Our daily life is fast-paced, demanding and stressful. Much more so than it was just a few years or decades ago. The working world demands more and more performance and constant availability. No wonder that burnout, back problems and stress-related disorders are becoming more and more common. Holidays don’t even really help anymore. Even during the trip, thoughts turn to the flood of e-mails and the tasks awaiting our return. Hotels that offer their guests sustainable relaxation and suggestions for a more mindful everyday life demonstrate a different way of living.
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Studies Show: More Mindfulness Leads to Less Stress
„Mindfulness” is a buzzword that is currently being used extensively, almost excessively. The industry or niche is almost irrelevant. But those who dismiss mindfulness practices as spiritual nonsense are quite mistaken. Time and again, studies prove that a mindful attitude and daily mindfulness practices have a positive effect on well-being. Stress can be reduced and the risk of burnout can also decrease.
The concept of mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism and is intended to encourage individuals to consciously focus on the present. In the 1960s, mindfulness practices entered Western culture and increasingly lost their connection to religion. Today, mindfulness is still associated with spirituality in certain places, but it has long since arrived in Western living rooms in the form of yoga, journaling and meditation.
Mindfulness on Holiday – Sustainable Relaxation
»I need a holiday from my holiday.«
This statement is one you hear again and again. Maybe it’s because of too many adventures or experiences. Far more often, however, it is the stress level that does not subside and the continuous release of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These are released, for example, by the thoughts of an overflowing inbox or of tasks that have been left unattended. The body cannot withstand this constant fire. The consequences of permanent stress are damage to the immune system, sleep disorders and functional impairment of the organs.
Holidays are a great opportunity to learn and establish new habits and small mindfulness practices to counteract stress. Retreats and offers range from single sessions to several days or even weeks. The most important thing, however, is to take what you have learned back with you into your everyday life in order to benefit over the long term from the mindfulness practiced on holiday.
Learn Mindfulness Practices While on Vacation
Meditation offers in sustainable hotels
The ADLER Group hotels offer retreats with renowned and certified teachers throughout the year. Guests can register for yoga retreats with different focuses according to their needs or participate in the activities program, which also includes yoga sessions and meditations.
Tip: In November, the ADLER Spa Resort SICILIA is hosting a retreat, especially for women. The focus here is on female sacral yoga and the connection to female energy. At the ADLER Lodge RITTEN, yoga and meditation sessions are firmly anchored in the daily schedule. Retreats are also offered regularly in the magical surroundings of the Ritten.
The Hotel Klosterbräu in the Tyrolean resort of Seefeld is also dedicated to mindfulness. In the yoga room, the former refectory of the 500-year-old monastery, guests relax during guided meditations and dive deep into their dreams and thoughts.
Tip: The meditation sessions are perfectly complemented with a forest bathing tour on the Pfarrhügel and in the Eigenwald. These are regularly led by the Naturalists Nadine and Andrea.
There are few places that slow us down more and allow us to be more in the moment than the great outdoors. This is the premise under which the Allgäu wellness hotel HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio designs its activity program. Exercise in the fresh air at 1044 meters, enjoy nature bathing with guide Wolfgang, herbal walks, meditation and yoga sessions, which in summer always take place outside on the platform at the natural bathing lake, are firmly anchored in the hotel’s plan and philosophy.
The team at the Eco-Aparthotel The Dreamer’s Club has a similar view. Numerous outdoor lounges invite you to consciously switch off and enjoy the view of the natural garden and the ancient trees. Yoga sessions are offered on the hotel’s own terrace, which allows you to gaze out into the distance to the Mediterranean Sea. Meditation spaces in the forest and by the natural bathing pond also invite guests to pause at the Guntrams estate in Austria.
Places of Energy with a Special Impact
The Klosterhof – Alpine Hideaway & Spa in Bayrisch Gmain even invites guests to hand in their mobile phones at the beginning of their stay in order to enjoy the time consciously and without digital disturbance. The perfect place for this: the nearby „Heart Stone”. This is considered a place of power which is said to have special properties and where meditations are particularly effective and the mind comes to rest.
Such places of energy or power can also be found around the Hotel Weihrerhof on the Ritten in South Tyrol. During a walk to one of these places, mobile phones, tablets and the like should stay in the hotel room. For this purpose, there is the Digital Detox Box, in which the devices can be safely stored. In addition, a booklet gives suggestions on what you can do with the time you have gained, apart from enjoying walks to the places of power.
Forest Bathing
The practice of Shinrinyoku or forest bathing originates from Japan and refers to mindful wandering and consciously experiencing the forest. Forest air has been proven to have a special effect on humans, and this is exactly what forest bathing takes advantage of.
At Gut Sonnenhausen, certified forest experience guide Claudia Müller regularly accompanies guests to the Sonnenhaus forest for forest bathing. Her aim is that participants do not simply stroll through the forest, but perceive it with all their senses. This includes walking meditations, exercises for sensory perception and taking time to simply stop and listen.
Mindfulness practices are also a part of the CERVO Mountain Resort in Zermatt. The unique hotel offers the perfect setting for yoga and meditation. In addition, forest bathing in the Swiss Alpine forest and walking meditations are also part of the program. Perfect for learning mindfulness techniques to take home.
In the heart of South Tyrol, guests experience a very special, vegan hotel. Nestled between the mountains of Val Venosta, LA VIMEA invites guests to experience pure relaxation. The Adults Only Hotel aims to provide its guests with sustainable and holistic relaxation. This includes sound massage, yoga sessions at the natural bathing pond and guided forest bathing in the nearby woods. The aim is for guests to let their senses guide them, to feel the here and now and to surrender to the „healing power of the trees”.
„The messenger molecules of the trees, the so-called terpenes, are responsible for the positive effects of forest bathing,” explains the SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA team. Just 15 minutes of walking in the forest reduces the feeling of stress, lowers blood pressure and heart rate and reduces the stress hormones in the blood.
„Black Forest bathing” is an integral part of the wellness hotel in Bad Herrenalb and is also part of the fasting treatments, for example. In addition, the hotel’s own Selfness Centre specializes in stress management and offers yoga and meditation along with resilience courses and special mindfulness weeks.
