Be it a weekend of relaxation or a special trip to the "Land of the Sky" to care for and pamper yourself, Asheville is a top destination for spas, massage, and holistic wellness. Considered by many as the New Age Mecca of the East, people have traveled to our western North Carolina mountains for healing oneself for centuries. The region features a diverse mix of spa treatments, unique settings and alternative wellness, virtually unheard-of in smaller cities.
The Asheville area offers a wide variety of ways to experience this region’s unique wellness culture including yoga hikes, sound healing, meditation, salt therapies, essential oils, wild food foraging, tarot readings, and much more. There are also many wellness retreats where you enjoy the benefits of an all-inclusive self-care getaway that incorporates healthy food, meditation, yoga, counseling, and more.
Mecca for Wellness
During the 1800s, physicians from across the nation determined that this was the place to send their patients to recuperate due to our optimal temperature, barometric pressure, and fresh air. The first tuberculosis sanitarium opened here in the 1870s, followed by two dozen more. Boarding Houses with open-air sleeping porches were in high demand by the early 1900s.
Many of our early visitors seeking better health stayed in Asheville. Perhaps the most famous is George Vanderbilt who accompanied his ailing mother. He fell in love with the area and built Biltmore Estate.
Today, find some of the most gifted holistic practitioners in the nation. Integrative wellness draws on your body’s own healing capacity to promote deep-rooted health. Balance is promoted through Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and body awareness, pain reduction, and increased fluidity of movement. Mindfulness and meditation practice calms the mind. Asheville’s reputation as a center for healing and natural medicine continues to grow. Combine that with the soul-soothing provided by our protected forests, mountaintops, streams, and waterfalls.
