Living Well

What is acupuncture and why are more and more medical professionals–and beauty experts–recommending you have needles placed in your skin?

An insistent refrain at the 2016 Wellness Summit, running like the notes of Mozart’s “Requiem” was the need for more creativity in the form of art, music, literature and dance at wellness retreats and spas – both for guests to experience and to “do.” Historian David Clay Large revealed that the connection between the “spa […]

One of the most insistent arguments, resounding through most sessions at the 2016 Summit, was the need for “wellness” to reach further beyond the rich elites. Leading economists painted the new (sudden) global picture: a world where a rising sense of “unfairness” is unleashing a global storm of populism. Economist Thierry Malleret’s keynote (Founder, The […]

Cancer sufferers, typically underserved when it comes to wellness options, made significant gains due to organizations like Wellness for Cancer. Julie Bach, who heads this educational platform that trains wellness companies on how to be better equipped to work with cancer patients, said: “The industry’s mantra in the past was ‘we serve well people’ – […]

A hot topic at the Summit was not only how the world needs to learn from European bathing/ sauna culture, but how the Europeans themselves are now busy reimagining the sauna experience. For instance, a Summit showcase, “Sauna Aufguss: Hot Doesn’t Get Any Cooler Than This” (led by Lasse Eriksen, Development Manager, Nordic Hotels & […]

INSIDE THE 2017 REPORT When 500+ wellness experts from 46+ nations gather to debate the future of wellness, you have one uniquely authoritative and global view of the trends set to unfold. And that’s what happened at the recent tenth-anniversary Global Wellness Summit in Kitzbühel, Austria, which (with its specifically future-focused theme for 2016, “Back […]

A new focus on silence at wellness destinations and spas came through loud and clear in Wellness Summit presentations. Programming at hotels & retreats today can sometimes feel like nothing more than an “operational line-item” (some fitness classes or spas to “check off”), while future destinations will need to put a deeper, more comprehensive focus […]

Mental wellness will be the biggest future trend, period: from wellness destinations bringing in neuroscientists and psychotherapists – to meditation becoming seriously mainstream, while evolving into new breeds – to part-mind, part-body workout brands – to apps that track your mental state. Despite our era of historic economic abundance, depression, anxiety disorders, loneliness, addiction and […]

The science behind beauty shows we need beauty in our lives: it brings hope, connectedness and, ultimately, wellness. THE TREND Intuitively, we all know beauty and wellness go hand in hand – and that ‘aspiring to beauty’ can be one of the key motivators we have for keeping physically, spiritually and mentally fit. This year’s […]

Craniosacral massage –or craniosacral therapy (CST)–is an extremely gentle treatment used to relieve pain and body dysfunction.  As the name suggests, CST focuses on the top and bottom of the spine, where it meets the cranium (head) and sacrum, the triangular bone in the lower back between the two hipbones of the pelvis.