Soil therapy: how the wellness world is increasingly embracing the healing power of mud
Many of us are aware of the importance of soaking up Mother Earth; of immersing ourselves in nature as much as possible to feed our mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.
But how much recognition does the actual Earth receive…soil, mud or dirt that’s rich with minerals and living organisms?
Soil is our planet’s most extraordinary, teeming ecosystem and microbiome: 90% of all organisms on Earth live in the soil; one handful of healthy soil contains 50 billion life forms and tens of thousands of bacterial and fungal species that turn dead matter into living biomass.
Soil is incredible, yet for so long it’s been underrated when it comes to the role that it can play in our wellbeing.
According to the Global Wellness Trends report 2022, mounting medical research indicates that soil can have an eye-opening positive impact on human health, including our immune system, gut health and mental health.
This growing awareness around the health benefits of soil is seeing farms at wellness resorts and retreats worldwide becoming a bigger player than spa or fitness amenities: placing them at the heart of everything they do.
Guests are now getting dirty farming and foraging, going deep with resident farmers on ag-education adventures, with whole menus of farm experiences. It’s soil-to-guest now, not just farm-to-table. Growing awareness around sustainability and needing to make a radical change in the way that we farm food, as well as a need to give something back to the local communities and land that we visit, is also fuelling this trend.
Examples of wellness resorts embracing this trend includes Six Senses – a pioneer in sustainability - which has made the regenerative farm experience and land conservation around its properties ever more central; stating that it’s ‘investing in the future of farming and making it a key guest experience’.
Big, regenerative demonstration farms where 'the health of the soil microbes is central' are stars at its new properties, such as Six Senses Ibiza, Six Senses Douro Valley in Portugal, Six Senses Botanique in Brazil and, in particular, Six Senses Bhutan.
Then there’s luxury hotel Heckfield Place, a lovingly-restored Georgian family home in the Hampshire countryside in England, with its ethos that ‘everything begins with soil’, that we are intrinsically connected to the land and we must provide for it so it can continue to provide for us.
Its farm and ‘Market Garden’ are its soul and Heckfield Place is the first hotel in the UK to have one that goes beyond organic to achieve ‘biodynamic’ certification, which in simple terms means a focus on giving energy back to the ground and encouraging all the life around the crops, rather than conventionally gardening.
Overseen by the Heckfield team and guided by masters of their craft in biodynamics, the farm provides for the House: from flowers to rotating arable crops and honey. Guests are encouraged to immerse themselves into the biodynamics, with garden tours included with hotel stays where you’re guided through the grounds, glasshouses, and greenhouses to learn about the history and meaning of biodynamics.
Other leaders in soil therapy include the new RAKxa medical-wellness resort in Bangkok’s 'green lung'; focused on regenerating the soil and local ecosystem and sourcing from regenerative farmers. And Finca Luna Nueva in the Costa Rican rainforest, which is designed to be a 'living classroom' for guests in regenerative agriculture practices, together with miles of hiking trails through rainforests, farmland and herbal gardens. Honaunau Farm in Hawaii is also all about experiencing a regenerative farm in action, offering guests hands-on workshops in soil-healing farming.
Have you experienced the wellbeing benefits of soil? Have you considered how harnessing soil therapy or regenerative farming could elevate the wellness offering at your resort or retreat?