With the world out of sight,Phukets Six Senses Hideaway keeps your body open to all of natures goodnessThe last dregs of lethargy,brought on by recycled air in airports,and pressurised airplane cabins were cleared from my brain by the tangy sea breeze. The boat crew handed me a chilled towel rolled around a thick lemon grass stalk. I broke the stalk and the refreshing aroma of lemon grass infused itself into the cold towel. I dabbed it on my face and realised that my holiday had started. I was on a speedboat zipping from the marina in Phuket towards the island of Koh Yao Noi in the Phang Nga Bay where the Six Senses Hideaway was located. The word hideaway is apt because the moment I stepped into my private villa there,I realised that this is where you could come and get away from it all. Each villa has its own infinity-edged pool (which seems to melt into the sea) with sundecks and is attended by a personal villa team trained to anticipate every whim. The bamboo theme goes brilliantly with the surroundings and the view from the lounge chairs on the edge of the pool is very soothing. I was soon longing to go out and explore. The resorts water sports centre was the perfect one-stop for all this. The next day I spent scuba diving and canoeing around the Phang Nga Bays towering limestone crags.Having worked up a raging appetite,I headed to the Living Room restaurant. A lesson learned that day was the Thai tongue relishes spice and the chef will charge your food with a volcano if you give him licence to go flat out with the spiciness of the dish. I found this out to my great discomfort but the waiter had seen this twist of events before and thus replied to my desperate pleas for water with a glass of milk. She told me that water would add fuel to fire whereas milk cuts spiciness the best. She was right. After three nights here,I was back on the boat heading towards Phuket but got off at another island just 10 minutes short of the Phuket Marina. This was the Naka Yai Island on which the Six Senses Destination Spa is located. Its 61 private pool villas are located on the tranquil white sand beachfront. Every villa offers breathtaking views of the Phang Nga Bay.The moment I arrived,I got into my private pool. By the time I had to meet Evemy wellness advisorI was quite relaxed. Through a series of questions and examinations,she recommended the spa treatments. The spa is an important part of the Six Senses Destination Spa,but it is not the only focus. The focus of this resort is to create a sense of wellness that is spiritual,physical as well as emotional.This wasnt like most other spas I had been to where the treatment is one-off and an indulgence during your holiday. Here the aim is to gently guide the guest in such a way that he feels the results and then makes a conscious effort to stay on the wellness track after returning home. That is why food and healthy dining form an integral part of the resorts wellness concept. The food served is immensely healthy I was aware,and I was expecting some very bland meals that Id have to forcibly eat,the only solace being that they were very nutritious. But I was pleasantly surprised. First of all,the resorts landscaping is edible. That means the greens and salads on the table are mostly grown around the resort. Then everything is cooked to retain nutritional value. But the best part is that after a meal I felt fortified,not bloated. That is the essence of healthy living and a lesson that I have taken home from this destination spa. The meals are the creation of the chef who is guided by the chief nutritionist. The latter tells the chef the vegetables and fish he can use and to what temperature he can cook it. My massages at the spa were good no doubt,but the one that I really enjoyed the most was the Thai massage. The masseurs technique and knowledge about where to apply the pressure seemed to ease tense muscles and un-knot the wound-up parts of body. After that treatment I felt like a piece of cardboard that had been transformed into a silk sheet. This wellness resort also places a great deal of emphasis on all-round well being so there were physical training classes at the gym and meditation sala. Well-trained experts guided participants in sessions like Introduction to Kinesis or Mind Awareness Training' and my favourite, Oriental Awareness Training. The latter session incorporated physical and mental exercises to bring about overall fitnessphysical,mental and spiritual. I still had enough time to do my regular holiday stuff which meant going out on the Hobie Cat sailboat with a guide. We went around the sparkling bay and within 45 minutes or so I had learned the knack of trimming the sail and using the wind to my advantage.The next day a few of us guests got into kayaks and followed the guide on a lovely paddle through the calm waters at the north east of the resort. It was a relaxing excursion through the mangroves of the Naka Island. When my time at the spa came to an end,I realised that I had settled into a rhythm that would be greatly beneficial for me to follow even after I went back home and plugged into the grid and got back to the grind.I consciously try to do so and it is making me feel very well and certainly more alive! Fast FactsPhuket is an hours flight from Bangkok and it is so popular that Thai Airways flies the huge 747 Jumbo Jet on this route.From the airport you will be picked up by resort staff and transported to the marina where a speed boat will take you to your respective islands.For more information,log on to www.sixsenses.com
