This may look like any other Thai resort, but it’s not
By Jane Reddy
In an open-air restaurant on the edge of Koh Samui and its brilliant blue sea, a guest at a nearby table lines up a round of shots – juice elixirs with ingredients of kale, cardamom, ginger and turmeric.
If virtue were colour-matched then these earthy tones of pure goodness would be in the mix.
The hilltop lap pool and Shakti Fitness area at Kamalaya.
Next to her a couple tucks into poached duck eggs and sweet-potato pancakes. Behind them a be-your-best-self buffet beckons to eat your way to wellness. Made onsite gluten-free muffins, lime-yoghurt honey cake, rosemary bread and croissants sit next to butters ground from mixed seeds and pistachio nuts.
My day starts at Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary with an unwoke, fully caffeinated flat white. Happily, it’s served with smiles rather than side-eye.
And that’s the beauty of this health retreat.
Nothing is off the abundant food, drink and activities menu here in the south-east of Thailand, where the retreat has been attracting guests for more than 16 years, many of them on repeat.
One bright-eyed Belgian I chat to later at lunch, before she bounds off to one more of the 70-plus therapy and treatment options, is back for her 13th visit.
The leisure pool and lotus pond next to Amrita Cafe, Kamalaya.
At first glance, the property could be any high-end resort. The open but shaded spaces such as Soma Restaurant and Alchemy Lounge perch on a hillside of manicured jungle that leads to a palm-fringed beach where guests float away the hours on paddleboards and loungers.
In the crescent-shaped gym, with its views to the outlying islands, you can jump on a treadmill and run a marathon, take a reformer Pilates class in the dedicated studio or do laps in the 25-metre pool.
But there is more to Kamalaya, and it was the design of late Australian architect and artist Robert Powell, his deep respect for nature and love of Himalayan architecture that created such a deliberate place of conscious calm.
Villas are tucked into the lush hillside which leads to the beach lagoon.
Pathways skirt the huge granite boulders that were always there, locally made roof tiles age gracefully with each monsoon.
The pool, surrounded by lotus ponds and guarded by stone elephants – trunks up in a symbol of happiness – is inspired by the traditional bathing areas of Nepal and India with their stone steps and ghats.
At night, lights draped in Spanish moss move in the coastal breeze to resemble bioluminescent jellyfish adrift in the ocean, giving the place an ethereal feel.
Abundant hosts in saffron-coloured cotton are always exceptional. A buggy lift from the beach to the steam cave? Jump in. Iced water on the pool deck? Yes, please.
And it was the wellbeing offering that was always front of mind (and body and soul) for its founders John and Karina Stewart.
Driving the ethos is John’s 23 years in the Indian Himalayas, 16 of them as a monk, and Karina’s lifetime commitment to holistic wellness that includes a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
There are clues to Kamalaya’s provenance; prayer flags atop the property’s hill, mandalas on walls and a cave considered sacred and, still visited by Buddhist monks, open to guests for contemplation.
It also translates to a robust range of programs that start from three nights and run for as long as two weeks among the embrace of the property and its people.
We’re here for myriad reasons; relaxation, burnout, stress, fitness, managing change.
At our literal fingertips are more than 100 therapists and practitioners of Western and Chinese medicine, massage, meditation and yoga.
Tea sharing at the Alchemy Lounge.
“We don’t treat illness and hope to set the tone on lifestyle. But you are in the driver’s seat,” Karina says at a group lunch.
“The oolong tea ceremony is a way to get chatting and a way to get off coffee,” she says to no one in particular.
Noted.
It’s on one of the aforementioned pathways that takes me to Kamalaya’s heart, the Wellness Centre, where I tell South African therapist Tiah Julia Julius that kicking my caffeine habit entirely to the gutter isn’t a goal for this visit.
It’s needed, but I haven’t allowed enough time for both coffee withdrawal and its associated misery and making the most of the retreat’s offerings.
Rather, it’s shifting my state of overwhelm and constant exhaustion. The pandemic is over, but it’s not done with me.
That’s not news here with notable changes in the needs and preferences of guests since COVID-19, according to Karina.
“More guests are arriving with heightened levels of stress, anxiety and a deeper need for emotional and mental support rather than primarily seeking assistance with physical issues,” she says.
Sunset dining at Soma Restaurant, Kamalaya.
Everyone checking in here receives a Bio-Impedance Analysis that electronically measures body composition as the start point. Mine spits out a few higher than hoped for numbers, including BMI (hello, skim, decaf latte).
For me, the three-night Relax and Renew program and its six massages of varying origin, feels just right.
Just one thing is required of me each day and that’s to show up at the Wellness Centre by way of a gentle uphill stroll from my seaview villa to the open space with its panorama of palms and beach.
From there an assigned therapist is always waiting to guide me to one of 44 private rooms tucked into the side of the hill.
Day one has gentle hands releasing my clenched jaw during an Indian head massage with sweet jasmine oil. On day three comes Chi Nei Tsang, a Taoist, vigorous abdominal massage in the open air treatment room turned golden thanks to a Thai sunset.
Closer to nature in an open-air treatment area at Kamalaya.
Sitting places to enjoy post-treatment bliss, lemongrass tea and some more silence is restorative in itself. Not so quiet is my mind and my therapist suggests some off-program activities such as hatha yoga for my racing thoughts (I know, caffeine).
“The mind is like a monkey jumping this way and that,” says the yoga instructor, as if she can see straight into mine while adjusting my pose at a class in the hilltop pavilion.
Also recommended is Pranayama, a system of yogic breathing said to calm the mind and reduce anxiety through techniques such as alternate nostril breathing.
Detox rolls on the organic menu at Kamalaya.
I am no Zen master after one session, but I at least notice how shallow my breathing has become. I’m also paying close attention to the lunch and dinner menus where deprivation (even the thinly veiled, wrapped in lettuce leaf variety), is absent.
Even the unpalatable-sounding Detox Menu I’m eating from, free of dairy and meat, is full of fresh organic ingredients for Thai salads, soups, smoothies and curries with zing.
A mojito of pineapple, lime and mint with crushed green-apple juice and ice is the ideal alcohol-free sunset cocktail (wine is on the menu if you wish).
Time out in the steam room.
More challenging for some guests, as it is for me initially, is the digital detox. Devices are not welcome to dinner, or at any meal (although in your room it’s your call).
I’m happy to dine alone or with my new-found spa buddy but the communal table is set for every meal for anyone to join. Again, it’s about finding some balance.
That typical restaurant scene with couples scrolling in silence, guests on speaker, guests taking selfies is instead tonight full with just chat and laughter. It looks like everyone’s high on life.
While I’m barely dipping my toes in the wellness waters, Kamalaya’s offerings continue to extend and evolve, especially post pandemic
The latest frontier, longevity, and its treatments at the Longevity House include sessions of IV vitamin infusions, ozone therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
So, to the question: is change possible after just a few days?
If that means a few less shots of caffeine each week, daily breathwork (well, mostly) and feeling a little less ill at ease, then the answer is a resounding yes.
Early morning group meditation at Kamalaya.
FIVE THINGS TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR STAY
Before booking: Kamalaya’s offerings are plentiful so find some time to study the website for a sense of what type of experience might work best for you.
Read up: After your first wellness consultation, find a quiet space (of which there are many), to absorb the finer details of your program and add on any recommended treatments but …
Pace yourself: As tempting as it might be to bounce from yoga to Pilates, resist the urge to pack your day to the hilt. Busy is not better.
Break (gluten-free) bread: You might be happy to travel solo, but just one night at the communal table is a way to connect with others who are here with similar goals.
You need to leave: The return to reality and its stressors is inevitable. Consider the best take-homes that can be easily built into daily life once you’ve left the Kamalaya bubble.
The writer travelled as a guest of Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary
THE DETAILS
MORE
Qantas flies to Singapore and Bangkok three times daily from Sydney with connecting flights to Koh Samui via Bangkok Airways. See qantas.com
PROGRAMS
Kamalaya has 18 programs including the new Radiant Bliss women’s health program. A three-night Relax and Renew program costs from THB 49,403 ($A2070) a person and includes airport transfers, three meals a day and beverages (excluding alcohol), wellness consultation and Body Bio-Impedance Analysis and therapeutic treatments including Traditional Asian Foot Massage, Lotus Scrub & Wrap, Vital Essence Oil Massage, Chi Nei Tsang and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. See kamalaya.com
STAY
Accommodation is additional to the wellness programs and costs from THB 25,800 ($1133) for a three-night stay in a Hillside Room, double occupancy; Superior Suite Sea View costs from 18,000 THB a night, double occupancy. Stays include access to all daily holistic activities and use of the herbal steam caverns, swimming pools, thermal plunge pools and Shakti Fitness Centre.
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