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This is one detox that doesn't involved teas or seaweed wraps.
Mandarin Oriental Hotels and Resorts will begin offering a Digital Detox service worldwide at all of their spas starting in September. The goal is to help guests step back and truly take time for themselves rather than coming in for quick spa treatments and immediately plugging back into to all of their stress and anxiety.
Before you scoff, this isn't your typical no-cellphone policy.
Mandarin Oriental worked with the Mayo Clinic and their medical experts to develop techniques as well as tips and tricks to fully disconnect guests from their electronic uneasiness. With balance comes greater control over the devices that so often control us. With control comes a healthier mindset in a world where being plugged in is not only tiring, but incredibly bad for those who don't manage it properly.
Upon arrival, guests are encouraged to surrender their phones-because, otherwise, what's the point? From there, the detoxers are able to access a full range of mindfulness activities: journaling, note card writing, coloring, meditation or simply relaxing and enjoying the silence.
OK, I hear the truly cynical saying, but what sets this digital detox apart from something I could totally do on my own if I wanted to?
Mandarin Oriental also provides a selection of curated spa retail offerings- crystals, eye masks, meditation pillows, calming teas and oils-all meant to encourage both mindfulness and digital disconnection. They also offer a Digital Detox Retreat for a full 80-minute exercise in doing what our ancestors did up until a few years ago. The retreat includes relaxation in an aromatic bath and a massage that concentrates on the head, eyes, neck, shoulders, hands and feet.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group operates 37 properties in 19 different countries with six hotels located in the United States.
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