If you're seeking preventative exercise, workshops and treatments, holistic holidays will set you on a journey to well-being Courtesy: Como Shambhala Retreat, Parrot Cay
HEALTH
EDMONTON, Alberta (Edmonton Sun - Canoe), March 3, 2008:
CANADA
Hollyhock on British Columbia's Cortes Island is an educational wellness retreat. Its reknowned organic gardens, replete with flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables, are as abundant as its unique programs: Well being, wisdom teaching, arts and culture and social change.
Choose from a week-long or three-day minibreak package with daily restorative yoga accompanied by live music, a DVD, and one-hour massage. Or sit the class out and attend any one of Hollyhock's many conferences, leadership, personal, professional and relationship development workshops or the integrative medicine seminar hosted by Dr. Andrew Weil.
After inner reflection, turn your attention outside kayaking, hiking, biking or sailing. Then enjoy organic meals of wild seafood or a beachside oyster barbecue. Of special interest is the women's restoration retreat Aug. 10-15 that promises to teach how to cope with everyday stress through hatha postures, meditation and yoga nidra. On the web: hollyhock.ca.
ITALY
Tai chi and tiramisu? If you prefer to mangia after practice, pasta and pilates feature prominently on cooking and wellness vacations all over MicheVlangelo's homeland -- many include guided cycling city tours, picnics at organic farms, wine tasting, pasta making, basic Italian lessons, hiking tours and a plunge in a thermal hot spa.
But light-hearted about spirituality and heavy on the good life, TheHillThatBreathes.com links you to a 100-acre property in the breathtaking rolling hills near Urbino.
Adoringingly prepared and savoured lemon and fennel risotto, grilled aubergine garlic pizza and wild mushroom lasagna are this retreat's "spa food." In addition to an all-vegetarian colourful Italian menu, this picturesque vacation spot combines oriental and Indian holistic practices for a yin, yoga and yummy effect. Here you'll find "la dolce vacation" that includes Qigong lessons along with a wide variety of yoga styles, plus aqua therapy in a panaromic salt water pool.
JAPAN
After the yoga craze hit China, holistic vacations in Asia became adventures for curious travellers who had a yen for zen. Hot Springs Yoga Tours (travel-library.com) offers a 14-day cultural and wellness excursion that's light on workshops and treatments. Instead, each day starts with an early moring yoga session (some in rural Japan) before heading off on a treasure hunt by subway, followed by coach or walking tours to Toshogu Shrine, Asakusa Kannon Temple or along Irohazaka Road to the mountains with a stop for a hot spring soak gazing at snow-capped Mt. Fuji.
Along the way, sake or oolong tea sampling and sushi lunches rejuvenate. Other days it's on to visit the Golden Pavilion, Nijo Castle, 3,000 Lanterns of Kasuga Shrine, Todaiji Temple to pay respect to Buddha or a tour of the Nagamachi Samurai district.
Most evenings are filled with karaoke or geisha shows and dinner featuring traditional staples of Japanese cuisine.
CARIBBEAN
For the pampered and the pooped, a deluxe and sun-drenched retreat might be the perfect remedy to restore balance. Conde Nast Traveller magazine's readers elected Como Shambhala Retreat at Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos as the Best Hotel Spa 2007. It's also famous for week-long retreats that include five hours of instruction daily featuring world-renowned yoga teachers and alternative health specialists.
While Shambhala is Sanskrit for "a sacred place of bliss," the resort's website reveals its philosophy: Tranquility is not to be found in a specific location, but within oneself by exploring body, mind and spirit.
Facilities are comprehensive and include a 50-sq/m infinity-edge pool, yoga pavillion facing the private island's wetlands, pilates studio, steam, sauna and outdoor jacuzzi and garden.
Guests are encouraged to pair their yoga practice with therapies and Shambhala cuisine (organic, low fat and energizing) offered in- room or pool-side.
MEXICO
South of Cancun, nestled on the Mexican Caribbean coast near the ruins of Tulum, the Sian Ka'an Ecology Center is a 490,000 hectare protected eco-tourism and education centre on the stunning Mayan Riviera. Accommodation and travel for a one-week spring renewal vacation April 20-27 are arranged through OctopusGardenYoga.com.
Guests here rejuvenate and detoxify with a challenging yet restorative yoga practise, meditation and whole food cuisine.
Guests experience restored wellbeing, healing the planet as they heal themselves. Revenue generated from on-site activities is used to fund ecological conservation and education programs within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve.
Written by: Monique Savin
Provided by: Sun Media
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