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LBM.Golden Door

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Heidi Nye

The Golden Door in Escondido, California is a highly rated destination spa known for its unique mind-body-spirit approach and serene natural setting on 377 acres. Guests receive daily treatments and participate in gentle fitness classes with a maximum of six people to allow for individual attention. Meals are provided featuring produce from the on-site organic garden. The peaceful atmosphere and focus on wellness allows guests to relax deeply and find an inner calm, making it difficult to leave this idyllic "other world."

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WITHIN THREE HOURS TRAVEL&LEISURE 30LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2008 The Golden DoorWRITTEN By HEIDI NYE LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM I walk through the golden door and step onto a long, wooden footbridge. Beneath and above me are greenery and bird- song. Dappled sunlight illuminates my path to another door, beyond which is a lounge with sumptuous couches and an ancient Japanese painting across one wall. A woman in a blue and white kimono serves me tea. I then pass through a sliding door and behold a courtyard at the end of which is a large temple bell. I have entered another world. For the next five days, I am treated to the plea- sures of the Zagat-rated best destination spa in the country, the Golden Door in Escondido, designed as a Japanese inn with art and antiques valued at more than $1 million. The $7,995 package includes a full weeks stay, but my only child is graduating from UCLA on Friday, so I have to leave early. As I tell the other 27 guests40 is the maximumthis is the only thing that could have pulled me away from the full experience. Established in 1958 by Deborah Szekely, a woman who advocated vegetarianism and yoga decades before they became fashion- able, the Golden Door is entering its sixth decade of providing an experience that cannot be had anywhere else, says Naples, Fla., real estate developer Josephine Vitale, who has stayed at many of the worlds best spas but always returns to the Golden Door. Downtown Long Beach One World Trade Center Adjacent to the Hilton, off the WTC Plaza (562) 753-2170 www.dailygrill.com Certified Angus Steaks Chops Fresh Seafood Classic Salads Handcrafted Cocktails Take-out Private Dining Room
32LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2008 Sixty-five percent of the guests are repeat vis- itors like Vitale. Many return during the same week, year after year, renewing friendships with those who may come from as far away as Sydney, Australia. This camaraderie and the longevity of the 150 staff make for a summer- camp-for-adults atmosphere. When you leave, you feel like youre leaving your mother, says guest Jeannie Meg Smith of Tiburon, Calif. The experience that Ive had at the Golden Door is one that I now have to have. It is part of what I need for my life. I am here during one of the four coed weeks. Although the Golden Door also has four men- only weeks, it otherwise caters to women. Even married couples are given separate rooms. Otherwise, one guest might be having her daily massage while another wants to get back into the room to take a shower. This way, every guest has his or her alone space, says general manager Rachel Caldwell, who has been working at the Golden Door since 1960. But we dont do bed checks, she adds, her bright eyes flashing. Guests also receive daily facials and two herbal scrubs and a manicure-pedicure. Additional treatmentsincluding stone massage, reflex- ology, energetic healing, and Thai foot ritual can be scheduled at an additional cost. Wonderful though the treatments are, however, they are not what sets the Golden By the second day, I develop spa brain, a peaceful state in which I simply look out on the world without a thought in my head. LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 14,262TO BE EXACT GOT S OTS WE VE Downtown Parking Made Easy downtownlongbeach.org Distance: 85 miles Travel Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Door apart. Many high-end hotels and resorts have opened spas and offer treatments as part of a package. The Golden Door is much more than this. It offers a head-to-toe, mind-body- spirit approach that is unique. Upon arrival, guests are weighed and interviewed to design a workout or inner-work program and menu to address their specific goals. For those who are used to an aggressive routine, cardio boxing, strength training, tennis, lap swims, power cycle, calypso dance, and Buns of Steel are some of the offerings. I opted for the gentle program as Ive spent too much time with my laptop lately and not enough time at the gym. With never more than five or six people per classand once, in the hypnosis class taught by on-site psychologist Cindi Peterson, only meindividual attention and encouragement are standard. In Ellen Walshs swim clinic, I learn that my freestyle has been out of whack my entire life. The ever-patient Walsh works with me to improve my kicking, breathing, and rhythm, basically redesigning my stroke in less than a week. Each day begins with a 5:30 wake-up call, fruit and tea in the Wisteria Lounge, and a five-mile mountain trek, a three-mile moderate hike, or a gentle ramble through a meadow. With 377 acres, there is plenty to explore. Upon returning to my simple but elegantly styled room, I find a breakfast tray with a small vase of freshly picked flowers from the three-acre organic garden, which also provides much of the produce for the kitchen. My window looks out on one of the scores of stone lanterns that pepper the property and a bamboo-pole-and- stone-basin bird bath. Everywhere I turn at the Golden Door beauty surrounds me: meander- ing stone paths, waterfalls, a labyrinth modeled after the one at the Chartres Cathedral, sunlight through bamboo leaves, artistically designed food served at the days three snacks and three mealssorbet emerging from a yellow lily and romaine lettuce wrapped with thinly sliced cucumber to give the appearance of a napkin and its holder. By the second day, I develop spa brain, a peaceful state in which I simply look out on the world without a thought in my head. Several times during my stay, I am overcome with a feeling very close to being in love in which everything appears perfectfrom the bamboo grove the pedicurist paints on my big toe to the pink lily in my room that slowly unfolds as a fitting metaphor to my own opening as my week unfolds. Though every moment is delightful, my peak experience comes on Wednesday night when, swimsuit-clad, I enter a secluded hot tub with water therapist Dave Towe, who stretches and moves my body in ways that are impossible on land. I feel like a gently undulating piece of seaweed. I feel like I am flying. I have entered another world within another world. I came here stressed about work, but I leave all too soonmore concerned with the bonsai trees and the votive candles that line the decks at night than I am about anything I left behind in Long Beach. I open the golden door and re-enter the world of deadlines and decisions, intent on keeping the peace within me that I have found here. n

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LBM.Golden Door

  • 1. WITHIN THREE HOURS TRAVEL&LEISURE 30LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2008 The Golden DoorWRITTEN By HEIDI NYE LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM I walk through the golden door and step onto a long, wooden footbridge. Beneath and above me are greenery and bird- song. Dappled sunlight illuminates my path to another door, beyond which is a lounge with sumptuous couches and an ancient Japanese painting across one wall. A woman in a blue and white kimono serves me tea. I then pass through a sliding door and behold a courtyard at the end of which is a large temple bell. I have entered another world. For the next five days, I am treated to the plea- sures of the Zagat-rated best destination spa in the country, the Golden Door in Escondido, designed as a Japanese inn with art and antiques valued at more than $1 million. The $7,995 package includes a full weeks stay, but my only child is graduating from UCLA on Friday, so I have to leave early. As I tell the other 27 guests40 is the maximumthis is the only thing that could have pulled me away from the full experience. Established in 1958 by Deborah Szekely, a woman who advocated vegetarianism and yoga decades before they became fashion- able, the Golden Door is entering its sixth decade of providing an experience that cannot be had anywhere else, says Naples, Fla., real estate developer Josephine Vitale, who has stayed at many of the worlds best spas but always returns to the Golden Door. Downtown Long Beach One World Trade Center Adjacent to the Hilton, off the WTC Plaza (562) 753-2170 www.dailygrill.com Certified Angus Steaks Chops Fresh Seafood Classic Salads Handcrafted Cocktails Take-out Private Dining Room
  • 2. 32LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2008 Sixty-five percent of the guests are repeat vis- itors like Vitale. Many return during the same week, year after year, renewing friendships with those who may come from as far away as Sydney, Australia. This camaraderie and the longevity of the 150 staff make for a summer- camp-for-adults atmosphere. When you leave, you feel like youre leaving your mother, says guest Jeannie Meg Smith of Tiburon, Calif. The experience that Ive had at the Golden Door is one that I now have to have. It is part of what I need for my life. I am here during one of the four coed weeks. Although the Golden Door also has four men- only weeks, it otherwise caters to women. Even married couples are given separate rooms. Otherwise, one guest might be having her daily massage while another wants to get back into the room to take a shower. This way, every guest has his or her alone space, says general manager Rachel Caldwell, who has been working at the Golden Door since 1960. But we dont do bed checks, she adds, her bright eyes flashing. Guests also receive daily facials and two herbal scrubs and a manicure-pedicure. Additional treatmentsincluding stone massage, reflex- ology, energetic healing, and Thai foot ritual can be scheduled at an additional cost. Wonderful though the treatments are, however, they are not what sets the Golden By the second day, I develop spa brain, a peaceful state in which I simply look out on the world without a thought in my head. LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 14,262TO BE EXACT GOT S OTS WE VE Downtown Parking Made Easy downtownlongbeach.org Distance: 85 miles Travel Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Door apart. Many high-end hotels and resorts have opened spas and offer treatments as part of a package. The Golden Door is much more than this. It offers a head-to-toe, mind-body- spirit approach that is unique. Upon arrival, guests are weighed and interviewed to design a workout or inner-work program and menu to address their specific goals. For those who are used to an aggressive routine, cardio boxing, strength training, tennis, lap swims, power cycle, calypso dance, and Buns of Steel are some of the offerings. I opted for the gentle program as Ive spent too much time with my laptop lately and not enough time at the gym. With never more than five or six people per classand once, in the hypnosis class taught by on-site psychologist Cindi Peterson, only meindividual attention and encouragement are standard. In Ellen Walshs swim clinic, I learn that my freestyle has been out of whack my entire life. The ever-patient Walsh works with me to improve my kicking, breathing, and rhythm, basically redesigning my stroke in less than a week. Each day begins with a 5:30 wake-up call, fruit and tea in the Wisteria Lounge, and a five-mile mountain trek, a three-mile moderate hike, or a gentle ramble through a meadow. With 377 acres, there is plenty to explore. Upon returning to my simple but elegantly styled room, I find a breakfast tray with a small vase of freshly picked flowers from the three-acre organic garden, which also provides much of the produce for the kitchen. My window looks out on one of the scores of stone lanterns that pepper the property and a bamboo-pole-and- stone-basin bird bath. Everywhere I turn at the Golden Door beauty surrounds me: meander- ing stone paths, waterfalls, a labyrinth modeled after the one at the Chartres Cathedral, sunlight through bamboo leaves, artistically designed food served at the days three snacks and three mealssorbet emerging from a yellow lily and romaine lettuce wrapped with thinly sliced cucumber to give the appearance of a napkin and its holder. By the second day, I develop spa brain, a peaceful state in which I simply look out on the world without a thought in my head. Several times during my stay, I am overcome with a feeling very close to being in love in which everything appears perfectfrom the bamboo grove the pedicurist paints on my big toe to the pink lily in my room that slowly unfolds as a fitting metaphor to my own opening as my week unfolds. Though every moment is delightful, my peak experience comes on Wednesday night when, swimsuit-clad, I enter a secluded hot tub with water therapist Dave Towe, who stretches and moves my body in ways that are impossible on land. I feel like a gently undulating piece of seaweed. I feel like I am flying. I have entered another world within another world. I came here stressed about work, but I leave all too soonmore concerned with the bonsai trees and the votive candles that line the decks at night than I am about anything I left behind in Long Beach. I open the golden door and re-enter the world of deadlines and decisions, intent on keeping the peace within me that I have found here. n