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4 Reasons to Visit the Original Wellness Resort in the West Indies

Long before yoga and cleanses became mainstream, BodyHoliday in St. Lucia raised the bar for retreats that focus on wellbeing. Are you ready for an unparalleled restorative escape?

4 Reasons to Visit the Original Wellness Resort in the West Indies

The serene scene at BodyHoliday

Photo by Katie Galeotti-Hiddo

“Give us your body for a week, and we’ll give you back your mind.” After years of relentless news cycles and the isolation of staying mostly close to home, BodyHoliday’s mantra has never felt more relevant. With a multitude of one-of-a-kind experiences, including the BodyScience clinic and award-winning TAO restaurant, BodyHoliday set itself apart as the West Indies’s first destination spa over 30 years ago and has continued to lead the category ever since.

At BodyHoliday, wellness is much more than a trend or regimented routine. A rejuvenating, all-inclusive vacation of daily spa treatments, immersive classes and activities, and diverse, thoughtful dining options, the resort empowers guests to choose their own program and personalize it to their liking, according to their unique goals and the expert guidance of the on-resort team.

Based on the four pillars of relaxation, restorative beauty, exercise, and diet, BodyHoliday offers choice and balance, from weight-loss diets to indulgent fine-dining and high-intensity workouts with Olympic athletes to sleep-inducing Ayurvedic massages. The result? A life-changing vacation that promises a real shift in perspective and learnings that people can incorporate into their lives back home. Here’s why it’s worth surrendering your body to a holiday there for a week (or more).

BodyHoliday empowers guests to choose their own wellness program and personalize it to their liking.

BodyHoliday empowers guests to choose their own wellness program and personalize it to their liking.

1. Pick from a robust menu of East-meets-West wellness treatments

Inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, BodyHoliday’s stylish Wellness Center houses 33 treatment rooms, fitness, yoga, and dance studios, a thalassotherapy pool, Skin Clinic, and “Pavitra,” the only genuine Ayurvedic temple in the West Indies. Whether you’re looking to simply unwind and destress with a facial or a Swedish massage or looking to dive deeper into Chinese and Bhutanese therapies like acupuncture and Reiki, BodyHoliday offers an impressive range of holistic specialists.

For a truly immersive experience, take part in the BodyScience clinic which uses physiological and biochemical information to better assess a variety of factors–including nutrients, hormone and stress levels, heart health, and circulation, and create a customized program, which may include a tailored diet, exercise routine, body treatments, meditation, and yoga that you can follow after you leave.

2. Eat “well”

Each of the resort’s five restaurants is designed around the concept of wellness—not dieting or deprivation. By tapping into food cultures that are naturally healthy and emphasizing recipes that don’t call for overuse of salt, sugar, and saturated fat, dining here feels like an indulgent experience worthy of any vacation. Sip on fresh fruit smoothies at the Wellness Cafe. Savor Asian and West Indian fusion like seafood laksa, sushi, and eggplant croquette at Tao, where the dishes highlight the Taoist ideal of health equaling harmony.

No visit is complete without a meal at I-TAL, a new farm-to-table restaurant based on the Jamaican Rastafari, believed to improve health and energy. After a warm welcome from Rastafarian hosts and chefs, you can explore the organic garden that supplies produce for the resort. Finish with a mindful, nourishing meal overlooking the resort and Cariblue Bay below and dig into pigeon peas cooked over an open flame and fresh coconut ice cream made from nut milk.

The beach at BodyHoliday

The beach at BodyHoliday

Photo by Katie Galeotti-Hiddo

3. Exercise your body and mind

Situated on BodyHoliday’s expansive grounds, you’ll discover a seemingly endless array of activities to keep you busy from morning to night. The resort facilities boast a PADI-certified dive school, sailing school, tennis courts, golf, archery, a state-of-the-art fitness facility and studio, and a range of motorized and non-motorized water sports.

If you’re feeling ambitious, take part in BodyHoliday’s Quadrathlon, which begins with an exhilarating 13K mountain-bike ride on a dirt track that crisscrosses the island through hills and tropical forests, switches to a 4K run to a cliff and an 100-foot abseil down the rock face to the beach below, and continues with a 2.5K kayak course along the north coast where the circuit ends at the resort’s shore.

4. Experience the authentic West Indies

While many all-inclusive resorts keep you on-property, BodyHoliday offers guests the chance to explore St. Lucia, one of the lushest, most beautiful islands in the West Indies famed for its tropical rainforest with powder-sand beaches. Book a private yacht and sail along St. Lucia’s exotic coastline, watching for dolphins and whales along the way. Tour the historic town of Soufriere and learn about St. Lucia’s rich heritage of Carib, African, French, and English cultures. Take a mud bath in the sulfur springs. Hike the Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and take in the magical, panoramic views.

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