Luxury Maui resort offers lessons in Hawaiian serenity, living healthy
Posted on Friday 06 April 2012
in Hotels, Hawai
By Sophia Choice
Travellers looking for an alternative way to see the world can go to the Lumiere Maui resort, located in the tropical Hawaiian Islands. Recently opened, the resort is situated on six acres of a former sugar plantation and while its location is idyllic, much of the grounds' amenities are not related to pampering and spa treatments, but rather its athletic and environmental activities. Built upon the philosophy that while on vacation, tourists should be connecting with their environment, this Hawaii hotel offers yoga, farming and medicinal lessons tracing back thousands of years.
The surfing town of Paia, Maui, located on the island's North Shore, welcomed the luxury hotel because of its sensitivity and respect for the surrounding environment. Conceptualized by Xorin Balbes, who is known for his environmentally conscious designs and building plans, the Lumiere is simple yet sophisticated and historic yet contemporary. While restoring the original plantation homestead, Balbes utilized an elaborate process to maintain the integrity of the original structure, and many interior furniture pieces have either been refurbished or crafted to replicate styles from more than 100 years ago. Throughout the construction process, Hawaiian Kahunas, or priests, blessed the land, workers and materials to ensure the resort would give the land as much as it was gifted.
Designed not only to be a vacation retreat, but also a spiritual and physical awakening, the Lumiere is not a typical resort. Every morning, guests are awoken with pre-dawn yoga classes, which are complementary, and treated to an organic breakfast made with fresh ingredients grown on the premises. After exhaling "namaste" at the conclusion of a yoga class, guests are encouraged to wander the grounds barefoot, as is customary in Hawaii, and participate in herbal, horticultural and sporting lessons. Rooms do not have television sets, but rather provide truly three-dimensional views toward Ho'okipa Beach Park just a few hundred yards away.
Among the many classes taught at the Lumiere, stand-up paddle boarding combines surfing with outrigger canoe paddling. Hailed as one of the best core workouts, this sport forces athletes to balance, control their muscles and exhibit brute strength while contesting nature's elements.
The resort offers almost a dozen types of yoga classes, from traditional Ashtanga to contemporary power yoga, but its most valuable lessons are sprouting up from the ground. Featuring hundreds of square metres of fresh leafy greens and fruits, the farming land situated throughout the property are open for guests to wander, pluck and learn about how to successfully grow crops in any climate.
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