I appreciate when resorts focus on a certain market, style or ambience instead of being all things to all people. Well, Joali Being is 100% focused on well-being:
· “Maldives’ first luxury bespoke wellbeing resort…Here guests are guided on the path to self-discovery and renewal.”
I still remember when many resorts didn’t have spas back in the 90s. Now an entire island is dedicated to being one big spa experience.
We’ve long joked in our family about the “medicinal” benefits of various alcoholic beverages, but Amilla Maldives has seriously concocted a range of “wellness cocktails” that let people enjoy drinking well. The example above is their “Orange Sky” (Hendricks gin, fresh orange, orange shrub, honey, lime, and egg white):
Here’s to your health!
Many wellness products and spa “treatments” are couched in all sorts of medical lingo to make them sound more clinical, but Velaa is taking “wellness” quite seriously with a licensed medical doctor offering consultations for things such as:
When we first started coming to the Maldives in the 1990s, most resorts didn’t have spas. A few 5-star properties we stay at had a therapist on staff who could do a treatment by appointment often in some jury-rigged, tucked away part of the island. But now, spas are don’t just offer relaxing massages, but rather an array of treatments as extensive as a typical breakfast buffet. And to help navigate this bewildering set of options at Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi is the Maldives first “wellness concierge”:
Today is June’s New Moon and it fall right in the middle of Amilla’s newly introduced “moon” of it own. There are “honeymoons” for starting the chapter of your life with your “honey”, “babymoons” for starting the family one, and now Amilla has introduced the first ever Maldives “menomoon” for ladies embarking on that “The Big Change”. Which is an especially apt name as the root “meno-“ in “menopause” comes from the Greek word “menos” meaning “month”, and the word “month” comes from the Old Norse word “menon” meaning “moon” (which is itself, coincidentally, “meno”). So really, it is a “moonmoon”.
And if my experience with Lori going through that “certain age” is any indication, then if there is ever a time a women could use an idyllic retreat, it is then.
Amilla describes:
One of Maldives Complete’s initial objectives was to help people sort through the myriad resort options. Options which have only expanded with the resort growth and the profusion of diverse room types. It’s almost like Maldives Complete is a “resort concierge” (or “room concierge”). When we first started visiting the destination in the 90s, spas were an anomaly, but now they are standard fare. And spas at the luxury properties have as many bewildering choice of treatments as the Maldives has resorts. So Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi has introduced its own “Wellness Concierge”:
For a scent that is not just reminiscent of the Maldives experience, but evokes your Maldives experience, Amilla’s Javvu spa features its own “Alchemy Bar”. There you can concoct your own magic potions to conjure up the golden moments from your visit. You are guided by a recipe book that shares its properties and other information about it (see sheet on “Moringa” below). Many of the ingredients are grown right on the island.
Travel Trade Maldives featured an interview with Spa and Wellness Manager, Laura Pagano, who developed the concept:
Amilla Fushi takes villa innovation a beyond architecture and design to entirely new concept with its Wellness Tree House. The villa is more than accommodation, but better described as an entire experience centred around well-being:
Refreshing the body and spirit isn’t confined to a few appointments at a spa, but instead is woven into nearly every part of your stay. The villa package includes trainer who visits and all of the sodas and energy drinks and junk food are removed from the room and replaced with healthy ones.
Also, with its rare tree house setting, certainly the most uplifting stay in the Maldives.
Universal Children’s Day today. Dedicated to “welfare of the children of the world”. And Six Senses Laamu offers a program to enhance their welfare every day they stay there. A special programme of wee-one wellness includes…
The resort describes…
“A different wellness activity will be available daily in the Den, the children’s club. These include an introduction to meditation during a music class, how to create sounds with singing bowls, basic tai chi movements and many more. A yoga instructor will offer specially-designed yoga classes for children, during which youngsters will be taught some basic yoga poses.…Nutrition experts have created interactive games that will teach children which dishes are better for them, why they are better and where ingredients come from. The children will also have the chance to make their own healthy juice by visiting the organic garden. Here, they will hand pick their favorite ingredients and add them to their own juice or smoothie…Six Senses Spa Laamu offers children’s treatments including head, foot, hand and shoulder massages just for kids plus children’s facials, mini manicures, pedicures and hair braiding. Young guests from 9 to 16 years of age are always welcome at Six Senses Spas when accompanied by an adult.”
Soneva Fushi serves up a brand new age type of “energy drink”…with the only ingredient being water. And the impact of a bit of holistic energising. The water is served with a glass stirrer which contains different crystals each imparting a different energy type on the liquid.
Soneva describes that the energy enhancement “Maintains the balance between body and soul. Water enhances a feeling of overall well-being.”
This post has also energised me to add a new blog category tag of “Water”.
