My Winter Getaway to Canyon Ranch, Tucson

Saturday, February 7

Faced with a looming vacation, and no plans, I looked at the alternatives: Grab a swimsuit and head down to Florida or the Caribbean? Go out to Southern California and visit my old haunts in Santa Monica? Or head to the ski slopes to try out my ski legs after healing my hip fracture?

The dreary, cold New York winter pretty much decided it for me. I needed a sun-transfusion--badly. Notwithstanding those morning SAD lights, weekly trips to the tanning parlor, outdoor runs, and daily vitamin D pills, I needed the real thing.

So I began thinking about Arizona. And what better way to enjoy a few days in Arizona, without floundering around renting a car and learning the ropes, than by booking a few days at a spa. And the ultimate spa, from the standpoint of healthy eating and activities is the Canyon Ranch, Tucson. So, last minute reservations made, I was off.

Canyon Ranch is like a holistic summer camp. It features healthy food, great activities, and a serene and beautiful campus in the garden spot of America's Southwest.

I arrived late Saturday and took in the Super Bowl on the Ranch's 60 inch flatscreen. It was fun being in Cardinals country for the game, which was amazing, from Jennifer Hudson's moving Star-Spangled Banner to Roethlisberger's final TD pass in the closing seconds. A Super Bowl that didn't disappoint? Maybe there IS hope for America!

There are so many services and activities at the Ranch that I had to remind my frenetic New York brain that this was a VACATION and that it was permissible just to sit by the pool, read a book, listen to the I Pod, and just plain veg-out. Which I did amply.

Also, I did a mini-tour of several massage/therapeutic touch modalities. After a regular Swedish massage to unwind, I booked a hot rocks treatment where heated, smooth, round basalt stones were strategically placed on different parts of my body. This had a wonderful, deep-heating effect that erased my winter cold and soothed my tensions.

Next I had a wonderful treatment called Watsu, which is performed in a specially-designed indoor aquatic center with warm pools and Native American paintings on the ceiling. You float inertly on your back and are gently swirled through the water and massaged by an expert Watsu therapist. This was deliciously relaxing.

Then I went for one of the Canyon Ranch's signature treatments, the Healing Waters. I was introduced to Kevin, a Native American healer, whose powerful hands molded my body in a Jacuzzi while aromatherapy wafted from the water and thrumming strains of Moby (my selection) boomed through the speakers.

From time to time, as Kevin pressed my tight muscles, he would murmur something that sounded like "Mmmm, snehh, snehh, ganesh!" punctuated here and there by high-pitched whoops. Kevin said these were Native American prayers for healing, and when he encountered a particular knotty muscle, he would release the tension with sound.

When I thought every muscle in my body had been thoroughly pulverized, Kevin transferred me to a steam room where he began anew to perform deep connective tissue release. After that was done, I left the treatment literally floating.

Later that day, I had a Reiki treatment, which contrasted with the active, deeply masculine massage that preceded it. Reiki is actually not massage at all, but actually an energy-transfer therapy in which you are instructed to meditate while the Reiki practitioner's hands impart healing energy to your body, with special emphasis on the Chakras, or energy centers. It is subtle, but I could definitely feel the intense transfer from the hands of the gifted healer.

I skipped indoor spinning classes, the gym, and many of the great life-enhancement courses to get outside to bike and hike. The Ranch offers guided tours to some beautiful canyon and mountain areas with varying grades of difficulty. Tucson is a cyclists and hikers paradise.

Just when I thought I was gamely bounding up the challenging (4 out of 5) difficulty Blackett's Ridge Trail, I was astonished and somewhat demoralized to see distinctly 60-plus greying mountain goats stride by me and bid me "Good Morning" with scarcely any shortness of breath. Some were even jogging up the steep, rocky path!

Between all the great activities, I scheduled a Muscle Assessment with the Ranch's great exercise physiology department and got some tips on how I could balance my training program. And I was introduced to Pilates on the Reformer, something I've long planned to take up to strengthen my core.

Food was great and varied, a far-cry from the rather chaste, grainy, carb-rich fare that was the bane of my last stay at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires around fifteen years ago. They're finally getting it about the Salad and Salmon Diet!

I even managed a couple of off-campus dinners with Tucson residents Jason Theodosakis, author of the Arthritis Cure and frequent guest on Health Talk, and Jack Challem, author of the Inflammation Syndrome, also a frequent guest on the program.

A high point of sorts came on the last day of my stay when guests around the pool excitedly pointed out that a wild bobcat was cruising near the pool gate. The majestic big tabby ignored us as it serenely stalked prey in the vegetation. I think it was a favorable omen.