At the sting of a cliff overlooking the glittering Mediterranean in Ibiza, a crowd of fifty or so dancers gyrated, ululated and outstretched their arms towards the sun.
It was an ecstatic dance party for the ages — but there was no alcohol, no illicit substances or any famous DJs in sight. It was a workout class, not a rave.
The cliffside celebration was led by instructor Luuk Melisse who, along together with his partner Gabriel Olszewski, runs Sanctum, one in every of Amsterdam’s buzziest fitness studios, propagating a mindful movement method that’s part aerobics, part dance, part guided meditation.
Firstly of every session, participants don a pair of Bluetooth headphones through which the category leader provides instruction set to a soundtrack of inspirational quotes and electro music.
Melisse and Olszewski got here to Ibiza to participate within the inaugural Alma, a wellness festival concept developed by Six Senses Ibiza (from $301), which opened its doors in July 2021.
The festival brought in a global jet set of wellness practitioners and leaders — including The Class founder Taryn Toomey from Latest York, top London cosmetic acupuncturist Sarah Bradden, model and environmentalist Lily Cole and Michael Acton Smith, founding father of the meditation app Calm — in addition to near 200 guests from around the globe.
At a time of 12 months when Ibiza’s social scene typically starts to wane until the subsequent summer, Alma attendees gathered to participate in kundalini yoga, vitamin IV drips, tantric sex workshops and all the most recent the wellness world has to supply.
“It’s been such a cool weekend,” said one attendee, an American expat who had flown in from Barcelona. She had been on the fence about attending, but decided to come back when she saw that Taryn Toomey could be there. One other attendee said he had traveled around the globe to take Sanctum classes.
The success of Alma, especially in its first 12 months, may come as a surprise to some. That’s because Ibiza, the third largest of Spain’s sun-drenched Balearic Islands, is often called one in every of Europe’s great party destinations. The island has been a very important summer season checkpoint for the international jet set because the Nineteen Sixties, famed for its luxe bohemian living and lavish nightlife — you haven’t really made it as a DJ until you’ve played Ibiza.
But on the island’s secluded northern side, literally and figuratively worlds away from the nightclubs and partying throngs on the southern shores, there’s been a cultural shift towards balanced living. Today, it’s an island where travelers go to not drown out the experience of on a regular basis life but to optimize it. After a stay full of yoga flows, fancy spa treatments and just the suitable combination of organic juices, you simply might leave feeling, looking and being higher than once you arrived.
Six Senses is leading that charge by integrating healthy living into every part on property — there may be a spa and healthy touches reminiscent of white sugar not being allowed on property — in addition to an annual festival is the vision of the hotel’s developer and owner Jonathan Leitersdorf.
“We’re like a jewellery store built on top of a gold mine here,” said Leitersdorf. “There may be an explosion of talent on Ibiza. There are such a lot of incredible practitioners for yoga, sound work, breath work, every part. We’ve 200 practitioners as a part of our network, so we didn’t must bring anybody in from off the island.”
While there have been higher-end resorts on the island for a while, reminiscent of the Nobu Ibiza Bay and the 7Pines Resort, none offer the identical absolute give attention to well-being, and that is the primary time that the island’s plethora of wellness practitioners have been celebrated and integrated right into a single luxury hotel setting.
“The concept was to create a spot that’s got all of it,” said Leitersdorf. “You detox, you then retox, you see the culture, you meet people, you do spiritual things, and eat healthy and organic food. We wish people to lose 1 kilo before they leave.”
And if you happen to ask locals, the debut of Six Senses Ibiza and its Alma festival are a very important milestone within the island’s transformation from a psychedelic hot spot for naughty jet-setters, to at least one where you possibly can still have your partying, but with a side of cryotherapy and maybe a guided meditation or two.
“There has definitely been a rise in wellness culture here,” said yoga teacher James de Maria, who has lived on the island for 23 years.
When he moved to the island in 1999, he was one in every of just six yoga teachers on the island; today, there are innumerable. By his estimation, it was around 2010 that “word regarding the magic healing qualities of the island began to spread and there was a surge in wellness practitioners.”
There may be faint hesitation amongst some locals, nevertheless, that the island is selling out.
“Ibiza is stuffed with seekers, visionaries, thought leaders and talent,” said Mia Kirn, a neighborhood who has lived full time on the island since 2016 and is producing TEDxDaltVila which is able to, in March 2023, turn into the island’s first full-day TEDx event. “[It] has all the time been a mecca for well-being, it just was not so commercialized before because it is now.”
“Commercialized” needn’t be a grimy word, nevertheless.
The push to draw wellness travelers opens up the island to year-round tourism.
“You may be very wellness-focused and drink wine and eat cake and go party all night,” said Anna Bjurstam, the “wellness pioneer” for Six Senses Resorts globally. “It was once on Ibiza that you just were either a cool party animal or a tree hugger, but those things don’t must be mutually exclusive.”
At the sting of a cliff overlooking the glittering Mediterranean in Ibiza, a crowd of fifty or so dancers gyrated, ululated and outstretched their arms towards the sun.
It was an ecstatic dance party for the ages — but there was no alcohol, no illicit substances or any famous DJs in sight. It was a workout class, not a rave.
The cliffside celebration was led by instructor Luuk Melisse who, along together with his partner Gabriel Olszewski, runs Sanctum, one in every of Amsterdam’s buzziest fitness studios, propagating a mindful movement method that’s part aerobics, part dance, part guided meditation.
Firstly of every session, participants don a pair of Bluetooth headphones through which the category leader provides instruction set to a soundtrack of inspirational quotes and electro music.
Melisse and Olszewski got here to Ibiza to participate within the inaugural Alma, a wellness festival concept developed by Six Senses Ibiza (from $301), which opened its doors in July 2021.
The festival brought in a global jet set of wellness practitioners and leaders — including The Class founder Taryn Toomey from Latest York, top London cosmetic acupuncturist Sarah Bradden, model and environmentalist Lily Cole and Michael Acton Smith, founding father of the meditation app Calm — in addition to near 200 guests from around the globe.
At a time of 12 months when Ibiza’s social scene typically starts to wane until the subsequent summer, Alma attendees gathered to participate in kundalini yoga, vitamin IV drips, tantric sex workshops and all the most recent the wellness world has to supply.
“It’s been such a cool weekend,” said one attendee, an American expat who had flown in from Barcelona. She had been on the fence about attending, but decided to come back when she saw that Taryn Toomey could be there. One other attendee said he had traveled around the globe to take Sanctum classes.
The success of Alma, especially in its first 12 months, may come as a surprise to some. That’s because Ibiza, the third largest of Spain’s sun-drenched Balearic Islands, is often called one in every of Europe’s great party destinations. The island has been a very important summer season checkpoint for the international jet set because the Nineteen Sixties, famed for its luxe bohemian living and lavish nightlife — you haven’t really made it as a DJ until you’ve played Ibiza.
But on the island’s secluded northern side, literally and figuratively worlds away from the nightclubs and partying throngs on the southern shores, there’s been a cultural shift towards balanced living. Today, it’s an island where travelers go to not drown out the experience of on a regular basis life but to optimize it. After a stay full of yoga flows, fancy spa treatments and just the suitable combination of organic juices, you simply might leave feeling, looking and being higher than once you arrived.
Six Senses is leading that charge by integrating healthy living into every part on property — there may be a spa and healthy touches reminiscent of white sugar not being allowed on property — in addition to an annual festival is the vision of the hotel’s developer and owner Jonathan Leitersdorf.
“We’re like a jewellery store built on top of a gold mine here,” said Leitersdorf. “There may be an explosion of talent on Ibiza. There are such a lot of incredible practitioners for yoga, sound work, breath work, every part. We’ve 200 practitioners as a part of our network, so we didn’t must bring anybody in from off the island.”
While there have been higher-end resorts on the island for a while, reminiscent of the Nobu Ibiza Bay and the 7Pines Resort, none offer the identical absolute give attention to well-being, and that is the primary time that the island’s plethora of wellness practitioners have been celebrated and integrated right into a single luxury hotel setting.
“The concept was to create a spot that’s got all of it,” said Leitersdorf. “You detox, you then retox, you see the culture, you meet people, you do spiritual things, and eat healthy and organic food. We wish people to lose 1 kilo before they leave.”
And if you happen to ask locals, the debut of Six Senses Ibiza and its Alma festival are a very important milestone within the island’s transformation from a psychedelic hot spot for naughty jet-setters, to at least one where you possibly can still have your partying, but with a side of cryotherapy and maybe a guided meditation or two.
“There has definitely been a rise in wellness culture here,” said yoga teacher James de Maria, who has lived on the island for 23 years.
When he moved to the island in 1999, he was one in every of just six yoga teachers on the island; today, there are innumerable. By his estimation, it was around 2010 that “word regarding the magic healing qualities of the island began to spread and there was a surge in wellness practitioners.”
There may be faint hesitation amongst some locals, nevertheless, that the island is selling out.
“Ibiza is stuffed with seekers, visionaries, thought leaders and talent,” said Mia Kirn, a neighborhood who has lived full time on the island since 2016 and is producing TEDxDaltVila which is able to, in March 2023, turn into the island’s first full-day TEDx event. “[It] has all the time been a mecca for well-being, it just was not so commercialized before because it is now.”
“Commercialized” needn’t be a grimy word, nevertheless.
The push to draw wellness travelers opens up the island to year-round tourism.
“You may be very wellness-focused and drink wine and eat cake and go party all night,” said Anna Bjurstam, the “wellness pioneer” for Six Senses Resorts globally. “It was once on Ibiza that you just were either a cool party animal or a tree hugger, but those things don’t must be mutually exclusive.”
