Beyond the Spa Menu: What Wellness Really Feels Like
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There’s something I’ve been sitting with for a while now—especially as I deepen my work offering retreats and collaborating with hotels and wellness destinations.
It’s the strange paradox of the “wellness industry.”
Particularly in hospitality.
So many hotels claim the word wellness in their branding these days. A few yoga mats in the room, a massage menu in the spa, maybe a morning meditation class. It checks a box. It looks beautiful on the brochure or Instagram grid. It might even be sincere on some level.
But more and more, I find myself noticing something missing.
Because true wellness—at least the kind I know in my bones—is not about what’s offered on the mat. It’s not a checklist of services or a collection of products that feel good on the skin.
Wellness, in its truest sense, is about what can’t be seen.
It’s a felt sense.
A frequency.
A homecoming.
The Thin Veneer of “Wellness”
Without naming names, I’ve had the chance to work with a range of highly regarded institutions—some of them famous, award-winning, dripping in prestige.
And while many were undeniably beautiful and professional on the surface, the deeper layers told a different story. Conversations with management teams, the energetic tone of staff interactions, the way decisions were made—it all revealed something: that for many of these places, wellness was still being approached as a trend, a commercial offering to capitalize on. Not a way of being.
There are some places that have stunning architecture, stunning views, stunning service—but somehow, the soul has been forgotten.
The Traveller’s State: Why This Matters So Much
When we travel—especially when we seek retreat or healing—we enter a specific state.
We put down our everyday burdens.
We soften.
We open.
In this spaciousness, our senses heighten. Curiosity returns. There’s a childlike awe that begins to emerge. We become more receptive—not just to beauty, but to truth. To the energy behind things. To the presence or absence of real care.
And it’s in that tenderness, that attunement, that we notice:
Is this place here to impress me?
Or is it here to hold me?
The Intuitive Pull of Place
I’ve come to trust the quiet yeses in my body.
The places I feel drawn to without knowing why.
Son Blanc was one of them.
Long before I knew the details, something in me just knew it would feel good to be there. Not just look good—but feel good.
Because there are places that carry a certain kind of energy. They don’t scream wellness. They simply are. You arrive, and your body exhales. Something inside you unhooks. And you remember how to listen again.
And then there are others—places that could have had that essence—but somehow lost their way. Places where the land holds magic, but the people running it no longer know how to honor that. Commercial ambition overrides intuition. Trend replaces truth. And what could have been a sanctuary becomes another curated lifestyle experience.
That, to me, is the greatest shame.
When wellness becomes performance.
When presence becomes a product.
Wellness Is Not Sensory Stimulation
The word wellness has become synonymous with luxury.
But true wellness isn’t about stimulation.
It’s about soothing.
It’s not about how beautiful the photos are, how good the food tastes, how many essential oils are diffused in the spa. Yes, those things can be lovely. But they are not the root.
Wellness is what happens when your senses are finally allowed to rest.
When nothing is trying to impress you.
When your nervous system feels safe.
When the frequency of the place invites you back into presence.
When the place is not just a destination—but a portal. A mirror. A sanctuary for remembering the deeper parts of yourself.
Wellness as a Way of Being
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from hosting retreats and working in collaboration with hospitality spaces, it’s this:
You can’t fake the energy of a place.
True wellness doesn’t start on the mat.
It starts at the energetic origin.
It begins with intention.
It’s embedded into the architecture, the rhythms, the way people are cared for behind the scenes—not just as guests, but as humans.
When that’s there, you feel it.
And when it’s not—you feel that too.
As more and more of us awaken to our innate need for depth, spaciousness, and truth, I believe we’re collectively remembering something essential:
That wellness isn’t something you buy.
It’s something you come home to.
I’d love to hear from you—
Have you ever arrived somewhere and just felt it in your body? That you were in a place where you could fully exhale? Or the opposite—somewhere that looked right on the outside but left you subtly unsettled inside?
Let’s keep sharing these stories. We’re not just shaping travel trends—we’re shaping how we care for the soul.