Balance Your Life in Paradise This New Year

Whether at home or on holiday, there's no better time than the start of the new year to make changes to your lifestyle. The innovative wellness concept Balance Wellness by Anantara enables you to focus on your health and wellbeing 365 days a year. From yoga poses to indigenous herbal remedies, juice recipes and tips on fighting a cold, it's easy to beat the January blues and embrace a healthier mind, body, and soul.

Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, Thailand

In the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic capital cities, Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel offers discerning travellers a luxurious retreat. To help guests acclimatise to the hectic pace of the city, on-call Visiting Practitioners are available on demand.

Visiting Practitioner Grace Kim, Qi Gong Master, says: “Don't forget your connection with nature. When doing energy work, breathing techniques, or meditating, try to be as connected with the ground as possible. Stand barefoot, sit under a tree with nothing between you and the grass, or float in the sea. The Earth’s energy is constantly flowing around us all, and can completely transform a stressful day.”

Anantara Hoi An Resort, Vietnam

The charming boutique retreat in the historic port town of Hoi An gives guests a taste of authentic Vietnamese wellness secrets with treatments to keep you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Spa Manager Mardiana Panjaitan suggests a traditional Vietnamese herbal bath to help keep warm, especially in winter. The bath ritual combines the healing power of aromatic Vietnamese herbs and the detoxifying effect of mineral sea salt to draw out toxins and impurities from the body and relax the mind.

• A cup of fresh lemongrass (the quantity will depend on your bath tub size), cut into small pieces
• Freshly sliced ginger
• Lime or lemon
• To help soothe and relax sore muscles mix together Epsom salt, pink Himalayan salt, and baking soda equal to two cups and mix well. Add to your bath together with your preferred herbs and enjoy.

Anantara Angkor Resort, Cambodia

Known for its ancient history and cultural significance, Siem Reap is a place rich in spiritual and ritual healing. Anantara Angkor Resort uses local remedies to introduce guests to an ancient form of healing through the Anantara Spa and Balance Wellness by Anantara offering. Executive Chef Ken Wagner suggests indigenous ingredients to help with weight loss and blood detoxification.

• Indigenous to Cambodia, Moringa is gaining in popularity among naturalists and holistic experts. No wonder, as it ticks all the benefits from commonly sought-after superfoods, including: being high in vitamins A and C; fighting free radicals; dramatically reducing inflammation; assisting in weight loss as it can increase metabolism; and aiding in blood detoxification.
• Fresh Moringa leaves can be added to many soups, curries, stir-fries, omelettes, and salads — any dish that includes the use of various herbs. It is available to buy in most health food stores as a dried powder or supplement which can be added to any meal.

Anantara Uluwatu Bali Resort, Indonesia

Set on Bali’s secluded southern coast, Anantara Uluwatu Bali Resort is an exceptional sanctuary of natural beauty offering indigenous health treatments. Spa guests can enjoy a traditional healing drink called jamu kunyit asam (turmeric tamarind) which helps to neutralise toxins in the body with anti-ageing effects. To make this Balinese drink at home use this recipe.

• ½ kg turmeric
• 1⁄4 c palm sugar
• ½ kg tamarind
• 2 l of water
• ½ tsp salt

Grate or blend turmeric until it becomes smooth. Then, squeeze the pulp to extract the juice. Boil turmeric juice and add tamarind, palm sugar, and salt. Wait until it is boiling.

Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort, Sri Lanka

Bring your body to a sensory state of bliss with an experience that encapsulates Sri Lanka's finest elixirs and wellness practices. Spa Manager Roshantha Ramawickrama shares the recipe for the resort’s popular purifying green tea and exfoliating salt scrub which smooths and softens skin, giving a fresh glow for the new year.

• 1½ c sea salt
• 2 tsp green tea powder
• 2 green tea bags
• 1 coconut oil

Open green tea bags and empty tea leaves and set aside. In a bowl place sea salt, green tea powder, and loose-leaf tea leaves; mix together all the ingredients until the green tea powder is incorporated into the sea salt. Slowly add coconut oil and stir until all the mixture is covered in oil.

Anantara Veli Maldives Resort, The Maldives

Where better to refresh, and rejuvenate for the new year than hidden away from the world in one of Anantara’ s Maldives resorts. Dr. Avinash R. Tiwari, the resident doctor at SUNDARI Ayurvedic Spa at Anantara Veli Maldives Resort, suggests some yoga poses that help practitioners focus on their breath and improve the function of their body, as well keeping hearts healthy.

• Trikonasana (Triangle Pose): Known for its ability to beat stress, this is a heart opening asana is designed to promote cardiovascular exercise. The chest expands while controlled breathing helps increase stamina.
• Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose): The cobra pose increases the stretch to the chest and helps being breathing down to normal.
• Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose): The bridge pose a great asana to help keep your heart healthy. Not only is it less demanding than bow pose, the bridge pose facilitates deep breathing, opens and improves blood flow to the chest region, and helps control blood pressure.

Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas, The Maldives

Enjoying a prime location in the Maldives’ Baa Atoll island archipelago, Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas is the perfect place from which to explore the pristine waters and escape to on a wellness journey. One way of embracing a healthier, happier holiday is the practices of Ayurveda, a traditional East Indian holistic medical science which uses natural methods to promote healing. Guests can set up a treatment with the doctor upon arrival to diagnose their dosha, which are the energetic principles that govern physiological and psychological functions within us all. Guests can then have treatments and meals tailor-made to their dosha.

Spa Manager Nenita Cabrera suggests an Ayurvedic tip on how to help have the best night’s sleep during the winter months. Drink warm milk at bedtime. In one cup of warm milk add a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of cardamom, a pinch of saffron.

Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara, Oman

For a wellness escape unlike any other, Oman is the ideal retreat to discover new remedies and medicinal wonders from centuries past. Situated between a beach and a freshwater lagoon, Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara offers refreshing luxury on the south coast of the Dhofar region. One of the most effective indigenous ingredients is the region’s sacred Frankincense oil which offers a variety of health benefits. It is believed to relieve chronic stress and anxiety, reduce pain and inflammation, boost immunity, and has been said to assist in fighting cancer. Below are some at-home uses for Frankincense oil, which is available at most health food, organic, and naturopathic stores, from the Director of Spa Esmerelda van der Westhuizen.

• Skin care: Frankincense essential oil is great for skin care and nearly everything related to skin; burns, rashes, cuts, scrapes, etc. It also works for mature, premature ageing, and environmentally challenged skin. To use as a night (or day) cream: Just add a few drops to the base of your choice (unscented lotion, liquid soap, shower gel, or moisturiser). Frankincense oil can be added to pure water and used as a toner or refresher.
• Compresses: Fill a bowl with cool water (or warm water if desired) add a few (3 – 5) drops of Frankincense and toss a washcloth in, then wring it out and placing the cool cloth on your forehead. The warm compress will be beneficial for sore muscles and anywhere heat is desired.

Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort, Oman

To elevate your wellness experience, escape to the Middle East’s highest five-star resort, Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort. Situated in the rocky contours of the Saiq Plateau on Oman’s fabled Green Mountain, the resort is perched 2,000 metres above sea level on the curving rim of a great canyon.

The area is home to more than 22,500 pomegranate trees growing in nine villages. Pomegranates are revered as a symbol of health, fertility, and long life and contain high levels of flavonoids and polyphenols, potent antioxidants, offering protection against heart disease and cancer. Combined with Himalayan pink salt, which is also known to have many health benefits such as detoxifying the body by balancing pH and the mineral status of the body, the two ingredients make a homemade scrub that will leave skin feeling fresh and revitalised. Spa Manager Gina de Costa shares her recipe for a purifying pomegranate Himalayan salt scrub.

• ½ c pomegranate seeds
• ½ c fine Pink Himalayan salt
• 2 tsp coconut oil, avocado oil, or olive oil

In a small bowl, mix the Himalayan salt and pomegranate seeds, crushing both with a spoon. Add the oil and mix. Massage gently onto damp skin. There should be enough for a full body scrub. Rinse off.