Destination: Wellness

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 30 Desember 2012 | 17.35

Jim Wilson/The New York Times; Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Clockwise from top left: Pacific views at the Esalen Institute, reflexology path at La Costa Resort and Spa, yoga and pool at Rancho La Puerta. More Photos »

SO I'm sitting in a hotel in upstate New York with my feet in a bucket of warm water charged with electricity when it suddenly hits me that maybe "getting well" wasn't going to be as much fun as I thought it was going to be.

The procedure I was receiving was an "ionic detox foot bath," one of dozens of allegedly medicinal services offered during a Health and Wellness Weekend held in November at the Edge Hotel, a woodsy establishment in Lyons Falls, N.Y. In this case, the bath involved placing my feet in a small bucket of salt water charged with a small current for half an hour — a process that was meant to draw out the "yucky stuff" in my body by osmosis according to its practitioner, a frizzy-haired former chain smoker named Brenda, who assured me the bath was perfectly safe.

"But," she added with a laugh, "I don't know anything about ampage."

Oh boy. At first glance, this mission had seemed like a breeze: a search for "wellness" — that seemingly unimpeachable state that has become as common a come-on in travel circles as "eco-friendly." There are wellness retreats, wellness diets, wellness beauty treatments, wellness classes, wellness resorts, wellness hotels, wellness weekends and, of course, wellness experts.

"Wellness is this feeling of confidence, this feeling of vitality, this feeling of "You got this,' " said Dr. Jim Nicolai, the medical director of the Andrew Weil integrative wellness program at Miraval Resort and Spa, in Tucson, Ariz. "Wellness is a verb just as much as an adjective."

And, often, a very lucrative verb, dressing up everything from alternative medicines to anti-aging products. A week at Miraval, for example, can set you back $475 a night. And it's not just for scenic spots either: the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has added special wellness rooms and suites; Canyon Ranch's SpaClub in Vegas also employs "wellness professionals." In October, the InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn, announced plans for its Even Hotels — with an "intrinsic focus on wellness in terms of food, work, exercise and rest" — at dozens of locations across the country. So-called wellness tourism is estimated to be a $106 billion chunk of the trillion-dollar worldwide "wellness cluster," a market that includes travel as well as things like medical tourism, nutrition and fitness, according to a 2010 study prepared for the Global Spa and Wellness Summit by SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research firm.

But what exactly is wellness? I thought I'd find out. And so, saddled with a sore Achilles' tendon, an ever-present threat of heartburn and all manner of life stressors, I embarked on a cross-country search. I was left, on various occasions, body-weary, sleep-deprived and incredibly waterlogged. Along the way I meditated and hyperventilated, and was plyometric-ed, watsu-ed and ceremonially "crowned." I hiked and ran, floated and swam. I had my chakras read — my aura looks like a giant pistachio — and ate more quinoa than I can remember. And at the Esalen Institute, perched on the California coast and seemingly on the edge of the world, I got naked with a bunch of strangers and watched the sunset.

ACCORDING to SRI, the wellness movement is "a proactive and holistic approach" meant to address "the root causes of our personal and societal ills." The term wellness, though, has old roots and myriad modern meanings. Dr. Halbert Dunn, author of the 1961 book "High-Level Wellness," described it as something that included self-knowledge, creative expression and good health. Since then, that definition has evolved to the broader one we have today, which includes sleek, strictly regimented operations like the Ranch at Live Oak, a $5,600-a-week "endurance, wellness and nutrition program" in Malibu, Calif.

But there are still places where you can go to experience something more along the lines of what Dr. Dunn was talking about. Though Esalen does not drape itself in wellness terminology, the 50-year-old institute is still advertising its goal of "pioneering deep change in self and society," and thus seemed like a pretty good place to explore the roots of what wellness might be. For me, Esalen long had a reputation as a mystical hideaway on the California coast, but unexpected guests have not traditionally simply dropped in. Most are there to attend one of the institute's hundreds of workshops, which can range from tantric sex to Gestalt theory. (Not at the same time, of course.)

Over the years, Esalen started allowing for so-called "personal retreats," which you can book after donating at least $50 to the Institute. I did exactly that, and booked a $650-a-night "point house" in mid-November.

Mind you, just getting to Esalen had involved flying across the country and then driving three hours south from San Francisco, a long day that had left me with an empty belly and soft brain.

But when I finally arrived, my first impression was simple: wow.

Situated on a nugget of land thrust into the Pacific, Esalen has commanding views of the California coastline, with its cliffs tapering into the ocean, and a campus that is both rustic and seemingly in harmony with Mother Nature. Vines creep along cobwebbed and rust-flecked fences that line the edge of a central glade where groups do HoopYogini, which combines yoga with a hula hoop. Monarch butterflies and green hummingbirds flit about the institute's central garden — organic, naturally — while a stream burbles down a canyon to the surf below. At one point I looked down during a walk and saw the words "Thank you" and "Love" in small stone and twigs arranged on the ground.

Well, I thought, that was easy. I feel better already.

JESSE McKINLEY is a features reporter at The New York Times.


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