2013 Trend Report Spotlight: Earthing

2013 Wellness Trend: Earthing

We’ve shared details on the Healthy Hotels and Mindfulness Massage trends, and now in the third installment of our Top 10 Global Spa & Wellness Trends spotlight, we dig deep into Earthing. In a nutshell, this trend stems from the movement, spearheaded by The Earthing Institute founder, Clint Ober, suggesting that direct contact with the earth’s electron-rich surface will promote health benefits. “While we expect to see more of this formal ‘earthing’ at spas, we expect to see far more ‘nature grounding’ in a wider sense. Think less background music with nature sounds and more real nature to help combat ‘Nature Deficit Disorder,’” our report says. From extreme design to barefoot spas to treatments alfresco, we highlight just a few of the nature-spa concepts that have planted a seed in the Earthing trend.

Image courtesy of Tierra Patagonia Hotel

Spa-ing & Fitness Alfresco

The “great outdoors” takes on new meaning: Spa alfresco in Italy’s Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa’s treatment gardens, or at Panama’s Isla Palenque, Amble Resorts, underneath the shade of a palm grove. Exercise is no longer meant for just the gym, either—at many resort spas, you can now stay fit doing everything from beachfront exercise classes (at Israel’s Sarana Spa at the Sharon Hotel) to jungle yoga and fitness (found at Isla Palenque). Even urban day and resort spas are taking part and getting you out into the fresh air: NYC’s CLAY Health Club + Spa has a yoga roof garden, and Singapore’s just opened PARKROYAL on Pickering is a high rise nestled amidst 15,000 square meters of lofty “sky gardens.”

Image courtesy of Monastero Resort and Spa

Nature-Inspired Design

Properties such as Spa Botánico at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Puerto Rico, with its glass-walled, garden-setting treatment rooms (plus tree house treatment area!) and out-in-the-wild showers and soaking tubs, opt for an out-of-the-box (and outdoorsy! approach) to their design esthetics. Uma Spa at the Tierra Patagonia Hotel in Chile offers spectacular glacier lake views from its outdoor whirlpool. Some of the more extreme designs? The Maldives’ Niyama’s underwater lounge and floating restaurants; the not-yet-opened, ice crystal-shaped spa, Krystall, that will drift among the fjords in Norway; and the “floating gardens” spa set to open near Amsterdam in 2014.

Image courtesy of Spa Botanico at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Branching Out: Tree House Spas

We wrote about tree house spas awhile back, and the trend has continued to branch out, with more resort spa options than ever featuring a stay up amidst forest canopies. Some of our favorites include Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore), whose Tree Top Loft Angsana and Tembusu suites offer 360-degree forest views; Primland’s (Virginia) eco-friendly Golden Eagle Tree House, which rests in the limbs of one of the property’s oldest oak trees; and Omni Amelia Island Planation Resort (Florida), captivating in its own right with an over-water yoga tree house.

Image courtesy of Primland

Raw Wilderness Spas

You’ll certainly feel like you’re in the wild with a stay at some of these spas: At Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai, immerse yourself within the surrounding Thai bamboo jungle; at The Moat, built on a moat of a 13^th-century castle in Wales, connect to rustic woodlands in an outdoor sauna tent. Wander 4,000 acres to spot kangaroo and platypus during your stay at Australia’s Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa (just one of many resorts offering wilderness safaris), or swim in an infinity pool and watch elephants drink from a nearby watering hole at Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti, erected in a Tanzanian national park.

Image courtesy of Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle

Barefoot Spas

Taking a step in the earthing direction are barefoot spas like El Secreto in Belize and Soneva Fushi in the Maldives; at Puerto Rico’s El Conquistador Resort, you can enjoy meditative walks (barefoot, of course) through a candlelit labyrinth during the full moon.

Image courtesy of Soneva Fushi, Maldives

Goodbye Farm-to-Table, Hello Foraging

We’ll always love the farm-to-table concept, but it seems like there’s a new kid on the block: foraging. At Utah’s Sorrel River Ranch Resort & Spa, roam among 160 acres of wilderness and forage ingredients for both food and spa treatments, or at North Carolina’s Umstead Hotel and Spa, make ice cream with pine needles you’ve found. Go on holiday with Wildfitness™ to Kenya, Andalucia, and the Isle of Wight, where, following completion of the “wild eating,” “wild moving,” and “wild living” programs, you’ll wind up with a natural, “pre-processed” body and mind.

Image courtesy of The Umstead Resort and Spa

Digital Detox

Learn to unplug and disconnect from your 24/7 technological world and reconnect with your inner health at an outdoors-focused resort spa. “Properties report that people most successfully cut the cords when they throw themselves into intensive physical activities like nature hikes, yoga, and frequent massages,” our trend report  says. Sites like Via Yoga, which arranges luxury surfing and yoga vacations in Mexico and Costa Rica (and gives 15 percent off if you check your Phones at the door), make it easier than ever.

Image courtesy of Isla Palenque, Amble Resorts

You might also like:

• Top 10 Global Spa & Wellness Trends 2013 Forecast: Get the Full Report!

• 2013 Trend Report Spotlight: 10 Healthy Hotels

• 2013 Wellness Trend: Mindfulness Massage

• Readers’ Choice Awards: Top 10 Best Spas for Healthy Cuisine

• Connect with Nature: Jeff Corwin on Connecting to Your Wild Side in America’s Own Backyard

Image courtesy of Tierra Patagonia Hotel