A destination for change

By Debbie Gardner, PRIME Editor I'd been to the Ranch before. Two years ago, I'd travelled up and spent a whirlwind day sampling the fitness classes, luxurious pamperings, spa cuisine and one-on-one attention that have made Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires the number-one spa destination, according to the 2005 Readers' Poll conducted by Conde Nast's Traveler magazine. But this time, as I headed up the Mass Pike late on the afternoon of March 31, I had my mom in the car with me, and we were heading to the Ranch to explore a different side of this world-class resort spa. Both coping with non-life-threatening but still quality-of-life health issues, Mom and I were visiting Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires to sample some of the facility's world-class medical and healing services. We both hoped we were on the road to a new sense of wellness. Looking for alternatives My mom is a vibrant woman who looks and acts far younger than her years, despite some mobility limitations. For example, she's suffered from arthritic knee pain since she was in her mid-40s, and has already had both arthoscopic knee surgery and one knee replacement. Now, at 70-plus, diagnoses of fibromyalgia in the neck and shoulders, mild osteoporosis and a previously broken hip badly in need of replacement have left her coping with pain and mobility issues on almost a daily basis. But my mom is great, and a great example of positive aging. She has always faced every new health challenge with a positive attitude and a can-do spirit. My hope for her was that the all-under-one-roof availability of traditional and alternative approaches to pain management and strength/mobility issues at Canyon Ranch might offer some solutions that would help improve her daily living. As for me, at 45-plus, the pressures of a newly reconfigured job, a husband still finding his way in a new company, the needs of an active five-year-old and the early stages of peri-menopause were beginning to manifest themselves in physical symptoms such as tension headaches, insomnia, heart palpitations, early-morning wakings and fatigue. The increased hours at my now more demanding job were also causingthe neck pain/hand numbness from an old whiplash injury to flare up far too often. Were my issues as serious as my mom's? I think not. Were they affecting my quality and enjoyment of life? Very definitely. My goal at Canyon Ranch was to learn some tools for stress relief. Joining the ranks of health travelers Little did Mom and I know when we packed our bags for the Ranch that we were joining the ranks of one of the fastest-growing segments of spa travel. According to a recent article on HospitalityNet, the online version of Hospitality Industry News, the aging of the Baby Boom generation, and the increasing longevity of affluent mature travelers has led to a new kind of travel, called health tourism. And though trips to spas for medical-based treatments, such as our visit to Canyon Ranch, accounted for only 15 percent of the 136 million spa visits in 2003, that means there were still nearly 21 million people like us seeking answers to quality-of-life issues that year. (Figures provided by International Medical Spa Association). In a definition of health travel given by Mary Tabaacchi, a registered dietitian and Ph.D., cited in a Health Tourism article on HospitalityNet, this new kind of travel experience is described as "any kind of travel to make yourself or a member of your family healthier." And in America, the top-rated Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, and its sister complex in Tucson, are two of the 900 medical spa locations offering guests real answers to true health questions. Welcome to the Ranch We were both pre-booked for several medical services traditional and alternative when we pulled up to the Ranch's front door about an hour before dinner. The valet took our bags, and my keys (cars are parked in a remote area, but are always ready for a guest within a few minute's notice), and Mom and I headed to the front desk to complete the registration for our two-night stay. The front desk was expecting us, had our forms already pulled and our Canyon Ranch tote bags (complementary to every guest, and necessary for toting one's event schedule, personal appointment list, suggestions and notes from treatment specialists, and the requisite water bottle!) schedules and appointment confirmations ready to go. A few signatures later, we had our room key. Mom and I were also asked our tee shirt sizes, and were presented with complimentary black-and-silver tees commemorating Canyon Ranch's 25th anniversary year (a nice bonus!). I declined the complimentary guided tour of the grounds I had visited before and knew I could show my mom around and we headed off to unpack and get ready for dinner. Our room was on the first floor of the newly refurbished West Wing. Roomy and recently remodeled following the color scheme of designer William Caligari, it featured two full-size beds, plenty of closet, drawer and shelf space, a full bath, a separate sink and mirror (perfect for two women trying to get ready in the a.m.), a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, room safe, two sets of robes and slippers, iron and ironing board, and a radio-cd player (on which housekeeping had cued up a soothing cd when we returned later that evening). We unpacked and spent a few minutes looking over the schedule of classes and lectures for the next two days, figuring what we could fit in around our already-booked services. With an eye to my goal of learning some stress-reducing techniques during our visit, I decided to try the yoga foundations class offered at 9 a.m. the next morning. And because my mom's older sister has been diagnosed with progressive memory loss, we decided to check out the "Boost Your Brain Power" lecture later that evening. A quick tour We had a 6 p.m. reservation in the dining room, and, with our gear squared away more quickly than we had anticipated, I suggested we head out and get familiar with the Ranch's layout on the way. I'd already shown Mom the beautiful lobby sitting room, video/DVD and magazine lending library, and guest services desk while we were registering, so we moved on to take a peek at the Ranch's demo kitchen and adjacent self-service coffee, tea, and ice water bar, (where later that evening we stopped to fill our water bottles for the first time), in the East Wing. Getting checked out From there we stopped in the Health & Fitness Assessment Center to collect our water bottles and inquire about nurse appointments and the complementary health evaluation (usually one of the first appointments a guest schedules). Mom, who had seen her primary care physician just the week before, decided to forgo the complementary health assessment, and signed a waiver. I booked an appointment for later in the visit. From Tucson to Lenox As we moved from Health & Fitness to take a look at the Spa complex, I gave Mom a quick overview of the Ranch's history, explaining how Canyon Ranch's founder, Mel Zuckerman, an overweight, asthmatic Arizona builder with diabetes and ulcers, had come to experience the life-changing power of healthy living when he checked himself into a California spa in the mid 1970s. Frightened by his dad's sudden death from a heart attack and unable to lose weight and exercise on his own, Zuckerman had gone the spa route to try and clean up his act. After a month at the spa, a lighter, fitter Zuckerman came home both concerned he wouldn't be able to keep up the changes he had made in the real world and inspired to share his success with others. In 1979, Zuckerman and his wife, Enid, bought the Double U Dude Ranch just outside Tucson and, with a dream of creating a place where people could combine mind and body wellness, transformed it into the first Canyon Ranch spa. A fitness dream embodied At the Spa Complex we saw one aspect of the Zuckerman's dream of creating a health-promoting environment brought to life. Just inside the double glass doors there was a a reading nook stocked with books on everything from ultraprevention to biofeedback (there was even a computer station where guests could try out the biofeedback concept). Sports courts, gyms, an indoor walking/running track, a yoga studio and indoor pool were just some of the exercise options guests could choose from; there were also sign-up boards for hikes, walks, and other outdoor activities, squash and racquetball games, and more (I noticed that reading glasses were discretely stationed near the pencils!). We stopped at the women's locker room to get our locker keys, spa robes and slippers in case we booked a massage or other body treatment during our stay. I also showed Mom the beauty and skin care salons, and, just as we headed toward the Bellefontaine Mansion portion of the Ranch, we poked our noses in the boutique. A former mansion reborn The hallway leading to the dining areas and Health & Healing facilities was lined with photos of the glory days of the Bellefontaine Mansion, and I explained to Mom how 10 years after opening Canyon Ranch in Tucson, the Zuckermans had, at the request of their East coast clientele, come to New England searching for a location for a second Ranch. At that time the Bellefontaine property was the site of a former seminary, but the grounds and the fading grandeur of the original mansion had many of the elements the pair were looking for and in 1989, Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires opened its doors for business, bringing the Zuckerman's cutting-edge philosophy of combining healthy eating, stress reduction, exercise, alternative therapies and world-class medical facilities to a second home. As we passed the Fieldstone Lounge with its always-welcoming overstuffed chairs and comforting fireplace, I told Mom how Canyon Ranch now has two SpaClubs, too, one in the Venetian in Las Vegas and the other at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Fla, where guests can get a taste of the fitness classes, wellness treatments and spa cuisine offered at Tucson and Lenox. And the next time she and dad booked a cruise, they might want to consider the Cuinard Line's Queen Mary 2, which, in 2004, launched with a Canyon Ranch SpaClub on board. We made a note to check the breakfast menu at Cafe Tasse (the Ranch's informal spot for breakfast and lunch) on our way back from dinner, and I showed Mom the elevator to the Health & Healing Services Department (where she had a 10 a.m. Physical Therapy appointment the next morning) just past the main dining room as we waited to be seated for our 6 p.m. reservation. Our first evening After enjoying our first of a half-dozen excellent meals in the main dining room unlimited salad bar, our chosen entree of Mediterranean stuffed chicken breast on Balsamic rice, a steamed vegetable plate ample enough for two and dessert blueberry sorbet for me and Ranch ice cream with fat-free fudge sauce for Mom we headed back to the Health & Fitness Assessment Center area of the Ranch for the Boost Your Brain Power lecture, conducted by Canyon Ranch physician Dr. Cynthia Geyer. Fueling your mind In the hour-long talk, Geyer outlined the latest research on brain health, including the weaknesses in the standard American diet that help promote the development of free radicals and oxidative stress both recognized as contributing to the development of Alzheimer's Disease. "Twenty-five percent of the calories we ingest fuel our brain,"Dr. Geyer said."It's very energy-intensive tissue." She talked about minimizing red meat in the diet; including foods high in nutrient value and different antioxidants, such as berries and other fruits and vegetables; and employing cooking methods that use lower heat and longer cooking times to reduce exposure to free radicals. But beyond free radicals, Dr. Geyer said there are also other influences such as the stress place on the body by chronic inflammations such as gum disease and arthritis, and our exposure to toxic substances in the environment both through food and pesticide applications that affect our brains. And there are also bodily imbalances such as low blood levels of vitamins B-6 and B-12 that allow Homocystine another brian-damaging body chemical to elevate; excess weight contributing to insulin resistance (too much insulin can also damage brain function); continued exposure to stress raising the level of the hormone Cortisol, known to cause the brain to atrophy; and the effects of long-term sleep depravation on cognitive function that affect our brains. Many of these conditions, such as vitamin deficiencies and insulin resistance, she again indicated have a direct link to the American diet. The healthy brain prescription At the end, Geyer summed her brain-healthy prescription up in this way: "Eat more fiber and less sugar; concentrate on using healthy oils; eat fish [concentrating on the smaller varieties]; color your world [eat antioxidant-rich foods]; mind your B's [vitamins]; move it or lose it [exercise to control weight]; get enough sleep; stay connected [to others], and when it comes to your brain, use it or lose it!," she said. "I think the lectures really complement the services [at Canyon Ranch]," Nancy Montil, R. N., explained to me when I asked her about the Boost Your Brain lecture, and others I was interested in, during my nurse appointment later in my stay. "[They] just reinforce what the one-on-one session [teaches]," she said. "You get a little more background information, and the latest research." She said the information in many of the lectures, Boost Your Brain included, are key to helping clients see what they can do to take home with them what they've learned at the Ranch. "That's the hard part," she said, "When [a guest ] is here, it's fresh in [his or her] mind and it's easy to make the commitment to change, and make it a lifestyle change." If we were staying for the full four days, Montil said she would have suggested Mom and I attend a breakfast lecture designed to help guests stay motivated after they leave the Ranch, called "Taking it Home with You," that's offered on both Wednesdays and Sundays. Waking up with yoga I hadn't tried yoga since I took a "life sports" gym class back in high school, so I felt I really wasn't ready to try the Sun Salutations class offered at 8 a.m. Instead, I chose Yoga Foundations at 9 a.m., and liked the class so much I returned on the second morning of our stay. Shelly and Brian, who led the Friday morning session, were great, very welcoming, and very supportive to the half-dozen or so women who tentatively rolled out our mats that morning. We were of all ages and skill levels (though most were far beyond my meager experience), but the way the two instructors worked in tandem to demonstrate and assist with postures, making sure they offered alternatives for people with injuries or chronic problems, put me immediately at ease. "Yoga is a practice," Brian said as I worked my way through the first postures, trying to remember to tighten my quads, keep my shoulders down, pull in my abs and breathe. "You'll always be improving, and it can be more challenging as you improve." It was challenging enough for me right then, but I left the class feeling focused and calm, yet energized a far cry from the fatigue I'd been feeling at the end of my usual stationery bike routine. Following Saturday's Yoga Fundamentals, I asked that session's instructor, Janet Lee, to recommend some videos or DVDs so I could continue my practice at home. I was hooked. Muscling up to beat pain There wasn't much time between my yoga class and my mom's appointment for a physical therapy assessment, so it was fortunate that I'd arranged to meet her at the doors to the Spa Complex. From there it was a quick trip to the second floor of the Bellefontaine Mansion to meet with Reba Schecter, MS, PT,CSCS, the Director of Exercise Physiology for Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires. Schecter explained to me that, were my mom visiting for the Ranch's full four-day pain management program, she would have been booked for two separate 50-minute physical therapy appointments, one which would have been strictly a muscle and movement assessment, and a second which would have given her specific exercises to address areas of pain and weakness. "Let's just put her on the [therapy] table," Schecter said, and, after asking my mom some specific questions about prior surgeries, joint problems and areas of pain, she combined an assessment and prescription session in one 50-minute visit. She concentrated on helping my mom learn how to strengthen and stabilize her bad hip to help minimize her pain and lack of mobility until surgery. "It's all about the contraction, and the quality of the movement," Schecter said as she helped Mom master first a hamstring stretch to help control the pain, then a bridge exercise and some modified abdominal contractions to help strengthen and stabilize her pelvic girdle. "We can't change what's going on...," Schecter said, referring to the hip. "But this will help keep the muscles around the hip strong." "The point [of these exercises] is that she's going to gain support to stabilize the muscles to compensate for the deterioation to [her] bone and cartilage," she continued. Helping Mom off the table, Schecter also did a quick posture assessment my mom mentioned her osteoporosis in their initial chat and gave her suggestions for staying aligned while walking and sitting. Then she turned to Mom's second major complaint waning strength and pain in her hands. Silly Putty for arthritic hands! Positioning Mom on a bench, Schecter started out by showing her some variations on a wrist flex done with a one-to-two-pound dumbbell that would help her maintain her strength and range of motion. Then she moved to addressing my mom's complaint of finger stiffness and a weak grip. Here her advice involved two PT tools I would have never considered Silly Putty and rubber bands. She demonstrated how, by rolling the putty into a fat log, Mom should first squeeze it between each finger of an outstretched hand, and then swap over to squeezing the putty log between her thumb and each fingertip, to help build hand strength. To balance these exercise, Schecter showed Mom how to place a rubber band around her gathered fingers, and slowly open her hand against the resistance. It was such a simple approach to helping alleviate a quality-of-life robbing condition! Realizing the 'Power of Possibilities' Perhaps we could have achieved the same results by stringing together appointments here at home, but oh how much easier it was to try different therapies when they're all under one roof! And the staff was so great, and gracious, from answering a reporter's nosy questions to helping us secure insurance reimbursement forms for some of Mom's therapies to Joan Berry from Healing Touch, who made an after-hours call to suggest additional treatments, and John deKadt, who promptly returned my follow-up call when I couldn't read my notes on one of the Chinese herbal medicines he'd suggested for Mom. I think we came away with tools that will have both a 45-something and an 70-something living healthier and younger longer. And I'm already planning and saving so I can return for a full stay at the Ranch for my 50th birthday! Undoing 'stress disconnect' After her workout in the physical therapy session Mom headed back to our room to rest her hip, and I spent a few minutes scanning the headlines in the Spa Complex reading area before I headed off to my stress management appointment at noon. I explained to my assigned therapist, Marcia Bernstein, MSW, that I was both visiting with her for some real stress management help, and writing about the experience for my paper. Armed with this info, she segued into our session by telling me she had taught stress management to corporations in New York City, and in the Berkshires before joining the Behavioral Health Department at Canyon Ranch. She asked me a few questions about my family life and work situation; when I described the changes in my job, and the times when I felt short of breath and my heart racing, she explained to me that I was experiencing a classic case of stress disconnect. Though the stress I was experience was "in my head," my body was reacting as if I was in real, physical danger. The result, a flood of adrenaline and other stress-related hormones causing reactions such as my shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat. She said repeating this cycle over and over, as often happens in our modern world, eventually damages a a person's health by disrupting sleep patterns (my insomnia) and other critical body functions. Not a good thing, I mused to myself, thinking back to the brain lecture of the evening before, and how stress hormones could cause a decline in cognitive function. She had me take a deep breath and immediately caught that I was using only the top portion of my chest to inhale and exhale, even when I thought I was breathing deeply. To help control my body's stress response, Bernstein taught me belly breathing a technique in which you consciously allow your lower ribcage and abdomen to expand and contract as you inhale and exhale. She showed me how to check my breathing technique by bending over form the waist like a rag doll, so i could feel the breath pushing against my thighs. To make sure I, as she put it, "checked in with my body" through breathing on a periodic basis, she suggested I put reminders at my work station, such as electronic calender timers that beeped and sticky notes that simply said "breathe!" Sensory stressbusters Bernstein said taking periodic stretch breaks, and getting up to move on a regular basis, were also important stress-busters for someone who spends as much time at a desk as I do. Again, I was urged to post reminders until I made workday movement a habit. She also stressed using my senses to help lower my stress level. And she meant all of my senses, not just taste, but also sight, sound and smell. It's important, she said, to take a moment to appreciate one's surroundings. A meal becomes a meditation Proper nutrition and an adequate water intake were also things she said I needed to pay attention to, no matter how busy my day becomes. Going too long without food, or letting myself become dehydrated actually created more real, physical stress on my body, Bernstein explained, and only made it harder to control the symptoms of mental stress. And when it came to eating, I was to focus and pay attention, at least for a moment, to the food. She didn't tell me to abandon my habit of working during my lunch, but did urge me to turn the act of eating into a mini-meditation by focusing fully on the bite I was about to take, and then returning to what I was doing. Think stress prevention! At the end of 50 minutes, I had some basic tools and a river rock from her collection to help me remember to employ them to help me cope with the stress in my life. "When you stretch, or pay attention to your breath, or your senses, you pay attention to your body," Bernstein said. "You reconnect the disconnect." And because I wouldn't be able to take the two follow-up sessions that are customary in a Stress Reduction package at Canyon Ranch, she also suggested I take a look at two books she found helpful in learning to handle stress, Mindfulness in Plain English by Gunaratana, and The Power of Full Engagement by Loehr and Schwartz. The touch that heals After a leisurely lunch of choose-your-own-filling sandwiches (we missed the chair yoga class I had suggested) and a stop at the end-of-season sale at the boutique (I got a hot-pink-and black workout outfit at a great price!), I took Mom back to the Mansion for her healing touch appointment Joan Berry, R.N, her therapist, told me that she had been doing energy work for 25 years, and healing touch in specific, for the past seven. She explained that healing touch is an energy-based therapy that seeks to balance the chakras, or human energy fields to promote better health and well-being, and in my mom's case, pain relief. As Mom lay quietly on the treatment table, Berry used a key as a pendulum to check the energy flow, and look for areas of energy "blockages" in mom's body. As she worked, she asked questions about pain in Mom's arms and neck an area where the pendulum stayed very quiet, and about her knee and hip, other areas where the energy seemed "blocked." Berry then took a folded blanket and placed it under Mom's bare feet (other than removing the shoes, healing touch is done fully clothed), explaining that such an act "grounded" the patient, quieting, as she put it, the "busyness of the mind," then placed both hands on Mom's feet to "accustom her to my energy." In describing what she does in healing touch, Berry told me that she is "a hollow tube; energy flows through me," but that it sometimes comes up against physical blocks, such as Mom's knee replacement, or in some patients, emotional blocks, that she has to work through to achieve balance. What is energy medicine? "Energy medicine says we are an energy field," Berry said "And the most visible part [of that field] is the human body." For over an hour, I watched as she held her hands first over each of my mother legs, then arms, then shoulders, head and neck, at times using targeted sound at certain joint and muscle junctions to break up blocks to the energy flow as she encountered them. It seemed to me that the pattern of Berry's movements were designed to direct the flow of energy from Mom's feet up to the crown of her head. Mom reported feeling a growing sense of warmth moving through her body in some areas a real feeling of intense heat as Berry worked, to which Berry replied, "your body is asking for energy." Repeatedly Berry asked Mom if she felt any sensations, a tingling or a creeping warmth, and as the session continued Mom said there was a sensation of warmth gradually spreading through her body. "I couldn't get over the heat that I felt moving though my body, especially after she [used sound] on my shoulder and knee," Mom told me in a later interview. At one point, Berry also showed Mom how to place her hands on her own body to do a form of modified energy healing, and gave her a handout that further detailed the therapy and self-healing techniques. As we left the Mansion, Mom said she felt peppier than she had in days, and that the treatment had left her pain-free and with a feeling of euphoria. I left mom reading her novel in the Spa Complex again, and hurried to the 5 p.m Stretch and Relax class in Gym 2, hoping to add more stress-relief tool to my home workout routine. Ahh- massage I'd booked myself a treat a Canyon Ranch massage for after dinner, so, as Mom headed back to our room to rest (as the healing touch euphoria wore off she said she felt exhausted, a reaction that's common after energy work, according to Canyon Ranch nurse advisor, Nancy Montil, R. N.), I headed to the locker room to change into my robe. I waited a few minutes by the hot tubs, then an attendant took me to a treatment room to meet masseur Andy Marson. Marson was celebrating his one-year anniversary working at the Ranch that day, and this former massage school marketer and equipment salesman told me that the people who work for the Ranch don't just talk the talk about healthy living, they're encouraged to make the most of the opportunities available to exercise, eat right and live a healthy lifestyle. Always the reporter, I couldn't resist asking Marson who were the most interesting clients to work on, the many celebrities I knew frequented the Ranch, or the regular folk like me. He said the celebrities can be nice, or distant, and that the most interesting person he ever worked on was an elderly Italian man who told him stories about his experiences in World War II. As for me, well, we talked about the challenges of raising preschoolers and balancing work and home. And though we chatted for the entire 50-minute treatment, by the time he finished my tension-wracked neck and shoulders felt the best they had in weeks. Day two at the Ranch I think it was all the work on learning to relax ( or maybe it was our reluctance to leave the healing atmosphere of Canyon Ranch so soon), but Mom and I were a little late to breakfast on Saturday morning. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make the 9 a.m. yoga fundamentals class, but our server told me that even if I placed a kitchen order (there was also a self-service breakfast bar with berries, bananas and more fresh fruit, healthy cold cereals and excellent Canyon Ranch-style fruit muffins), she should be able to get us out the door on time. And she was right. My scrambled eggs and toast came with ample time to eat and make the class. Mom, whose only appointment that morning was an 11 a.m. acupuncture session, headed back to our room to finish our packing and I headed to yoga before my 10 a.m. De-Stress Through Movement appointment. On the Ball I didn't know what to expect when I met with Iona Beauchaump in the private yoga studio for my de-stress through movement session. I had in my mind that our 50 minutes would be spent having her observe me doing daily tasks such as sitting at a desk, walking, etc., and then giving me pointers on how to lessen or eliminate tension in everyday life. But instead, I spent 50 minutes learning how to find my center of gravity, and trust my instincts in an intensive balance ball workout. We started out just working with the ball, bouncing rhythmically for a warm-up, then rolling from side to side and back and forth, so I could get a feel for what was required to stay atop the inflated sphere. We moved to more challenging exercises, rolling down until the ball supported my head and shoulders, reversing position and rolling forward until my hands and nearly my forehead touched the ground in the other direction. I had a little trouble with the exercise that required me to roll forward and draw my knees up onto the ball while my hands supported my weight on the floor. I think I was afraid of falling ( to me, stressful!) I did better with the floor-based relaxation exercise, a systematic tense-and-relax pattern of movements that employed nearly every muscle group (it was similar to a relaxation technique I'd learned years before, and do use on occasion). As I left to meet Mom for her acupuncture appointment, I wasn't sure exactly what I'd gotten out of the De-Stress Through Movement session. I think my fear of falling off the ball got in the way. (Ironically, however, I received a balance ball and exercise DVD as a birthday gift the day after I returned home. I've watched the instructional DVD, and now the purpose and goal of the session make sense!) Article Continued...See Link Below