Be Well

Book excerpt: A showcase of the current culture and architecture, protagonists and ideas, and treatments and aims of twenty-first-century wellbeing. One of life's greatest pleasures is a day spent rejuvenating the body and nourishing the spirit. Humans have practiced self-care for centuries--in the sweat lodges of the American Southwest, Roman baths, the hammams of the Ottoman Empire, Japanese onsens, and Finnish saunas. Today, a new interest in self-care is redefining how we accomplish wellness, and there have never been more options. In our increasingly switched-on lives, a growing industry of highly choreographed experiences is geared to help us switch off. Be Well is a journey around the world's most extraordinary spaces for achieving this, looking at the innovative practices they offer and how to carry them into everyday life.