Gone are the days of destination hopping with travel plans, and it’s all thanks to many of the far reaching conditions of the first pandemic lockdowns. Remote work has blurred the lines of personal and business time for many, and tight clamps on travel locations have people finding it hard to escape from their home lives. When many people do manage to get out now, they’re looking for a base of operations from which many different experiences branch out from, according to Conde Nast Traveler. This was a trend many a wellness retreat noticed as they redesigned their programs to respond to the priorities of travelers. Now, locations like those in Arizona, are reopening with a key focus on outdoor activities and trendy wellness programs.
Castle Hot Springs Resort
After nearly a decade of renovations, one of the prime features of the reopening Castle Hot Springs Resort is its “intentional wellness menu.” Picture climbing a sheer rockface and racing across a teetering footbridge before collapsing into a natural hot spring to start a mindfulness and meditation coaching session.
The property itself is a Sonoran desert oasis in the remote Bradshaw mountains just outside of Phoenix Arizona with hiking trails exclusive to resort guests, including a trek to the famed Salvation Peak, where WWII servicemen (of which included the future president John F. Kennedy) planted a flagpole during their respite. Yet, it’s the natural hot springs of the location, that remain the star attractor.
Despite having undergone renovations long before the pandemic, the focus of Castle Hot Springs Resort has grown to be able to offer long-reaching mindfulness and meditation practices to combat the effects of the pandemic. The aforementioned wellness menu offers beginner-friendly classes that range from a meditation and wellness practice to astrology classes.
The program is lead by yoga and wellness instructor Colleen Inman with the goal for guests to be able to tap into “a regular inner vacation or retreat for daily nourishment and ongoing healing,” even once they’ve left the resort.
Ambient Sedona
At the first U.S. “landscape hotel,” the relaxing indoors and the unbroken Sonoran wilderness adventures are fused together through the sustainability-focused central property. Situated on a wealth of trailheads, the property gazes out upon cactus-studded mountains, sun scorched cliff-faces, and long rolling stretches of chaparral that mark the Sonoran’s picturesque landscape. The property also offers wellness activities from rooftop yoga to stargazing in a land where artificial light barely touches the sky.
It is stated as being equal parts wellness hotel and art installation, offering guests fantastic views of the beautiful, isolated wilderness through 40 elevated glass villas surrounded by immense brass sculptures and naturally-fed waterfalls.
Boulder’s Resort & Spa
It’s not just new properties that are rebuilding their wellness programs. Boulder’s Resort & Spa recently revamped its wellness activities to include a wealth of new age options, such as crystal healing rituals, sleep aide techniques and emotional balancing. Like the others on this list, the resort hopes to help people learn how to better cope with the stresses in their life post-pandemic.
These additions also aim to bolster pre-founded activities like guided bouldering with whole body healing like reiki sessions (though not at the same time).
