| Home / College Guide / 5 wellness retreat trends in 2025, from sexual healing and psychedelics to horse |
| Posted on Thursday, January 09 @ 00:00:18 PST |
A fully immersive wellness retreat can be hugely therapeutic. It was for 43-year-old life and business coach Lynda Williams, who in 2023 returned to Britain after 14 years living in Singapore.
Following the end of a relationship in 2024, Williams decided to take her heartbreak into her own hands and checked into a five-night retreat in Greece, at Euphoria Retreat in Mystras, joining its Emotional Harmony programme.
“I’ve always believed healing starts from the head and heart and the rest follows,” she says.
She describes the “emotional knots” that were released with a Thai yogic massage, personalised energy treatments, sound healing and water therapies ranging from cold-water immersion to flotation sessions with whale and dolphin acoustics.
“I returned feeling balanced, nurtured, at peace and ready to tackle the rest of the year,” she says.
The start of the year is a good time to reflect on one’s wellness and mental health, and 2025 is set to see more wellness travellers than ever. According to research from luxury travel agency network Virtuoso and market research group YouGov, 21 per cent of people travelling are doing so for health- and wellness-driven reasons.
That number is expected to grow, with 29 per cent of global travellers expressing interest in wellness travel in the future.
Here we look at five types of wellness retreats that are trending.
1. Sexual healing, tantra and intimacy
More retreats are popping up dedicated to improving libido and sexual well-being, which are less taboo than they once were. They focus on physical, emotional and psychological aspects, and on hormone function.
Women can tone their pelvic floor in an Emsella chair, which involves sitting in a wide-legged stance, fully clothed, while the chair induces nearly 12,000 painless pelvic-floor muscle contractions. Men with erectile dysfunction might have therapy that delivers mild shock waves that assist in the growth of new blood vessels.
“Sexual wellness is an extension of the general state of health,” says Dr Rafael Navas, an expert in integrative and hormonal health at SHA Wellness Clinic in Spain.
He adds that sexual health is interconnected with cardiovascular health, the presence of chronic low-grade inflammation and metabolic balance.
Where to do it:
Event venue Broughton Sanctuary in Yorkshire, UK, is hosting a new Tantra Consciousness programme focused on exploring sexual connection and desire in June 2025.
SHA Wellness Clinic has launched a unit dedicated to the study and restoration of sexual well-being through its Sexual Wellbeing package, available at its resorts in Spain and Mexico.
2. Equine retreats
Horses are sensitive creatures and their calming presence can prove therapeutic for those with mental health issues, such as trauma recovery, stress disorders and PTSD.
“I was particularly moved by a gentle mare named Bindi, whose calm and grounded energy resonated deeply,” says Dervla Louli, founder of a retreat travel platform, who recently visited an equine retreat at the Nihi Sumba hotel in Indonesia.
“Swimming with horses at sunrise and magical sunset rides along pristine beaches offer moments of pure bliss.”
In October 2024, Nihi brought in renowned “horse whisperer” Carol Sharpe, known as the Ibu Ndara Sumba (“horse mother of Sumba”), to run the retreat.
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Meanwhile, in the heart of London’s Richmond Park, an equine psychotherapy clinic is gaining a celebrity following.
Operation Centaur, founded in 2002 by professor Andreas Liefooghe and backed by fashion designer Stella McCartney and The Chopra Foundation, runs programmes at the park while offering longer, personalised retreats in locations such as Barbados and Morocco.
Where to do it:
Nihi Sumba, Indonesia, is offering two equine retreats in 2025: the Equine Intuitive Awareness Retreat in February and the Harmonising Horsemanship retreat in May and June.
In the US, Canyon Ranch in California offers healing experiences with certified Equus Coach Ciara West.
Operation Centaur has a retreat at Raha in Essaouira, Morocco, in mid-September.
3. Fertility enhancement
The latest research from the World Health Organization indicates that one in six of the global adult population experiences infertility. Pollutants, unhealthy lifestyles, stress and later parenthood all upset hormone balance and are among factors to blame.
Many retreats now offer specific packages for those preparing for conception, struggling to conceive – perhaps because of endocrinal disorders – or undertaking IVF (in vitro fertilisation).
“If conception is equated to planting a seed, wellness care is like nurturing the soil, increasing the seed’s chances of survival,” says Dr Tipatat Junhasavasdikul, the medical director at Bangkok-based wellness centre RAKxa.
The centre’s approach focuses on the spleen, which in traditional Chinese medicine is essential for nutrition digestion and immune support.
Tests such as the Food IgG Intolerance Lab Test check gut health; if abnormalities are discovered, specific therapies can help women prepare for parenting, especially those undergoing IVF.
Where to do it:
RAKxa Integrative Wellness in Bangkok offers bespoke fertility packages.
The Ananda in the Himalayas hotel recently launched an Ayurvedic fertility enhancement programme and is also hosting a new fertility enhancement programme in partnership with midwife fertility expert Zita West in June.
The programme must be done for 21 or 14 days minimum and for women, it is ideal to join the programme on the third day of their menstrual cycle or after their periods to schedule the therapies based on the phase of the cycle.
4. Psychedelic retreats
That psychedelics can help treat a range of ailments from PTSD to addiction, stress and more is increasingly accepted, with convincing clinical research carried out by institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College London.
Psychedelic retreats are growing in profile as a result, usually multi-day programmes in groups where guests are administered psychoactive substances to improve their mental health, usually interspersed with yoga, meditation and talk therapy.
Where to do it:
Beckley Retreats is offering communal psychedelic retreats in Jamaica and the Netherlands in 2025 with a five-day minimum stay.
Tandava Retreats offers luxury retreats in Mexico using the tryptamine 5-MeO-DMT compound known as the “God Molecule”, which occurs naturally in various plants and secretions of the Bufo Alvarius toad and is reported to create a feeling of connection with the universe.
5. Contrast therapy (ice and heat)
Contrast therapy, alternating between hot and cold temperatures, was thought to have first been used by ancient Greeks as a way of improving circulation, reducing inflammation and enhancing cardiovascular strength. But its practice is now starting to creep into cities where its benefits are needed most.
The Hooke Fitness gym in London recently launched Mayfair’s only cold plunge bath and hot sauna session.
The Monk studio in London has created the world’s first “smart” ice bath, which is temperature-controlled and can integrate your plunges with your wearable devices.
Laura Fullerton, Monk’s founder and CEO, says: “Cold exposure has been transformative for me as an entrepreneur – it’s my ultimate stress reset, delivering clarity, energy and resilience.
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Where to do it:
Hooke Fitness offers a 30-minute session for £50 (US$62).
Euphoria Retreat in Greece offers Kneipp therapy and Finnish sauna.
The Original Mayr resort in Austria offers Kneipp therapy, cryotherapy and sauna, as well as wild swimming in Lake Worthesee, considered one of the cleanest lakes in Europe.
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