Wellness Retreats, Long the Domain of Women, Are Welcoming More Men

19.02.2024 - 17:35 / cntraveler.com / Nast Traveler / Long

It is a sunny winter morning, and I can see snowcapped peaks in the distance. The fragrance of pine fills the air. Birds chatter in the trees above. All is peaceful. And yet I feel as though I have just climbed a mountain—and I don't mean my recent four-mile uphill hike to the temple of Kunjapuri. I am on day seven of a weeklong stay at Ananda in the Himalayas, the lauded palatial destination spa near the spiritual hub of Rishikesh in northern India. I've come to work my way through a glut of issues, including work stress, niggling joint pain, anxiety, loss of libido, constant fatigue, and sleep disruption. The uncertainty that followed the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened all of them.

Vernacular architecture at Ananda in the Himalayas

As a middle-aged man, I am not the traditional inpatient at Ananda, which is known for its integrative approach to wellness using therapies from modalities like traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Women have historically made up 60 percent of all guests. Yet I do notice a handful of men in the treatment rooms and on the verdant grounds. Since 2019, Ananda's male clientele has grown by 14 percent, consisting mostly of men between 35 and 65. They come, Mahesh Natarajan, Ananda's COO, tells me, to treat cardiovascular issues, hypertension, and imbalances including digestive problems, sleep disorders, and reproductive health issues like sexual dysfunction. Many also seek to address suppressed emotions. “We see it start boiling to the surface from the mid-40s onward,” he says.

This trend is playing out across the luxury wellness sector. Frances Geoghegan, a Condé Nast Traveler Travel Specialist and the founder of the expert wellness-retreat agency Healing Holidays, reports that men now make up 48 percent of her business, up from 20 percent a decade ago. “Men have been feeling the stresses and are now taking charge of their own wellness,” she says.

A therapy room

One reason for the shift is an increasing social acceptance of men being proactive about self-care. “For men, going to the gym or taking up sports was the norm,” says Mini Chandran, who works in product development at Kerala's Ayurveda-centric CGH Earth. “But now they are looking at prevention over cure.” Miraval, the luxury wellness resort with outposts in Arizona and the Berkshires, reports that male guests increased by 105 percent last year from the year before. Its locations have engineered specific programming including talks on mental health guided by former NFL players and experts, the result of a partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Of course, physical fitness remains hugely important to wellness programs, with European spas like Lanserhoff and Sha excelling on these fronts. But