Rancho La Puerta: The Original Fitness Resort & Spa
I am a firm believer that equestrians are athletes and should act as such. Cross training should play an integral role in attaining your riding goals. This mindset begins with nutrition and continues with cardiovascular shape, core strength, flexibility and mental clarity. Additionally, body treatments like massage, play an important role in the relief of sore muscles and joints. Each of these components should seamlessly work together.
It has taken many years for me to finite a holistic health and wellness approach that enhances both my riding and lessens my everyday stresses. Before I learned this balance, I was stuck in an all or nothing approach that focused on one singular activity at a time such as distance running or daily hot yoga sessions Fortunately, my husband helped change this behavior by introducing me to the "original" fitness resort and spa, Rancho La Puerta, located just one hour south of San Diego in Baja, Mexico.
Our annual trip to Rancho La Puerta is my personal “reset” for mind, body, and spirit. Founded by spa pioneers Edomond and Derobrah Szekely in 1940, “the Ranch” is located on 3000 unspoiled private acres of gardens and meadow and guests stay from Saturday to Saturday. This allows time to decompress and immerse oneself into a healthy lifestyle. I use this time to learn from some of the best fitness and yoga instructors and to cleanse my diet. Explains founder Deborah Szekely, “We provide the true luxury of time and space…that is most lacking in today’s life. Space to breathe freely, to relax and enjoy what will be ‘the longer-living, younger life.’”
ACTIVITIES AND CUISINE
FITNESS: Over 70 different indoor and outdoor classes and activities—a total of approximately 325 instructor-led clinics and classes to choose from throughout an entire week. Forty-five minutes in duration. Most classes can be enjoyed by guests at all levels of fitness, and a wide age range. Already- fit and super-fit guests will find many activities that are challenging.
Named “Most Innovative” fitness program by SELF magazine as well as given the Number One rating for Spa Program by Condé Nast Traveler.
MEALS AND NUTRITION: Menus are primarily lacto-ovo vegetarian, with fish at most dinners, and eggs as an option at breakfast. Although many of the dishes reflect the region’s culinary heritage, all are equally accessible to North American palates. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet-style in a beautiful dining room that opens to an outdoor terrace where tables sit overlooking fountains, water gardens, and a view of the Mountain. Dinner is “sit down,” with wait staff attending. Cooking classes are offered weekly, as are nutrition workshops. Gluten-free diets can be prepared, as can those who informally keep Kosher (our kitchens never prepare meats).
CUISINE: Rancho La Puerta’s innovative Cuisine of the Californias offers organic vegetarian entrées with the option of seafood (4-5 times a week. Many recipe ingredients come fresh-picked, only-hours-old from Tres Estrellas organic garden. Fresh seafood is purchased directly from the local fish market, two hours away in Ensenada, Mexico.
“Inventive and nourishing recipes.”– Alice Waters, Founder, Chez Panisse restaurant.
“TRES ESTRELLAS” ORGANIC GARDEN: A six-acre working farm located north of the main Ranch area (and reached by our “Breakfast Hikes”). The name means “Three Stars.” The creation of
Sarah Livia Brightwood Szekely, it produces fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruits for the Rancho La Puerta kitchen using organic gardening and companion-planting techniques. Also the site of the Ranch’s cooking school and culinary center, La Cocina Que Canta (see below).
TREATMENTS: Massage, aromatherapy, scrubs, scalp treatments, facials are all available at modest charges. Hot Riverstone massage, hydrotherapy, and wraps of steaming hot linens steeped in indigenous herbs are also offered. With 47 treatment rooms, Rancho La Puerta’s massage and therapy program is the most extensive of any spa.
LA COCINA QUE CANTA—THE COOKING SCHOOL AND CULINARY CENTER AT RANCHO LA PUERTA: “The Kitchen That Sings” is a 4,500-square-foot $1 million facility set in the midst of a 6-acre organic farm. Guests experience a hands-on culinary class that starts with picking the day’s ingredients, and moves on to meal-making cooking classes that combine culinary technique with the joyous camaraderie of working side by side with top chef instructors and fellow guests. The center also hosts complementary learning programs, such as aromatherapy, herbal uses, organic gardening, and more.
FACILITIES: Several gyms for mind-body-spirit focus are a special feature of the Ranch: Inspired by the congenial climate, these gyms forgo mirrors and instead open to face the mountain or the arroyo and are devoted to the quieter disciplines of meditation and yoga. The Ranch also offers eleven other gyms for dance, stretch, strength, and other workouts, one with a fireplace; a weight-training gym with advanced equipment; three swimming pools; Pilates studio; running track; four lighted tennis courts; volleyball and basketball courts; men’s and women’s health centers with steam rooms, whirlpools, and saunas; and three dozen hammocks for rest and balance.
EVENINGS: Guests such as Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Galway Kinnell, best-selling author Dan Wakefield, novelist Erica Jong, PBS commentator Bill Moyers, Grammy-winning entertainers, critics (Roger Ebert), politicians, noted conservationists, and hundreds of other writers, academics, architects of social change, and media mavens are among those who have led evening programs at the Ranch. In addition to poetry and journal keeping, other talks and workshops have included health, science, and the arts. Other learning choices include aromatherapy, star gazing, sculpture classes, and jewelry- making (and other crafts at the art studio (1).
For more information or to book a visit, please visit: www.rancholapuerta.com
source: Rancho La Puerta Fact Sheet
