Sound healing is just the start at unique Maldives retreat

With Ayurvedic healers, inventive chefs and transformative treatments, Joali Being takes wellness to the next level.

Relax in blissful comfort on your private sundeck in a pool villa.

The timing could not be more fortuitous. Joali Being, the first resort in the Maldives entirely devoted to wellness, opened late last year, arriving in an era when people are more concerned about their mental and physical health than ever before. The pandemic has left us frazzled, fatigued and in search of a reset. A retreat whose mission is centred around “weightlessness”, to leave its guests floating on air, is mighty appealing. And once you’ve got your head around no Piña Coladas at sunset, where better to revive mind, body and spirit than in one of the most breathtaking places in the world?

A picture-perfect, turquoise-hued destination that comprises 1192 islands – only 200 are inhabited – the Maldives has long been honeymoon central. But Joali Being makes a case for its shift into a wellness hub. A 40-minute seaplane ride from the capital of Malé deposits you at the secluded island of Bodufushi in Raa Atoll in the country’s far north. You arrive at a jetty graced with a swirling sculpture dubbed The Gate of Zero, implying that this, my friends, is where you leave your naughty old life behind and start afresh. Everything has been designed to convey the impression that you and the world around you are soaring. In the elegant villas – there are 68 in total – vast beds seem to levitate while shrouded in suspended mosquito netting, and, in the public areas, the multilayered swimming pools and main restaurant are engineered to hover above the beach.

The sublime island of Bodufushi sparkles at sunset in Raa Atoll.

From high-level concept to the tiniest detail, nothing at Joali Being has escaped the wellbeing barometer. Each of the villas comes with its own “jadugar”, or butler, who can do everything from run you a bath to ferry you around the resort on a golf cart. My own Joali journey began several weeks before setting a pedicured toe onto the sugar-soft sand with a questionnaire and Zoom consultation to identify the direction of my stay. Wellness specialists, including Professor Gerry Bodeker of Oxford University, devised the approach that spans four pillars. Guests can choose to focus on skin, mind, energy or the microbiome for their tailor-made program. I chose a taster approach, working on all four areas, while leaving space for extra therapies, depending on which way the gentle breeze blew me.

A banya treatment combines heat therapy, cold plunges and aromatherapy with oak leaves.

Lounge poolside between treatments.

In my case, that meant trying the most extreme treatments on offer. So, while my prescription included twice-daily fitness sessions (yoga, pilates, island run), phenomenal massages and facials, I relished the more alternative stuff. Iridology, aerial yoga at sunset on a platform over the ocean, working on my “purpose alignment” with a medium, experiencing meditative “sound healing” among the trees. The retreat also offers every kind of cryotherapy, watsu (a kind of aquatic bodywork), Russian banya, a marble-lined hammam and an extensive and unconventional line-up of visiting practitioners, including a Sufi whirling dervish who teaches active meditation.

“There’s so much variety here that couples or friends with different goals can tread completely different paths while holidaying side-by-side.”

This Maldivian masterpiece is the vision of Turkish entrepreneur Esin Güral Argat, who first visited the archipelagic nation 20 years ago. With islands dotted like strings of pearls in Pantone-perfect seas, it’s hard not to fall in love with the Maldives. But Güral Argat fell harder than most – she bought an island. In 2018, she opened Joali Maldives, a resort that combined a Mediterranean vibe with an impressive art collection. For her second venture, she sought to explore new ground. “With Joali Being, I wanted to create an island retreat where wellbeing is a way of life – a way of being,” she told me.

Joali Being’s Aktar herbology centre serves teas made from flowers, herbs and aromatic roots.

The resort has addressed the modern-day ailment of tech addiction. There are no TVs in the suites, for instance. Instead of focus-draining sinkholes, there are games, musical instruments, a well-stocked library and, of course, ridiculously pretty ocean views. There are no plug sockets by the bed to avoid the sleep-thieving midnight scroll. And there’s no Wifi in the public areas. Consequently, people actually talk to each other at lunch. Or read a book if they’re on their own. I devoured Coco Mellors’ excellent novel Cleopatra and Frankenstein. And in the evening, while I had dinner for one on the beach, I stared at the moon and pondered my limited knowledge of quantum physics instead of checking news, emails, and Instagram. No guessing which made me feel better about my life.

What really stood out about my experience was a therapy called the Mota method. In an overwater villa, with the waves crashing below, the session began with psychotherapeutic questions followed by nearly an hour of guided breathwork that aimed to shut off my frontal cortex (the thinking part of the brain) in order to access the limbic system (the emotional part). Blimey! My therapist prepared me for some serious letting go (he warned me that some clients feel nauseous). For me, it triggered plenty of tears and laughter. And despite having done a fair amount of breathwork over the years, this delivered a level of piercing clarity and answers to fundamental life questions that I wasn’t expecting. It was a game-changer.

A richly textured villa.

But not everyone wants, or needs, this kind of rebirthing moment. Güral Argat’s aim at Joali Being was to create a place with all you could want for a transformative experience whatever that might be – from giving up coffee to dealing with major trauma, training like an athlete, or working on your life’s purpose. There’s so much variety here that couples or friends with extremely different goals, desires and mindsets can tread completely different paths while holidaying side-by-side. And for those who are maybe a little resistant, Gürul Argat has the answer. “One couple arrived,” she told me, “and the husband said, ‘I don’t believe in wellness.’ I said to him, ‘So you believe in sickness?’” Gürul Argat smiled. “It’s that simple.”

It’s important to acknowledge that Joali Being isn’t a wellness clinic. There are no invasive treatments, no needles, acupuncture, blood tests or IV infusions. Gürul Argat is adamant these kinds of treatments aren’t appropriate when you’re far from a hospital in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Nor is it a weight-loss boot camp. In all the restaurants, the food is fresh and healthy with a focus on locally and sustainably sourced ingredients in dishes designed to work alongside the specific “pillars”.

The marble-lined Turkish hammam.

Biophilic design principles support the wellness manifesto here. In the enormous spa, doors are carved to feel like bark from a tree and walls resemble the flesh of a young coconut. “In a way, it’s hard to be an architect in untouched paradise,” Cüneyt Bükülmez from Istanbul-based design firm Atölye4N told me. “In my daily meditation I would ask the island for permission to do the work.” It seems as though the island responded in kind. The retreat’s villas, restaurants and spa buildings have been adeptly immersed in the idyllic surroundings, creating an irresistibly harmonious energy flow.