Welcome to Tompkins County, where taking care of yourself means more than attending a yoga class or getting a massage – it’s about being out in nature, too. With over 150 waterfalls, nature areas designed to maximize views, and parklands that cater to explorers who like to take their time, a wellness retreat to Ithaca and Tompkins County is abundant in nature therapy.

When wellness is part of your routine, you look for opportunities to explore more and find new ways to exercise and relax. You may even make spending time with yourself a priority. Discover the outstanding array of health and wellness options around Tompkins County, and enjoy everything from waterfall hikes to Reiki and deep tissue massages in a destination renowned for its natural beauty.

Practice health and wellness from anywhere with the following virtual resources from local Ithaca wellness facilities.

  • Daily Mediation Sessions with Mighty Yoga (Membership required, easily sign-up). Small, in-studio and live-stream classes are available at Mighty Yoga.
  • Yoga Farm Ithaca offers this Meditation 101 Introduction video and you can also participate in extensive classes and courses offered online.

 

Health and Wellness

Wellness Packages

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Don’t have time to be your own travel agent? Let us do it for you! Book one of our wellness packages and commence relaxation at our pampering resorts with on-site spas that offer traditional and alternative treatments. La Tourelle Hotel and The Inn at Gothic Eves are two of our favorite spa-oriented retreats, offering luxurious accommodations and immediate access to a spa. Does that sound like heaven or what?

Massage Room at Gothic Eves Spa

In Ithaca, health and wellness goes beyond what we put on our bodies – it’s about what we put into them as well. Our hotel and B&B properties offer an array of farm-to-fork packages where guests can learn how to make artisan bread, dine on exquisite cuisine made with locally sourced ingredients, and more.

Spas & Salons

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When was the last time you treated yourself to a day at the spa? You deserve to be pampered. Head to our Ithaca area spas and salons anytime for an uplifting experience provided by one of our area professionals.

August Moon Spa in Ithaca offers New York’s premier spa experience and features spacious treatment rooms, a Vichy Waterfall that brings the outdoors in, and a spa menu utilizing ingredients such as herbs and botanicals grown on the spa’s grounds.

Hand Picked Herbs In A Basket

At Rasa Spa in Ithaca, holistic health is the focus, and the spa menu includes everything from medical massage to energy work treatment through Reiki, hot stone massage, and immune-boosting remedies.

The Spa at Gothic Eves invites guests to unwind and heal in their sumptuously appointed spa and treatment rooms. Book an alternative spa treatment such as crystal therapy, or the Sacred Journey featuring massage and Shaman practices for a truly transformative treatment

Healing Therapies & Alternative Experiences

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Ithaca’s landscape lends itself to transformative experiences in nature and in the spa. For those who find rejuvenation in the thundering roar of a waterfall, the quiet of a wooded trail, and the solace of sunlight in a garden, nature can be just as healing and restorative as a massage or meditation. Our Ithaca spas bring the energy of the natural world into treatment rooms to provide truly unique alternative healing therapies.

At Rasa Spa, the Red Flower Rituals promise full sensory experiences culled from ancient practices in Asia and Africa. These treatments include scrubs and massages using ingredients like wild lime oil, ohana ginger grass, and cardamom amber oil. They are cleansing, restorative, and detoxifying.

Hair treatment done at spa

The Spa at Gothic Eves’ Sacred Journey offers a “profound healing experience” that incorporates shaman practices and a heart drum that vibrates at the same resonance as a human heart. This is meant to release emotions, visions, and deep desires. A shaman and a therapist will guide you through this experience.

Ithaca is also home to Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies and is the North American Seat of the Personal Monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The monastery hosts online classes, retreats, and weekly meditations open to guests or students of any faith. The core study program at Namgyal is a three-year curriculum emphasizing the systematic combination of Tibetan language, philosophy and practice of both sutra and tantra.

Waterfalls

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A walk to a waterfall reveals more than the thundering might of the final plunge. It may also lead to walking meditation, a deeper communion with nature, and the release of tension and stress. Tompkins County is waterfall central, and nature trails wind through state parks and forests to bring you to our famed cascades.

Cayuga Lake shoreline

Moving water releases negative ions, which are believed to produce a biochemical reaction that releases mood-boosting chemicals in our bodies. In short: take the benefits of your hike or nature walk up a notch and go for a waterfall hike. Stimulate your senses at the base of Taughannock Falls, or find solace and reflection at The Sweedler Preserve at Lick Brook Falls near South Hill Cider and Buttermilk Falls. 

Bask in the natural beauty and discover the healing waterfalls of Tompkins County

Fitness & Yoga

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A critical form of health and wellness is exercise. It feels good to move and stretch at the end of a long day, and Ithaca offers plenty of hiking trails, exercise classes, biking trails, and yoga sessions.

Older women at yoga class

Not an athlete? Yoga offers many pathways to meditation, relaxation, strength, and self-awareness. Mighty Yoga in Ithaca and other area studios offer a variety of classes and options for yogis of all levels including introduction classes as well as pilates, and BB Barre classes.

Whether you’ve never taken a yoga class before, or it is part of your daily practice, you will find a class to fit!