We have rounded up 5 emerging wellness trends to jump on board with to help refill our tanks.
- Virtual Fitness is Here to Stay
Peleton has become a household name. Living rooms are now multi-use with free weights, exercise bands, and yoga mats on speed dial for a mid-day virtual workout over lunch. The convenience of an at home fitness class isn’t going anywhere, and it could be for the better. Virtual fitness classes come in all shapes and sizes from group spin classes, pre-recorded Youtube yoga routines to do at your own leisure, and your favourite studio now likely offers some sort of recorded or live sweat session. As these workouts come at a lower price point and don’t require a commute, more people are jumping on board with the flexibility and even the busiest busy body is making time to get their sweat on.
- Gua Sha Skin Care
You may have seen the little pink or green tools popping up all over the Internet, on your favourite bloggers page and Instagrammers’ stories. The small dolphin fin shaped tool offers a natural therapy that involves scraping your skin to improve your circulation. This ancient Chinese healing technique, commonly used with a combination of short or long strokes to stimulate circulation of the soft tissue, increases blood flow, helps with lymphatic drainage and reduces inflammation and chronic pain. It also boasts the added benefit of improving fine lines and wrinkles and can be done while watching your favourite reality TV show.
If you’re looking for a real treat, Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Pacific Rim offers the ANDA Organic Botanicals Facial which is a 60 minute treatment where vital nutrients combined with Sibin Bian stone Gua Sha technique to nourish, renew, and protect your skin leaving a healthy radiance.
- Digital Detoxes
If COVID taught us one thing, it’s boundaries. Social media these days can be overwhelming, an ongoing source of current events, breaking news, and frankly, a sensory overload. The ‘digital detox’ is popping up more and more, where people take a mini-break from social media, their emails, Internet, and put their phones away. This can mean devoting a week, weekend, or even just a day to living without your phone, social media, and TV. Instead, they spend time with family and friends, go for long walks in nature, meditate, read, or work on a creative project.
- The Walk and Talk
From business meetings, to meet-ups with friends and first dates, the walk and talk sessions have hit an all-time high, and it’s for the better. With the uptick in Zoom and virtual meetings during COVID, people truly miss seeing one another and having that personal connection so the combination of meeting and spending time outdoors where it is considered safer for transmission, has resulted in this amazing wellness trend getting people moving and connecting with one another.
- Hydrotherapy and Cold Therapy
Cold therapy and hydrotherapy are trends which have blown up this year – cryotherapy clinics popping up all over major cities, people swimming in cold lakes and oceans year-round, and the increases popularity of hydrotherapy facilities where people submerge in water of various temperatures. These alternative types of therapy work by reducing blood flow which can significantly reduce inflammation and swelling that causes pain, especially around a joint or a tendon.
At Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Pacific Rim, we encourage the use of hydrotherapy in our facilities to enhance the benefits of your treatment. Guests can enjoy a cooling shower combined with the warm waters of our Mineral Wellness Bath to promote circulation, allowing the body to flush and prepare for deep relaxation. Next, take a moment of quiet reflection in our infrared sauna which offers detoxification of mind and body, and then finally lounge on our sun terrace while overlooking the mystical mountains of the North Shore and allow your mind to explore new horizons.