Past Perfect: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Spas

Time-honored healing traditions meet modern luxury in spa treatments that harness ages-old wisdom for balance and deep relaxation.

The gentle hiss of hot stones placed along the spine. The aromatic blend of herbs steeped in a cedar sauna. The precise pressure of fingers targeting meridian points. While these experiences feel perfectly at home in a modern luxury spa, they represent healing practices developed millennia ago across diverse cultures.

Today’s wellness industry has rediscovered ancient therapeutic traditions, transforming them from historical footnotes into sought-after treatments. Roman bathhouses inspire contemporary hydrotherapy circuits, Ayurvedic principles from India inform holistic treatment menus, and ancient rituals honoring Mother Earth become communal experiences in South America.

Pachamama and Peru

In recent years, some Peruvian resorts, like Inkaterra and the Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel have respectfully incorporated elements of the ancient practice of the Pago a la Tierra or “payment to the earth” into treatments and meditation sessions, creating experiences that connect guests with the earth-centered wisdom that has sustained Andean communities for generations.

The Pachamama ritual, deeply rooted in Andean indigenous traditions of Peru, honors Mother Earth as a living deity that sustains all life. During this sacred ceremony, participants create a despacho—an elaborate offering bundle containing symbolic items like coca leaves, flowers, seeds, sweets, and colorful threads—each representing aspects of gratitude and intention.

Led by an Andean shaman or paqo, the gathering forms a circle as prayers are whispered into each element before it’s added to the offering. The completed despacho may be ceremonially burned, buried, or placed in flowing water, returning the gifts to Pachamama with requests for blessings, healing, or abundance.

The ritual is done communally, allowing resort guests to join with others in experiencing this time-honored ancient wisdom ritual after or before treatment regimes in the spa.

Phases of the Moon at the Grand Wailea Resort

At the Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort in Wailea, Hawaii, moon cycles influence treatments.

“We are the first to integrate Kaulana Mahina (the Hawaiian Lunar Calendar) as the concept of a spa using colors, elements, and traditions at our Kilolani Spa,” says cultural programming manager and leadership educator Kalei Uwekoolani.

“Because Kaulana Mahina follows the cycle of the moon, we are able to bring past traditions associated with wellness and fuse those traditions with modern wellness practices,” she says. “Kaulana Mahina is an astrological system based on the moon’s phases and its relationship to various elements in nature. In Hawaiian culture, the lunar phases influence everything from planting crops to healing practices.”

Uwekoolani says that the trend in bringing ancient wisdom to modern spas is growing “because as people increasingly seek holistic and personalized wellness experiences, integrating past traditions, indigenous practices, sustainability, and spiritual healing into contemporary treatments speaks to the desire for more meaningful, connected experiences. Aligning spa treatments with Kaulana Mahina allows clients to feel more in tune with their natural rhythms and the environment, creating a deeper level of care, a more grounded experience, and offer not only physical treatments but spiritual enrichment as well.”

“As people increasingly seek holistic and personalized wellness experiences, integrating past traditions, indigenous practices, sustainability, and spiritual healing into contemporary treatments speaks to the desire for more meaningful, connected experiences.”

—Kalei Uwekoolani, cultural programming manager and leadership educator, Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort

Mexican Mayan Rituals and Wisdom Traditions

Mexico with its deep roots in Mayan wisdom offers guests at its resorts and spas numerous ways to delve into ancient rituals and customs that have sustained its people over millennia.

At the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas, Alejandra Bustamante, spa director, says, “my inspiration was derived from Mexico and Baja California, the region’s natural ingredients, and the immense wellness culture of our pre-Hispanic ancestors (Kumiai from Baja, Mayas, Aztecas). Massage techniques and the use of botany are all of this fused with world-renowned massage therapy techniques and a strong focus on energy therapies.”

Treatments include use of copal incense, an ocean drum (which evokes the sound of the sea), and an ocarina or glass flute used in sound healing. The spa also utilizes the traditional rebozo technique (manipulation using a long, wide rectangular piece of cloth used primarily in childbirth rituals for massage and movement treatments).

At Grand Velas Riviera Maya, where ancient wisdom meets modern wellness, guests get a best-of-both-worlds experience. Lying on a raft during a floating meditation ceremony in the Mexican jungle, listening to the birds calling and the wind blowing, one feels deeply connected to the surroundings and the Mayan people who once lived there.

This 206-acre ultra-luxury oceanfront offers immersive “Wellnessing Getaways” several times a year that draw from the culture and traditions of the area.

Designed to encourage movement through exercise, recharging of the mind and spirit and inner growth, the curated Wellnessing programs are led by renowned experts. Everything is rooted in old traditions with a contemporary twist. Case in point: the energizing and empowering manifestation session. “Manifestation taps into the Mayans’ deep understanding of energy and intention,” explains session leader Georgina Giorgana, and owner of Alhumo Sacred Smokes, which specializes in energy therapies. “The Mayans believed everything in the universe was connected, and that focused thought and alignment with natural forces could influence reality—an idea that resonates strongly with modern manifestation practices.”

“My inspiration was derived from Mexico and Baja California, the region’s natural ingredients, and the immense wellness culture of our pre-Hispanic ancestors.”

—Alejandra Bustamante, spa director, Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol

Sacred Waters: India’s Ancient Wellness Traditions

Along the sacred rivers and forested foothills of India, luxury spas and wellness resorts have become modern sanctuaries for ancient healing rituals that date back thousands of years. Drawing from Ayurveda—India’s 5,000-year-old “science of life”— these establishments offer traditional treatments like abhyanga, where warm herbal oils are massaged into the body following precise movements to balance one’s dosha (constitution). Shirodhara therapy, another revered practice, involves the continuous pouring of warm oil onto the forehead to calm the mind and nervous system. Many resorts incorporate ritualized bathing ceremonies reminiscent of those performed at India’s sacred rivers, where guests experience purification sequences involving flower-infused waters, followed by the application of sandalwood paste and turmeric—ingredients long venerated for their healing properties.

The Somatheeram Ayurvedic Health Resort in Kovalam, Kerala, for instance, is known for its Ayurvedic-based wellness experiences. Herbal steam baths, warm oil pouring, yoga and more are directed to customized programs that can be tailored to slimming, reducing aging and more.

At the Dharana at Shillim, Pune, ancient wisdom techniques like Ayurveda and cupping are fused with high-tech diagnostics, biomarker evaluations, gene testing, and polysomnography (sleep pattern marking) into a total wellness experience. The resort also has a dosha-determined diet and Tibetan massage regimes.

These establishments often frame these experiences within authentic spiritual contexts, beginning treatments with mantra recitations or the lighting of traditional ghee lamps, creating an immersive journey that connects modern wellness-seekers with India’s unbroken lineage of holistic healing wisdom.

Rainforest Remedies: Costa Rica’s Indigenous Healing Heritage

Nestled between pristine beaches and lush tropical forests, Costa Rica’s eco-conscious spas and wellness retreats are reviving the ancient healing practices of the region’s indigenous peoples. They honor traditions from the Bribri, Cabécar, and other native communities who have long utilized the rainforest’s abundant botanical pharmacy.

Skilled practitioners apply sobadas—traditional massage techniques passed down through generations—using locally harvested cacao butter, volcanic clay, and rainforest botanicals like wild ginger and copal. Many resorts complement these treatments with guided forest bathing experiences where guests learn to identify medicinal plants while practicing mindfulness techniques inspired by indigenous relationships with nature.

At Hotel Nantipa in Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula (one of the world’s five Blue Zones— areas known for their long-lived populace), treatments, food, and experiences are geared to getting guests into the “blue zone” themselves using traditional benefits of living close to the land as the locals have done for generations. The resort focuses on Blue Wellness journeys including yoga, rainforest hikes, horseback rides along the beach, superfoods sourced locally, a predominantly plant-based diet, and daily, mindful exercise.

Costa Rica’s Finca Luna Nueva Lodge is a biodynamic farm surrounded by rooms and suites which offers a wellness program mixing yoga, holistic healing, and nature-based exercise and experiences all based on traditional wellness regimes. Farm-to-table (and here the farm is part of the resort) food sustains and at the spa, there’s chocolate therapy (an ancient Mayan healing source) and an ozonated pool.

Through these immersive offerings, Costa Rica’s wellness sanctuaries create bridges between ancient wisdom and modern wellbeing, preserving cultural heritage while providing guests with authentic healing experiences deeply connected to the land.