A STRATEGIC RETREAT BY BRITT COKER
I am one with The Forest, and The Forest is with me.
I find myself chanting like a Jedi as I sit alone in a hot tub, bordered by a stand of native beech trees and the fast-flowing Maruia River. I have discovered forest bathing. The only chit-chat is from birds high in the trees, and me, talking to myself.
It’s peaceful and idyllic but eventually, I have somewhere else I need to be. Jackie has put the infra-red sauna on for me. There is no real expectation that I will get in it, but since it’s the biggest commitment in my schedule that day, it’s not much of a bother to follow through. Who is Jackie? She is a friendly smile, an ‘its-no-bother’ vision in my surreal dream of Ah! The serenity. She floats into frame from nowhere to ask me things and update me on stuff. She is the concierge at Maruia River Retreat where I have retreated for four routine-less days. I‘m in the semi-wilderness, running semi-wild. From spa to sauna to yoga to gong bath to masseuse to heated pool. And to Jackie occasionally, who tells me things. When dinner is, how to operate the Finnish sauna, how to increase the current in the magnesium pool. Very important things.
In between my travels to the retreat’s lux amenities, I take solo expeditions into the property’s beech forest, where lichen dangles off branches like Christmas tinsel, water trickless over bright green, moss-covered rocks and wild mushrooms cluster in civilised colonies. My Wow! facial muscles get a workout. With the other six guests I had earlier enjoyed a tour from owner and chef, Lasse. He pointed out botanical edibles and regaled us with tall moa tales and yarns from times gone by, of life in nearby Shenandoah, and a man called Captain Moonlight who seemed to love a good lunation cycle. It’s hard to impress a New Zealander with stories about their own backyard, but I learn many new and interesting facts that I wholeheartedly intend to remember forever but forget by the time I leave.
The resort was bought by Lasse and Cristina Holopainen back in 2018 just before life got a little gnarly for all of us. I’m guessing, even living at a luxury resort brings mixed emotions when day in, day out, you’re the only ones swimming lengths against the magnesium current. But it was a chance to refresh, renovate and add more amenities for the benefit of the getaway guests.
The couple’s life before Maruia River Retreat included several years running a successful yoga practice in the Philippines. Now, both their reputation and purpose-built studio attract devoted yoga students from near and far to attend their yoga retreats. Cristina says many of the guests have never done yoga before but she gently encourages them to try it at her 8 am classes. I can confirm she’s five stars.
Cristina went to an intensive training workshop to learn how to strike a gong because there is way more to it than just hitting one randomly with a padded stick. There are places to hit it and ways to hit it, and timeframes to hit it in. An underrated instrument, the large brass disc hangs silently in her studio, until the moment, and the paddle, strikes. Our group enjoys a gong ‘bath’ one night, followed by a three-piece crystal bowl orchestra. The sound waves are all-encompassing and vibrate in the air around us, reverberating off my chakra points, I suspect, and probably recalibrating them too.
But it’s not all yoga poses and beating gongs, Maruia River Retreat also caters for special groups like bird watchers, plus romantic couples, individuals seeking a little me-time, and slightly obsessed trout hunters. Cristina holds her hands wide, indicating the length of ones that got away. Large, glittery fish, caught and released from secret spots near where the river flows past the property. I nod silently, happiest for the trout.
These days, the health and wellness mantra is the antidote to our incredibly important dashings to and fro, the chanting almost as loud as the white noise we are trying to get away from. But the difference here is that the alluring tones of this mantra are actually good for us. For women in particular, it’s becoming more commonplace to part from family, friends and responsibility, to enjoy some time on our own. The weekend I am at Maruia River Retreat, they host their inaugural Self Love programme, providing one on one chats with a facilitator from the Philippines, Mavis Manotoc. It’s a chance for guests to focus on personal development and regain some perspective of their own self-value, away from the clambering crowd. I loved my talks with Mavis and wish I could have put her in my pocket for soothed sayings and sage advice.
Regrettably, my days there flash by, punctuated with generous self-servings of coffee granola and spicy cinnamon tea, impromptu dancing in my villa and the low swoop-swoop beat of kereru as they fly across the treetops. Perhaps, like me occasionally, looking for Jackie.
Photo taken by the author, Britt Coker, on the guided nature walk across the 500-acre nature estate.