Wellness destination in Bhutan advocates holistic healing

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MANILA, Philippines — People visit specific destinations in the world for a particular purpose beyond simply sightseeing and food-tripping. 

There is the Holy Land, where visitors get to tread the paths where Jesus Christ walked during His time on earth. The Scandinavian nations, as well as Iceland, Alaska and Canada, beckon for the rare opportunity to see the Northern lights or Aurora Borealis. South Africa offers once-in-a-lifetime safari adventures. 

But those who seek wellness and healing for their weary bodies, need to uplift their broken spirits, and renew their senses head for wellness destinations, such as Bhutan, particularly the Punakha River area. Once the ancient capital of Bhutan, Punakha remains a sacred region where wellness and healing move fluidly between the physical and the symbolic.

One of the most sought after places to stay in the sacred region, andBeyond Punakha River Lodge, is set along the rice fields and riverbanks of western Bhutan. It occupies a space “where the land itself seems to exhale.” Here, in this valley shaped by water, prayer, and centuries of transformation, a renewed wellness journey unfolds in December.

Vijaya, a respected practitioner of holistic healing, stayed at the river lodge  for the place’s Wellness Masters in Residence program last May. Neither a set itinerary nor retreat, the residency program serves as a quiet evolution in the brand’s wellness philosophy.

“We aim to enhance our wellness offering by bringing in experts who will ensure that guests enhance their wellness experience even further,” explained general manager Rishi Sarma.

Wellness residency

Sarma highlighted the intent to introduce internationally renowned facilitators as a discreet and meaningful extension of the existing guest journey. Guests staying at the lodge during either residency period (from May 1 to 31 and then again from December 1 to 31, 2026) may engage with Vijaya through complimentary 30-minute group sessions hosted at the lodge every alternate day (three to four times a week) or may choose to delve deeper into the person wellness journey by booking a private healing appointment at an additional cost. 

Vijaya’s work is shaped by more than two decades of immersion in both traditional and integrative therapies. She began a career in law but eventually answered a deeper calling in wellness, consulting, guiding and training at some of Asia’s wellness destinations. These include Aman, Six Senses, Soneva, and Kamalaya.

Her approach to healing and wellness is neither clinical nor prescriptive but attuned, as she combines intuitive guidance with energy work and body-based modalities, including cranio sacral stillness, reiki, energetic facelift, access bars, rebirthing breath work and sound healing. Each treatment is completely personalized and selected according to the guest’s needs and requirements.   

Vijaya’s ongoing wellness residency is just one facet of a broader wellness program at the lodge in which, as Sarma puts it, “wellness forms an essential part of the guest journey into Bhutan’s biodiverse Himalayan landscapes, where mineral-rich rivers and indigenous herbs work together to offer profound health benefits.”

Guests get to indulge in daily yoga and meditation sessions led by in-house instructors in the lodge’s open-air studio or in peaceful natural surroundings, offering space to reconnect through breath and movement, which Vijaya’s sessions will enhance. 

Apart from the wellness offerings, the spa presents a personalized menu of treatments that blend Bhutanese healing with global techniques, including massages, facials and foot rituals. One of the lodge’s signature offerings is the traditional Dotsho hot stone bath, which is conducted in a private riverside bathhouse where fire-heated stones are dropped into herbal-infused water to release minerals that support physical restoration.  

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