For more than three decades, Canyon Ranch Lenox Resort has helped guests achieve a state of harmony, and it happens that the brand completed a revamp of the Massachusetts property’s women’s spa at the same time I’ve been going through a particularly challenging spate of personal trials. So, in search of calm and clarity, I’m off to the Berkshires for a three-day mental detox.
Canyon Ranch Lenox unveiled its update in February, focusing on communal spaces to better foster connections between guests. The resort remodeled its demonstration kitchen, contemplative spaces such as the Fieldstone and Sargent Brook lounges, and the women’s locker area, which now boasts soothing carpeting and natural lighting. “Elevating that space, I think, changes the entire experience,” says Sam Cooper, the director of spa, fitness, and beauty for Canyon Ranch. The reimagined facilities, designed by architect Lauren Rottet, also include a new cold dip, a long-standing guest request.
Among the new offerings at the spa are treatments that utilize Yon-Ka Paris and Biologique Recherche products, the latter brought on after Cooper personally experienced the brand’s positive results. “I try a lot of products,” she says. “It was kind of a game-changer for my skin.” The Biologique Recherche Bespoke Facial is one of nearly 100 spa and beauty treatments offered here. On my visit, I embark on the Reconnect with Joy Pathway, which includes health and wellness consultations, along with the Soul Journey—a guided meditation during which I float between wakefulness and a dream-like state—and the Chakra Balancing Massage, which stimulates blood flow and, hopefully, a higher state of consciousness.
The massage, in particular, is a highlight. The practitioner preps my body by applying Ayurvedic dosha-balancing oils to focal centers along my spine, each corresponding to one of my seven chakras. As calming scents fill the room, she activates my chakras with a Kansa wand (a handled tool with a tip made of its namesake metal) before going to work on my muscles. Cooper says that some clients feel a shift, possibly some discomfort, in the early stages of the treatment. “If you’re really off, in terms of your alignment and what’s open and what’s not, you can have different reactions,” she explains. “There can be a release in a certain chakra, which is pretty crazy—you can actually feel something open.”
I have to admit that I don’t experience this sensation; perhaps my crown chakra still needs some work? Or perhaps I need to come back in 2023, when Canyon Ranch is set to launch even more treatments, including a new herbal rejuvenation scrub. An update of the men’s spa is in the offing, so the resort is still a work in progress—but then, aren’t we all?
