Spa Imagine at Hotel Mousai in Puerto Vallarta promoted health and wellness at the luxury resort between November 18th and 30th with its annual wellness program, Wellness 2019.
Marisol Arreola, our Spa Manager, developed an integrative wellness program designed to align physical, mental and spiritual health. The program included a variety of spa treatments, dynamic workouts and meditation experiences.
A number of inspiring wellness experts were invited to join us for Wellness 2019, including yoga instructors, fitness coaches and lifestyle bloggers. This year’s wellness instructors included:
• Eric Delarosa – Fitness and nutrition expert offering online training and coaching and an internationally published fitness model
• Jamie Delarosa –nutrition expert, boot camp coach and fitness model.
• Iorch Quetzal – spiritual healer and reiki coach at Ixshala Vallarta. Renowned for his capabilities as a healer, spiritual guide and musician.
• Salila Thuy – yoga instructor and wellness advocate. She is widely regarded as a thought leader in self-transformation and positive identity development through yoga and has over 74,000 Instagram followers.
• Bonnie Ringer – experienced practitioner of Yoga and Healing Art Therapy and owner of Bonnie Shala Yoga Studio in New York. She leads teacher trainings and workshops throughout the East Coast and teaches worldwide.
• Victor Rodriguez – experienced yoga teacher specializing in Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy.
For our guests and members who had the opportunity to participate in the Wellness activities, we thank you for joining us. For our guests who didn’t have the opportunity to attend, here is a recap Wellness 2019 and we hope that it will inspire you to join us for a healthy vacation in paradise next year.
Yoga
Yoga is a practice where we can harmonize the body, mind and spirit.
On the Beach
Each morning special guest instructor Salila Thuy taught yoga on the beach framed by the beautiful backdrop of Banderas Bay. Breathing in the sea air while striking yoga poses is a great way to start the morning, which also has many health benefits. The ocean air can help your body absorb oxygen more easily and boost your serotonin levels making you feel calm and happy.
Salila taught a special AromaYoga flow class using doTERRA peppermint essential oils. She integrates the therapeutic benefits of essential oils with the sacred yoga practice of breath and asanas.
The sand is a great place to master your balance. It is harder to balance on the sand since it is not a level surface, but for those having problems balancing, it is helpful to dig your feet into the sand. If you do lose your balance, falling on the soft sand hurts a lot less than on the hard studio floor. The sand is also great for poses that usually require extra padding and any lunges with your knee down, feel good!
Stand Up Paddle Board
If you think that balancing on sand is hard, try balancing on a Stand Up Paddle Board. Well it is not as hard as it sounds. Bonnie Ringer taught SUP Yoga on weighted SUP Boards at the Panoramic Pool.
Guests were supported by Bonnie to challenge themselves by going further into poses and achieving difficult postures. Bonnie explained that certain poses like headstands can be scary but that fear is a limiting factor to finding the courage to push yourself. Bonnie’s definition of fear, ‘False Experiences Appearing Real”, resonates for many in SUP Yoga. Even though it’s possible to fall out of a pose, falling from a SUP board ends in a welcome and refreshing splash.
“I’ve come to witness through my 35 years of yoga practice and almost 30 years of teaching, that what we do on the mat has a direct correlation to our lives off the mat. When you need to have courage in your yogic journey for difficult postures like inversions, these challenging postures are exactly what brings courage and confidence in your everyday life.”
Yogini Bonnie Ringer
Boot Camp
Eric and Jamie Delarosa coached our boot camp guests using high intensity Tabata workout routines. Tabata was developed by Japanese scientist, Dr. Izumi Tabata and is a form of high intensity interval training burning up to 13.5 calories per minute!
They held the boot camp in the gym or on the beautiful Orange Tree Deck. They led an intense and physically challenging workout which included doing 4 rounds of exercises for 20 seconds with a 10 second rest. The rounds included jumping jacks, squat jacks, push-ups, mountain climbers, high knees, 180-degree squat jumps, supermans and burpees.
Jamie and Eric provided encouragement and motivation to help guests push their limits through these exercises. Eric Delarosa, said devoting 30 minutes of the day to the boot camp allows guests to burn enough calories that they can spend the rest of the day indulging in guilt-free pleasures, enjoying poolside margaritas and all the gourmet food options the hotel offers.
Baño Gong
Iorch Quetzal led guests in baño gong sound meditation. Meditation took place in the Red Room where Iorch immersed guests in beautiful sounds and vibrations with ancient sacred instruments like Tibetan bowls. The intention of sound meditation is for participants to experience healing through a bath of sounds that raises vibrational levels and balances inner energy.
We have seven chakras and all of them vibrate at their own frequency. Sound rhythms and vibrations work to tune each energy center using particular frequencies. Iorch instructed guests to receive the vibrations and the sound. To feel emotion and breathe it out. The sound works on many layers, physically allowing you to tune into any blockages, calm the mind, and experience an emotional cleansing.
Nada Brahma is a Sanskrit expression which translates to ‘sound is God’. The sound of the gong can bring you to a mystical experience that is very peaceful, it can shift you to a higher vibrational level so that you can transcend where you are physically.
Iorch explained that sound meditation with the gong can be a rollercoaster and that different sessions create different experiences. Sometimes you can have a mystical experience with a feeling of calm but other times it can evoke the sensation of chaos, but to recognize that the feeling of chaos is really just an emotional cleansing that addresses any blockages you may have.
After the session, guests shared their experiences of feeling swept away by the transformative rhythms, being on a spiritual journey towards healing and self-discovery, profound inner tranquility, and embracing their presence in the universe.
The capabilities of sound to transform your perspective, are profound. This incredible meditation presented a chance for guests to connect more deeply with their emotions.
New Moon Ceremony
Guests gathered at the beach to be part of the new moon ceremony led by Iorch Quetzal. The new moon is the beginning of the cycle and the perfect time to ask for your longed-for wishes to come true in hopes that they will be granted by the time the moon completes its cycle and returns full circle to new again.
Iorch started the ceremony by burning copal incense, a sacred ceremonial resin in Mexico, to connect with the air element and spirit. Participants were then invited to practice the Mayan ritual of honoring the 7 directions: east, north, west, south, up, down, and center.
Iorch then led guests in a prayer expressing gratitude for life, asking for blessings for everyone in need and setting intentions for the highest good. As part of the prayer, guests were invited to focus on thoughts of future prosperity and visualize it with the mind’s eye. Affirmations were made to help participants open up and become receptive to universal energies to set their dreams in motion.
After the prayer, guests were guided towards an altar to create a symbolic amulet to carry with them to remind them of their intention.
Guests filled their little bags with coffee beans for cleansing, rice for purity, lentils for prosperity and gold coins for prosperity in the form of the modern world. Each guest was blessed with a feather and began the next cycle of the new moon revived.
These are just a few of the incredible wellness activities offered for Wellness 2019. Guests also enjoyed kayaking and snorkeling, hiking, aromatherapy, Janzu therapy, cell medicine, focused breathing and making natural juices.
At Hotel Mousai, we support the wellness journey of all our guests and we invite you to start or continue training with us at any time of the year.
For our guests who had the opportunity to participate in this fantastic program of wellness activities, we would love to hear about your experience. Let us know what you would like to see for Wellness 2020?
