When June came around last year, Sarah Wong was at the end of her rope.
“It’s just very overwhelming to be bombarded with news every day,” the 28-year-old tells me.
But her regular vacation wasn’t going to cut it this time.
Wong decided to try awellness retreat, hoping it would help her unplug and reset her nervous system.
She booked a four-night stay at the nearbyMiraval Austin Resort and Spawith her husband.
At the property, staff valeted her minivan and took her bags.
(Miraval enforces a strict no-phone policy except in designated areas).
“It’s very ‘White Lotus’,” she tells me.
“It feels like an adult summer camp,” she says.
She and her husband are planning to go again this year.
“We want to hit all three properties,” she tells me.
Ever since pandemic-era travel restrictions subsided,travel has boomed.
A Deloittesurveyproduced similar results.
A growing obsession with wellness paired with mounting uncertainty about daily life is driving demand for relaxation.
Welcome to the age of the self-care-cation.
Younger generations are nowshunning alcoholand driving a boom inbougie wellness clubs.
says Melanie Kay Smith, an associate professor of tourism management at Budapest Business University.
It also partnered withPelotonto offer workouts from room TVs.
It’s also opening a wellness-focused resort in the Caribbean later this year.
The drive for wellness isn’t coming out of nowhere.
“As life speeds up, maybe our vacations need to be slower to compensate,” says Smith.
Hotels, resorts, and retreats are stepping in to meet the need for a little TLC.
It also said that group arrivals have increased 157% since 2021.
So last June, she went on her first yoga retreat in Sicily with a friend.
In March, she went on a third retreat in France.
“It’s such a wonderful way to travel,” she says.
She is looking to book another in India later this year.
Lili Paxton’s mother is a similar convert.
Growing up, Paxton recallsfamily ski tripsand girls getaways to Palm Springs.
But at the end of 2022, Paxton and her mother were looking to book a more relaxing trip.
Weeklong rates for one person start at $5,650.
Neither Paxton nor her mother had done anything like it before.
Each day hikes were offered at 5:30 a.m.
Classes were available each hour for everything from Pilates to pickleball.
“She said it was the most spiritual experience,” Paxton says.
“She said that she saw my dead father under the water.”
When Paxton wasn’t hiking or exercising, she was at the spa or relaxing by the pool.
“The whole time I was just really happy,” she says.
“It felt like an escape from reality.”
Her mother left the trip transformed.
“My mom is committed to going every year until she dies,” says Paxton.
They spent another week at the retreat this past Christmas.
All guests receive an alkalizing diet tailored to their individual nutritional needs.
“We’re probably the most comprehensive.”
“They don’t want a standard program,” he says.
“They come to Sha because they know that Sha is always cutting edge.”
“But if he doesn’t look healthy, that doesn’t seem like luxury.”
That’s not health; that’s products, that’s procedures."
Of course,products and proceduresare all the rage right now as people look for alternative approaches to well-being.
“Our culture is largely unwell,” DeFino explains.
That doesn’t mean the pursuit of chilling out isn’t worth it.
However, these benefits vary from person to person, making it challenging to measure them.
It’s easy to get carried away thinking we all need cutting-edge treatments to get by.
“It’s great to step out of your everyday life and relax,” says DeFino.
Eve Upton-Clarkis a features writer covering culture and society.
