Search Sponsored by

Explore TravelAge West

Destinations

Back
  • Africa & Middle East
  • Asia & South Pacific
  • Caribbean
  • Central & South America
  • Europe
  • Hawaii
  • Mexico
  • USA & Canada

Travel Types

Back
  • Family
  • Adventure
  • Cruise
  • River Cruise
  • Tour Operators
  • Luxury
  • Culinary
  • Romance
  • Wellness
  • Sustainability

Directories

Back
  • Hotels
  • Cruise
  • Job Seeker Center

Interactive

Back
  • Click & Win
  • Geo Quiz
  • Slideshows & Video

Professional Development

Back

Industry Insight

  • Business Features
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • Opinion
  • Tech
  • Humans of Travel Podcast
  • Trade Secrets Podcast
  • Coronavirus and Travel

Education

  • Certifications
  • Digital Guides
  • Fams
  • Thought Leadership
  • Advertiser Spotlight
  • Webinars
  • Immersive Family Experiences

Events

  • Global Travel Marketplace
  • GTM West
  • WAVE Awards
  • Future Leaders in Travel Retreat

Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter

I accept the T&C and Privacy Policy.

Search TravelAge West

Clear Field
MP_Headshot
Mindy PoderExecutive Editor

Share

Amangiri's Wellness Treatments Will Have You Literally Floating

Dec 14, 2020
Amangiri's Wellness Treatments Will Have You Literally Floating
In addition to signature treatments, Amangiri’s spa offers guests complimentary access to a set pool, a plunge pool, a steam room and a sauna.
Credit: 2020 Amangiri

Before my first craniosacral therapy (CST) massage, I was skeptical.

Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter

I accept the T&C and Privacy Policy.

I like deep-tissue treatments where the therapist makes it her personal mission to identify, attack and pummel every last knot in my back and shoulders.

Craniosacral treatment, on the other hand, involves light touch — “about five grams of pressure, or the weight of a nickel” according to The Upledger Institute Clinic, which was founded by John E. Upledger, the osteopath credited with creating CST.

According to the clinic, “skilled CST therapists can enhance fluid flow and balance membrane tension, helping to bring increased vitality to the system.” 

During that first treatment, a therapist gently held my head and hovered her palms over several locations of my body, testing for ease of motion and rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid pulsing around my brain and spinal cord. Any agitation I had about the light touch dissolved quickly. When the session was over, I found myself so deeply relaxed that I nearly floated out of the room.

One of five treatment rooms at Amangiri
One of five treatment rooms at Amangiri
Credit: 2020 Amangiri

And that’s how I found myself, years later, with a masked therapist cradling my head at Amangiri — Aman Resorts’ exclusive desert retreat in Canyon Point, Utah. The 25,000-square-foot spa offers treatments inspired by Navajo traditions — as well as a water pavilion featuring a step pool, a plunge pool, a steam room and a sauna, all of which are complimentary for guests to use.

But I chose to spend my first morning in near darkness, receiving CST. This time, though, I was in a floatation pool.

An Amangiri signature treatment, Desert Dream — like all Amangiri treatments — begins with a sage smudging and ends with a short crystal sound bath. The meat of this session, however, is entirely unique, combining CST with floatation therapy, followed by a steam shower and a massage of choice. Like everything at Amangiri, Desert Dream takes experiences that pack a punch and combines them for something extraordinary.

RELATED: What to Know About Amangiri's Upcoming Sleep Retreat With the Sleep Doctor

The resort’s saltwater float pool is located in a private suite that encompasses a changing area, a shower and a bathroom (where guests with cuts or razor burn are encouraged to armor themselves with Vaseline), followed by a hallway that leads to a small cave-like chamber filled by the pool and enough space for the client and the therapist.

Lit only by candles, the cozy atmosphere makes guests feel like they’re in an underground well. And it sure beats the usual way it’s done — in a coffin-shaped sensory deprivation tank.

Before each treatment, guests to the spa are smudged with sage for cleansing.
Before each treatment, guests to the spa are smudged with sage for cleansing.
Credit: 2020 Amangiri

While Amangiri’s version is much more reminiscent of a Tuscan bath than a tomb, the concept is the same: Float in about a foot of salt water heated to your body temperature, in darkness and in silence.

I had entered the pool with a pounding headache, and found that the water — coupled with my therapist’s gentle touch — quickly made me lose attachment to my senses, including pain.

My therapist then left me in the pool for 30 minutes of alone time — or so I was told. 

RELATED: Hotel Review: Amangiri, the Most Exclusive Resort in the U.S. Right Now

My comprehension of seconds and minutes completely — and blissfully — dissipated, along with the constraints of gravity. There is something incredibly freeing about temporarily disassociating from the parameters of your body — along with space and time. (If this is beginning to sound a bit woo-woo, note that the first sensory deprivation tank was designed by John C. Lilly, an American neuroscientist whose subsequent experiments with manipulating consciousness were conducted with hallucinogenic drugs.) 

Thirty minutes, hours or centuries later, my therapist retrieved me from the pool and guided me back into the world of external stimulation. We left the dark suite and walked a short distance in the bright, desert sun to a more traditional treatment room, where I was instructed to shower off the salt water and then lie down on — or, more accurately, melt into — my massage bed.

The room had a window that framed the sandstone boulders outside, but there was truly nothing hard about me anymore. 

For once, I found myself telling my therapist I did not need her to apply the most intense level of pressure. I was already deep into my desert dream.

The Details
Amangiri
www.aman.com

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TravelAge West will remain a trusted resource for our readers now and long after this crisis is over, and will continue to publish articles on a variety of travel industry topics, destinations and more to inspire future trips. If there’s something you’d like us to cover, please send a message to [email protected]

Tell Us What You Think! forum

Related Content

amangiricampsarikacovid

Hotel Review: Amangiri, the Most Exclusive Resort in the U.S. Right Now

  • Most Read
  • Most Shared
  1. How to Get a COVID-19 Test in Mexico
  2. What the COVID-19 Vaccine Means for Travel to Mexico
  3. These Hotels Offer COVID-19 Testing in the Caribbean
  4. How the Marriott Waikiki Collection Balances Safety and Aloha
  5. French Polynesia Is Closing Borders to Tourism
  1. CDC Requires Negative COVID-19 Test for Entry Into the U.S.
  2. French Polynesia Is Closing Borders to Tourism
  3. Remembering Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Founder of Sandals Resorts International
  4. How to Get a COVID-19 Test in Mexico
  5. Air Tahiti Nui and United Suspend Flights Between the U.S. and French Polynesia

More Stories Like This

What to Know About Amangiri's Upcoming Sleep Retreat With the Sleep Doctor

What to Know About Amangiri's Upcoming Sleep Retreat With the Sleep Doctor

FarOutSpa_FEATURE

5 Far-Out Spa Treatments in the U.S.

TravelAge West

About TravelAge West

  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Sales Team
  • Contact Us
  • My Profile

Advertise

  • Advertise With Us
  • Media Kit
  • Upload Ad Material
  • Digital Ad Specifications
  • Reprints
  • Subscribe to Print

Stay Connected to TravelAge West

Get Us in Your Inbox

I accept the T&C and Privacy Policy.


Northstar Travel Group

Northstar Travel Group

  • Travel Weekly
  • Travel Weekly Asia
  • Travel Weekly China
  • TravelPulse
  • TravelPulse Canada
  • TravelPulse Quebec
  • Meetings & Incentives
  • Travel Technology
  • Corporate Travel
  • Hotel Investment
  • Data Products
  • AGENTatHOME
Copyright © 2021 by Northstar Travel Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. 100 Lighting Way, Secaucus, NJ 07094-3626 USA | Telephone: (201) 902-2000
Load Carousel Here
Load Video Here