A Healthy Getaway in Phuket

Do you reckon that going away on a holiday to loll around and eat and drink loads often makes you feel worse afterwards than before you left?

I do try to stay active. I take my gym gear and trainers, but they always come back untouched!

Recently, I was invited to the Aleenta Phuketto experience their Wellness Retreat Package. My daily intake of coffee had been steadily increasing and I wasn’t sleeping well, I hadn’t been doing my regular yoga, and my “girth” was the largest it had ever been. So this sounded like an opportunity to have a structured and healthy break that might get me back on track.

Phuket has such a variety of accommodation and locations so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Aleenta is actually just over a bridge from Phuket, at the bottom of mainland Thailand’s Phang Nga Province – only 20 minutes from the airport with no traffic. The quiet drive was a good relaxing start to the stay.

The beach at the resort is long and deep, and empty of hawkers, noisy water-sports and outlets pouring dubious liquids into the sea. The sand is a glorious gold (it looks quite orange at sunset) and it squeaks when you walk on it. The waves are decent for body-surfing but it’s still a nice blue colour – a good combination!

The health centre, Ayurah, which serves Aleenta and the other hotels under the same property umbrella, includes spa treatment rooms, a post-treatment relaxation chamber, a chromotherapy room and a Vichy shower room for horizontal water massages. It offers all kinds of anti-ageing spa therapies and treatments, advanced techniques such as oxygen therapy (especially good for jetlag) and even light-therapy technologies.

Ayurah’s philosophy of “Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well, Look Good” is at the heart of its various wellness packages, including the three-day Total Purifying Package that I went on as part of my retreat; I think it’s the perfect length for a quick weekend getaway with your partner or with a couple of friends for support.

There were three main aims of the package:

Relax: A daily spa treatment is focused according to your body type – either Dinn (Earth), Naam (Water), Lomm (Wind) or Faii (Fire), determined by a Thai Element Assessment. The treatment aims to reduce stress and anxiety, and relax the muscles. My therapist was very good.

Detox: Set healthy meals are prepared using fresh ingredients to suit the needs of each individual. The smoothies and juices were a much-needed replacement for my regular coffee and alcohol, and I couldn’t believe that on the second day I was actually enjoying my healthy concoction more than I would a glass of wine!

Be Active: The programme follows a simple schedule each day, beginning with yoga, meditation and breakfast, and ending with an evening workout of either yoga or Thai boxing. I did one session of boxing and thought it was brilliant – for the guys I definitely think this is the way to go if they’re not keen on the yoga aspect. After my one-hour, one-on-one session with “Bik”, I could feel every muscle in my body the next day.

The resort has a fairly complex combination of accommodation including beach villas, family rooms and the gorgeous new one-bedroom pool villas that are across the road. Although the yoga retreats are focused at women, I think the resort and room configurations lend themselves to a romantic break; the new villas are very private, and perfect if you don’t want to see any other people! It’s a great place to take your partner, eat healthily, get regular massages and partake in a choice of either yoga or boxing.

I’ve decided that this kind of getaway is what will work for me to overcome my procrastination and indolence, and although I was pretty stiff, I felt good and it took me a couple of weeks before I got back into the coffee.

What’s included:

The Total Purifying Package is available in 3-day, 5-day and 7-day formats, with each one including not just the luxury accommodation but also three daily meals of spa cuisine, two daily detox juices, unlimited use of complimentary wellness and fitness activities, a daily spa treatment, yoga/boxing sessions and more. You also get a special Ayurah Wellness Assessment that includes a personal health and wellness consultation covering a huge range of analyses, from BMI, fat percentage and body water percentage to muscle and bone mass, metabolic age, blood pressure, blood-sugar levels, a skin analysis and more.

For reservations, call +66 2 514 8112 or email rsvn.aph@aleenta.com. For more information about the various packages available, visit aleenta.com/ phuket/special-offers.

This article first appeared in the May edition of Expat Living magazine. Subscribe

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