Where to Find Unique Wellness Retreats In the US

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I used to roll my eyes Miranda Priestly-florals-in-spring style whenever wellness started trending in January. No, there’s nothing groundbreaking about exploring wellness experiences and retreats when the calendar year changes. But too often, the privilege of having the time and energy to prioritize self-care is. 

This year, instead of rolling my eyes, I’ve thrown myself into research. I know I can always count on certain massages and facials to be on a spa menu the way I can count on a chain-store coffee order. But where are the unique wellness retreats, the genuinely one-of-a-kind experiences inside the United States? More importantly, I want to find wellness retreats and experiences that would help me on my own eating disorder and trauma recovery journey. 

Miraval Berkshires Lenox, Massachusetts

“You need to check out Miraval, in the Berkshires,” Todd Walker, columnist for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and Fox9 News anchor, told me on a recent press trip. We’d gotten to chatting on the drive from Fredericksburg to San Antonio Airport about what travel writers always talk about: their next project. “You’re paired with a horse,” he added.

While Miraval has locations across the United States and even on the shores of the Red Sea, the resort’s Berkshires location in the heart of New England was recently highlighted in Condé Nast Traveler as a “Cozy Winter Weekend Getaway” or highlighted on their “Big Wellness Trends for 2024” list. Paging through the Activities Calendar, it’s easy to see why Miraval Berkshires is on everyone’s radar – and why it should be on mine. 

Miraval offers a variety of outdoor activities, but they also have classes for foodies, the farm-curious, foragers, and anyone looking to strengthen their spirituality. Take an “Animal Tracking” class or learn all about coffee – and how to make the perfect cup – in “The Joy of Java.” See what 2024 may hold for you when you schedule an “Astrology Forecast” class. Take “Chair Yoga” for a low-impact body movement class, or if you need a more intense workout, add “Hatchet Throwing,” “Cardio Drumming,” or “Aerial Pilates” to your stay’s schedule. 

Miraval Equine Experience 

What sets Miraval apart from other wellness retreats across the United States is the “Miraval Equine Experience.” Here, you’ll be paired with a horse and learn equestrian ground skills. While learning to work with your horse partner, you may notice personal behavior patterns holding you back. 

Anxiety expert Dr. Robin Zasio tells VeryWellMind that working with horses through a therapeutic lens offers clients a mirror for the emotions they’re projecting, whether they’re aware they are or not. Other benefits may include a higher sense of social awareness, self-esteem, impulse control, adaptability, and the ability to have stronger, deeper, more authentic partnerships.

Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary

Freestone, California

Sixty miles north of San Francisco, tucked along the Bohemian Highway, you’ll find Osmosis Day Spa. While there may be many spas up and down the California coast, Osmosis’ approach to wellness has a distinctly Northern California flair.

A founding member of the Green Spa Network, Osmosis is focused on simplicity and healing while making as little imprint as possible. The menu is light but unique. There are no pools or saunas here. However, you can still book a traditional massage or facial; Osmosis has a small range of services ranging from their “Signature Enzyme Facial,” a medical-grade facial meant to help reduce hyperpigmentation, scars, wrinkles, and lines, to a “T’ ui Na Massage,” a Chinese Meridian Massage style that helps realign the flow of Chi in your body. 

Cedar Enzyme Bath

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But what puts Osmosis Day Spa on the list of unique wellness retreats is that it was the first U.S. spa to offer Cedar Enzyme Baths. Instead of a traditional bath, guests “soak” in a soft blend of “ground cedar and rice bran living enzymes that stimulate metabolic activity inside and out,” according to the spa’s website. Natural fermentation generates heat

These treatments started in Hokkaido, Japan, in the 1940s and grew in popularity in the early 1970s. Michael Stusser, the spa’s founder, discovered the practice during a trip to Japan in the mid-1980s. “It’s true healing medicine at the highest order,” he tells Sonoma Magazine. “It’s so transformative to the body’s many, many metabolic functions.” 

Seawater Spa

Montauk, NY

For almost 100 years, Gurney’s Montauk has been synonymous with East Coast luxury. But just as they’ve set the standard for beach weekend getaways, they’re also raising the bar on wellness retreats. 

On the premises of Gurney’s is Seawater Spa. Here, services are inspired by and crafted around the ocean at their doorstep. For instance, you can book a “Dead Sea OSEA Undaria Massage,” a 60 or 90-minute Swedish Flow massage using either OSEA Undaria Algae Body Oil or Undaria Algae Body Butter. Buff away dull, dead with a “Sea & Salt Glow Body Scrub” that uses “salt and sea elements with organic seaweed.” 

The BathHouse and Thalassotherapy

The specialized services Seawater Spa at Gurney’s offers are known as thalassotherapy, or “sea healing.” Irina Mark, president of BelleCôte Paris, tells Well Spa 360 that this type of treatment dates back centuries and encompasses more than just seawater. “Treatments and products infused with seawater, seaweed, marine mud, algae, and other elements from the ocean promote health, wellness, and beauty,” she explains.

In addition to the sea-focused spa treatments, Seawater Spa’s BathHouse is the crown jewel of this one-of-a-kind wellness experience. Each session at The BathHouse is 50 minutes long, allowing guests to take advantage of the “marine-inspired facilities.” This includes thermal pools, a seawater pool circuit, a eucalyptus steam room, co-ed relaxation areas, a dry sauna, and a heated stone bench. 

Bishop’s Lodge

Santa Fe, New Mexico

If you want to visit a resort in the United States unlike any other, book a stay at the historic Bishop’s Lodge. A Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice favorite (#1 Resort in the Mountain West, #10 Resort in the World), Bishop’s Lodge blends local culture, luxury, and wellness. 

During your stay, visit Stream Dance Spa, where you’ll find southwest-inspired healing experiences explicitly crafted with your spirit in mind. Try the “Hypnotic Healing” ritual, an experience meant to help you let go of emotional baggage and connect with your inner self, creativity, and purpose. Connect with your animal guardian with the “Animal Life Force” ritual. 

The EQUUS Experience® 

For couples, individuals, groups, or even families looking to understand how to be a more present, better partner, The EQUUS Experience® is a one-of-a-kind wellness experience with international acclaim.

Like Miraval’s equine experience, this is not a riding class. However, instead of working one-on-one with a horse, you (or your group) will work with a herd of horses -– an experience that can shed light on how your actions or emotions can impact group dynamics.

“You think, like, ‘Oh, come on, that there can’t be that much connectivity,” Tim Hamilton, head of global creative design, tells Caity Weaver of The New York Times about the experience. “But there is, and there’s this charge.” 

Asheville Wellness Tours Asheville, NC

Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville is surrounded by dense forest and lacks lakes and swamplands. Like Sedona and Mount Shasta, there’s something different in the air here. “You can feel a shift in energy throughout the area in and around Asheville,” Miranda Peterson Harton, founder and owner of Asheville’s Namaste in Nature, tells Travel + Leisure. “There are specific spots in the mountains where the [vortexes] seem to be more concentrated,” she adds.

Whether it’s the cool mountain air or the energy, people have been drawn to the area since the late 1800s. Since then, the type of experiences offered has changed, evolving with what’s currently trending in wellness tourism, from goat yoga to float tanks, while keeping the same focus on whole-body, mind, and spirit health.

Customized Wellness Retreats

All of the choices available can be overwhelming, but thankfully, Asheville Wellness Tours can create customized itineraries based on your trip goals. Their menu has a blend of basic and premium offerings, with experiences ranging from winery tours to salt cave sessions. Plus, if you’re staying at The Foundry Hotel, you have a separate list of options exclusive to hotel guests, curated by hotel staff to your goals and time of year. 

One of the “Foundational Offerings” for wellness retreat itineraries is Forest Bathing. During this three-hour walk through the forest, you’ll learn how to slow down, unwind, and be present in the moment. “We miss a lot while we’re hiking,” Christa Hebal from Asheville Wellness Tours tells Eleanor Spicer Rice for OurState during a forest bath. “Forest bathing drops us out of our analytical minds to remind us of the whole of what we are. Slow our hectic pace. Even the squirrels do that,” she adds.