Where to Stay: PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens

Escape to the PGA National Resort & Spa in South Florida and check out their fabulous, newly renovated spa. While you’re at it, let’s get rid of that anxiety with a traditional Hawaiian massage technique that is sure to leave you feeling reinvigorated.

I know what you’re thinking…PGA isn’t that golf!?

Yes! The resort in Palm Beach Gardens is famous for its 90 holes of championship golf on five beautifully designed courses. The world’s most renowned golfers play each year in the PGA Tour Honda Classic at the resort.

I’ll be the first to admit that my golf swing needs some serious work. But, you know what I am good at? Hanging out at the spa, of course!

Born of ancient spa tradition and salts imported from the healing waters of the world, the spa emphasizes “sanitas per aqua” – health via water – and this theme forms the centerpiece of the spa at PGA National. They have nine outdoor mineral pools, each featuring a different benefit for your body.

This next photo features the Dead Sea (Israel) pool. For centuries, travelers have bathed in these mineral-rich waters. Famed for its salutary effects on irritated skin and anxious minds, the waters soothe discomforts arising from today’s hectic lifestyles and environmental stresses.

This is the Salies de Béarn (France) pool. High in the Pyrenées Mountains, the naturally occurring salt waters of Salies de Béarn have long attracted health seekers. The Pyrenees salt pool helps moderate fluid retention, body temperature changes and mood swings.

Interested in a deeply relaxing massage to ease tension and anxiety, I opted for a treatment called the Lomi Lomi massage, a traditional Hawaiian technique. My therapist, Arlee Roman, greeted me with a friendly “Aloha” and donned a flower in her hair, truly exuding that aloha spirit.

“It’s very spiritual and holistic. I not only works the muscles and tissues, but penetrates the cell level,” said Arlee, who has been with the PGA National Resort & Spa for 15 years and trained under an expert in lomi lomi in Hawaii. “Lomi is about the whole body.”

The massage is about finding a spiritual connection. “The mother of the Lomi Lomi massage, ‘Auntie’ Margaret Machado was a deeply spiritual person,” said Arlee. “She was raised by Christian missionaries in Kona.” The techniques were brought to Hawaii by the early Polynesians who came from various islands in the South Pacific 800 years ago. It was passed down from family to family.

The method uses the palm heel and ulna in relaxing the body. The movements use the forearm and sort of felt like like waves crashing on my back. Traditional Lomi Lomi includes work with the gastrointestinal area.

PGA National Resort & Spa hosted me for this treatment, but that had no effect on my opinion, as I only recommend and write about treatments that I love. I felt great after the Lomi Lomi massage and would definitely recommend it!

To book your vacation or schedule your spa day at PGA National Resort & Spa visit their website: pgaresort.com

Aloha!

xo

Kara