Known as one of the “OG” (aka. original) wellness retreats in Asia, The Farm at San Benito has been offering holistic wellness treatments and retreats since its opening in 2002. Now 20-something years later, the eco-luxury wellness resort remains one of the region’s top spots to get your health back in order, whether you’re looking to drop a few pounds, work on your fitness or relax your frazzled city nerves in its lush, jungle environs.
We recently returned to The Farm at San Benito for a five-day detox – including yes, colon hydrotherapy (more on that later) – and emerged feeling better than ever.
Pre-arrival
Before actually arriving in the Philippines, the team at The Farm at San Benito will send you a questionnaire to find out what you hope to achieve during your stay. Since their programmes range from mental health, menopause and sleep recovery to fertility, immune intelligence and weight management, it’s important at this stage to identify your retreat goals.
As a gluttonous travel writer who flies around frequently and has a pretty inconsistent diet, I chose the Holistic Detox programme to reset my gut, which included the following inclusions:
- Vegan Meals and Nutritional Juices
- Daily Nutritional Support
- Nutritional Conversation with the Nutritionist
- 1 x Holistic Health Consultation
- 1 x Nutritional Assessment
- 1 x 30 mins Cellular Health Screening
- 1 x 45 mins Oligoscan (Heavy Metals, Minerals, Vitamins Screening)
- 1 x 60 mins Colon Hydrotherapy – Colema™
- 1 x 60 mins Colon Hydrotherapy – Angel of Water®
- 1 x 90 mins Colon Hydrotherapy – Colonics
- 1 x 4oz Rectal Infusion Therapy – Wheatgrass
- 1 x 90 mins Kidney Cleansing
- 1 x 40 mins Vital Dome®
- 1 x Sustainable Healthy Lifestyle Discussion
- Participation in Mindful Movement & Functional Fitness activities: yoga, mandala flower meditation, nature walking, organic farm tour, sound healing, interactive wellness workshops, functional fitness, and more
Every programme also gives guests unlimited use of The Farm at San Benito’s facilities, including swimming pools, meditation pavilions, the Pure Energy gym and Wi-Fi access throughout the resort.
Accommodations
We stayed in one of the spacious Narra Pool Villas, which cover 200 square metres of ground with an infinity swimming pool, outdoor and covered terraces, a bedroom, a day bed, large bathroom with double sinks, a shower, a bathtub, and two individual toilets.
Note: The two toilets are especially important if you and your retreat partner are both on some kind of cleanse (hint, hint).
The Farm at San Benito has also expanded significantly with an extensive range of new accommodation types including villas, suites and residences perfect for couples, groups of friends, and families.
At the top of the line is the Lakan Villa (511 sqm), which has two bedrooms, a living area, walled gardens with koi ponds, its own private pool, kitchenette and bar area. The Mahagony Luxury Residences also offer a home-away-from-home experience that can sleep groups of six with spacious living and dining quarters.
See all accommodation types at The Farm at San Benito
The Day-to-Day Programme
The team at The Farm at San Benito are on top of your daily schedule, which is printed out and colour coded so you know exactly when your wellness, fitness and mealtimes are meant to be. As I was on juices only (and clear broths in the evenings) during the five-day retreat, the resort’s “juice man” would drop off my juices wherever I happened to be, whether I was en route to the spa, in the gym, in my villa or at the wellness centre.
Mornings would typically begin with some kind of movement class such as yoga facing the large lagoon, followed by a daily colonic treatment (for me; DM for details) and then some pool chilling time, calorie-burning HIIT class in the gym or relaxing spa treatments in the afternoon.
However, what was actually quite interesting for me about the detox programme – which differed from other wellness retreats I’d done in the past – were the mental health-focused sessions such as Voice Analysis and Psychoemotional Clearing.
For the Voice Analysis session, it was amazing how simply speaking for five minutes at a time into a microphone could result in a surprisingly accurate personality assessment, whereas the Psychoemotional Clearing session taught us how to use controlled forms of physical stress (such as squatting against a wall and causing the muscles to react) as a way of clearing away emotional stress.
Spa treatments were also top-notch and utilised local and natural ingredients, from the liver and belly compresses to the firm and strong-handed massages that began with a brisk dry-brush session. Soaking in a giant stone tub filled with chlorophyll water underneath the star-filled sky was especially magical.
The grounds of The Farm at San Benito were also especially relaxing, which we shared with a gang of hungry (and often territorial) geese and a couple of stunning peacocks (albino and full-coloured) – both of which you can feed at your own risk.
Overall, my days at The Farm at San Benito were full of activity but never felt too packed, and activities could be shifted or moved around to ensure more periods of rest, if needed. I also felt incredibly supported by the nutritionist and staff members, who checked in regularly via Whatsapp to see how I was doing at every stage of the retreat.
Dining
The OG wellness crowd may remember The Farm at San Benito as a raw vegan retreat, but they have since expanded their dining offerings beyond ALIVE! (the vegan restaurant) to include a vegetarian restaurant, PRANA, pescetarian restaurant, PESCE, as well as a flexitarian option called The Upper Deck that serves meat for those who can’t do without.
All of the menus are varied and diverse and absolutely delicious, and we’d recommend trying all of them during your stay – as long as your programme allows it.
Verdict
In just five days, four nights, I was able to drop a total of 3.5 kilograms without much effort at all, while my sister, who came along and opted for no colonics during her stay, also lost close to 4 kilograms without even trying.
But, it wasn’t just about the weight loss. During our time at The Farm, it felt great to finally have some quality time to ourselves whilst building a brand new wellness routine that included morning movement, mindful eating, and a mind-body connection that all too easily gets lost when life gets in the way.
Learn more about the different wellness programmes at The Farm at San Benito
