With a long menu of treatments, La Coralina Island House is transforming into a full-blown wellness resort. Yes, they offer traditional massage in various genres such as Thai & Japanese, plus manicures and pedicures. But it’s alternative therapies where they really excel.
This makes perfect sense, because the Panama’s Bocas del Toro islands are already a wellness hub, a place where a lot of yoga instructors, therapists and health junkies have settled. It’s truly an international community of wellness people.
When I arrived at La Coralina in January, Managing Director Ariel B. said, “While you’re here, I want you to try many different spa treatments, as we are expanding our wellness programs. Is that okay with you?”
Like I’m going to say no.
I gladly agreed to be their guinea pig. La Coralina also made sure that I dined on healthy plant-based food throughout. The Argentine chef was amazing. But there are alternatives: While I was going full veggie, my husband Chris was gorging on their seafood.
Even though he has little interest in spa treatments, Chris agreed to join me for the first treatment, called Breathwork. He almost walked out when the therapist went a little woo-woo explaining how some people respond to the treatment. But good sport that he is, Chris endured.
Breathwork is a somatic practice with music to help release stress, tension, calm the mind and hopefully produce a euphoric feeling. It’s a two-part pranayama from the David Elliot tradition. The active breathing is 20-25 minutes long, with a restorative 10–15-minute meditation.
And how did Chris like Breathwork? He loved it and raved about how it felt like oxygen had made its way into every cell in his body. I found it unbelievably relaxing.
My next treatment at La Coralina was a Therapeutic Massage with an Osteopathic and Dynamic Neuromuscular stabilization approach at the hands of Martin, a PT from Argentina. I have a long-term neck injury (hasn’t everyone had an 8-lb bucket of margarita mix fall on their neck?) and I’ve sought out similar treatments back home in Georgia. But I have to say that, without a doubt, this was the BEST massage I’ve ever had.
Have you ever had Sound Healing? La Coralina offers the treatment in their yoga pavilion, which sits is away from the main hotel and is surrounded by rainforest. Gustavo, the spa director, and a shaman — we will have more on him in a future blog — supervised the therapy, which involved various tuning bowls and even a gong.
Sound healing aims to get all the water in your body to vibrate. To quote the information pamphlet “Everything is a vibration, and you tune your body like you tune an instrument. Different instruments are set to certain frequencies. Sound healing allows your body to heal itself by slowing down your brain waves, which affect every cell in your body, shifting them from diseased to being in ease.”
Soon after my treatment, CNN published an article on Focused Ultrasound Therapy, which is the same concept. But I’ll take my sound therapy in the Panamanian jungle versus an urban clinical setting anytime!
La Coralina can offer full retreat packages for groups and you are also able to book treatments before your arrival. I’m so looking forward to my next visit, as I have a long list of other treatments to try.
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