s daily Therapeutic Movement and Contemporary Dance sessions will draw on her 26-years’ experience as a dance artist.

“For me, dance is one of the most therapeutic forms of movement and art as it involves all the senses, using the body and space where the body exists,” she says.

In this session, Bulan will help participants develop individual freedom and confidence through mirror-imaging, contact improvisation and grounding, to help them release inhibitions and achieve harmony of mind, body and spirit.

• Location:  Ozen Reserve Bolifushi, Maldives
• Cost: Starts at US$170 (€143, £122) for 30 minutes