Sometimes you might want to venture west. As exotic and far west as Malibu, California in fact. In my many, continuing quests for meditation, health, wellness (and a concoction of the three and some) the routes have taken me mostly to the east; Bali, Japan, India, Indonesia, China and Mongolia. But, of course, there are infinite ways to hop onto your path to a better way of being in this world. And, let’s just be honest, another-day-of-sun California is already a good start to almost anything.
This part of America, with the peaceful canyons and dramatic mountains as backdrop, and an icy Pacific Ocean as a scene stealer offers a quiet lull of something I’d like to call happiness. You sense, before you even get there, a little tingle in your mind’s eye. As you leave the huff-puff of spread out Los Angeles, and drive out on the Pacific Highway, the chimera appears. Lucky for me, it’s much less mirage and much more just little lovely sea mist. Malibu, in all its glory, is real and waiting for me to change into flip-flops (or maybe a muumuu). I also leave my last cup of coffee on the Malibu pier with some very strong opposition. I mean, who am I?
Your judgment can kick in now. I am ready for it. Hit me hard with it, I like it.
The Ranch, a true working farm, is hidden from the world. So as I jamboree up the steep hills admiring the horses and blooms eventually I arrive at this wellness retreat, as it dubs itself. But really it focuses on a holistic idea of how you want to be tackling wellness in your life – every single day. Yes, it’s a detox from the world (peskier at the moment than ever, right?) with a goal of not checking your emails much - or, at all, like in my case. But it’s also a reset on everything I’ve been gorging in my overzealous mouth – that includes food and drink too. My initial thought of having to go totally vegan for a few days is met with some urgent resistance from the cheese lover that’s consumed me my whole life. Oh, and naturally there is a weight loss element here, and lots of immersive fitness routines. But, it’s a whole lot more that’s going to take you from zero to some kind of hero.
I have at times, whilst on a hard mattress-free bed, in India wondered about a more luxurious option of detoxing and tapping into my zen-self. Not that I wanted to opt-out there as I lay listening to the Mother Ganges River on a cement floor, I was merely wondering. And so I did find myself rather pleased, if not completely surprised, but how beautiful, elegant and plush The Ranch is. White linen beds, rooms with views of nature and massage beds under trees, oh I could go on. Ok maybe just a little more, pools where you can float under that forever sunny skies and meals that some of the finest restaurants I have been to in my life couldn’t imagine how to replicate. Enough enough.
Life at The Ranch is relatively unadorned. It’s not that ashram bareness true but it’s not The Ritz either. This is perhaps that perfect way to bridge the divide between the West and the East. Some of the East’s finest teachings of food consumption (less is more) and yoga classes (it’s not exercise, it’s a lifestyle) are ever present. But then there is also the science part that is more of a Western thing, with nutritionists, smart thinkers and fitness specialists aiding me along the way.
The genius is rather simple: really just take me away from distractions. I don’t do social media, but still there is a very active newsfeed, texts from friends, so many things I could Google, and then all that binge watching I still want to catch up on. I can’t be blamed fully. So something a little stricter is obvious necessary.
Early mornings when the sun is not quite ready to reveal itself is perfect for stretching, drinking some herbal tea and heading out for the spun-out hike of the day. Here, the idea is to get fully into nature for exercise, which I might point out is an extreme improvement from having to sweat for hours in my New York City gym (we even pay for that). The air is too fresh even; my body almost doesn’t understand what to do with such glorious rawness.
Across 200 acres in the Santa Monica mountains, is where I have now debarked and as I spend the next four hours just walking up mountains paths taking in the views I feel fetishly remote – another planet, just with me on it. Walking as a form of meditation has an effect on the mind, whilst you’re ensuring you don’t trip and stumble your mind is occupied enough to just the right degree in order for it to quietly slip into the no-thought zone. Yoga is the best example of mindful practice that takes your busy monkey mind, gives it some challenging postures to rest in and the next thing you’ve stopped thinking. These revelations always seem so grand, so overpowering, but in the end they’re small little droplets of wisdom that come at twinkling random.
That hike is a mighty personal achievement, the beholding of beauty not withstanding. Reaching an end point with sweat dripping off you, well that simple action is what makes it all worth the effort. Returning to the retreat it’s time for eating again. Over the next few days the food ranges from artichoke ‘crab’ cakes, cauliflower pizzas with kale pesto, sweet potato burgers with red quinoa, to millet tabbouleh and white bean hummus. And when a miso eggplant lands on your plate nothing has ever tasted this good. I even wanted to slow down to just understand what eating could be like. Who knew even this could be a meditation.
My afternoons are spent working out to combine conditioning and restoration with a group of enthused folks. There is of course some yoga too and a daily massage. It’s a strange thing when you start paying full attention to your body in this way. At first every muscle, every hair, every molecule, seemingly perks up and starts to respond in distress. But soon you realize that it’s not actually agony or torment, it’s a sun salutation to yourself. My body was saying, hey thanks for being so active, and fueling me with the best ingredients on the planet. Finally, I was listening.
Evenings are pretty much early to bed after a special meal. Was I left hungry ever? Perhaps my body was adjusting to the right amounts where I was not just eating because I thought I needed to. Who knew that I would learn all of this in a little beach side town in California, right? Maybe that’s what attracts the cognoscenti here, searching for a better style of life. Away from city crime, strengthening pollution, the usual stress and bad attitudes of neighbors – this is a small reminder of what we could be cultivating at home for better wellness.
That is always the trick, taking the lessons you’ve now accumulated and loved back home with you. At the ashram it’s the most difficult, you’re totally disconnected in a foreign land with only the sound of the gong guiding you. It’s easy to fall into the trap of just wanting to stay right there, it’s the perfect place to be your best self and tap into the finest wellness available to humankind. The Ranch approaches this a little differently, they don’t take you too far outside of your normal life.
Life at The Ranch, you could argue, isn’t polarized with my normal life. I am very much trying every day, on every journey, to incorporate wellness and nature. With the lessons, let’s call them Western ones, I can see the implications and how to take these tools and make them work for me in New York City. Then again we did move to California when the pandemic hit didn’t we, so perhaps the Ranch inspired even more than just little tufts of wellness in me; it’s reminded me that lifestyle is available if you choose it.
The city will always be there, the rat race can always galvanize you and sip on you slowly. But space, time and some kind of thing we want to call freedom isn’t that easy to come by. So when you see it, whether at a wellness retreat, or from the comfort of your couch, you should jump right down that rabbit hole and believe that it can become part of your every moment.