If your idea of paradise is walking barefoot down a white sand beach and you’re looking for a wellness retreat in the Caribbean, our Naturally Wild Wellness retreats are for you. As the pandemic rages on and the outdoors become a coveted resource, we’ve added a curated selection of wellness experiences to our beach glamping resort that wellness seekers and beach bum procrastinators will enjoy.
If you’re into nature you’ll also love our retreats. Some of our treatments go beyond the beach to explore other healing properties of nature that will leave you dying to come back for more. Here is everything we’ve put into what we like to think of as the Caribbean’s best wellness retreat if you love the beach or nature in general.
Who Are We?
Wild Lotus Glamping was the Caribbean’s first glamping resort. We thought that pitching beautiful lotus belle luxury tents 20 steps away from the turquoise ocean was a good idea. So we did just that five years ago on Valley Church Beach, a private beach in Antigua.
It wasn’t only because we knew that proximity to the beach is often the number 1 criteria for visitors coming to the Caribbean. It was because we fell in love with the music of the sea as it came in early in the morning and loved how the stars twinkled over the mysterious ocean at night.
We knew others felt the same way so we put our luxury glamping resort in Antigua right on the sand. You really can’t get much closer than that. Just imagine being able to sleep on a stunning, deserted Caribbean beach. At nights hundreds of twinkling fairy lights brighten the inside of your tent. Outside, tiki lamps cast shadows on the soft sand. When you wake up in your plush bed, with a few steps you can be swimming in the warm water. Or perhaps you just want to sit still in a beach chair and breathe in the fresh ocean breeze as you stare out into the blue horizon.
Because we’re a luxury glamping site we added all the creature comforts you would expect in a hotel room. Real brass iron beds, antique furniture, safes, a power bank to recharge devices, and gorgeous private showers with warm water powered by the sun all come included in your luxury tent. We also have add ons like campfires and private beach bars if all you want to do after your wellness treatment is laze around a bonfire, cocktail in hand.
And you are perfectly safe. Valley Church Beach stretches for about half a mile, and it has just one access point, protected by huge wrought iron gates. Our security guard patrols day and night and is also happy to help with lighting BBQ’s and campfires if needed. Each tent has lockable doors and windows and inside there are solid oak dressers with safes for laptops and valuables.
You can rest easy knowing that you can leave your belongings in the tent and that they will be secure. The iron gates are locked at sunset so that apart from our guests who have a key, there is no vehicular access to the beach after this time.
Right there on the beach you can have a wellness retreat that will soothe your spirit and bring you closer to nature.
A Caribbean Wellness Retreat That’s All About the Beach
Using the beach as our muse, we’ve curated wellness experiences that put you right on the beach. From beachside yoga to rhythmic drumming, our Caribbean wellness retreats ensure that while you twist your body into those yoga asanas you can always see the ocean. And if your eyes happen to be closed because you’re caught in the sublime bliss of one of our CBD oil massages, you can be sure that you’re so close to the sea that the scent of the tangy ocean breeze is never far away.
Blue Mind Beach Yoga
Apart from the beach bar and your tents, there isn’t another building along the whole half mile stretch of Valley Church Beach. Here, in this seaside paradise, yoga is the first guided wellness activity to help you declutter the mind.
The beautiful concept of the Blue Mind, described in a bestselling book by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, is based on proven scientific evidence that being close to water promotes mental health, happiness, and mental calm.
This inspired us to incorporate beach yoga as a core element of our Naturally Wild Wellness retreats. All the traditional elements you enjoy in yoga are expertly followed by our experienced instructor. The defining difference is that you can see the ocean from any angle you find your body twisted in. And with every breath, the ions found in ocean air bring healing to your mind and body.
Technical Details
Our yoga instructor, Karen Brookes, founder of Antigua’s National Dance Academy, Passion De Danse, began dancing at the age of three and went on to represent Antigua on a global stage. She studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, a leading school of contemporary dance, where she graduated with distinction. There, Karen studied Yoga and Pilates, and has been teaching yoga for the past seven years. Karen is passionate about yoga in nature and pioneered free yoga classes for locals in Antigua’s botanical gardens.
Karen leads the yoga sessions at sunrise or sunset. Our Wild Lotus roof canopies protect you from the sun and extra-large yoga mats make you comfortable on the sand.
Learn more about our beach yoga experience.
CBD Oil Massages On The Beach
Our massage therapies focus on relieving anxiety and muscle tension. Relaxation therapy, Swedish massage, and sports massages are among the options you can choose. Renowned for its pain-relieving properties, we harness the power of Cannabis Oil blended with Aloe Vera and other aromatic herbs, freshly picked from your tropical shower garden, to create unique and effective balms for the release of tension and stress.
Naturally Wild beach massages are more deeply satisfying not just because of the expert hands guiding your body into a de-stressed mode, but because of the beauty of the expansive sea. If you can keep your eyes open, all you’ll see for forever is a bright turquoise sea glistening under the sun. If the waves do lull you into a deep sleep, when you wake up the first thing you’ll smell is the ocean breeze.
Technical Details
Like our beach yoga, you can choose to get a sunrise or sunset massage. Contact us for more details
Drumming By the Sea
Caribbean culture has always put music at its center. Whether it's Jamaica’s iconic reggae or the fast paced soca beats of Trinidad and similar islands, you can't come to the Caribbean and not expect to find yourself swaying to music. One of the things that make our retreats some of the best wellness retreats in the Caribbean is our inclusion of Caribbean people and culture in our experiences.
Rhythmic drumming is an exhilarating musical experience using the intoxicating sound of drum beats and positive self-talk to bring healing. It’s proven to boost the functioning of your immune system and reduce anxiety.
The Beach is Just the Beginning
Most of the activities in our wellness retreats take place in our glamping space on the beach. But we also venture into the interior of Antigua for some of our wellness experiences. It is here that you’ll find a few unusual therapies that you’ll find hard to beat if you’re after both physical and mental wellness.
What Makes us the Caribbean’s Best Wellness Retreat?
In addition to treatments in our beautiful seaside setting, our Naturally Wild Wellness retreats are designed to empower you to make meaningful, lasting changes in your life. The integration of unusual nature based therapies and transformational volunteering into our retreats take them from the beach and into the soul of Antigua, both literally and figuratively. These additional opportunities delight the soul and bring a joy that you’ll remember long after you’ve left.
Forest Bathing- Shinrin Yoku Therapy
The only time we leave the beach during our retreat is to venture into Antigua’s heart where you’ll find tangled rainforest and the purest air. We go deep into the Wallins Nature Reserve under trees ranging from emerald to hunter green to become one with the sights and sounds of the forest. As we merge into the wild, guided Japanese style forest bathing that has been proven to improve many health markers begins amidst the cooing of endemic birds. You can read more about how we use nature to provide healing on our wellness retreats or book your own wellness experience.
Technical Details
Forest bathing is led by Danny Rousseau, one of our wellness coaches and takes place during the day. Be sure to pack comfortable sneakers or hiking boots if you plan to join us on our forest trek
Eco-Volunteering
Wallings Nature Reserve where the Shinrin Yoku therapy happens is a site locals have fought hard to preserve. After it was abandoned years ago, a group of determined locals set about refurbishing the forest into a beautiful place with well marked trails for hiking and peaceful picnic areas. This effort is ongoing and many continue to give their limited time and resources to ensure the Nature Reserve will stay beautiful and majestic for generations to come.
If you get joy from doing good, our Caribbean wellness retreats give you the opportunity to contribute your talents and time to help with the ongoing refurbishment of Wallins Nature Reserve. You can help locals keep the trails functional or repair the dams and water trenches that bring water to the area. It’s a little bit of energy for a payoff that will last you long after you've gone home.
Technical Details
We’ve worked with Reffica Attwood, Wallins Nature Reserve CEO, and the local villagers to create the opportunity for transformational volunteering that tackles personal change and helps preserve the rainforest. When you book, ask about the volunteering details if volunteering is something you would like to add to your wellness retreat with us
