Spending over $1,000 a night for a reset?
Before you answer, think about the areas you’d like to improve in your life, such as managing your stress levels, eating better, limiting screen time, and exercising more.
The Ranch Hudson Valley, a new wellness retreat opening next month in upstate New York, is specifically offering Restart, Reconnect, Restore, Restart, as long as you have $3,275 (3 nights and 4 days) or $5,675 in hand. For those looking for adjustment, rejuvenation. They paid the experience fee (4 nights and 5 days) and did nothing.
The luxury wellness retreat’s all-in-one approach has already been established at its sister resort in Malibu, California, where celebrities such as Michelle Obama and Brooke Shields have stayed. Lunch Hudson Valley, which only hosts 25 guests at a time, will likely chart the same wellness journey without the distractions of movie stars, influencers or the occasional first lady.
Housed in a 40,000-square-foot English Gothic mansion, the 52-room wedding gift J.P. Morgan gave his daughter when she married Alexander Hamilton’s great-grandson in 1902, and more recently a Byzantine Catholic school and a Ukrainian It is a home for nuns. — The vast expanse of Rockland County, located an hour north of New York City and about an hour and a half from Long Island, has come full circle. The 2,000-square-foot ballroom, once the playground of the big-name players of the past, is now a haven for the big-name players, a space for fitness, yoga, and quiet contemplation.
Ranch Hudson Valley is approximately 90 minutes from Long Island. Credit: The Ranch Hudson Valley
Still, the program’s reputation rests on its rigor. Mornings begin at 5:30 a.m., with a plant-based breakfast followed by a 2- or 4-hour hike. (In a blow to those seeking deprivation, the ranch recently began allowing coffee, albeit only private-label Java, a low-acid, antioxidant-rich beer known as Ranch Roast.) The afternoon is good for more exercise, strength training, and daily massage. Optional therapies such as infrared sauna sessions and “contrast hydrotherapy” (going from a hot tub to a cold tub and back again), as well as colon therapy, chiropractic, IV therapy, Bodpod body composition assessments, and something called energy healing. Additional therapies are also available. , the ranch defines it as “the act of harnessing the frequency of life force to encourage vitality and replenishment.”
The Ranch Hudson Valley is designed for device-free dining. Credit: Ellen McDermott/The Ranch Hudson Valley
Dinnertime, like any other meal, provides an opportunity for strangers to socialize and build connections in person, unencumbered by devices. There are no televisions on site and Wi-Fi is available only in private rooms. As you might expect, it’s beautifully decorated in muted tones, reflecting his dual focus on luxury and frugality.
If all goes well, guests will leave the Hudson Valley with something called “Lunch Glow.” This is a physical manifestation when you participate in a program and reconnect with yourself and those around you (thanks to the sound bath, yoga, and dinner). Even if you become calmer (meditation, massage), stronger (training, IV fluids), lighter (hiking, calorie restriction, colonics), and for most of us significantly poorer. The lunch program is admirably serious and reminds us that health is something that cannot be ignored, even if it comes at a cost that most of us cannot afford.
The Ranch Hudson Valley, 150 Sister Servants Lane, Sloatsburg, theranchlife.com.
