Sometimes it seems we are moving so fast, we have forgotten how to breathe. Here in the refuge of the Hamptons, with its shimmering light, ocean breezes, and agrarian landscapes, we are able slow down, connect to the Earth, and regain the memory of deep, slow breathing. From Donna Karan, whose Urban Zen Foundation is focused on merging integrative medicine into the healthcare paradigm, to yoga enthusiast and transcendental meditation follower Russell Simmons, Hamptons residents have been instrumental in making formerly alternative therapies mainstream both locally and beyond.
This quest for inner peace has also led to an abundance of neighborhood healing havens. Launch your relaxation regimen with a nurturing cleanse to reset your metabolism to a more receptive state. All winter long, former Wall Street trader Giuliana Torre offers super food-based elixirs at her Sag Harbor refuge, The Juicy Naam (51 Division St., 725-3030), and she adds hot green soups and a healing ayurvedic dish called kitchari (mung beans and rice) to the juice protocol. Torre also offers Naam yoga, ionic foot baths, salt baths, and Harmonyum healing, a massagelike technique in which the practitioner acts as a conduit to focus sunlight into the spinal column—it is the most pleasant shot of vitamin D ever.
From the healing benefits of sunlight to oceans, Gurney’s Inn (290 Old Montauk Hwy., Montauk, 668-2345) is known for its heated indoor seawater pool and thalassotherapy, a centuries-old cleansing procedure that incorporates the benefits of saltwater and seaweed. One restorative treatment, the Marine Kur Therapy ($260), involves being swathed in seaweed gel and warmed with heat lamps.
The laying on of hands is another powerful passport to tranquility. Mark Brycman (212-242-4379; refreshbody.com) oversees a team of in-home massage therapists. “It defeats the purpose to get in your car and go to a spa to relax,” says Brycman. “You want luxury to come to you.” His massage menu includes many forms of bodywork, including shiatsu, Thai massage, cranial sacral therapy, and lymphatic drainage.
Margo Su San of Studio 89 (89 Clay Pit Road, Sag Harbor, 899-4310) practices ashiatsu massage, a feet-only procedure where the pressure is deeper than the traditional hands-on therapy. East Hampton–based Maria Bowling uses a different series of tools to unblock qi and create balance: A green light, for instance, shone on your head will sedate the nervous system; to open energy flow, she has been known to place gem elixirs on acupoints.
Practiced for centuries as a way to regain inner focus, yoga has developed a firm stronghold in the Hamptons, where self-reflection is a favorite pastime. For those in the introductory phase, restorative yoga is a gentle yet powerful way to find your bliss. Jenna Minardi incorporates aromatherapy and energy work into her class at Wellnest (51 Division St., 899-4600), a healing sanctuary in Sag Harbor that also offers meditation classes and a Sufi circle where sound, vibration, and movement add up to a transformational experience.
Veteran yoga teacher John Seelye (oneoceanyoga.com), who teaches under a tent at the Channing Daughters Winery sculpture garden during the summer, is so precise about anatomy that it is not uncommon for him to instruct you to adjust a particular vertebra. The groundbreaking Sunday afternoon class at Yoga Shanti (32 Bridge St., Sag Harbor, 725-6424), which incorporates reiki, breath awareness, and meditation, was conceptualized by internationally renowned teacher Rodney Yee and his wife, Colleen Saidman Yee, along with fashion designer and yoga devotee Donna Karan. “By practicing the art of yoga, you learn to find the space around the anxious thoughts and tension of your body,” says Yee. “As we familiarize ourselves again and again with our daily practice, we build a pathway that makes this inner space more accessible.”
When stress seems hardwired into your DNA, it is time to seek a higher level of treatment. “Life is a contact sport,” says chiropractor Andrew Cohen, who has offices at the Ananda Yoga Wellness Center in Southampton (20 Hampton Road, 287-3546). “Our nervous systems carry the stress we experience and dump it into our bodies.”
A visit to the Sag Harbor chiropractic offices of Dr. Suzanne Kirby and Dr. Glenn Goodman (34 Bay St., 725- 3398; eastendintegrativehealth.com) involves more than simple adjustment: Their specialty is auriculo therapy, a nonpiercing form of acupuncture that utilizes the surface of the ear where the entire body is represented by 250 points. “It’s so relaxing,” says Kirby. “Many people actually fall asleep during the treatment.”
