Best of the Maldives: Sauna/Steam View – Velaa

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Velaa - spa steam view

If you are into steamy views, then Velaa’s spa is the just the vista (though the guy in the official picture below seems to be enjoying more of yesterday’s kind of view than the outside beauty of the Maldives)…

Most spa amenities like the steam rooms and saunas are tucked away in the back recesses of the facility. I guess the conventional thinking goes that people want privacy and the focus of the room is enclosing heat. As a result, the more closed off, then the easier to pull off. I have to admit, that a sauna and steam can get a bit tedious. Yes, I realise that I could just enjoy the sensually soothing heat, but I still find staring at four walls a bit tiresome.

Velaa’s spa is one of the most inspired that I have been to in the world never mind just the Maldives (which is, admittedly, turning into a bit of a global spa smorgasbord). I’ve already featured its beachside blizzard “Snow Room” and “Spa Pod”, and my recent visit turned up several more distinctions like this post.  You don’t have to sacrifice enjoying views of the Maldive water as you can sit with in the steam room gazing out at the sun drenched, azure-dappled sea.

Today is just the day to highlight Velaa’s spa. Because today IS the “future”. Well, “Back to the Future Day”. The long anticipated “Back to the Future” day that Marty McFly travels to in his DeLorean. And, Velaa is the DeLorean of Maldives resorts with its sleek, edgy, innovative design. Furthermore, it is arguably the most futuristic of the Maldives resorts with its space-age “Spa Pod” and its alien-spaceship-like Tower (another inspired vista). And, like Velaa’s stylish guests to its steam room, the car arrives and departs in a cloud.

 

Velaa - steam room

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Best of the Maldives: Intraceuticals – NIYAMA

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NIYAMA - Intraceuticals

Many visitors come to the Maldives to feel the fresh clean air on their skin. NIYAMA spa’s new “Intraceutical” treatments now provide that the therapeutic effect of that air…under the skin. The announcement describes…

“Revolutionary for oxygen treatments, Intraceuticals uses a machine that applies oxygen under pressure to deliver a special serum of low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, essential vitamins, antioxidants, and peptides to the skin. The unique technology and specially formulated procedure of an Intraceuticals Treatment leaves skin looking noticeably brighter, firmer and more flawless immediately following the treatment. Depending on individual skin types, treatments can also be focused to address concerns such as wrinkles, hyper-pigmentation or blemishes.”

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Best of the Maldives: Snow – Velaa

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Velaa - snow room 3

Snow in the Maldives! Not the most surprising weather forecast ever, but the innovative spa feature at Velaa resort.

When it comes to spa treatments, most people think heat – steam bath, sauna, hot stones. While heating soothes, it is the contrast of heat and cold which “exercises” your cardiovascular system. Heat opens the capillaries, and cold closes them (other stimulation like a spanking which is why it leaves a red mark and why many Nordic countries incorporate birch branch whacking into their spas). A number of spas have cold water plunge pools for this purpose, but the ultimate is the “rolling around in the snow” made famous in northern climes. Velaa brings this Arctic touch to the Tropics.

Let it snow, let it snow. I am one with the wind and the sky!

Velaa - snow room 1

Velaa - snow room 2

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Best of the Maldives: Bath Salts – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

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Park Hyatt Hadahaa - bath salts

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen

You can add Park Hyatt Hadahaa’s “Vidrun” (meaning “to shine” in Dhevehi) spa to that list. Their treatments incorporate a selection of special salt and herb blends based on Maldivian concepts…

    • Hoonu – rose and sandalwood (Cooling)
    • Fini – ginger, clove and aniseed (Warming)
    • Hiki – jasmine and lotus (Balancing)

All massages start with a foot scrub with signature foot salt…a symbol that your “journey has begun”. Then of course, you soak in a soothing bath using your chosen bath salt.

Definitely worth its salt.

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Best of the Maldives: Babymoon – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

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Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives babymoon Getty Images non-commercial embedding

As Baby New Year brings us 2015, Park Hyatt Hadahaa brings us an inspired new package to bring baby to the Maldives this year. Their new “Babymoon” bridges two of the Maldives’ most dinstinctive allures – honeymoons and families…

“The six-day Babymoon offering has been specially designed to prepare, relax and reinvigorate expecting mothers, with pampering treatments taking place at the hotel’s luxurious Vindhun Spa…Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa’s new Babymoon package is available at £413.00 per couple for 6 days and includes a pregnancy massage, aqua yoga, head and shoulder massage, pregnancy Yoga and breathing, Abhyangyam massage, and a hydrating facial”

Happy New Year Maldives fans!

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Best of the Maldives: Floral Drink – Dusit Thani

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Dusit Thani - floral drink

“LORI, MY LOVE FOR YOU IS DEEPER THAN THE BLUES OF THE MALDIVES WATERS AND BRIGHTER THAN ITS WHITE CORAL SANDS!!!”

Today Japan marks “Beloved Wives Day” when men shout out their love for their wives. But actions speak even louder than words no matter what the volume. So, if I want to demonstrate my adoration for Lori, I would book her into a Dusit Thani spa treatment. She loves a bit of pampering, but Dusit distinguishes itself for my wife with their floral drinks. My wife enjoys flavours like rose and lavender (Santa brought her those flavour chocs). Dusit’s spa serves a drink made from the Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) flower (photo above) which is one of the few floral drinks that I have actually enjoyed myself (not a big fan usually).

“BELOVED, YOU ARE SWEETER THAN A FLOWER IN PARADISE!!”

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Best of the Maldives: Spa Pod – Velaa

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Velaa - spa pod

The right lighting can not only help you rising, but also falling to sleep. Velaa’s “spa pod” employs soft lighting, among other sensory stimulation, in the Maldives’ first ever “Cloud 9” spa system…

The Viennese artist and perception researcher sha. has now developed a holistic spa treatment concept to counter these daily stresses and strains: WOLKE 7 CLOUD 9. You enter a world where boundaries disappear, embed yourself on clouds and begin a journey which ends in deep relaxation. With the inspiring concept of WOLKE 7 CLOUD 9 by sha. KLAFS introduces and celebrates a holistic-artistic vision, based on the harmonious spa ambience, which turns the spa area into a creative awareness lab during the Interbad 2010. The origin is the reclining pod, which, in its three dimensional version, transports the visitor into a cloud scenery. Previously, ergonomic studies determined that a diversity of body forms would easily find space in the WOLKE 7 CLOUD 9. The gentle swaying motion of the WOLKE 7 CLOUD 9 further enhances the floating sensation to the visitor and cradles him or her softly towards the horizon. A second pod – as a revolved mirror image of the pod below – floats above the visitor completing the spacial cloud-sky composition of this spa highlight.”

The “cloud” concept is actually a composite of a number of clouds…

  • Image cloud –back projected sky-cloud scenery
  • Light cloud – fine light-shadow transitions which re-inforce the three dimensional cloud impression
  • Colour cloud – monochrome colours transition slowly and imperceptively and begin to mix and mingle
  • Sound cloud – wave-like form of breathing in and out, of moving to and fro produces different acoustic agglomerations, which increase and decrease, transform into and overlap each other.
  • Cradle cloud – finely tuned, cradle-like swaying motion by lower cloud

Also, possibly the winner of the most expensive spa feature (or any feature) with a reported cost of $10,000,000. Certainly, the most welcome clouds in all of the Maldives.

 

Velaa - cloud system spa

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Best of the Maldives: Turkish Bath – Ayada

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Ayada - Turkish spa

Happy Turkey Day. No, not yet Thanksgiving, but Turkey’s national Republic Day. This is the resort Ayada’s day. Ayada takes is style and motif inspiration from that vibrant Bosphorus link where east meets west.

One eponymous way to celebrate could be in Ayada’s own glittering Turkish bath. You can have an authentic Turkish massage on the central stone slab. Or just melt away in the resplendent sauna which goes up to 50 degrees.

In Turkey, they say “Hamama giren terler.” (“he who enters the sauna, sweats”…sort of a version of ‘reaping what you sow’) but sweating has never been so sweet!

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Best of the Maldives: Aqua Yoga – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

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Park Hyatt Hadahaa - aqua yoga 1

Bouncing around in the water takes a more controlled, purposeful and therapeutic dimension at Park Hyatt Hadahaa. Their Vidhun Spa offers its own special Aqua Yoga programme.

The developer and teacher of this innovative activity is spa yoga teacher Deeksha (see photos). Like many activities (especially those that involve a bit of pain and effort), her charisma and energy mutes the discomfort and difficulty. She personally turns the pool into an effervescent jacuzzi of can-do with her bubbly personality.

Water is such an immersive part of the Maldives experience, I love it when resorts take activities into the water. The cool and refreshing water provides a crisp contrast to the soothing heat of the ever present sunshine. But when it comes to yoga, the aqueous venue provides extra benefits. First, the natural buoyancy of your body in water facilitates a whole range of yoga moves for a beginner that would require guru level balance and proficiency to achieve standing on land. Secondly, water provides a natural source of resistance. Instead of bands or other devices to provide strength building resistance, Deeksha has devised a number of gentle movements in the water where the water itself is your resistance.

The whole concept does raise the potential for an entirely new range of yoga moves…

  • Downward Facing Dogfish
  • Dolphin Plank
  • Eagle Ray Pose
  • Half Frogfish

Park Hyatt Hadahaa - aqua yoga 2

Park Hyatt Hadahaa - aqua yoga 3

in water

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Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Therapy – Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu

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Coco Palm Dhuni Kholu Maldivian therapy

Maldives resorts offer spa treatments from all over the world – Thai, Swedish, Balinese. A number of resort spas do offer Maldives treatments which are often variants of Ayurvedic practices from India. Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu offers a very traditional Maldives treatment by a Maldivian practitioner…

“Having been practised in the Maldives as a traditional form of healing for many years, the roots of Maldivian alternative medicine also known as ‘Dhivehi beys verikan’, are slowly fading. As a result and in order to revive the tradition and culture of the local community, Coco Collection has invited a Maldivian alternative medicine man – Dhivehi beys veriya – to visit Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu once a week. Mr. Ahmed Mohamed has experience of ‘Dhivehi beys verikan’ for over 20 years and will only be using locally grown and tested concoctions. Available therapies will include the treatment for asthma, joint and muscle pain, sunburn and many more. All of the treatments are personalised to the needs of the guests.”

Hashi himeynkan dhivehi.

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