After months of partying, you might be looking to hit the reset button. If you’re looking for places to power you up, check out these options for a little mental and physical escape.
After months of partying, you might be looking to hit the reset button. If you’re looking for places to power you up, check out these options for a little mental and physical escape.
Fitness
Get your body feeling great and finally start that fitness routine you’ve been promising yourself. Getting your heart rate up is also a great way to relieve the post-holiday blues and work stress.
Try…Escape Haven in Bali
Escape Haven is a women’s-only fitness programme that helps to arrange both accommodation and activities that focus primarily on surfing. Each retreat spans a minimum of six days and includes small group lessons and a chance to experience Bali’s awesome beaches at the same time.
Or stay home and…
Sign up for Guavapass (guavapass.com) for a chance to sample classes from various fitness partners ranging from Aerial Yoga to circuit training. The packages come in monthly, three-monthly or halfyear terms and will give you access to classes at all their partner studios and gyms. Great for people who get bored of repetition, or who want to sample everything that’s out there before committing. A three-month programme starts at $159 a month.
Mental Balance
If going back to work after the holidays has you feeling a little down, what you might need is an escape from all the noise. With all this recent talk of mindfulness, there’s something to be said about learning to block out everything and just be in the moment.
Try… An Emotional Wellbeing retreat at Chiva Som
If it’s good enough to keep Kate Moss looking fresh (and we all know how much she parties), then it can probably do the same for you. This famed wellness retreat in Hua Hin, Thailand is popular with celebrities and offers five-day programmes where you can enjoy their healthy cuisine, treatments and a chance to recalibrate in privacy. You might even spot a star or two.
Or stay home and…
Meditate on your own. With apps like Headspace which you can download for free, it’s easier than ever to literally get in your head. Keep in mind this isn’t just about switching on the app anytime you feel like you need to Zen out – these are actual programmes that can go up to 10 days – but the benefits are visible. A Harvard study in 2013 has shown that regular meditation for eight weeks can lead to weight loss. So this is a double bonus.
Detox
Indulge
Instead of going the fitness route, go for all-out pampering with spas, scrubs and massages. It’s just another way of relaxing the body and ridding it of toxins… it’s just a lot more enjoyable for you.
Try… Fusion Maia Danang in Vietnam
Two words: Spa buffet. That’s right. When you book a minimum three-night stay at Fusion Maia, you get a guaranteed three spa treatments a day included in your package (which also includes a private Mercedes airport transfer). Pampering the body is as good as pampering the mind. Fusion Maia Danang at Vietnam
Or stay home and…
Visit SO Spa at the Sofitel Sentosa Resort and Spa. Sentosa is as far away as you can get from the city without actually leaving Singapore, and the Sofitel on the island plays home to the largest SO Spa in the world. It’s not quite a spa buffet, but the Island Escapade is a “seven-course spa experience” spread over five hours and includes a relaxing bath and body scrub, body wrap or foot massage, customised massage and facial, as well as a healthy main course at The Garden restaurant, which includes tapas and juice.
