A Rum Affair

Nothing quite says holiday like sipping a delcious cocktail on a tropical beach paradise. But Shanti Mauricie, in Mauritius, takes it to the next level. Their rustic beach bar, the Fish and Rhum shack, has been voted 9th amongst the 50 Best Beach Bars in the world by top global travel website CNN Go.

With a drink in hand, the sand beneath your toes, glowing lanterns lighting up the midnight sea, and mauritian sega dancers swirling their brightly coloured dresses it's a heady and intoxicating way to spend a Mauritian night.

As well as cocktails, guests are offered a range of over 40 local Mauritian rums or a selection of ice cold beers from the local Mauritian brewery. Freshly caught fish and lobster is cooked on the BBQ and served alongside delicious salads featuring lettuce and vegetables grown on-site in Shanti Maurice’s herb garden.This is a luxury spa holiday with food like no other.

Shanti Maurice’s General Manager, Paul van Frank said, ‘We are extremely proud that our Fish and Rhum Shack has been recognised as one of the top Beach Bars in the world. The accolade really recognises how special the resort is and how much we value the exceptional, authentic experiences that our guests receive when staying with us.’

For a luxury spa holiday at Shanti Maurice check out our fantastic 'Discovery' holiday. 

We're still astonshed by this excellent offer at Longevity!

Exclusive 'Taste of Longevity' Luxury Short Break - Save up to 45%!

Taste the good life on an exclusive luxury spa holiday at Longevity Wellness Resort in the Portuguese Algarve. For a short time only, save up to 45% on usual rates and feel refreshed and rejuvenated in just a few days. The location in a stunning natural reserve in the mountains of the Algarve will give you a sense of calm and tranquility while you indulge in the relaxing pampering spa treatments. To take up this fantastic deal, we kindly ask you to agree to write a short review on your time at Longevity, which we will post on our website.

There are LIMITED SPACES available so act fast to make the most of this incredible offer!

	Luxury Algarve Getaway This Exclusive Escape includes: -Aromatic Body Scrub -Deeply Relaxing Cranio Facial Massage -Return Flights and Transfers -3 Nights Accomodation with Breakfast Prices from £300pp sharing, £370 single
	Become a Spa Spy like Helen! Read more about the beautiful Longevity Wellness Resort as visited by our very own Wellbeing team member Helen! Feel Insipired? Write a review of your trip to Longevity and see it appear on the website!

Postcards from Lefay

Our spa spy has proven quite the photographer with these beautiful shots from Lefay. In this interview, she gives the insider scoop on what she liked best about the resort.

What were your first impressions of the resort? I was immediately struck with the stunning views of Lake Garda, which you could just stare at for hours. There was also a great sense of space in the property. Plus, it was very eco-friendly, I was impressed by the fact there was no air-conditioning. To cool the rooms they used running cold water. It was quite high-tech there were lots of buttons everywhere and it was fun seeing what did what. There was even a button to open and shut the curtains, which I wish I could have every morning!
How did you find the food, was it healthy? On the lunch and dinner menus they have a healthy food option which tells you how many calories are in each dish. The food was absolutely gorgeous; it had a strong Italian theme and was all fresh and yummy. The salad buffet was incredible, with cheeses, hams, leafy greens, beans, antipasti and the like to choose from. You could take a buffet of salad and be totally happy for dinner. Breakfast was a decent spread, with an egg station, cereals and lovely breads.  A special touch was that they had a juicer and a big basket with apples and carrots so you could make your own fresh juice. I made my own healthy cocktail with carrots and ginger.  Be careful though, on the breakfast table there was champagne should you want it. I thought ‘ooo I could try that, but then I thought actually probably not!'
Lefay are famous for their Chinese Medical approach. How did you find it? Doctor Maurizio was really approachable and obviously very knowledgeable; he's quite a big shot in Italy. He knows a few words in English but there is a translator in the room.  Like with our other spa holidays, he talks you though your lifestyle, eating habits, checks your tongue and your pulse - the whole Chinese medicine approach is very personal. They translate the consultation into English so you have a record of it.  He prescribed me a moxibustion, which was like a hot heated rod that works on your meridians a bit like acupuncture. When the stick touched my back, I could really feel it working.
The Five different Saunas sound like an incredible experience - how did you find them? It's very European in the sense that everyone is naked, and to be honest that's not for me. They believe that when you're in the sauna you're sweating out your toxins, so it's not good to wear a swimsuit as it keeps them against your skin. Thankfully they had a separate female only sauna which had a sunset relaxation area, it was really lovely in there.
Was there anything particularly special about the spa area? The salt lake was really impressive. It was 37 degrees with a salinity of ten percent. You book into it and there's no one around so you can take all your clothes off if you want to! The whole area had lounge chairs and proper salt there. I floated around for a good 20 minutes. I felt so sleepy and blissful afterwards, I couldn't wait to get back to my room and chill out.
How did you find the resort's atmosphere? It was a really relaxed luxury spa holiday- you can wear your dressing gown everywhere, except to dinner. The service was lovely and friendly, the staff always came over to ask ‘how was your dinner'.  There was also an amazing meditation walk which took you through the beautiful grounds. I think it would be a great place for stress management.
What was your favourite part of the resort? Well I couldn't get over the views - you can just keep on looking at it, and the gardens. They allow you to make the most of it by providing lots of lounge chairs and seating areas around the property. Inside, there was a lovely ‘gentleman's' lounge with a bar area. You could cosy up in the armchairs and read a book or the newspapers which were laid out.
Any other insider tips? Remember the Italians take a siesta between 12:30-3:30, which is worth bearing in mind if you fancy visiting the nearby town. It is also well worth exploring the sensory gardens, in fact the whole place is so serence and beautiful it's great to jog or walk around.
Did anything surprise you about the resort? The Europeans often do shorter exercise classes, more frequently, which gives you a lot of variety. The Pilates and yoga classes were only half an hour long, but as no one else turned up it was like having my own private class, and the instructors were really knowledgeable, they knew exactly how to correct my postures.
Lefay have some fanstastic  packages that will leave you destressed and glowing with health. Try a rejuvenating pacackage or a chinese medicine based spa method programme.

Luxuriate at Laluna - our latest Caribbean hideaway

With its eclectic fusion of Italian influences, Balinese bounty and Caribbean charm you might think Laluna a bit of an odd mix, but it works. Voted this year as one of the top 100 best hotels in the world by Sunday Times Magazine, this chic little Caribbean bolthole on a golden Sandy beach in Grenada has proven itself a perfect spa holiday.

We've managed to secure some exclusive spa holidays at this super chilled resort. Explore the rainforest filled island, swim in secluded waterfalls,and roam around spice markets on our brand new Balance & Discovery Programme or take private yoga classes in their stunning beach-based yoga pavilion with our Exclusive Yoga Programme. Take some time to yourself and check them out!

A Massage With A Difference

Us brits can have a bit of thing about going for massages, we simply don't do it nearly as much as other cultures do.  Maybe our reserved reputation is getting the better of us, making us shy or uncomfortable about stripping down till we're in our pants only while a stranger kneads us for a good hour. And yet, it's funny as many think nothing of baring all while a beautician rips the hair from their nether-regions. It's almost as if we think that just because there are no immediate visible benefits, it's not worth spending the time or money on.

Having just had an amazing massage from one of our wellbeing experts Claire Farman I am wondering why I don't go for them more often. Claire is a gifted yoga and meditation teacher as well as a qualified homeopath. She has been studying many sacred arts of healing for over 20 years. Her own yoga and healing centre is in the aptly named Vale of Health, over looking a quiet green piece of Hamstead Heath. Full of light and energy, the treatment room is beautiful.

"So what's going on with you," asks Claire in a totally relaxed, completetly non-judgmental way. I immediately feel like I'm engaged in a heart-to-heart with a lifelong friend. After a ten minute chat, through which Claire intuits any problems or energy blocks that might need healing, the massage begins. Working her hands deep into my muscles, she covers me in skin softening shea butter. She is not always gentle, tugging on my limbs and pressing hard into my shoulder blades, with a strength that belies her slender frame. I do say 'oww' several times, but I also feel my muscles start to soften and relax. After this she places Tibetan healing bowls, each corresponding to different organs, on my body.  Each bowl is gonged in different ryhtms and patterns and I can feel my whole body vibrating pleasantly. Claire tells me the Tibetan healing bowls  use sound vibration to balance and realign the body's subtle energy systems.  

Turning me over, she asks me to pick a coloured vial (I pick pink) from a spectrum and then uses it to spray an aromatic mist of divine roses over me. It's 'gem medicine', she says, made of potentised gems and crystals such as amythyst and rose quartz.   She also gives me carefully selected homeopathic remedies that she says are to help clear emotional and pyshcial blockages.  

I leave feeling tired to my bones, it's been something of an emotional release. All I want to do is go home and go to sleep.  Which I do, and I'm out like a light.  It's a deep and delicious slumber, and the next morning when my alarm goes off I actually get out of bed with a spring in my step. Whether it's pyschological or phsycial, I certainly feel more energic and lighter- hearted. It makes me think that there is more to massaging than relaxing indulgance.

Ready to be Reformed

There's been a lot in the press of late about the benefits of Pilates, with the lovely Miss Pippa Middleton outting the muscle control method as the secret to her killer figure.  It seems important to note at this moment that the style of Pilates she was using was based around a machine called 'The Reformer', a terrifying name for a piece of Pilates apparatus designed to shape, tone and scuplt your muscles. The traditional mat based Pilates, although highly beneficial for posture and body control, does not deliver as immediate or as intense results as a Reformer.

For those of us who get a bit too little exercise, are a bit too time-starved and spend a bit too much time sitting down, a Reformer based Pilates class sounds pretty much ideal. Toned muscles, better posture, stronger core you say? Where do I sign up!

Saying that, I'd somehow managed to avoid trying a session despite endless invitations from our friends at Ten Pilates, a company that has been going from strength to strength in the fitness world. To be honest, I think the name Reformer had put me off a bit.  And, I had seen pictures - it resembled a Medieval torture wrack.

Despite this, swayed by the outstanding testimonials from people who had tried the classes, plus the dread of baring my pasty thighs in skirts over the summer,  I found myself flat on my back, heels up in one of these devices, wondering if it was all it's cranked up to be. No pain no gain right?

I needn't have been so worried. The begginners class was suitably gentle, and our instructor for the evening, Ken Fitzmaurice, a humorous Irish gentleman helped us get to grips with the equipment. I won't lie, it was hard work, but in a satisfying 'Yes I can feel myself working out right now and it feels damn good' way. It was also gentle enough to do it fairly easily.  I could feel muscles in my legs and behind that I didn't even know existed. And that's when I see the appeal.  I'm lying down and this equipment is really helping me workout muscles that other kinds of exercise just don't get to. I also feel like my spine is protected by the padded shoulder blocks on the Reformer, so my back and pelvis stay nicely aligned througout.

The next day I do feel a bit sore and stiff in my body, which I think is a good sign.  I swear my thighs seem a teency bit firmer, even just after one class, and that's enough to tantalise me into wanting to go again.
For people preparing to go on holiday, or coming back from a spa holiday I think it's a great way to get into shape and stay that way.  There are a whole variety of levels and classes to choose from so you won't get bored, and the results and benefits for your body are incredible and will help you a heck of a lot if you're sitting on your rump in an office all day.  It's definitely worth clearing some space in the diary for. 

You and Your Bump

Last night Wellbeing Escapes went to the book launch of our Chinese Medicine Expert Emma Cannon at Wodka restaurant near Hight Street Kensington. A delighted and glowing Emma was there to promote her fantastic new book You and Your bump which is all about wellbeing through pregnancy.

Using a gentle blend of ancient Chinese medicine wisdom with conventional Western medical practice, the book starts with a '360 degree' health check that takes you through some general conventions for assessing your health so you can start working on areas with any deficiencies. It has great recommendations for how to eat well to address certain problems you might be experiencing, whether in conception or pregnacy.  A must for any mother in the making!

Emma regularly contributes health tips on all areas of life to our website. Read more about her, and have a look at her wellbeing tips, this month our experts discuss Stress and Burnout

For more on our spa holidays visit www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk