Dr. Christiane Northrup introduced women to the power and possibilities of alternative and complementary medicine through her 1994 book, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. When hormone replacement therapy became a frightening topic, Northrup was there with The Wisdom of Menopause in 2001. That book was updated this year with scientific and research advances as well as Northrup’s own story. When she wrote the first edition, she hadn’t been through menopause yet. “I look and feel younger at 62 than I did in my 40s,” she says.

What was the genesis of The Wisdom of Menopause? 

I wanted women to have a handbook to ease the transition of menopause. I wanted to give them the tools to understand what was happening, from the standpoint of their soul – so they didn’t feel victimized by their bodies.

You’ve said that many women might not need hormones to get them through menopause. 

Yes, that’s true. The first thing women need to make sure is that they are living a healthy lifestyle: getting enough sleep – this is huge; decreasing or eliminating sugar and refined carbohydrates from their diets; eating a healthy breakfast.

But if you’re doing all that, then my gold standard answer is, “Don’t suffer.” If you are losing sleep with hot flashes and have tried every alternative, by all means go on a low dose of hormones. I also believe it’s best to use the least hormones for the least amount of time possible.

You are a longtime believer in Traditional Chinese Medicine and herbal treatments. What would you recommend for perimenopausal or menopausal women? 

The one thing I’ve really considered a breakthrough is called Pueraria mirifica. It’s an herb that’s been used in Thailand for 700 years. Many women find that if they take this, their insomnia and mood swings go away in four days. I like Solgar PM Phytogen complex.

What other dietary and herbal supplements might we consider? 

Our bodies might need extra B vitamins – these are easily depleted by stress. Many of us are woefully deficient in Omega 3 fats. Taking a magnesium supplement at night can be very calming. And soaking in an Epsom salt bath is good for detoxing, as well as calming.

What do you know now that you didn’t know when you first wrote The Wisdom of Menopause? 

Menopause is the death of the old self. I know this personally now. The unsustainable structures in your life will start hitting you between the eyes. You might feel rage and grief. That’s not just your hormones; it’s your life talking.

–Evelyn Theiss

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Spas and resorts throughout North America are making a difference well beyond their own walls through restorative efforts, conservation measures and education. OSM recognizes that difference, and we salute the pioneers who hold stewardship as a core value.

The Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens
Pine Mountain, Georgia
Built on once-desolate over-farmed cotton fields, this resort now brims with Southern pines, native drought-resistant plants and hundreds of acres of gardens. The lodge and spa earned LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. callawaylodgeandspa.com

Carmel Valley Ranch
Carmel Valley, California
Guests at this new resort can take a beekeeping workshop at the apiary, then enjoy the bees’ honey in the restaurant, and watch as the lavender harvest is distilled into fine essential oil used in organic
products at the sublime Spa Aiyana. carmelvalleyranch.com

Rancho La Puerta
Tecate, Mexico
This iconic resort laid the groundwork for the destination spa industry, and environmental stewardship is deep in its DNA. Deborah Szekely and her family have been providing healing and inspiration for decades, with a menu featuring food from the resort’s organic farm and a staff highly trained in sustainable practices. rancholapuerta.com

Crystal Mountain Resort and Spa
Thompsonville, Michigan
The Midwest’s only U.S. Green Building Council LEED-certified spa, located at the heart of a resort with ample wooded areas and animal habitat, incorporates native plants such as pine and sage into its spa offerings. crystalmountain.com

Ritz-Carlton
Charlotte, North Carolina
This Uptown Charlotte hotel, which opened in 2009, was the first Ritz-Carlton and the first Charlotte hotel to obtain U.S. Green Building Council LEED Gold certification. A 13,000-square-foot penthouse spa and wellness center, which has a “living roof” planted with 18,000 sedums, offers organic treatments. ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/charlotte

The Setai
Miami Beach, Florida
This Asian-inspired South Beach resort is one of six Leading Hotels of the World to achieve the Luxury Eco Certification Standards. A “Green Team” oversees sustainability efforts, such as water and energy conservation, and sets annual improvement goals. setai.com

Calistoga Ranch
Napa Valley, California
Tucked into a private canyon with ancient oaks and a lake, this 157-acre site has abundant vegetable and herb gardens and lets sheep take the place of gas-powered weed whackers. “Lights Out Mondays” save power in non-guest areas, in-room flowers are from the property and corks from the fine wines served here are recycled. calistogaranch.com

Hotel Terra
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Hotel Terra and Chill Spa’s cutting-edge eco-friendly efforts include offsetting electric and natural gas power with clean energy and collecting runoff water. The hotel is designed so that 90 percent of the interiors capture natural daylight, and Hotel Terra’s staff is conscious about minimizing light pollution. hotelterrajacksonhole.com

Sonnenalp
Vail, Colorado
One of this eco-certified luxury hotel’s missions is to honor and maintain the pristine natural environment that surrounds it. Sonnenalp, which means “sun on the mountains,” is a Gold Leader in the Colorado Environmental Leadership program. The traditional European spa uses water therapies such as Turkish steam rooms, a Finnish sauna and a cold plunge pool. sonnenalp.com

Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa
Whitefield, New Hampshire
With some of New England’s most stunning views, the grand White Mountain resort has a golf course dating to 1900 and a working farm with horses, sheep, goats and chickens. This Historic Hotel of America is powered by wind, partly from an on-site turbine. New Hampshire designated it an Environmental Champion. historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/mountain-view-grand-resort-spa

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The heart of Kamalaya, a healing sanctuary in Koh Samui, Thailand, is a cave hidden in the center of lush greenery that winds 350 feet upward from a sandy white beach. Buddhist monks used the cave as a place of spiritual retreat for nearly two centuries, and it spoke to Kamalaya founder John Stewart the moment he encountered it.

Stewart, a Canadian native who lived as a monk in a Himalayan ashram for 16 years, came to Thailand in 2000 to recover from a serious illness. He’d learned of healing herbs that grew only on Koh Samui, Thailand’s third largest island located in the Gulf of Siam, and he knew that monks had infused the island with spiritual energy. Deeply moved by this special place, Stewart and his wife, Karina, a Mexican-born and Princeton-educated doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, set out to create a place of healing and renewal. Kamalaya, which opened in 2005, is a feast for all senses, offering many paths to vibrant health.

The resort, on the island’s southeastern tip, offers hillside rooms and stand-alone ocean-view villas, all subtly placed among palm trees, steep hills and massive, glacier-rounded boulders. Some trees were moved to a nursery during construction, then carefully replanted.

With the natural hospitality that is the essence of Thai culture, the staff provides superlative treatments, including a variety of traditional Asian and Thai massages. The kitchen offers imaginative Thai dishes created using the freshest fruits and vegetables, all designed to spur the body’s healing and well being. Many incorporate fresh coconut, which is Koh Samui’s main export.

Kamalaya has all the accoutrements of a wellness resort: an open-air ocean-view yoga pavilion, an infinity lap pool braced by Thai sculptures, an herb-infused steam cave ideal for post-massage, and a mile-long reef that encourages walking far into the gulf’s warm waves. But Kamalaya is more than a place to get away from the busy world. It is a holistic resort in the truest, most expansive sense –and in the most individualistic sense too. Kamalaya’s philosophy is “nurturing into health.”

The wellness center sits next to the Monk’s Cave. All guests receive a Body Bioimpedance Analysis—a snapshot of health that indicates hydration levels, ratio of lean muscle to fat, and cellular health. A naturopath explains the individualized program to each guest before they select treatments, meals and exercise regimens from categories such as Ideal Weight, Detox, Stress and Burnout, Yoga and Optimal Fitness.

Traditional Chinese medicine is, naturally, on the menu, and I experienced its power. I had injured my back carrying my luggage through several airports, and I arrived with a pronounced limp and stiff leg that seemed to worsen each day. On my third day, I made an appointment with a visiting acupuncturist from Shanghai, Dr. Song Qinggeng. He placed thin needles into my arms, legs, scalp, and I relaxed for 20 minutes to the ocean’s gentle sounds before he gave me an intense pressure-point massage and spinal manipulation. When I got up from the table, all pain was gone—and so was my limp.

My week at Kamalaya flew by in a haze of appointments interspersed with down-time spent serenely gazing at the azure sea from my room’s balcony or relaxing on a beach chair with a refreshing shot-glass of a chilled coconut gelée. I had Ayurvedic treatments, including soothing oil massages, and Chi Nei Tsang, a stomach massage designed to stimulate the internal organs. A one-on-one breathing meditation session so relaxed me that I entered a state of unconsciousness halfway through.

Before my taxi arrived to take me to the airport, I took a few moments to enter the Monk’s Cave, site of Kamalaya’s genesis. There, I meditated with gratitude on the experience I’d had–and prayed that I would return to this magnificent island retreat that forever changed the way I view my life. www.kamalaya.com

When she meditates, Cleveland-based health writer EVELYN THEISS recalls the gentle graciousness of the Thai people, the delicious cuisine and the massages she received at Kamalaya.

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“Your body is the machine, and you take it with you wherever you go.”
-Heidi Markow, TRX instructor, Carmel Valley Ranch

TRX suspension training, a new workout offered at California’s Carmel Valley Ranch, is an effective, portable method of core and strength training that you can do at home. Invented by Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick, the system uses your body and gravity to create weight and resistance. As you get stronger, you can adjust the workout’s intensity through reps or cable placement. “It’s up and coming around the country, and it’s become extremely popular here,” says Heidi Markow, a TRX-certified instructor at Carmel Valley Ranch. “Whether you play tennis or golf or any sport, the core is where everything stems from. And with TRX, the core is always getting worked. For about $200, you can buy the TRX system (cables, a suspension bar and a door anchor). Travelers can pop the cables and door-anchor into a suitcase for hotel room workouts.

trxtraining.com
carmelvalleyranch.com

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When you hear the word “ambassador,” you might think of embassies and state dinners, politics and protocol.

But given the connectedness of today’s world — and how quickly a catastrophe in one country ripples across oceans — it makes sense that a different, global kind of ambassadorship is called for too.

The non-profit organization 1 Percent for the Planet recently announced its new network of Planet Ambassadors, a diverse group of 16 business leaders, athletes, artists and activists. They share a two-pronged calling: to elevate awareness of the sustainability issues that affect the world and to build bridges between corporate and non-profit leaders that will keep the world thriving.

1 Percent for the Planet was launched in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of the famed Patagonia outdoor clothing and gear company that is based in Ventura, California. Patagonia had been giving 1 percent to environmental causes since 1985, and Chouinard believed other companies would want to do the same.

Today, 1 Percent for the Planet has grown to 1,400 member companies in 44 countries. To belong, they commit to giving at least 1 percent of their revenue (top line sales) directly to non-profit groups that focus on sustainability. It’s an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the world’s natural environment.

Among the organization’s new team of ambassadors are such diverse talents as Dan Ross, a pro surfer from Australia; Kris Holm, an extreme unicyclist and geo-scientist from Vancouver; Leilani Munter, a race car driver from North Carolina; Maya Albanese, a sustainability expert from New York City; and Kim Jordan, CEO of New Belgium Brewing in Colorado.

The ambassadors span many walks of life, but they hold a common belief that businesses have the power and responsibility to create reliable prosperity for the plant by investing in sustainability projects, says Terry Kellogg, CEO of 1 Percent for the Planet.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have an all-star team of 1 Percent  ambassadors who understand that it’s time for business to move beyond doing ‘less harm,’ by committing to making ongoing investments in ‘doing good’ for the planet,” says Kellogg, of Waitsfield, Vermont. “Our ambassadors are integrating the 1 Percent for the Planet message into their daily lives to broaden awareness for this global movement.”

1 Percent for the Planet is well on its way to becoming the largest network of environmental funders in the world. Adding the Planet Ambassadors program is part of its effort to broaden the “personality and character” of the brand, says Kellogg, to make the movement ever larger.

For more details, or to learn how to get involved in the organization, go to onepercentfortheplanet.org. 

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On the northern tip of Manhattan, a secret garden invites you to another century. Just a 30-minute subway ride from Midtown, the Cloisters offers a sense of solitude that feels impossible in the city. Emerging from the subway, you enter the oasis that is Fort Tryon Park. Trees and slopes give way to the wide, gently flowing Hudson River, but looking upward and just ahead, you’ll see what looks like a medieval fortress — a welcoming one.

Breathe deeply as you walk its winding paths to the jewel beyond that is the Cloisters. Sit for a spell on the many benches (you can always find an empty one) and just take in nature. The modern world fades away as you gaze across the river at more rolling hills and a canopy of trees.

The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Here, airy galleries take you from the Romanesque through the Gothic periods, with tapestries, illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows. Each building’s courtyards add to the sense of the spiritual.

Framed by colonades that were originally part of a 12th-century cloister in France, the courtyards evoke centuries of contemplative power. In winter, medieval concerts are held here, adding yet another devotionally historic element. But with or without music, and in any season, the Cloisters beckon you to step away from the demands of the 21st century.

They invite you to let your heart and mind slow down, and your soul to find its voice. metmuseum.org/cloisters

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The Kuna Indians know the secret of cocoa — not just that it tastes delicious, but that its healing properties are profound. It is the “antioxidant of antioxidants,” as one researcher describes it. Cocoa powder bests even renowned super fruits — acai, blueberry, cranberry, and pomegranate — in that respect.

The Kuna, who live on the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama, still harvest and prepare their native cocoa drink as they have for centuries. They drink a lot of it — 40 cups a week per person, more than any other people in the world.

Dr. Norman Hollenberg, a physician and Harvard researcher, has studied the Kuna for more than 20 years and he discovered what drinking that beverage does for them: They have one-ninth the incidence of heart disease, and one-sixteenth the number of age-related diseases, including diabetes and cancer, of residents on mainland Panama.

He says it is the flavonoids in the unprocessed cocoa that provide those amazing health protective properties that the Kuna enjoy.

Chris Kilham, known around the world as the Medicine Hunter, has greatly helped spread word of the healing power of cocoa, which comes from the berries of the cacao tree. He has been with the Kuna as they prepare it, and has tasted their concoction — which is made without milk.

“They take a pot of water and mold bananas into it, then take ground-up cocoa beans and cook them in with the bananas and water, then they strain out banana pieces,” says Kilham. “The liquid tastes sweet and creamy and delicious.” The Kuna don’t have milk or sugar, so they don’t ingest the calories found in our hot cocoa. But it wouldn’t be easy for us to consume the amount of cocoa required to get the major anti-oxidant effects the Kuna get. So the CocoaWell company has come up with a supplement that provides the same health benefits of cocoa.

The CocoaWell product line supplies the equivalent antioxidant power of 16 bars of dark chocolate in two small capsules, without the calories, fat, and sugar of a beverage. While incorporating Kuna wisdom in its business, CocoaWell also gives back. The company works with the Kuna Cocoa Institute, not only ensuring that it sources pure and certified fair trade cocoa, but also to improve farmers’ livelihoods.

The philanthropic institute, funded by a portion of CocoaWell revenues, enables the Kuna to continue their traditional harvesting methods, allows them to replant thousands of cacao trees to secure their way of life, and to preserve their culture.

“The Institute is intended to help the Kuna protect and promote their culture, and to help them get the things they need — whether it is seedlings for cacao trees, or better access to medicine,” says Kilham, who works with CocoaWell. “They have tribal council and elders who articulate what they need. And that is what we try to give.”

For more information, check cocoawell.com, kunainstitute.org and medicinehunter.com/cocoa.

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The belief at Esalen is that the small stuff matters. So, if you’re here even as long as a week, you can plan on using the same large towel to dry off after each dip and shower at the hot-spring baths. After you’ve finished drying off, you place the towel into the eco-dryer that’s on your way back up the hill to the lodge. The eco-dryer is a simple contraption: a clear-front cabinet, which allows the sun to shine into it just so, and it properly dries your towel. You mark the rack it’s on, and it will be there for your return the next day. Needless to say, you keep the same towels and bedding all week in your room too, unless you desperately need a change. These details convey an understanding. Everything about Esalen inspires a sense of the organic, a sense of protecting precious nature.

People come here for workshops, of course, and about 500 are offered here each year. You can study everything from yoga to massotherapy, to painting and poetry, to the “Art of Healthy Aging” and Rolfing, in the very place where Ida Rolf first taught her brand of bodywork. Esalen is an isolated sanctuary, a place for contemplation. Yet, at mealtimes or after a dinner, it’s also a setting for convivial gatherings of like-minded seekers at the lodge. Cell phones don’t work on the grounds, and there are only a couple of pay phones. Only the lodge has Wi-Fi access. No TV, no radio-the outside world becomes, for a time, irrelevant. You quickly embrace that feeling.

The history of Esalen, which opened in 1962, is a rich one. Brave New World writer Aldous Huxley was one of the first innovators to teach here, soon followed by psychologist Abraham Maslow and later philosopher Joseph Campbell of The Power of Myth fame. Artists like Joan Baez, George Harrison, and others of that level of talent arrived, as did people whose names became cultural touchstones: Henry Miller and Hunter S. Thompson. Driving to Esalen south from Carmel, you mostly twist along the coastline. If you’re not looking for it, you’d easily miss the sign. It notes that visitors require reservations – which keeps the merely curious out. You negotiate the twisting drive to the gatehouse, where you check in, then continue on, till you come to a wide lawn. A handful of inviting Adirondack chairs overlooks the dark rocks and the breaking waves. One feels a sense of awe, followed by gratitude, then peace, in very short order.

Esalen still has the hippie vibe you might expect. Incense perfumes the air around the front office, which doubles as the bookstore. I find an empty chair overlooking the Pacific and rest. Eventually, I get up and walk the path through the massive gardens that grow much of the food served here. I pick up the keys and go to my room, one in a long strip of cabin-like accommodations. I am prepared for rustic, and I get it, in the form of a basic bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a desk. The prize lies just beyond: a sliding glass door and a wide balcony over the ocean. I fall asleep to the rush of waves. I paid extra for a single room, and there aren’t that many of those here. Most people at Esalen have dorm-like accommodations, sharing rooms with friends, partners or strangers. Even for a single, Esalen offers surprisingly affordable accommodations, about $1,600 for a room, food, and seminar for five nights.

Most people here will visit the baths by day, and often again by night. The nudity at the baths isn’t the least bit sexual (though I can’t speak for how it might have been 40 years ago). Rather, it symbolizes a quintessential Esalen philosophy: feeling safe and accepting in your own skin and shedding your usual judgmental self. The baths make for a nice afternoon respite, and more of an adventure in the evening, when you carefully climb into one of the 20-person sulfur-spring-fed tubs. The natural heat of the water, the crashing of the ocean, and the eruption of stars above puts you on sensory overload, but in the best possible way. Esalen also is famous for its special massages, done with long, flowing yet firm-pressured strokes, and lasting for 90 minutes ($125).The staff massotherapists are some of the best in the country, and they give the massage in a spectacular place: on the top floor of the bathhouse, with the sun shining through slats above, and the ocean just feet away. Some people come to Esalen for quiet retreats, but most come for some kind of study. I’m here for a workshop on memoir-style writing. My class meets in the Fritz Lodge, named for Fritz Perls, co-founder of Gestalt therapy. After brief lectures, we spend hours writing in notebooks or on laptops, usually in chairs or on pillows that we move to the sunny balcony, which wraps around the lodge and looks down on the water.

At mealtimes in the lodge, groups share long tables and everyone raves about the food. I don’t often eat kale and chard, but the way they’re prepared here? Wouldn’t miss them. Everyone eats with gusto, enjoying not just the vegetables (there’s meat or fish for carnivores, too) but the soups and homemade, whole-grain breads that are available 24 hours a day. The lodge kitchen is impeccable in how it disposes of the leftover inedible portions of food, such as potato peels and such-it all goes right into the compost container and the contents will eventually be used in the onsite gardens. The kitchen-staffed by professionals as well as work-study students-is famous for its delicious take on organic, locally grown food. The head cooks have even written a coffee-table size Esalen cookbook. You can’t walk far at Esalen without seeing the massive gardens and the Esalen farm on the hill just north of it. They provide most of the food here. As if there weren’t enough natural beauty here, butterflies gild the grounds. Masses of monarchs stop here on their migrations north and south, and they fill the air and trees. You encounter them, still or fluttering, as you walk down to what is euphemistically called the beach. To get there, you climb down an iron ladder. There’s little sand here, just boulders to clamber on. The waves explode on the rocks a few feet away, shooting up 15 or 20 feet. Walking back to the lodge from the beach, you cross a narrow bridge, which spans a gorge with a waterfall that leads to the ocean. Meditation is offered here some mornings, in the tiny cottage next to where the water rains down in what seems like Shangri-La.

If being at Esalen means finding your inner hippie, I will.

Interested in a visit?

The Esalen Institute, in Big Sur, California, offers 500 workshops a year. The length of the workshops varies from weekend, 5- and 7-day programs. Prices: The cost for a workshop, including meals, seminars, and lodging, ranges from $670 to $1,765 for standard accommodations (two or three to a room). Because you are attending a workshop, the expense is tax-deductible as an educational expense. www. esalen.org, 831-667-3000

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How often do you have a decadent experience that is also emotionally uplifting? And that makes your skin look radiant and more youthful, for more than one day? That’s the essence of what is provided by the luxurious Green Science Facial that is debuting at many Aveda concept salons around the country in recent months. The facial is part of the new Green Science anti-aging and skin-renewing system, and clearly its highlight.

For Sandy Borrelli, co-owner of the Bella Capelli Aveda Salon and Spa in Westlake, Ohio, the Green Science facial couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. She’s in her 50s and recently completed a round of chemo for cancer treatment. She eschews any products or processes that might be remotely toxic (don’t even mention Botox); she also welcomes the respite of the soothing, nurturing experience this 90-minute facial offers.

It involves massage not just of the face, but the hands, arms, and upper body. “It’s made a huge difference in my skin,” she says. “Lines I have are so much less noticeable now. And the texture is so smooth. There’s a huge difference, and you feel wonderful.”

True enough. They call the massage you’re given in the Green Science facial “high-touch skin therapy;” having had it myself, I call it bliss.

Through that, and the application of the cleansing, mask, and moisturizing components, the skin is refined, nourished, and regenerated. And, in keeping with the Aveda green philosophy, all the products used get their power from plants (including cactus and lady’s thistle) and botanicals, not manmade chemicals. Ingredients in the skin care line incorporate, for example, argan oil from Morocco, which is touted for its moisturizing fatty acids. Argan oil comes from the fruit of the Argan tree, which is harvested by Berber women who gather the fallen fruit from the ground.

On the other side of the ocean, we reap a different kind of benefit. True, the first facial costs about $175, but trust us when we says that the time spent on relaxation and massage, not to mention the cleansing and creamy moisturizing, make that seem reasonable. Follow-up facials every few weeks for maintenance are less; there’s also a line of Green Science products to keep your skin firm and luminous at home.

The first facial offers a most relaxing kick-start to a process of skin rejuvenation that you, and those who look closely at you, will notice. (If that wasn’t reward enough, the Green Science line of face products that you use to maintain the radiance is manufactured using 100 percent wind power, and is packaged in recycled material.)

To experience the Green Science facial, check with your local Aveda salon and spa or go to www.aveda.com to find out more about it.

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The very existence of forests here now is a miracle, a joining of nature and man’s desire for repair, and, ecologically speaking, a very recent one. When Atlanta textile mill owner Cason J. Callaway thought about what to do with this land that he owned in the 1930s, the first thing that came to him was “Water.” For Georgia is a state with not one single natural lake. Eventually, he dammed up some rivers, which helped protect the natural watershed, and created a lake. Well, not just a lake but what is now Robin Lake Beach, the lake with the world’s largest manmade white-sand beach.

But back then, one of Callaway’s thoughts was that a lake would offer a place in pre-air-conditioning days for Atlantans to cool off during the endless hot summers. And, even more importantly, with the water that a lake—or several lakes—held, one could irrigate gardens. That was Callaway’s true passion and real mission: to create the most beautiful gardens possible, in particular, gardens that would promote and protect Georgia’s native azalea species. He’d have a place for the public to appreciate that bounty, too.

So Callaway created “green” (and pink and red and purple in spring and summer, when the azaleas bloom on many acres) where there was barren brown. Today, Callaway Gardens continues that mission for “green,” but on a level Cason Callaway couldn’t have imagined.

What visitors who now stay at The Lodge & Spa at Callaway Garden’s notice first is the vast expanse of Callaway’s pure natural beauty— 13,000 acres of it, to be precise, much of it forest. It’s amazing how fast Southern pines can grow. That beauty—so easily enjoyed on the hiking and biking trails that penetrate and encircle the property—is supported by eco-friendly hospitality and surroundings.

Though Callaway Gardens officially opened in 1952, it’s only been in recent years that the resort has been truly reinvigorated, with an eco-friendly foundation. The lodge was built in 2003 as a conference center, at a time when the Callaways (now Cason’s son manages it) decided that all new commercial buildings would have to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. So, construction of all buildings, roads, and paths took the natural landscape into account, minimizing the removal of trees and reducing the impact on the land.

Native plants were used in landscaping because of their low water consumption, and 2,507 acres of the property were set aside as a permanent preserve through Georgia’s Forest Legacy Program. Some of the many other green decisions: Callaway recycled used asphalt from old golf cart paths to create the driveways of the Lodge and Spa; it installed recycled carpet in the Mountain Creek Inn and Conference Center; and management promotes the use of alternative fuel vehicles and carpooling by guests and employees.

But the appreciation of nature is here in education, too. There is a large enclosed butterfly habitat at the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, where butterflies in shades of cobalt blue and other tropical-fish-like hues fly; various programs at the John Sibley Horticultural Center, and the “birds of prey” demonstrations that have children and adults (even those who have seen other raptor shows) ducking when they’re not slack-jawed with fascination.

And the dining at Callaway? This is after all a place that has gardens in its name, and quite a bit of the food served in the restaurants (particularly the vegetables and herbs, and some fruit) is grown here, often in “Mr. Cason’s Vegetable Garden,” which is another place that offers plenty of workshops for children and adults. The fine-dining Gardens restaurant at Callaway carries the “Slow Food” designation, meaning it emphasizes locally grown and raised foods.

For some guests, though, the true test of a resort with a spa comes with the level of spa services. The Spa Prunifolia (the Latin name for azalea) at Callaway is on par with some of the country’s finest. The spa opened in 2007, delayed for several months because Callaway management decided on serious consultations with spa industry leaders, to create a spa that lived up high industry standards, and it’s clear they took the advice seriously. The spa is a sanctuary where services are consistent in the organic message—products are botanical-based and organic, as well as specific to the guest’s needs (say, arnica oil in a massage if you are having trouble with bruises).

Most rooms on the lodge open onto gardens with fountains. As you drift off to sleep to the sounds of gurgling water, you can’t imagine any place more restorative. The message of this place, where the land was once so desiccated, resonates. It’s never too late for healing. www.callawaylodgeandspa.com

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