New Year, New You
Quaffed one glass of fizz too many this Christmas? Here are Shanghai’s top wellness retreats for rejuvenating mind, body and soul for the year ahead.
Retire to holistic wellbeing haven The Living Room by Octave where Eastern wisdom marries Western science to create treatments that target both body and mind. Set inside a state-of-the-art complex with Zen gardens, this serene compound is host to a range of classes and workshops spanning restorative yoga and boxing to art therapy and learning rooted in mindfulness. Entrust tots to onsite daycare and finish with wholesome eats at organic in-house resto Thought For Food.
Work off those mince-pie thighs at bright, super-tekky Bodyworks studio, offering a mind- and body-bending phalanx of Pilates apparatus, including Gyrotonic® Expansion, reformer and core suspension, as well as mat and yoga classes. These straight-up pros even offer cranial sacral therapy, physiotherapy and guided corrective exercises to target back pain and poor posture.
Know what you needle? With four centres across town, Body & Soul has the vigour-restoring Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture, cupping, physio, chiropractics, plus a handful of Western therapies promising to put the pep back in your step.
If all of this sounds like far more faff than your January brain can handle, you need only venture down a few floors to The Peninsula's own luscious aura-aligning Peninsula Spa. Choose from an indulgent menu of blissful therapies riffing on Ayurvedic, Chinese and European traditions, including a hot stone ritual, jet lag-busting aromatherapy rub, seaweed facial, and complete top-to-toe packages. Complete your relaxation with a dip in the Art Deco-style pool, then tea on the viewtiful terrace. Chakr-aaah...
The Living Room by Octave / 357 Jianguo Xi Lu / Xuhui / +86 21 3338 4666 / 7am-10pm daily / livingoctave.com
Bodyworks / Rm 205 / 2/F / 95 Wuyi Lu / Changning / +86 21 5238 5750 / 8am-8.30pm Mon-Fri, 7am-9.30pm Sat-Sun / bodyworksasia.cn
Body & Soul / Century Park Clinic / Jinying Building / 1518 Minsheng Lu / Pudong / +86 21 6162 0361 / + branches / tcm-shanghai.com