Top wellness asia resorts | CNN Travel

A vacation is usually a license to sleep late, pig out, hit the bar.
But with wellness tourism one of the worlds fastest growing travel trends, the new way to de-stress
on holiday spurns debauchery in pursuit of loftier goals.
Wellness tourism accounted for 14% of the worlds tourism expenditures in 2013, and its projected to
grow 50% faster than overall global tourism through 2017, according to a report by the New Yorkbased industry group,Global Wellness Institute.
With exotic locations, ancient healing traditions and attentive personal service, its not surprising
that Asia is one of the key destinations contributing to the boom.

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INDIAAnanda in the Himalayas (Rishikesh)
Set in a maharajahs palace in the Himalayan foothills, this luxury spa is as remote and as spiritual as
it gets.
Its neighbors are the meandering Ganges and town of Rishikesh, the birthplace of yoga, and packed
with yoga ashrams.
Ananda specializes in Ayurvedic healing,Indias ancient holistic system using medicated oil
treatments and foods to bring the body to its natural balance and health.
A consultation with an Ayurvedic doctor determines each guests body type and current imbalances
and prescribes a program consisting of daily massages and ancient traditional therapies.
Daily yoga and meditation classes are held in outdoor pavilions or the palace ballroom.
Visiting healing masters offer various programs: Quit Smoking, Diabetes and Cholesterol
Management andLiving With Arthritis are a fewexamples.
Alternative treatments include reiki, psycho energy healing, crystal healing, chakra healing and
color therapy.
Fitness sessions are available in the gym, along with hiking in the hills and whitewater rafting on the
Ganges.
BALIComo Shambhala Estate (Ubud)
This uber-luxe wellness resort is secluded in the forested hills near Ubud.
Devoted to mind-body-spirit programs that arent everything for everybody but the best to an
exacting few, this health destination for tropical luxury lovers is famed for its elegant villa interiors

as much as its health offerings.

Plenty of feel-good massages and facials are available,as well as a variety of wellness therapies and
events led by renowned visiting masters.
A quality, organic restaurant is in the complex.
The five-day retreat, with a results-driven agenda, focuses on intensive (five hours per day) yoga,
Pilates and other wellness practices, and a diet of organic and raw cuisine.
Fitness and martial arts practices take place in a stateof theart gym.
Activities include hiking, biking and rafting amid Balis stunning rice paddies and river gorges.
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COMO Shambhala Estate, Banjar Begawan, Desa Melinggih Kelod Payangan, Ubud, Payangan, Bali
80571 Indonesia; +62 361 978 888/+62 81 238 982 16
Peppers Sentosa Seminyak Spa (Seminyak)
Peppers Sentosa Seminyak Spa offers an impressive range of wellness options -- from massages and
facials to holistic energy healing -- without forcing guests to berecluses.
Its a contemporary wellness center within a stylish boutique resort in Seminyak beach.
Next door to Seminyaks boutiques, galleries, trendy eateries and bars, its easy to combine detoxing
with shopping, sightseeing and surfing just outside the resort gates.
Inside the property, private garden-enclosed pool villas offer privacy from the outside world.
Wellness programs are tailored individually.
Some of the services include: detox and colonic programs, chakra-balancing, crystal healing, life
coaching and even anti-aging medical spa services such as Botox and mesotherapy treatments.
Peppers Sentosa, Jalan Pura Telaga Waja, Seminyak, Bali 80361 Indonesia; +62 361 730 333
The Yoga Barn (Ubud)
With a rustic spiritual vibe, The Yoga Barn is a yoga studio, holistic healing retreat and small hotel.
It offers diverse programs taught by resident teachers and visiting faculty.
Daily yoga classes include classical hatha, vinyasa flow, power, pranayama, restorative, iyengar, yin
and anusara yoga.
Other programs range from meditation and sound medicine to even more esoteric options such as
kirtan and ecstatic dance.
One-on-one classes are available to students of all levels.

Its holistic healing center includes Ayurvedic rejuvenation, sound medicine, Chinese medicine,
acupuncture, chiropractic, naturopathy, Infra-Red sauna and many more.
The cafeoffers an organic health menu, while the shop is stocked with yoga and holistic products.
Located beside Ubuds rice paddies, the Yoga Barn is walking distance to the Sacred Monkey Forest
Ubud Sanctuary as well as the towns shops and restaurants.
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THAILANDThanyapura (Phuket)
If youre looking for a boot camp-style, assault course or triathlon training, this is the place.
Thanyapura promotes health, wellness and an improved life -- its tagline is get more out of life" -through sports and active lifestyle.
Numerous professional athletes from around the world come to train.
Top coaches and cutting-edge programs dont only provide physical training but also Sports
Mindfulness training and education about preventive medicine.
The vast complex includes four centers -- a Sports and Leisure Club, Mind Centre, Thanyapura
Health and Phuket International Academy.
It also houses a "sports hotel" and a Thanyamundra wellness retreat.
An amazing range of sports academies -- football, aquatics, tennis, rugby, triathlon -- offer teams
training and competitions at all levels and ages.
The complex houses various quality sports venues, fitness center and martial arts studios.
Facilities include a day spa, kids and teen clubs, arts studio, performance center and restaurants
featuring organic cuisine, wine and cooking school.
Chiva-Som International Health Resort (Hua Hin)
What do cigarettes and children have in common? Both are no-nos at this health resort in the royal
beach town of Hua Hin.
Twenty years ago Chiva-Som was the regions first luxury destination health resort and paved the
way for Thailands standing as the spa capital of Asia.
It attracts celebrities like Kate Moss, David and Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley, as well as
stressed-out CEOs looking for weight loss andanti-agingsessions.
Activities revolve around the gleaming health center, where spa and wellness treatments take place
in sleek facilities modeled after a European luxury spa.
Arriving guests get health consultations and a custom-tailored program featuring daily massages.

The restaurant focuses on fat-free, weight-control food -- raw greens dominate the buffet.
Offerings include a range of holistic and alternative therapies such as acupuncture, energy healing,
iridology, Emotional Freedom Technique, aqua aerobics, hypnosis, physiotherapy, yoga, Pilatesand
personal fitness training from a rotating list of visiting healers and wellness consultants.
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Chiva-Som, 73 / 4 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin 77110 Thailand; +66 3253 6536
Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary (Koh Samui)
Conceived as a sanctuary for holistic healing by founders who had spent years living in Kathmandu,
Kamalaya offers wellness retreats, detox, cleansing, yoga, emotional healing and spiritual offerings
whose quality and excellence has led to numerous awards.
Set on a secluded beach by a hillside, its open-air wellness center and restaurants -- serving
creativeorganic health cuisine -- in a lush natural surrounding.
The wellness center offers spa treatments, detox, colonics, Thai and Ayurvedic treatments, yoga,
meditation andfitness training.
Resident Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors and visiting healers from around the world offer
energy healing, sound therapy, emotional healing, chakra balancing, life coaching, osteopathy and
cranial sacral therapy.
Kamalaya Koh Samui, 102/9 Moo 3, Laem Set Rd, Na-Mueang subdistrict, Laem Set, Ko Samui
84140 Thailand; +66 (0) 77 429 800
Samahita Wellness Retreat (Koh Samui)
Originally started as Yoga Thailand by a yoga teaching couple in 2003, this center evolved into
Samahita Wellness Retreat in a few years.
Located on apristine beach in a tranquil bay, it has three yoga studios including a beachfront yoga
pavilion.
Samahitas calendar offers regular teacher-training programs drawing students from around the
world for international teacher certification and visiting yoga teachers.
It offers a variety of yoga (but it's best known for Ashtanga yoga), detox and wellness retreats and
packages, daily, short- and long-term.
The open-air beach dining room is intimate and laid-back. The poolside restaurant offers organic,
low-fat, high energy, mostly vegetarian food.
Samahita Retreat, 55/20-24 Moo 4 T. Namuang, Koh Samui Surat Thani, Thailand; +66 (0) 77 920
090 , +66 (0) 77 920 091, +66 (0) 831 752 730
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SRI LANKABarberyn Ayurveda Resorts

Founded 31 years ago with a vision to create a traditional Ayurvedic healing resort, Barberyn has
long been known only by word-of-mouth among mostly European wellness seekers.
There are two properties now, the original Barberyn Reef Resort, Beruwala (on a quiet beach on the
west coast) and the newer Barberyn Beach Resort, Welligama, in the south, on a spectacular hillside
sweeping down to the sea.
Barberyn is dedicated to healing through traditional Ayurvedic treatments consisting of customtailored, doctor-prescribed programs of daily Ayurvedic medicated oil massages, treatments, herbal
medicines and tonicsand pure Ayurvedic cuisine.
There's a stationing doctor in the dining room to ensure that guests on prescribed food programs
stick to the foods designed to bring the body back into balance.
Many people come here for treatment for more serious medical conditions, such as recovery from
strokes or surgery, healing from cancer or relief from illnesses through alternative holistic healing
rather than pills and drugs.
Others simply come for a healthy holiday in a homey and friendly atmosphere while enjoying the
fabulous beaches and sightseeing in Sri Lanka.
PHILIPPINESThe Farm at San Benito (Philippines)
The only wellness sanctuary of its kind in the Philippines, The Farm offers holistic rejuvenation on
the grounds of an eco-friendly coconut plantation a few hours outside Manila.
Popular for detox retreats, its Prevention and Recovery Retreats focus on medically guided detox
procedures to cleanse the body, with psycho-emotional detoxification as an integral part of the
program to cleanse the system of repressed and negative emotions that lead to illness.
It features one of Asias first and best vegan restaurants as well as a raw food restaurant, using
produce fresh from its organic garden.
Wellness packages include customized detox treatment programs, yoga retreats and healing
retreats.
Its 100% pure extra virgin coconut oil products are used in spa treatments and cooking.
The Farm donates part of its coconut oil earnings to support the local community and environment.

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