Bric-a-Brac 41
Bric-a-Brac 41
Our reset edition: a Bavarian Alps wellness retreat, winter ocean plunges, quick spa getaway near NYC, a clean-but-cozy soup—plus, pickleball travel!
It’s that time of year, of course, when we’ve got change on the brain, and are more open to transformation plans like detoxes, reboots, and retreats for shedding trauma in Ecuador. I myself am heading back to Buchinger Wilhelmi, the German fasting clinic on Lake Constance, later this month–but in advance, I’ve been taking time to just get outside and away from the screen, and reacquainting myself with the liver cleanse detox drink from Dr. Linda that I wrote about last year. I’m also just embracing baths. Besides making my own concoctions (sometimes I’ll pour some orange-blossom water in, other times it’s baking soda/salt baths, also via Dr. Linda), I’m obsessed with photographer and Yolo contributor Adrian Gaut’s trip to Japan (see our Moodboard below), where he’s been staying in some remarkable places with the dreamiest tubs. In this week’s dispatch we also hear from Patricia Garcia-Gomez, who leads sensory-focused ocean immersions in Greece in summer and the Hamptons in winter (as much as I love baths, I can’t quite get there on the cold plunge). And Kate Lough spent a transformative week at a women’s yoga-meditation-forest bathing retreat in Germany that sounds amazing (although I also can’t quite get there on the naked swimming and bed-sharing!). Honestly, Matt and I have always been much more about lifestyle travel than active boundary-pushing. But stretching ourselves outside our comfort zones—expanding our pathways, both literal and neural/emotional—is what travel can uniquely do. And so while I’ve never been that into resolutions, and may sooner try an icy plunge than skinny dipping with strangers (or co-sleeping!), daring a little more this year is one I can get behind.
Dispatch From…She She Retreats
By Kate Lough
There are times in our lives when retreating into nature or ourselves—or both—feels like the balm we need. Last autumn, after an emotionally turbulent summer, this was just the healing I craved. But I wanted something else, too: the restorative power of connecting with others. A friend had told me about She She, all-women wellbeing retreats that flit between mountain and sea. By chance, I had met the founder, Albertine, the September before on Pantelleria. It seemed like synchronicity—and, without overthinking it, I signed up.
I jumped on a plane from London to Memmingen to join She She’s “Ode to Joy” retreat in the Bavarian Alps. As soon as we arrived, the tone was set for the following four days: ten perfect strangers gathered around a roaring fire in a beautiful farmhouse, Da Rosso, swapping stories as if they had known each other for years.
We started with a candle-lit circle ceremony in the yoga studio with our hosts for the retreat, Steph and Betty. We took turns introducing ourselves and sharing what we were looking to get out of our time. It is the kind of thing that could make me feel self-conscious or cringe, but I felt at ease, safe in the feeling that everyone was approaching the retreat in the same way: full of love and support for themselves and others. It was pretty humbling.
After an hour and a half of yin yoga, a practice I had not explored before, we assembled for our first dinner. The menu at She She Retreats is always vegetarian, while rooted in local food traditions and inspired by nearby markets. Alcohol is not served, but at Da Rosso, you can choose to buy beautiful natural wines and pet nats from the honesty pantry. Over the next few days, our bodies were nourished by Morgana’s ladlefuls of creamy späetzle, nutty salads and bowls of warming soups.
Every morning we would wake up from our beds—most of them shared, which did not bother me at all—and spend the morning in silence, until brunchtime. Before our morning yoga sessions at 9am, we were free to do whatever we pleased, whether that was watching the sunrise from the surrounding hills, journaling, reading or sleeping in (me)—as long as we did not chat. As someone who lives alone, I found it rather beautiful to move around in companionable silence with others.
Steph’s gentle morning yoga sessions, lasting for 90 minutes, were my favorite. Her voice was like honey, soothing away anxieties and paving the way for a peaceful day. Next it was time for brunch, an especially special ritual. The farmhouse table heaved with homemade bread, plates of mountain cheeses, fresh yogurts and wholesome granolas, hills of scrambled egg and delicately whipped butter. We ate everything on our laps, crowded around the fire and happily chatting again.
Aside from our yoga practices, there was time to roam the countryside, soundtracked by cowbells and warmed by some late October sun. One afternoon, we set off into the forest en masse and bathed under its towering trees, cushioned by a bed of the softest moss. And we foraged for whatever caught our eye—flowers, twigs, plants—to take back to Da Rosso to paint in watercolors later that day.
We also skinny dipped in the (very bracing) natural lake in the farmhouse grounds, defrosted ourselves in the sauna and sat on deck chairs, chewing the fat.
On other afternoons, after our daily bowl of soup, we learned how to roll our own pumpkin gnocchi for our supper and huddled in a greenhouse making our own bath salts. No meal or yoga session or activity was compulsory, allowing you to move at your own rhythm, taking whatever time you needed to yourself to feel good.
We ended the retreat as we had started, with a ceremony—this time, sitting in a circle outside on the deck and around a fire, overlooking the Allgau hills. We shared what we had felt, learned and taken from the experience and then Steph led us in a dance around the fire. There were tears and hugs. It might sound woo-woo, but it was just the medicine I needed.
Kate Lough is a freelance travel writer and editor who lives in Hackney, London. You can follow her on Instagram @kateloughtravel.
Find out more about She She Retreats here; the next retreats take place in Allgau on Feb 1-5 and in Deia, Mallorca from May 16-21.
THE RECIPE
This being the season of atonement (plus cold and dark for us in the northern hemisphere), we are always on the lookout for clean, healthy soups, more hearty than brothy. So we turned to California-based Heidi Swanson, the photographer and pioneering food blogger whose 101 Cookbooks and Super Natural Cooking became essential resources back in the (pre-Ottolenghi) days when there was next to no inspiration on how to cook flavorful (and beautiful) vegetarian food. Also, we love that so many of her recipes incorporate flavors and curatives picked up on her global travels (her 2015 cookbook Near & Far is still a favorite!) through places like Morocco, Japan, Italy and India.
Heidi suggested this chicory soup, adding, “Inspired by winter markets, this soup hits all the notes for me. It’s brothy, spicy and restorative with a kiss of creaminess and hit of puckery lemon. Brightening hearty winter soups and stews with bursts of winter citrus is a favorite move of mine. It’s also a great way to put a dent in any jar of preserved lemons you may have deep in your refrigerator. Couple things to know: on the chicory front, a blend of Castelfranco radicchio and escarole works nicely, but you can select just one. I also like to use a bit of the barley cooking water in place of some of the water called for. And, the chili relish is key.”
P.S. Heidi has lately been traversing the California coast in her 23-foot Airstream and developed a roster of recipes for on the go—soup mixes in jars and one-pan meals that we’ll try on our next adventure. Download here!
GUEST BOOK: THE SPA AT MOHONK MOUNTAIN HOUSE
As an early-season snowstorm was bearing down on NYC last month, my husband and I drove two hours from Brooklyn up to Mohonk Mountain House to overnight at this 1869 Victorian castle in the Catskills. We’d been invited to check out the spa, which had recently reopened after a major refresh. But I also wanted to revisit a place I’d known as a kid, and which many friends had extolled over the years as an easy family getaway, with 86 acres of trails for hiking or snowshoeing, a lake for boating, horse stables, and a skating rink in winter. I had fond memories of exploring the hotel’s maze of memorabilia-lined hallways and old-fashioned soda-fountain while the grownups sat drinking in their Adirondack chairs overlooking the Catskills. The weather precluded porch-sitting this time, but the spa gives adults another reason to leave the kids to self-amuse. The seasonal treatments are designed to reflect the woodsy surroundings, and my massage, ministered on a heated table through warm clacking stones slick with eucalyptus and sandalwood oil, kept me cozy on an unexpectedly snowy day. So snowy that I couldn’t trek out to see the new Lakeview treatment house, though sitting in the outdoor heated mineral pool with snowflakes falling on my head was lovely. Yoga, singing bowl meditations, qi gong, and other classes are offered—some by Nina Smiley, Ph.D., the cheerful, encouraging mindfulness director who married the 5th-generation owner. They’re all fairly elementary, but there’s always something new to learn with a beginner’s mindset. That said, one of the most elemental and restorative parts of staying at Mohonk in winter is that the guest rooms—with retro mahogany-and-drapery vibes—have no TVs and working fireplaces. If you’re city people like us and can’t kindle your own fire, you can call to have someone come do it for you, so you can fall asleep to the ASMR-like flicker of flame and crackle of wood. —Alex Postman
TRAVEL WELL
Patricia Garcia-Gomez, creator, RewildRestore
Tell us about RewildRestore and how you got into this line of work.
RewildRestore is an ocean-centric, sensory-immersion retreat that I host on an unspoiled island in the Small Cyclades (Greece). It happens only a few times per year, and it is such an honor to witness the transformations that happen. There is something untamable about being fully present. Coming alive through the senses. Our experiences are about connecting to the healing power of water. Aegean blue. Ritual. Self. Each other. Nature. The unknown yet to be revealed.
The inspiration for RewildRestore started when I was living on the island of Naxos as part of a creative residency. Before I was here, I was deeply rooted in my Manhattan life, as a creative director. When that changed suddenly, I took a pause. I wanted to get healthy, connect to my inner stirrings, be by water. I was living in a monastery, creating a site-specific multi-sensory installation, which brought me very close to the land, the elements, the people, and most especially Maria, a shepherdess who is the subject of Earth is she. I began swimming in the Aegean every day (how could I not!). What started as a fun break in the day grew into a life-changing morning ritual. I started with a few hundred strokes and ended up swimming a few miles across coves.
The combination of being grounded in my creative life, and immersing myself in wild, untamed beauty was very powerful. As an artist and intuitive healer, I wanted to share this.
You just hosted a workshop at Shou Sugi Ban House (one of our favorite spa retreats!) called “Befriending Winter Water.” What does it involve and what do you feel a cold plunge can do for our health and spirit?
I’m also a huge Shou Sugi fan! We share a deep belief in the healing power of water. Befriending Winter Water is a private 90-minute experience I created to introduce people to the magic of winter sea immersion. And to my water practice.
I believe anyone can become friends with winter water. Cold water can conjure deep, primal, impossible-feeling fear, but on the other side of it awaits joy in equal measure. I have watched people move from total gripping to total exuberance, almost as if they are meeting themselves for the first time.
My approach is the opposite of biohacking. It’s about relationship. Learning to be with sensation, teaching the body new things, resetting your neural chemistry (to alive and present), creating a practice that sustains and nourishes you, and perhaps even meeting a new version of you as fear falls away. This is wellness.
The extra bonus is that cold immersion boosts health and longevity in so many scientifically proven ways, such as building resilience and cardiovascular heartiness, increasing metabolism, stimulating feel-good endorphins, countering depression, reducing inflammation, etc. Your spirit is always better after the water. Always.
As a “water practitioner,” what are you hoping to inspire in your clients and how do you connect it to travel?
I come back to relationship. To introduce someone to water is to introduce them to a new relationship. With the sea, self, ceremony, nature, place. Once someone discovers it, it is theirs forever. An ally in entering the space where creativity, rest, and your inner worlds thrive.
As creators, mothers, sisters, friends, leaders, we are part of a greater constellation. How can we make that really vibrant? As travelers, how can we be inspired by place and give something of ourselves to it?
With respect to your sound installations and other projects - in Naxos, Wadi Rum, Jaipur, or elsewhere – how do you think sound captures the essence of a place? What can we all do to tune in better?
I love discovering a place through its sounds. Sound, like travel, is transportive and an invitation into a new experience. In it are the layered movements of daily life, hidden rhythms of a culture, sounds that exist only in that place and nowhere else. When traveling, I take myself on listening adventures. I’m quite obsessive and have a library of over 3,000 recordings from all over the world. When I lived in Greece, I was enthralled by the crickets and the sound of bells rolling through hills. Maybe that was the real beginning of RewildRestore.
Some favorite sound discoveries include the voices of the women of Angel Falls; a Bedouin leader in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan; and wild wolves recorded from my sleeping bag in the woods.
To tune in to a place…take yourself on a listening walk (no talking unless you are talking to a local). How many different sounds can you pick up on? How is this soundscape different than one you know? Record one minute. Play it back to yourself when you get home. Another travel tip: pick one sound out of the crowd and follow it to its source. See where it takes you.
[Note: to hear Patricia’s recording of “The Sea at 38 Degrees,” scroll to the bottom!]
You have a strict morning ritual that grounds you. Are you able to take it on the road?
Yes! My morning swim ritual often adds to the adventure as I have to seek out new waters, leading me to an experience I might not have discovered otherwise. As an example, visiting my family in Texas led me to Barton Springs, an incredible natural pool located in the center of Austin, which feels like you are in a faraway place. It’s a great way to tap into a local micro-culture (and it’s free!). While working in Oaxaca, it led me to Hierve del Agua (Spanish for “the water boils”), natural cliff-top pools that rise between 50 and 90 meters from the valley below. You can’t really swim there, but you can soak in naturally mineralized waters.
When travel is land-locked, there is still a way to bring the water with me. That’s the magic of having a daily practice and ritual. It gets in your body, and it becomes a destination you can return to, no matter where you are.
Where in the world do you feel most at home?
By the sea. Big, expansive landscapes. Anywhere laughing with my best friend.
Where do you go to feel revitalized?
The water (every morning). My friends (around the dinner table). A good book (Witches, by Brenda Lozano currently). Outside. In the winter, my sauna sleeping bag.
What are a few other favorite spiritual/wellness destinations and why?
So many wonderful places. A wellness destination doesn’t have to mean a spa. It can be any place that puts you in contact with the world and nature in a special way. That said, I love to indulge in wellness treatments and rituals. Some favorite places to do this: RAAS Devigarh, Rajasthan, India; Kichic, Peru; Vigilius Mountain Resort in the Dolomites, Italy; Shou Sugi Ban House, Watermill, NY, an Onsen (Japanese bath house) in Hakone, Japan.
I seek off-the-beaten-path places and silence. A favorite: Bodega Colome, in Salta, Argentina. A magical place tucked between land and sky, and some of the highest vineyards in the world. The feeling here is unlike any other place, and it has its own private James Turrell Museum.
My home away from home: Eros Keros and the expanse of the Aegean where I host my retreat in the Small Cyclades. It’s extra salty and buoyant, holds every shade of blue, and so clear even deep-sea looks you might be able to touch the bottom.
Do you have any rituals you use while on a trip to ground yourself in a new place?
It’s all about mornings. Taking the very first moments to ground and get in my body before anything else. It may look like this: Wake up, coffee, suit up/swim, meditate. If I can’t swim, I have a 15-minute morning movement sequence, inspired by my Katonah Yoga practice, that I can take anywhere, to wake up my whole body.
Any meditations you can share that might be helpful to anyone?
I created this sound-meditation, which I often do before I swim, especially if my mind is overactive and I need to slow everything down and create a sense of ease.
Take yourself to the sea. Can also be a lake, river, stream, waterfall.
Say hello.
Sitting comfortably, place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
Breathe in. Really fill the belly, bringing breath all the way up to your collar bones.
Make your exhales slow and luxurious.
Bring your attention to the sounds around you.
See if you can locate the nearest sound of the water.
Stay here. Listen to the sea as closely as you can.
Once you have that, follow that near-by sound all the way out to its farthest point.
Listen to the sea as far away as you can.
Notice. What other qualities can you pick up on.
With as little mind as possible, keep noticing.
Say thank you.
Strategies for dealing with jet lag?
For me, it’s not only jet lag, it’s travel tummy.
Travel day: Departure days are often packed with last-minute errands, work demands, and many unexpected things not going the way you planned. I always make sure to schedule my daily movement as a ‘no matter what’ priority. It grounds you and makes you feel like your whole self gets on the plane, not just the swirling, hectic bits. I also love Stamba Travel Defense, a jetlag, metabolism, immunity, and digestion all-in-one superfood, which I begin taking the day before I travel. It has saved me more than once. I also don’t eat on the plane and try to have my last meal at least a few hours before flying if possible.
Arrival: I go for a walk, fill my lungs with fresh air, start taking in the surroundings, get in my body. My partner swears by this: On your first morning, set your alarm clock for sunrise, go outside and look towards the sun for at least 10 minutes. This resets your circadian clock.
What are a few things you always pack for your beauty/wellness/self-care routine?
A small bottle of eucalyptus essential oil—I take little sniff-hits on the plane to refresh myself, the stale air.
In Fiore Fleur Vibrante face balm.
Favorite pajamas from India (which I swear help with insomnia in a new place)
Favorite cashmere wrap, which I’ve been traveling with for 15+ years
Favorite potions, such as Anima Mundi’s calm tea
Tiny talismans, like a favorite stone or note, which help me feel a sense of home
A few books (always paperback)
A notebook
Camera
Where are you dreaming of going next and why?
I’m excited about this year, which will be split between Long Island and Greece. Whispers are calling me back to Japan. I fantasize about swimming with pearl divers of Jeju, and I’d love to spend more time exploring the bathing culture. Mexico also calls. I started a project working with Medicine Women, and I’d love to evolve it.
What is the best way for people to find you? Do you have any more workshops scheduled?
People can find me at RewildRestore.com and @patrica_garciagomez_I’ll be at Shou Sugi Ban House this winter, offering private Befriending Winter Water sessions. Join me in Greece this Spring and Summer! I know Yolanda loves Greece.
SHARE CONTACT
Recently we heard from Dylan Beeson, who caught our attention when he wrote, “I worked in corporate America for 17 years until my soul was crushed to tiny bits and I got fired for taking too much vacation time. I took the opportunity to do what had always burned in me. I started a travel company, Travel-Well, that focuses on soul, purpose, meaning and the creation of brief moments in time filled with euphoria and sheer splendor.” He also parlayed that into an offshoot, Pickle-Well. Which specializes in, yes, pickleball travel. Now, this is really not our thing—we have never picked up a paddle (racquet?)—but we know more than a few people who are obsessed. Dylan (who plays almost daily) has been tracking down “the very best Pickleball properties and programs on earth”—like The Dunmore in Harbour Island, the newish Montage in Healdsburg, CA, the Amanera overlooking the white sands of Playa Grande in the D.R., and Sage Hill Inn in Texas hill country (which runs clinics with pros). He designs trips to connect people with these pickleball gems, while diving into local culture, design, art and food. Mark his words: “This is the very beginning of pickleball travel.”
MOODBOARD
Our favorite Instagram account of the week.
After expanding their program to Italy last summer, The Ranch is opening its first location on the East Coast, in New York’s Hudson Valley.
La Reserve Eden au Lac, with a fresh redesign by Philippe Starck, launched a cold-water swim program on Lake Zurich.
We know we should be downsizing too, but our friend Ruth Ribeaucourt is letting go of some treasures she’s accumulated, from Ireland to Provence, on her instagram.
Yo-Yo Ma has been playing pop-up concerts in national parks to encourage connecting with nature.
Our friends Sid and Ann Mashburn just launched three candles inspired by the idea of home, and theirs is one of our favorites.
This publication shares “weird walks” through the UK, along ancient paths and sacred sites.
The TSA (one of our favorite IG accounts!) shared airport friendly workout ideas, which can at least help get you through all those major delays.
Sound on: The Sea at 38 degrees
“This is where I swim every day, on the North Fork of Long Island. Winter water moves more slowly, and there is a rolling crackling that’s echoing even through earplugs. Winter water sounds different than summer water. Everything seems heightened and crisp, but lingering. Cold molecules move more slowly than warm molecules and vibrate at a lower frequency. From inside the water, an airplane passing overhead sounds like it is far away, and nearby, and occupying the whole sky. I love listening to water. (The sea freezes at 28 degrees)” —Patricia Garcia-Gomez
Heavenly! I need to go here!
Thrilled to read about my beautiful homeland of Germany. Auf Wiedersehen.