Everett Potter's Travel Report » Yoga & Fitness

3 Awesome Early Summer Retreats

everett — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:49:48 +0000

Yoga at Seven Arrows Farm

By Well+Good NYC

Everyone wants to do yoga in Turks & Caicos and beach boot camps in Bali, but there are times when those options aren’t feasible, thanks to precious vacation time and, all too often, the need to pay rent.

So, this spring, a few of New York’s top boutique fitness studios and yoga instructors are hosting their shape-up retreats closer to home. They offer all the required elements of a fitness vacation—quality classes and instruction, relaxation time on the beach or amid the Catskill Mountain, great meals, and free massages. (Okay, we totally made up that last one.)

You just won’t need a plane ticket (or a raise) to get there. Here are three awesome summer kick-off retreats happening this June

Alexia Brue (left) is co-founder of Well+Good NYC. She was a contributing editor at Luxury SpaFinder and Spa magazines and is the author of Cathedrals of the Flesh: My Search for the Perfect Bath (Bloomsbury). Melisse Gelula is co-founder of Well+Good NYC. She is the former editor-in-chief of SpaFinderLifestyle.com, spa beauty editor at Luxury SpaFinder Magazine, and travel editor at Fodor’s Travel Publications.

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Well + Good NYC: 7 Healthy Getaways that Celebrities Love

everett — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:34:24 +0000

Miraval Resort & Spa, a mecca for celebrity guests in Tucson, Arozona

By Well + Good NYC

Whether they’re looking to get into action-hero shape or recovering from a grueling publicity tour, celebrities often need some red-carpet relaxation away from the flashing bulbs of the paparazzi.

But when time and money is no object—but perhaps privacy and a discrete detox are—where do you go? We found out.

From a resort owned by Hugh Jackman on the Gold Coast of Australia to a boot camp high above the Santa Monica Mountains, we’ve sourced hot, healthy getaways for if your name appears on Page 6 — or just in the White Pages.

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Well + Good NYC: 10 Amazing Wellness Escapes

everett — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:10:51 +0000

10 Amazing Spring Wellness Escapes

By Well + Good NYC

Spring cleaning shouldn’t just apply to your closet.

Most of us like to step into the warmer months by shedding the heaviness of winter—through detoxing our diets, ramping up our workout schedules, and revisiting our spiritual or happiness goals. And what better way to get all of that done than an escape that recharges your wellness batteries and fitness goals—and delivers a mega-dose of sunshine?

We found ten amazing escapes—from Miami Beach to Marrakech—that will make you forget the sting of 20-degree wind and will recharge your health (and outlook) for spring. Read more here …

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Well + Good NYC: Hot & Healthy in Miami

everett — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:07:05 +0000

Miami

By Well + Good NYC

There’s nothing like the sub-zero temps in New York to inspire fantasies of a weekend in Miami Beach. So along with searching for cheap flights at your desk and planning a sick day (don’t worry, we won’t tell), we’re sharing tips from Suzy Buckley Woodward, editor-in-chief of Ocean Drive magazine and all-around Miami guru, for the healthy hotspots you’ll want to hit. Pack your sunscreen (and us!).

5 Incredible Presidents’ Day Yoga Getaways

everett — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:17:39 +0000

Exhale in Miami

By Well + Good NYC

Despite its intended purpose, lots of people across the country will not be spending Presidents’ Day weekend reflecting on the achievements of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Instead, they’ll be doing yoga. In really gorgeous places.

For reasons unbeknownst to us, Presidents’ Day weekend has become a happening time for fabulous yoga getaways—from nailing Navasana in Nicaragua to shaking chakras in Miami. And with the holiday, you won’t have to use as many vacation days.

Here are five incredible Presidents’ Day yoga retreats you’ll want to book right now…

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Well + Good NYC: 6 Yoga and Meditation Retreats for the New Year

everett — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:56:35 +0000

Pure Vida Adventures

By Well + Good NYC

Everyone loves a midnight toast with bubbly. But there are, in fact, other ways to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

This year, amazing yogis and master meditation teachers from New York and across the country are using the holiday to help spiritual seekers reflect on the past year, set intentions for 2013, and make resolutions stick.

And in many cases, surfing in paradise or beach badakanasanas are included. Here are six yoga and meditation retreats to ring in your New Year. Read more at Well+ Good NYC

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Well + Good NYC: Escape to Shape

everett — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:13:23 +0000

By Well + Good NYC

On Erica Gragg’s Escape to Shape fitness vacations, you’ll want to pay attention to the bell. It will ring when it’s time to go stand-up paddleboarding, to eat quinoa-stuffed roasted red peppers with cashew cream, and to meditate. No, it’s not automated. If you peek out your room’s window, you’ll see Gragg’s red hair blowing behind her as she rushes past, shaking the tiny bell in her hand.

Gragg’s level of hands-on attention and careful curation has allowed Escape to Shape, which launched in 2006, to become the go-to roving fitness vacation for successful, urban women (and some men). The company started with three destinations and now hosts about a dozen six-night trips each year, from Colombia to Croatia to Cambodia.

Well + Good NYC Weekend Escape: Ten Thousand Waves, Santa Fe

everett — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:21:06 +0000

The Yasuragi head massage and hair treatment

By WellandGoodNYC.com

No one does bathing like the Japanese. And no one does laid-back like Santa Feans. Put them together and you get Ten Thousand Waves, the adobe-ryokan resort in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains of New Mexico.

For a lot less than the cost of airfare to Tokyo, you can take the waters in a Japanese-made ceramic or hinoki tub, either privately or in the women’s or coed public bath (where clothing is optional before 8:15 p.m.), breathing in scents of desert sage and piñons instead of cherry blossoms. The vistas you gaze over aren’t manicured gardens but wild mountains—and the light in New Mexico is like nowhere else.

Well + Good NYC: Wellness Weekend Escape at Bedford Post Inn

everett — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:44:14 +0000

Richard Gere’s Bedford Post Inn, Bedford, New York.

By Melisse Gelula and Alexia Brue

This Relais & Châteaux inn gets most of its buzz for its famous owners—Bedford residents Richard Gere and his wife, Carey Lowell—and Martha Stewart–endorsed farm-to-table restaurants, but it wins our hearts for its outstanding yoga.

The classes—at least two each day, in styles ranging from vinyasa and Anusara-inspired to Kundalini to Iyengar—aren’t some hotel afterthought that might take awkward place with you as the only student. They’re taught by seasoned, well-credentialed instructors and geared toward the local community, meaning classes have regular members and positive group energy. And the sun-splashed barn where they’re held is far more uplifting than most of the studios where New Yorkers consent to practice.

Well + Good NYC: Mohonk Mountain House’s “Never Diet Again”

everett — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:22:45 +0000

Mohonk Mountain House

By Melisse Gelula and Alexia Brue

Considering that diet books, programs, and products are a several billion dollar industry, it’s impressive to see a spa shirking all that for a program called Never Diet Again.

The program is the brainchild of Nina Smilely, who has a Phd in psychology and is the author of The Three Minute Meditator.

Its premise? Replace the food-deprivation mindset with a mindfulness one.

By using self-awareness—instead of self-criticism—when it comes to hunger, and teaching “skillful action” in place of mindless scarfing, the two-night program deals with what goes in your mouth by looking at what’s going on in your head.

The program’s offered at Mohonk Mountain House, the historic spa resort in New Paltz, New York (where Smiley’s also the marketing director). Read more at Well + Good NYC …

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