Florida's Spas

2009-06-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

With my recent move to Florida, SpaSpot will concentrate on Florida's healing lifestyle and spas. I'll send an email alert, tweet, and facebook toot when I start posting my first entries. Palm Beach County, where I have re-located, is rich in yoga studios, energy healing, day spas, and resort spas. Oh, and it has an ocean.

Find your peace, MotherWarrior

In Search of Paradise: Rancho La Puerta

2008-09-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

My friend, Jo, and I are heading to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico in a few weeks. "I don't know if I'm worthy," she said on the phone tonight. "You don't go to a spa because you're worthy," I replied, based on years of spa hopping. "You go to be saved."

I thought I'd found heaven after my first spa service, a fandango mud wrap, over a decade ago. I entered the small spa that shared a storefront with a greasy spoon diner a dried husk (it was the middle of winter and I was one weary mother) and came out feeling like a beautiful butterfly that had broken out of a dark cocoon. I was moisturized, silky, and had the confidence of someone who thinks she can fly.

Since then I've had many spa experiences in a variety of settings; some were disappointingly perfunctory and some sent me soaring. I have come to believe that a great spa experience must include flowers and birdsong. How can I awaken my senses if there is no window or door open to nature to call to me? If I'm taking time to slow down, I want to see, smell, touch, and even pick roses, lavender, and jasmine.

Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Baja, Mexico

An hour's drive from San Diego (a shuttle picks you up at the airport), Rancho La Puerta welcomes guests with a big drift of red roses and the fragrance of star jasmine in late spring and summer. The landscape is suffused with waves of flowers, herbs, and grasses that blend seamlessly into meadows at the foot of Mount Kuchumaa. Winding paths are flanked by grapevines and wisteria, honeysuckle frames casita doors, and birds flit and chirp in Sycamores and Chinese Pistache.

Rancho La Puerta founders Deborah and Edmond Szekely were pioneers of the destination spa concept and fitness revolution 68 years ago. With a belief that healthy living is rooted firmly in the land, many classes and activities take place out of doors. The emphasis at this spa is on hiking, fitness, nutritious organic food, and programs that feed the soul rather than on spa services themselves. The couple's daughter, Sarah Livia Brightwood (now president), who has shaped the gardens for 25 years, loves it when guests find intimate garden "rooms" by chance--a hammock near a mass of crinkly white 6- to 8-foot Matilija poppies, for example. When the hot sun carries the aroma of honey and spice and native sage perfumes the evening air you forget aching muscles from mountain rambles. You sleep soundly and dreams are sweet.

Spa Highlight: An herbal body wrap, based on Father Sebastian Kneipp's naturopathic techniques

Activity Highlight: The 2-mile hike to the organic farm for a tour and outdoor breakfast that you harvest and cook as a group.

87 casitas ($2700-$4065 from Saturday to Saturday; 3-night minimum shorter stays can be arranged); rates include meals, classes, guided hikes, and evening programs; www.rancholapuerta.com; 877.440.7778 or 858.764.5500.

More will be revealed, Born to Spa

Spa Spot

Florida's Spas

In Search of Paradise: Rancho La Puerta