The Green Valley Spa Experience – Top 5 Tips for Taking the Spa Experience Home to Your Everyday Life
6:00 am I wake up, pack, and say goodbye to my delicious room at Green Valley Spa, and say hello to a new year. I am in a good place. That is what I came here for. This has been a very tough year for a lot of different reasons. The main thing was my mom who, had things gone another way, would not be writing this comment on the blog (see “Babs” comment). I feel very choked up even now as I’m writing this. I know my mom will be out here next year with me, Sharon, Eydie, and Wendee who is now an official Green Valley Spa raving fan. When I came out here, even the massage therapists remembered that my mom had spent a lot of time in the hospital and were asking about her. When folks say “good people” – I’ll tell you, THAT is the definition of good people.
Everyone who commented on the blog during my stay was automatically entered into a drawing for the yummy Good Medicine products (Green Valley’s own line). And the winner is: TRACY (see her comment here).
Welcome Post Intro Post 1 Post 2 Post 3 Post 4 Post 5 Post 6 Last Day The Afterparty
Below are the top 5 ways to take Green Valley Spa home:
1. Beautiful and calming surroundings. Above is my room at Green Valley Spa. While this is a super swank suite, I also really love the casitas. At home, I have taken a lot of time making my room very calming. I like taking 20 minutes in the morning to escape the chaos of the kids, breakfast, and getting ready for school to be in my room, alone, and get ready. I work out this time with my husband or the babysitter and try to get it two or three workday mornings.
Beautiful surroundings.
2. Food & Water. Based on what I’ve learned about anti-inflammatory foods, and being your own advocate for what goes in your and your kids’ mouths, I am going to order some items from Mount Hope Wholesalers or Whole Foods/Trader Joes. See this post, and this post for the summary of Chef Laurie’s talk. One of the biggies I’m going to try to swapping out Quinoa for pasta. I am also planning on really working on my water consumption. In the Microfit with Mirium, she told me that – in terms of my body composition – my percentage of water should be higher.
Water, water, water. It is a big focus of the spa experience. My Green Valley Water bottle is coming home - and around town - with me.
As a special subcategory of food and water, I’ll mention the hCG diet. I’m fairly certain this is one of the only US spas that offers it. I was particularly intrigued by it as it is well known for KEEPING lean body mass and re-setting metabolism (which I’ve run into the ground). So far I have lost three pounds. Last year at Green Valley, just from exercising and eating their normal food, I lost three or four pounds. I think the real difference here is that I’m taking the hCG diet with me (hCG meals to go). I’ll have a couple more blog posts coming about that. Next year I plan to just come and enjoy the traditional spa experience and not do the hCG. To me, this is a motivate, do it, stick to it kind-of-thing for a finite period of time.
3. Products. The Green Valley Spa Good Medicine products are heavenly. I am taking them home and they will be my official skin care products. No dryness. They smell great. Best of all, it reminds me of Green Valley Spa. Fairy Dust and the bath salts are amazing. The Fairy Dust turns bright colors in the bath and my kids love it.
Ashes, Breeze, Sand, Honey Dew, Radiance, and Sand are the essentials
4. Exercise. The hikes here are beyond exercise. You get to witness truly majestic surroundings, spend time with great people, and do something completely new. If you want to go climbing, there is a company that baby-steps you through it. You can safely try almost anything you’d want to here. They have horseback riding about which I’ve also heard great things. I’ve always been good about exercise. I am going to continue exercising when I get back. My routine is two days of strength training, two days of running, and if I can get in a class – great. However, now Wendee and I are talking about going hiking back in DC. Before I left, my friend Julie and I dropped the kids at the gym daycare, went to a Zumba class at my gym, then sat at the little health food bar and had a smoothie and chatted. This was like a mini spa experience for us.
Here are rocks from a Green Valley Spa hike which I plan to keep on my desk
5. Mindset. Green Valley Spa makes me feel calm. Part of that is this place, and part of it is the new experiences and tools I learn out here. Click here for a post on how to meditate. Hopefully soon Green Valley Spa will have a guided meditation podcast up.
See you next year Green Valley Spa! Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – can compare.
5 Comments
cecile on June 10th, 2009
Hello!,
Truly enjoyed your comments and experience. I am on the hCG diet and I have been told that I am not to do weitght training. Did tyour exercise regime at the spa include weight training?
Cécile
cecile on June 10th, 2009
I have a question: What exactly do they mean when they say ” mixing vegetables”? Can I have a slided tomato with Romaine lettuce?
Cécile
Josh on June 12th, 2009
Cecile,
According to the Simeons protocol you should only be eating one veggie per meal, so if you have lettuce, it’s lettuce only for that meal, no other veggies.
Lady Spas on November 9th, 2009
I really enjoyed your post. I will definitely be back for more:)
Josh on May 12th, 2009
Wow, didn’t realize Green Valley was all of this and so much more. No wonder you have been keeping the annual trip to just yourself and your posse. Hope to experience it one day soon!