Travel Well
Your commitment to health doesn’t take a break when you do. From bucket-list backdrops to spaces designed with your emotional baggage in mind, check in – then zone out
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St Lucia
What: Yoga in the Caribbean
Where: Sol Sanctum Hotel and Wellness Studio, Rodney Bay on the north-west coast
How much: Rooms from £147pn, including vegan breakfast; solsanctum.com
Who: Amanda Statham, WH contributing travel editor
You had me at ‘St Lucia’
While St Lucia has more obvious appeal than a wellness weekend in Skegness, the white sand beaches, waving palms and warm sea weren’t the only things that made it special. Tucked away in a quiet side street in lively Rodney Bay (St Lucia’s answer to Brighton), Sol Sanctum has something no other hotel has: Marise Skeete. Marise has been teaching Art of Living – aworldwide yoga movement started by Ravi Shankar – and breathwork for over 30 years with her husband Wendell. After the small matter of a global pandemic to contend with, the couple’s dream of opening a wellbeing centre came to life.
What’s on the wellbeing menu?
What set Sol Sanctum apart from your average yoga retreat is that it’s not just for tourists. Locals joined the meditation, yoga, core strength and tai chi classes with guests who stayed in the spacious rooms – and you could go to as many (or as few) classes as you liked. But while some used it as a base for the beach that’s five minutes up the road, I was there to hone my yoga and meditation practice, so I tried as many classes as I could. Meditation with Marise was so beautiful, I made a promise to myself to do her Zoom classes when I returned home. After some chanting, we were led through a series of mantras, followed by a discussion on karma. I was surprised to find myself opening up and Wendell’s wise words, ‘expectations lessen our joy’, echoed in my head whenever I thought that those around me should be doing more. Pretending to be a newborn baby during yoga with instructor Janelle was more... experiential. With our eyes closed, we pretended we were in the womb before lying on our stomachs as newborns and then learning to crawl, stand and walk. It’s a long way from Yoga With Adrienne, but seeing the world through the eyes of a toddler was miraculous – I’ve never done a class like it, but I’d do it again.
Sounds intense, any time for sightseeing?
Plenty. After a morning class, I’d spend a delightful hour making a dent in the vegan breakfast: porridge, homemade jams and ackee – afruit with a nutty taste that you’ll find all over the Caribbean – before taking off on a day trip. At Diamond Falls, I covered myself in mineral-rich volc
