Mexico’s Chablé hotels have designed wellbeing programmes centred around Mayan rituals and principles to improve mental health and longevity during the pandemic. Rose Dykins reports
Five-star hotel and wellness company Chablé Hotels has curated wellbeing programmes designed to help people heal from the emotional and physical turmoil caused by life during the pandemic.
Chablé Hotels’ two luxury resorts are centred around Mayan rituals and principles. The company is on a mission to “redefine wellness” so that it extends beyond a hotel spa and can instead be found across all aspects of the hotel.
The three new wellbeing programmes at Chablé Maroma and Chablé Yucatan are based on three issues relating to physical and mental wellbeing that need extra attention due to the pandemic: immunity boosting, stress and anxiety, and healing heartache.
Immunity boosting programme
Chablé Hotels says that, after months spent in lockdown, guests will be looking to rejuvenate and strengthen their immune system while soaking up winter sun.
Its hotels will offer daily exercise and meditation classes combined with a nutrition plan that’s filled with local vitamin-rich ingredients, such as turmeric and ginger – which are known to combat cellular damage and aid digestion, as well as boost the body’s immune system.
The menu will also be high in Vitamin C, which is vital for producing white blood cells to fight pathogens.
As part of a “Harmonisation ritual”, guests will experience a spiritual greeting using copal resin – a diagnostic tool used by Mayan healers to help see a person’s energy field, to detect energy blockages and disease. Following this, Chablé’s healers can determine the best treatments for individual guests.
As part of Chablé’s immunity boosting programme, guests experience a guided water ceremony – where they are exposed to water at different temperatures to increase circulation and reduce tension – and a “Coco Skin Treatment” using anti-oxidant-rich ingredients.
Stress and anxiety programme
Burn-out, a poor work-life balance and a significant amount of extra stress and anxiety have been constant challenges for much of the global population in 2020 – and Chablé’s programme is designed specifically to restore much-needed balance and relieve stress.
At Chablé Yucatan, flotation therapy is part of the programme. Scientifically proven to increase physical and mental wellbeing in as little as an hour, the therapy is said to effectively release physical tension and stress that has accumulated over months.
Guests are said to reach a state of relaxation that is equivalent to eight hours of deep sleep.
And at Chablé Maroma, the “Tree of Life Massage” soothes an over-stressed nervous system, clears the mind, eases muscle tension, and restores internal balance.
Both hotels also offer a “Stress Relief Treatment” – a massage designed to work on specific zones the carry the most stress (the back, shoulders and neck).
The Stress and anxiety programme involves many mindfulness, yoga or meditation classes, and morning breathing classes. Guests can also opt to take a digital detox, if they wish.
Healing heartache programme
Aimed at those who have experienced the breakdown of a long-term relationship during the pandemic, Chablé’s has come up with a programme filled with treatments and activities that help guests find an inner connection and increase their self-worth.
Those enrolled in the “You are the Love Story” retreat will learn to put themselves first, treat themselves and experience new things. The programme is inspired by the ocean and its associations with “letting go”, washing away old patterns and regeneration.
Treatments within the retreat include a “Sound of the Sea Ritual” featuring a seaweed wrap and a warming sea fennel massage, and a “Rain Goddess” ritual designed to refresh and heal the body and mind, with a full-body exfoliation, followed by a remedy that rejuvenates the skin, signifying a new chapter.
The “Chablé Janzu Water Massage” immerses guests in the outdoor pool while a therapist releases blocked energy and promotes a state of relaxation. The water is known to encourage and intensify the release of the soul.
The programme ends with Chablé’s Temazcal Ceremony. Temazcal – meaning “steam house” (pictured at the top of this story) – is a ritual based on one of the oldest forms of medicine where the physical, mental and spiritual levels come together.
The process is a mystical, transformative encounter that gives a feeling of rebirth. It promises to reconnect participants with a positive life path, so they can leave past heartache behind.
