Global Wellness Day (GWD), a social project that began in Turkiye in 2012, was celebrated the world over recently on June 14. 

This time around, the theme is “Reconnect Magenta”. According to the GWD website, this entails reconnecting with oneself, with local communities and, of course, the Earth.

There are many ways to celebrate, and over the years some hotel brands have hosted their own programmes to commemorate GWD. These mainly involve spa treatments, yoga sessions and engagement sessions with local communities.

In Johor, Westin Desaru Coast Resort is celebrating GWD for a whole month. A Wellness Market is held every Friday to Sunday in June at the resort’s lobby, featuring booths by local artisans and wellness advocates. Each vendor has been selected to align with the hotel brand’s “six pillars of well-being”, as well as the property’s role as a wellness-forward destination.

Some of the vendors include Desaru Fruit Farm, Junglewalla, Dash Outdoors Malaysia and Folo Farm, which will also hold a sharing session on sustainability and food regeneration on June 29.

Apart from that, the resort is holding its signature 100km Strava Challenge too, which invites guests to log a total of 100km in running activity via the Strava app (look for the resort’s account). This challenge is open to all Marriott Bonvoy members and will conclude on June 30.

In Kedah, Four Seasons Resort Langkawi has curated a line-up of wellness programmes for guests, happening throughout the month of June. There’s a “Love Immersion Practice”, meant for couples who wish to revitalise their emotional and physical connection; a “Sun Guardian Purification Ritual” that incorporates body activation, mud therapy and water purification; and “Roots Of Breath”, which is a private mangrove meditation.

These are paid packages organised by the resort so you can check them out if you’re staying there this month. A complimentary “lifestyle consultation” is also available for guests who wish to improve or even just start their wellness journey.

Ice baths are part of a recovery treatment at TIA Wellness Resort in Da Nang. — TIA Wellness Resort

Meanwhile, some hotels in Thailand are also ramping up their wellness offerings. At Melia Pattaya Hotel, its new YHI Spa features local spa treatments, where traditional Thai massage techniques are combined with a Thai herbal compress known as “luk pra kob”. This compress contains lemongrass, camphor, turmeric and ginger, and is said to help relieve inflammation and boost blood flow.

At InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping, its new II Spa has a collection of treatments inspired by the centuries-old healing traditions of “hong mor muang”, a practice rooted in ancient Lanna heritage.

Treatments include using herbal compresses, a “tok sen” hammering therapy, and a sacred Phang Prathip candle ritual.

In Vietnam, the TIA Wellness Resort in Da Nang has a private retreat programme called “Strength & Recovery”.

The programme combines HIIT (high-intensity interval training) sessions with recovery rituals like ice baths, steams and saunas. Participants will also get a high-protein plant-based meal plan, to better build and improve one’s strength and endurance.

Though this wellness programme sounds more physically demanding than your usual relaxing spa treatments, guests do get to slow down with an early morning visit to the Marble Mountain to see the ancient Linh Ung pagoda and walk into mysterious cave.

(There are three pagodas of the same name in Da Nang, and the Linh Ung at Marble Mountain, constructed in 1825, is the oldest.)

If you’re keen to go further for your wellness holiday, check out Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas, which has just launched the island’s first magnesium-based spa treatment. This is in partnership with “Of The Islands”, a wellness brand that specialises in using magnesium chloride – said to be extracted 1,500m below ground in the Netherlands.