Holistically Katie

My mom and I were lucky enough to check out the Canyon Ranch resort up near the Berkshire mountains!

As much as I wanted to travel somewhere warm this month, a trip down to Florida just didn’t work out for me. I still wanted to do something though, so me and my mom decided to head up to the Berkshire mountains to relax, unwind, and treat ourselves. We found this place called Canyon Ranch, which is known for being a complete health and wellness resort. Canyon Ranch has a spa, over three gyms, a yoga room, meditation rooms, beautiful hiking trails and so much more for people to experience. Everyday, they have a new list of activities that are on the hour for you to check out based on your needs. I attended tons of classes when I was there, some of them being classes I had never heard of! It is also all inclusive, so you get all your meals without paying extra. I will be dividing this post into the following sections: LOVED, MEH… and DIDN’T LOVE to help break down my opinions on this resort. Overall, I want to say I feel extremely blessed and grateful to be able to not only experience this wonderful place, but also to spend some quality time with my mom. That was probably the best part of it all! Now into the review…

LOVED:

• The Yoga! Canyon ranch offers several yoga classes based on your preferences; they have Power flow, restorative, aerial yoga and more! I was able to try all three of them and they were amazing! I love the amount of variety that was offered for yoga classes. I felt that the level of instruction and pace of the classes were perfect for just about anyone.

• The Rooms. The rooms at this resort were exquisite. I have seriously never been so comfy in my whole life! It almost topped my bed at home, and let me just say that I have quite the relationship with that bed. Maybe it was the cozy atmosphere or the fact that snow was falling around me and landing softly in the giant trees; but I had never slept better in a very long time.
• Astrology Reading. I had my astrology chart analyzed by a lovely practitioner named Jen, and it was quite an insightful experience. I am an astrology believer (shout out to fellow Cancers out there!) but this shifted my entire perspective on the stars/planets and all that sort of stuff. Jen analyzed my birth chart for me based on where and when I was born, and told me about what all my planets mean, and what my future projections look like. It was crazy because she knew just by looking at my chart, what my profession is and how my relationships with the people in my life are. It was honestly a life-changing experience and I feel like I know myself better.

• Sensitive skin facial. I’ve had a few facials done before, but I don’t get them very often just because my skin is super sensitive and reacts to basically anything that is foreign or has a weird ingredient. I told this information to the facialist before, and she did a beautiful job. The entire experience was so pleasant and relaxing; I almost fell asleep. Best of all, my skin was radiating after and looked so healthy! No breakouts from this facial yet, and I hope it stays that way!
• TRX Row Class. I took a fun fitness class with my mom called TRX Row, where you basically use a handle bar that is attached to a bungee cord. I was skeptical when I first saw this contraption, but let me tell you, this workout is KILLER. I consider myself in pretty good shape, but after doing this workout I was completely winded.  We loved it so much that we want to install one in our backyard! This is a full body workout that focuses on muscle tension.

• The Gyms. The facilities were gorgeous. I loved working out here. They have state of the art equipment and so much space for you to do whatever you wanna do. I had space to stretch, do HIIT workouts, lift weights, run on the treadmill; whatever! I wish I could have these gyms at my disposal my whole life.

• The Shop: Oh my gosh, I could have gone bankrupt if I was there any longer. In the shop they had Canyon Ranch attire, but they also had Spiritual Gangster, BeyondYoga, Lululemon and aloyoga! It was insane how many cute, stylish and functional yoga clothes they had on display. There were also lots of items on sale, so I picked up some aloyoga leggings, and a few new tank tops! The selection they had was fantastic, it was like my own personal heaven. Anyone else? Fitness clothes>Regular clothes, any day of the week.

MEH:

• The Food. The food was not terrible, but it definitely did not exceed my expectations. I found a lot of the dishes to be quite bland, and I realized that it is because they do not use any sodium in the food. I had to ask for table salt to be brought out. I understand that this is a wellness resort and they strive to make everything as healthy as possible, but salting your food a bit to make it taste good I do not believe is unhealthy in any way. In addition, the portion sizes were tiny. A lot of people who come here are looking to lose some weight, but for me, I found some of the portions to be absolutely ridiculous. I was also working out three times a day, doing yoga, and walking around, so I felt the lack of adequate portion sizes to be an issue. Luckily, the meals were all inclusive, so if you didn’t feel full you could always ask for more. They also had plenty of vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free options which was awesome.

• The Interior of the Resort/Spa. This place is a five star resort and is quite highly regarded, but I did not feel that the interior of the walk in was very inviting, nor the spa. It was kind of old looking, and sort of drab as well. I expected a fresh entryway with lots of light coming through, and flowers; perhaps an earthy vibe. But it did not feel like anything special. Same with the spa, it was okay, but definitely a bit outdated. They are currently undergoing renovations, so hopefully this vibe will be improved.

• The Front Desk Staff. I didn’t find the people at the front desk to be incredibly welcoming, friendly, or positive. When we first checked in, the lady at the front desk was taking to us in a very stern manner with a blank expression on her face. I would expect that for the amount we are paying, people to act more kind, or at least thankful that we chose to stay at their resort over anywhere else.

DIDN’T LOVE:

• The “Muscle Conditioning” Class. Ugh! I have never taken a group class that was worse than this one before. I expected this to be a high intensity, calorie burning workout that had us sweating and getting those endorphins pumping, but it was quite literally the opposite. We did about ten push-ups, ten squats, ten lunges, and in between all the exercises we had to sit down and hear the instructor basically talk about himself for ten minutes. “I see bad form all the time” “People always ask me how they can look like I look” “This is how I do this exercise” …blah blah blah. I get that he’s a trainer and he’s the “professional” but I came to this class to workout, not to hear you blab on about yourself! My mom and I were both very disappointed, and we ended up both working out in the gym after to get an actual workout. What a waste of time. This just shows you that not every class you take at Canyon Ranch is going to be amazing and rewarding. It’s kind of a shot in the dark sometimes.
• Reiki Massage. I’ve never gotten a reiki massage before, so I was curious to try this out and see if I notice any benefits. From research, reiki is basically to increase the energy flow in  your body to all the parts that are “unbalanced”. It can help with sleep, mood, and overall energy levels. I may have set my expectations too high, but I went in and laid on the bed for a full hour while the therapist put her hands on different parts of my body. It wasn’t really pleasurable and I didn’t feel much happening in my body throughout the entire experience. The other thing I didn’t really love about it is that the therapist didn’t tell me what parts of my body had “blocked” energy, she didn’t give me any recommendations, and she didn’t ask if I felt any difference from point A to point B. If she had talked me through the process more and given me advice, I would have liked this a lot better. But I didn’t feel that different after. I don’t want to give up on this type of massage; I’m just going to find a different place.

So there is my unbiased review on Canyon Ranch. Overall, I had an awesome time and would go back next year in a heartbeat! As you can see, there are many more positive bullet points than negative ones. I feel so rejuvenated and refreshed. Best of all, I got to hang with my mama which is the best because I don’t get 1 on 1 time with her very often. If you take anything from this post, remember to spend time with those that you love and never take those moments for granted. Whether it’s doing yoga, sitting in a steam room, or going on a walk or cooking dinner together, SAVOR those moments with the people closest to you. Those are moments you will never forget; I promise.