The
Spa is an homage to feng shui with an indoor/outdoor
waiting lounge that opens onto gardens, a health-focused
café, and an adults swimming pool with Roman
waterfalls to beat into submission any aches or shoulder
cramps a treatment may have missed. The spa's 42 PRIVATE
treatment rooms include two coupling lairs or uberluxe
VIP suites, and a Yamaguchi
Salon is there to feng shui the hair when the
lounging is done.
A KSL
resort, the Spa takes a trick from its former KSL
sister, The Grand Wailea in Maui, and prepares massage-goers
with a quick and relaxing exfoliation and scrub taken
in the Agua de la Vida room of whirlpools and steam.
The five-minute “taste” lets the skin prepare
to take in the oils and stimulates the senses as a
sort of foreplay to such offerings as a Coastal Stone
hot and cool stone massage using the geology of the
Pacific Coast; or the signature La Costa Massage employing
a blend of techniques and oils customized to the body's
needs.
On the same campus of cafes, boutiques, golf shops,
pools and tennis courts stands the Chopra Center,
founded and run by holistic medical guru Deepak Chopra.
Here, complimentary mediation and yoga classes happen
as do in-depth, three- to five-day spiritual transformation
programs run by Chopra Center-trained therapists.
For my time, as a casual weekend visitor seeking spiritual
wellness within a 48-hour time slot, a ($185) 65-minute
Gandharva or feather-light massage, would have to
do.
Of the Vata, Pitta and Kapha types, I was decidedly
a Pitta, it seemed. Pungent oil smelling of sandalwood
was warmed, the rim of a bronze bowl rubbed for its
harmonic resonance and mystical rejuvenation powers,
and I was off - to nirvana and my lost 20s, I hoped.
The rooms at the new La Costa are spacious (starting
at $250/night, on average), now with a Spanish colonial
core and upgraded with sleek and comfortable furnishings.
The ocean's edge lies minutes away, walk able, uncrowded,
necessary. A resort shuttle makes the rounds frequently.
San Diego, too, is a short roll down the freeway.
But La Costa leaves little to the wanting - except
more time.
Contact La Costa at (800) 854-5000, www.lacosta.com;
and the Chopra Center at (888) 424-6772, www.chopra.com.
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