By Francesca Turchiano
My idea of an enriching and rejuvenating vacation has always been a couple of weeks in Paris or London or Yachats, Oregon. Escaping the geographically familiar seemed prerequisite to feeling I’d been somewhere. Steep me in culture or nature and my goals were met.
After an extra-stressful period without a vacation, I began planning one. I calculated the cost of ten days in a major European hub, including good food and accommodations. I weighed my likely reaction to the stresses of air travel and to the unfavorable exchange rate. Could I chill out and pay $40 or so for a dressed mesclun salad in a barely toney restaurant?
Knowing the answer, I opted for a seemingly radical alternative: a full week away by myself on a non-Spartan, but sort of Sartrean, existential trip with countless health benefits to boot. I signed up for a full week at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts.
In addition to rejuvenation, I also wanted a comprehensive medical evaluation, the kind associated with Mayo or Cleveland Clinic, the nation’s leading heart hospital. Canyon Ranch is now in partnership with Cleveland Clinic and, for a price, guests can purchase a startlingly rigorous examination of self, both physical and mental. That program, “The Enhanced Executive Health Program,” is the one I joined. It is described as ” an individual health assessment with a breadth and depth previously unavailable within the U.S. healthcare system.” A dozen less costly, focused packages are also offered. These include weight loss, ultra-prevention, diabetes management, stress management and Ayurvedic health. I am now waiting to receive the bound copy of findings and recommendations in advance of a follow-up conversation with the way-above-average physician who oversaw my stay.
Despite its elegance and sophistication, Canyon Ranch definitely is not skewed to rich women of a certain age in search of powdering and pampering. In fact, Ranch services are not gender or age skewed and guests are a mix of singles, couples, and small groups, the last commonly members of a local health club eager to reap a group discount.
A stay at the Ranch is intended to provide or reinforce the tools that make healthy living-whatever that means to you- an accessible and rational option. It does this superbly whether the orientation of your stay is restoration, transformation or exploration. It accomplishes this in countless familiar ways such as lectures and classes, and in less familiar ways, including genomic consultations, heart rate variability testing, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMPD). The ranch does not sell or serve alcohol, does not allow smoking in its buildings, and restricts cell phone use to residential rooms and the reception area.
Whether my experience is cost justified depends on what I do with what I learned there, and the extent to which I am reimbursed for tests by my insurance company. In any case, my stress-free week of exploration exceeded my expectations and the Ranch’s trademarked logo “The Power of Possibility” took on real meaning as I listened to the motivations and experiences of returning guests, especially the over-achieving middle-aged couple on their twentieth visit.
If you want to learn more about the ranch, I suggest that you spend some time on its Web site, request the current catalogue, arrange a complimentary tour, and know that discounts are possible.