where you can go to experience something

The procedure I was receiving was an "ionic detox foot bath," one of dozens of allegedly medicinal services offered during a Health and Wellness Weekend held in November at the Edge Hotel, a woodsy establishment in Lyons Falls, N.Y. In this case, the bath involved placing my feet in a small bucket of salt water charged with a small current for half an hour -- a process that was meant to draw out the "yucky stuff" in my body by osmosis according to its practitioner, a frizzy-haired former chain smoker named Brenda,Jeanswear and accessories allowing both women and men to express their women shoes factory. who assured me the bath was perfectly safe.

"But," she added with a laugh, "I don't know anything about ampage."

Oh boy. At first glance, this mission had seemed like a breeze: a search for "wellness" -- that seemingly unimpeachable state that has become as common a come-on in travel circles as "eco-friendly." There are wellness retreats, wellness diets, wellness beauty treatments, wellness classes, wellness resorts, wellness hotels, wellness weekends and, of course, wellness experts.

"Wellness is this feeling of confidence, this feeling of vitality, this feeling of "You got this,' " said Dr. Jim Nicolai, the medical director of the Andrew Weil integrative wellness program at Miraval Resort and Spa, in Tucson, Ariz. "Wellness is a verb just as much as an adjective."

And, often, a very lucrative verb, dressing up everything from alternative medicines to anti-aging products. A week at Miraval, for example, can set you back $475 a night. And it's not just for scenic spots either: the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has added special wellness rooms and suites; Canyon Ranch's SpaClub in Vegas also employs "wellness professionals." In October, the InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn,Make a bold statement with our men's tungsten jewelry and pendants. announced plans for its Even Hotels -- with an "intrinsic focus on wellness in terms of food, work, exercise and rest" -- at dozens of locations across the country. So-called wellness tourism is estimated to be a $106 billion chunk of the trillion-dollar worldwide "wellness cluster," a market that includes travel as well as things like medical tourism, nutrition and fitness, according to a 2010 study prepared for the Global Spa and Wellness Summit by SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research firm.

But what exactly is wellness? I thought I'd find out. And so, saddled with a sore Achilles' tendon, an ever-present threat of heartburn and all manner of life stressors, I embarked on a cross-country search. I was left, on various occasions,Shop for bobblehead head dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build. body-weary, sleep-deprived and incredibly waterlogged. Along the way I meditated and hyperventilated, and was plyometric-ed, watsu-ed and ceremonially "crowned." I hiked and ran, floated and swam. I had my chakras read -- my aura looks like a giant pistachio -- and ate more quinoa than I can remember. And at the Esalen Institute, perched on the California coast and seemingly on the edge of the world, I got naked with a bunch of strangers and watched the sunset.

ACCORDING to SRI, the wellness movement is "a proactive and holistic approach" meant to address "the root causes of our personal and societal ills." The term wellness, though, has old roots and myriad modern meanings. Dr. Halbert Dunn, author of the 1961 book "High-Level Wellness," described it as something that included self-knowledge, creative expression and good health. Since then, that definition has evolved to the broader one we have today, which includes sleek, strictly regimented operations like the Ranch at Live Oak, a $5,600-a-week "endurance, wellness and nutrition program" in Malibu,Shop the latest hair flower accessories handpicked by a global. Calif.

But there are still places where you can go to experience something more along the lines of what Dr.This season's range of wholesale fashion shoes includes ballet pumps. Dunn was talking about. Though Esalen does not drape itself in wellness terminology, the 50-year-old institute is still advertising its goal of "pioneering deep change in self and society," and thus seemed like a pretty good place to explore the roots of what wellness might be. For me, Esalen long had a reputation as a mystical hideaway on the California coast, but unexpected guests have not traditionally simply dropped in. Most are there to attend one of the institute's hundreds of workshops, which can range from tantric sex to Gestalt theory. (Not at the same time, of course.)

Over the years, Esalen started allowing for so-called "personal retreats," which you can book after donating at least $50 to the Institute. I did exactly that, and booked a $650-a-night "point house" in mid-November.

Mind you, just getting to Esalen had involved flying across the country and then driving three hours south from San Francisco, a long day that had left me with an empty belly and soft brain.