By Mariam Al Mazrouei ~
Distant in the Arabian Desert, a revolution of well-being is underway. No longer described in the terminology of a heaven of spires and overindulgence, the United Arab Emirates is reclaiming life and living and itself in the awakened way of the ages. From shores of gold to peacefulness of sand dunes, the UAE in its own time is emerging as heaven for the thoughtful peace traveler of concord, joy all around, and calmness of mind.
No. With clever amalgamation of society, technology, and heritage, the Emirates has created a niche of its own among worldwide wellness phenomena—a space in which cultural heritage is blended with hi-tech practice together.
UAE’s own golden sheen of natural beaches, blue waters, and green oases is where to live vigilant. Vigilant travelers everywhere are already directed in that direction not only for climate and scenery but also for its vigilant intent of uniting mind-body-spirit.
Wellness retreats such as The Retreat Palm Dubai and Six Senses Zighy Bay (half an hour from the Emirates) offer experience packages with yoga, meditation, and nutrition complemented by traditional healing modalities such as herbalism and sound bath. All this surrounded by silence of dunes around or beat of waves of Arabian Gulf, in an environment that is unparalleled to meditate and renew.
A Culture of Hospitality, Healing, and Heritage
Impregnated with its culture of good living, UAE wellness culture is embracing the culture of virtue of giving and philanthropic activities. Acupressure-type modalities such as Hijama (cupping) and Arabic herbalism are being mixed with spa treatments of yesterday, yesterday and yesterday’s yesterday. Wellness activities such as yoga in Kite Beach and desert hikes to meditate are passé; it’s a people’s revival process in progress. They are all about doing things together and becoming one.
Both travelers and locals are embracing just such communal experiences. Thursday group yoga or led ascends of the Hajar Mountains are only a couple of the daily activities of a well-being tourist, where well-being is private yet communal.
Innovation Meets Intention
From traditional to Emirati excess, the wellness industry of the nation has never shied away from experimenting with technology. There are smartphones apps such as MindTales and The Wellness Brothers that provide virtual advice, mind consulting, and personalized exercises, at one’s beck and call at any time of the day and from anywhere. These virtual ones are an entrepreneurial coup: accomplishing ease without sacrificing depth and genuineness.
Even the policy of the government is unambiguous on the same vision. UAE Wellness Tourism Strategy promotes healthy experience throughout the whole country, from serene spa resorts to nature parks. In the whole tourism diversification exercise, wellness has been established as a pillar—economic and cultural.
Diet is the second of the above pillars. Organic veg and fruit cafes and green cafes such as Wild & The Moon and Comptoir 102 have set up shop in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, evidence of hunger for diet-conscious living. They’re not restaurants—spaces where human beings gather to know, play with health living, and exercise mindful action in the table form of plant food and adaptogenic drinks.
Emirati enthusiasm for wellness spills over into school and office. Wellness classes, psychiatric wellness seminars, and meditation training also find their way to offices and schools, all indicative of cultural trend, not transformation—it’s becoming mainstream.
A Journey Inward, Ringed by Sand and Sky
beneath its face, the UAE’s image as a destination spa is actually all about something greater than gorgeous spas or Instagram-finish yoga resorts. It’s about creating an oasis in which one can breathe easy, breathe deep, and reconnect in the peace of the ocean or calm of the desert. A weekend meditation retreat, a festival of human wholeness, or mindfulness practice of movement of mind on a daily basis—whatever.—the UAE is the landscape upon which living awake isn’t merely tolerated. It’s nurtured.
As suns set into sand dunes and muezzin’s call to prayer rings out into the desert sky on the breeze, one thing is for sure: good health in the UAE is not a privilege—it’s an expense.
