Eggnog, pigs in a blanket, champagne, cookies… our indulgences during the holiday season. Dressed festively and attending holiday soirees, from Thanksgiving to New Years, we tend to stop paying attention to healthy eating (and living). Instead of simply resolving to treat the body with a little more TLC next year, be proactive. Here are some post-holiday retreats sure to jump start many a resolution.

Turks & Caicos

Where: Parrot Cay

What: An Ayurvedic escape for the mind, body, and spirit

Why: With its crystal clear ocean and mile-long stretch of white sand, this private island resort is the ideal place to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and treat yourself to a customized, Ayurvedic Program. Pay a visit to Parrot Cay’s own Ayurvedic doctor who will recommend a special holistic treatment plan designed to rejuvenate the mind and body. Whether it is with yoga, a specialized diet, body treatments, detox, or meditation, guests are sure to leave the resort feeling rested and revitalized. The program includes all meals.

Rates for a three-night program start at $3,140 based on single occupancy and $5,009 based on double occupancy

Bali, Indonesia

Where: COMO Shambhala Estate

What: A stress-free vacation

Why: It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the pressures of work and home, especially during the holiday season. That’s why COMO Shambhala Estate, nestled in the heart of Bali, offers a Stress-Management Program specifically designed to relieve participants from the strains and anxieties of everyday life. The program focuses on the concepts and philosophies of Yoga, Chi Kung, and Tai Chi. Consultants craft a program incorporating meditation, outdoor pursuits, soothing therapies, and wellbeing lectures to ensure guests have the tools necessary to release built-up stress and to return home feeling revived and relaxed. The program includes all meals.

Rates for a three-night program start at $1,700 based on single occupancy and $2,600 based on double occupancy

Geneva, Switzerland

Where: La Réserve Genève

What: A four day anti-aging detox

Why: The holiday season, best known as the most wonderful time of the year, can also be one of the most stressful. Once the presents have been unwrapped, the giant family meals have been gobbled down, and the in-laws have finally left, treat yourself to a much needed post-holiday detox. La Réserve Genève’s Four-Day Better-Aging Detox Program includes a complete checkup and personalized action plan to restore the body’s balance and adopt a new, long-term, healthier lifestyle – just in time for the New Year! With full access to the spa facilities, inclusive healthful meals, daily sports activities, and a range of massages, wraps, and treatments, the stress from the holidays is sure melt away.

Si Kao, Thailand

Where: Anantara Si Kao Resort & Spa

What: A restorative retreat in Thailand

Why: For guests looking for a guided and wide-ranging wellness retreat, the Body Detox Programme at Anantara Si Kao Resort & Spa is just the ticket. Included in this package are private consultations with Naturopathic and Ayurvedic doctors in keeping with the resort’s specialized approach to wellness. A variety of spa treatments accompany these consultations, including detox massages, herbal heat treatments, and an Indian head massage. Participants are provided with a personalized diet program to take home so the wellness experience can continue long after leaving the resort.

Rates for a three-night program start at $753 based on single occupancy and $1,245 based on double occupancy. This package is also available for 1 night, 5 nights, and 7 nights.

You’ve always dreamed of being your own boss – now you can be! For the first time, in celebration of Wellness Month at Parrot Cay & COMO Shambhala Retreat, the resort will be offering a special self-administered juice cleanse borrowed from COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali. The resort’s team of experts has designed this exclusive cleanse to help expel toxins and to rejuvenate both the body and the mind. Maybe you’ve indulged in a few too many frozen cocktails or perhaps you’ve just been staying out late on these warm summer nights. Either way, the juice cleanse will help your body recover, giving it the break it needs to recharge and refresh and avoid those post-summer blues.

The meticulously outlined cleanse lasts three days and is specifically designed to simultaneously detoxify and nourish. “Juice bosses” visiting Parrot Cay will be able to choose from a menu of cleansing beverage options including stand-outs like the ‘Kryptonite,’ a post-workout muscle builder that protects the heart, boosts energy, promotes healthy skin, and contains apple, fennel, cucumber, spinach, green bell pepper, celery, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, and spirulina powder; the ‘Liven Up Your Liver,’ which supports liver detox functions and cleanses the blood, and contains carrot, celery, beetroot, bok choy, arugula, ginger, and turmeric root; and who wouldn’t want to try the ‘Bloat Away’ juice? This refreshing concoction features cucumber, parsley, celery, fennel, pea, and mint, and relieves bloating and water retention, supports kidney function and weight loss, and lowers blood pressure.

Each day, the pollutants and chemicals in the air we breathe and in the food we eat accumulate in the body as ‘toxins’. The COMO Shambhala cleanse gives our bodies the opportunity to recover and is the perfect pick-me-up as we head into fall!

Fashion icon Donna Karan unveils some of her travel tips and secrets in an interview on Saks Point of View. We’re not surprised that this chicster favors COMO Hotels and Resorts properties. She loves water and nature, which she finds at her home on Parrot Cay, and her most memorable summer vacation involved a yoga retreat in Bali at COMO Shambhala Estate. There are also useful tips on what to wear and how to pack. We wish we could travel like Donna…

NOW until Thanksgiving, Parrot Cay is offering an amazing saving of $1500 per day for those renting a Private Residence.  Other benefits include:

• Full board – with the option of dining in the resort’s two restaurants for all meals or in the privacy of the villa (breakfast and lunch from room service and dinner created by  a personal chef from a selection of menus)
• Dedicated butler service
• Housekeeping
• Full team of Parrot Cay Private Residences support staff
• Full resort privileges, including preferential restaurant and spa reservations
• Children under 12 stay and dine gratis off of the children’s menu

Further, guests have the opportunity to stay in the NEWEST addition to the estates, the stunning Tamarind villa, a beautiful villa divided into two distinct houses of three bedrooms and two bedrooms that can be rented individually or rented together as five bedrooms. The main house has a deck and swimming pool along with an ocean-facing gym and butler’s quarters, and the guest house also has its own sun-drenched deck and pool.

Rates start at $4,000 per night for a three-bedroom Island Villa. (This offer can also be combined with the 7-for-5 or 4-for-3 deals for increased savings.)

Everyone is trying to get healthy for summer. (Radiant skin and bikini bod? Check!) What better way than with COMO Shambhala Estate’s NEW juices? The resort just added Berry Beauty and Femme Fertile to its already extensive juice menu. No water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper concoctions here. Berry Beauty protects against early aging with a concentrated burst of anti-oxidants and phytonutrients and tasty ingredients including black skinned grape juice, mongoesteen pulp, ripe strawberries, and frozen blueberries. The Femme Fertile is perfect for those hoping for a little bun in the oven – with hibiscus flower, aloe vera, tangerine, passion fruit, strawberry, and cantaloupe, it optimizes the female reproductive system and hydrates skin and hair.

These juices join seasoned favorites such as Stress Reliever (with carrot, red apple, red grapes, ginger, spinach, fennel, beet and beet greens, celery, and sweet potato), Bloat Away (with cucumber, parsley, celery, fennel, pear, and mint), and Liver and Body Armor (with carrot, celery, red pepper, spinach, parsley, fennel, broccoli, and pumpkin seeds).

The Estate is nestled in the Balinese jungle among waterfalls and thick, verdant flora, the perfect setting to cleanse and tune-out. Among its wellness programs is its Cleansing Program, a three-, five-, or seven-day program. Consultants will encourage good nutrition and daily elimination to improve lymphatic circulation and keep those organs in tip top shape.

The three-night program includes:

• Accommodation
• All meals (including standard beverages)
• Wellness consultation
• 60-minute cleansing treatment
• 60-minute massage
• 120-minute body treatment
• Complimentary airport transfers
• Participation in The Estate’s daily schedule of activities
• Services of a personal assistant

Other wellness programs include Ayurvedic, Get Fit, Stress Management, and Rejuvenation.

Come February, when winter’s cold has really outworn its welcome, jet down to Parrot Cay for a restorative Pilates Retreat. Already known for its amazing yoga retreats, the private isle is kicking off its new offering, continuing to be ahead of the curve when it comes to wellness. The retreat comes after the success of the resort’s mini-Pilates programs last year.

Elizabeth Feltman, instructor at the renowned Manhattan studio Erika Bloom Pilates Plus, is teaching this immersive program. With two classes each day, participants learn to set intention behind each movement for a true body transformation and form a great foundation for an active and balanced lifestyle. Feltman’s love of movement began with dance, and for the last 11 years, along with dancing and integrative nutrition, she has trained using Pilates to deepen her understanding of anatomy and kinesiology (the study of human movement).

While on the island, be sure to take advantage of the white sand beaches, healthy COMO Shambhala cuisine with an Asian flare emphasizing raw foods, and the very Zen COMO Shambhala Retreat and its host of Asian-inspired treatments. Daily group yoga classes are also available gratis!

Dates: February 2-7, 2011

Inclusions:

·         Five nights accommodation

·         All meals (excluding beverages)

·         Round-trip airport transfers

·         Twice daily group Pilates sessions

Rates: From $5,536 per person (single occupancy) or $8,022 (double occupancy) including tax and service charge.

Optional Extra: A 60 minute private evaluation session with Elizabeth Feltman ($150 + 10% tax)

Don’t know what to get your boyfriend’s mom? Or your best friend who already seems to have everything? COMO Shambhala’s Holiday Gift Boxes are the perfect present. They’re already beautifully packaged and are filled with signature essential oil blends crafted to calm, relax, detoxify, and rejuvenate. Each package comes with a small card explaining the step-by-step ritual to maximize the benefits of the simple but potent essential oils. Order soon – all orders before December 15 ship for free!

Wash 3 ½ oz of fresh ginger, bruise it with a pestle, and boil it in 34 oz of water in a large pot. Simmer for two hours, then sieve well. This tasty tea will keep in the fridge for several days and tastes great when reheated with a little lemon and honey.

We love ginger tea because not only is it delicious, it also soothes an upset stomach and fights motion sickness.

A quick kudos to all spas awarded honors in SpaFinder’s 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, including the following spas that we are proud to work with.  Congratulations!

Our secret to a stress-free lifestyle? COMO Shambhala’s latest additions to their soothing oil collection. The new COMFORT, HARMONY, and CALM Balms come in 5 ml rollerball bottles – perfectly compact to zip through those eagle-eyed security lines at the airport or to tote around during a busy daytime shopping excursion.  Simply rub one of the oils on temples or wrists and welcome instant tranquility and serenity.

- COMFORT Balm unites a warm blend of lavender, nutmeg, and cedarwood to nurture and reassure
- HARMONY Balm mingles the essence of pure Indian sandalwood, lime, and exotic ylang ylang to bring together sensual energy and sensitivity
- CALM Balm relieves anxiety, nervousness, and stress with a powerful combination of lavender and geranium

COMO Shambhala is a lifestyle brand and healthy living concept composed of world class spas, treatments, services, products, and cuisine promoting overall well-being. The COMO Shambhala essential balm collection also includes the PURIFY, INVIGORATE and SHELTER Balms. CALM, COMFORT, and HARMONY will be available for purchase through the COMO Shambhala mail order service starting in January 2010.