Taneesa Williamson Two wellness forces are set to unite and deliver a one-day women health retreat at Aurora Spa, including workshops, wellbeing classes and an exclusive look at the newly created Aurora Bathing Ritual.
Aurora Spa & Bathhouse founder, Lyndall Mitchell, is collaborating with Karina and John Stewart, the founders of Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary & Holistic Spa, to host a one-day women’s wellness retreat called “Flourish” in Sorrento on Friday, March 31.
Lyndall and the Stewarts have a deep connection, having met at many Global Spa & Wellness Summits around the world. With Kamalaya as Mitchell’s go-to wellness destination, she’s visited the award-winning spa located on the southern coastline of Koh Samui, Thailand, multiple times. The spa offers result-driven wellness programs that guide guests in achieving their personal wellness goals through a liberating humanistic approach, which ultimately led to the idea of the collaboration with Karina and John for this upcoming event.
The highlight of the “Flourish” retreat will be the Wellbeing Workshop led by Karina, who is a renowned global wellness entrepreneur and an insightful speaker in the wellness industry. The workshop will start with a brief talk on healthy daily habits and a short meditation guided by John, who spent 16 years as a yogi monk in the Himalayas. Karina will then work with participants on how to engage in holistic ways to better manage stress and burnout, including identifying key triggers and warning signs, developing preventative measures to reduce stress, and introducing techniques to alleviate symptoms such as poor sleep, anxiety, and worry.
After the workshop, participants will enjoy a nourishing lunch before heading to Aurora’s Bathhouse, a 500m2 state-of-the-art facility, to experience Aurora’s Bathing Ritual. The ritual is a ten-step immersive bathing journey designed for optimal well-being, featuring hot and cold contrast experiences, hydro-massage elements, and magnesium mineral-rich waters.
SPA+CLINIC spoke to Lyndall Mitchell ahead of the event to gain insight into the Aurora Spa Bathing Ritual, and what led her to incorporate this into the spa.
Share with us what led you to introduce colour therapy into the Aurora Bathhouse?
We’re always looking at ways to bring more healing to the Aurora experience. Having an indoor bathhouse means we can control and enhance the environment to bring greater enjoyment and benefits to our guests. Colour therapy, through the introduction of coloured lights in our pools, amplifies the health benefits without any effort required by the guest. Colour therapy has an ancient history, with roots in Egyptian, Indian and Chinese healing traditions. Today, we have advanced techniques, like the coloured lights we have installed in the bathhouse, that allow us to use colour to support health and wellbeing. Even though it’s an ancient therapy, it’s a new field of research.
According to Alexander Schauss, director at the American Institute for Biosocial Research, colour has a direct physiological impact. As he explains, “The electromagnetic energy of colour interacts in some still unknown way with the pituitary and pineal glands and the hypothalamus, deep in the brain.” These are the same organs that regulate the endocrine system, which controls many body functions as well as our emotional responses. More research is required and while scientists are interested, they face some resistance with the funding aspect. Findings to date suggest that colour therapy has a range of benefits and may positively impact a diverse range of conditions, such as academic performance, ADHD, blood
pressure, insomnia, lethargy, learning disabilities, asthma and migraine.
What plans does Aurora Spa & Bathhouse have for future wellness retreats & events?
A retreat that takes you out of your everyday environment can be a powerful catalyst for change. Even if it’s just for a day or two, that purposeful disconnect brings fresh perspective, renewed focus, deeper clarity and restored energy. For years, I’ve been coming to the Mornington Peninsula to take time out, reflect and reset. So, it’s natural that I want to offer that experience to others and that’s why we’ve created Aurora Retreats. Guests have the option of 3-day group retreats that are scheduled several times a year, or private retreats that can be enjoyed anytime.
These retreats include accommodation and meals, Aurora spa therapies and bathhouse access, beach walks and holistic activities, as well as wellness workshops. Next year, we will have another guest retreat with Dr Libby Weaver. This will be a three day retreat that explores the interplay between nutrition, emotions and the body’s biochemistry.
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