It might come as a surprise, but travel is one of the best ways to bolster your health and happiness. Recent studies show the benefits that come from getting out of your routine and familiar settings to try something new.
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Healthy travel makes for a better life at home and at work, which is more and harder to balance these days. These healthy travel trends are some of the best ways to recharge, center yourself and keep healthy while you are abroad.
Treatments and Therapies
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One of the best ways to get the most out of your wellness trip is to try treatments that use natural, traditional and holistic methods to improving your health and wellbeing.
In Germany, for example, you could take advantage of a therapeutic and health culture that offers hundreds of options. In Bad Worishofen, Bavaria, you could try a hot and cold water treatment that uses herbs, flowers, steam and relaxation to take out stress and tension.
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And there are options all over the globe. You could go, for example, to Chicago and try the ginger renovation therapy at the Chuan Spa in Langham. This consists of a thorough Turkish body scrub, using ginger oils, warm baths, and hot stones.
Meditation
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When you go abroad, finding the right place and time to meditate can keep you centered and healthy in the long run. A guided meditation at sunset on the beach, for example, can fill you with serenity, giving you a quiet and happy place to go to in your mind when the stress of life begins to pile up.
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One of the best ways to meditate is to book some time in a silent retreat. In Deerheart Sanctuary, on Hornby Island, British Columbia, you can do this with spiritual workshops and yoga, taking in the beautiful scenery and the calm of the camp. Your stay is personalized, and the sanctuary only runs on donations.
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Other retreats offer different programs based on meditation, quiet time, no cell phones or the internet, and lots of complementing activities like yoga. Ontario’s Vipassana Center offers an intense 10-program which begins at 4:30 am, guiding the traveler through a day of silence and contemplation in groups or alone. Or you can do this in the comfort of your own home. Find a quiet place, a comfortable mat, dim the lights and have the ambient sound of the ocean playing on repeat (or any sounds of nature that appeals to you.) Take advantage of your strong sense memory to help ground you.
Spas and Resorts
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You can also find huge health benefits in traveling to wellness spas and resorts that may incorporate a lot of these practices like meditation or other therapies. They are the ideal destination to be pampered, cleansed and treated.
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Lake Austin Spa Resort, in Texas, has fitness, yoga and meditation programs personalized for its guest. You eat a well balanced and regimented diet, served up three times a day by a spectacular cook and staff. The spa offers luxury spa treatments as well as fitness activities and classes, all of which you will never want to leave. The stunning landscape and beautiful weather will soothe you, looking out on 19 acres of beautiful lakefront.
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You could also opt for something a little more exotic and tropical, like the Travaasa Hana in Maui. This quaint hotel has been remodeled and repurposed to focus on health and well-being while keeping its Hawaiian-beach atmosphere. It offers a structured program of meals, activities, treatments and even shuttles to the best beaches. It’s a tropical heaven where you can relax the way you want. You can meditate or be pampered, do yoga and or swim in the sea all on the same day.
Wellness Practices and Diet
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One of the greatest things about healthy traveling is that you will be able to pick up on lots of tips, practices, and diets that will make a huge difference in the long run. You can come away clean, relaxed and better armed to face the stresses of life.
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You could take a trip to San Francisco, for example, where you can connect with a vibrant, health-conscious culture. You can do yoga, dine mindfully or maybe bike around the city, taking the time to take in the Golden Gate Bridge and Park. Cities like San Francisco are great because there are a culture and passion for better living, dieting and exercising.
You can also explore some of the more technologically oriented techniques that are trending in the health community. Workout gear, performance monitoring technology, and nutritional science can give you that extra push towards balance and health. When booking your healthy vacation, make sure your next resort offers yoga mats, Pilates balls, and other work-out gear.
Adrenaline and Physical Activities
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Another great way to relax, calibrate and make great memories if by doing something a little crazy abroad. Adrenaline and meditation, for example, are being paired in some expeditions and treatments to give you a whole new level of experience.
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High-adrenaline and stress activities, like rock climbing or whitewater rafting, are followed up by relaxation or meditation, providing a release of stress and anxiety that will last for a very long time.
This is just the type of thing you can do at Costa Rica’s Rio Perdido, where extreme adventure, like ziplining or rafting, is balanced out with massages, yoga, hot springs and a healthy diet.
The Spiritual and Ancient
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For the spiritual traveler, there are also lots of options out there. Connecting to something ancient, deep and spiritual can be a transformative and restorative experience. Whether it is religious, spiritual or something else, you can get in touch with a deeper side of life.
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You can explore, for example, the medicine and tradition of indigenous people, like Temazcal in Mexico. This ancient practice has been maintained by its shamans and elders, and it has attracted more attention than ever from people looking for new ways to improve their health. The practice uses herbs, heat, steam and ancient prayers to connect you to a spiritual part of yourself that might be held back by modern life and work.
You can break out of your routine and find the balance that you need by tailoring your wellness trip to your personality and needs. Just stepping out and taking part of something healthy, fun, therapeutic and sometimes even profound can affect your health and happiness for a long time.
Wellness traveling is a great way to recharge your batteries, shed all the stress and get a new perspective. It can give you new routines and healthy practices, even ideas for a better diet; eat better, spend more time with friends and in nature, take up yoga or meditation, but before you do step back and look at the beauty of it all!
Take advantage of the memories from your past travels and incorporate them into a daily routine to help you unwind. Whether it’s your backyard, a park nearby, or a drive into the country, make time for yourself.
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