Sélénite, a vacation home rental in Quebec, Canada

Reconnection Retreat: A Natural Sanctuary for Two Built for Healing Energies

Built as a place to enhance personal wellness and find harmony with nature, this thermal retreat was created by health professionals—a nurse and a pharmacist—to focus on integrative health.

A wellness haven, the home was designed to be a place where body, spirit and the environment strike a healing balance, a home where modern science and spiritual well-being converge. In addition to its construction of ecological building materials, the home includes healing energies via crystals embedded in its foundations, an architectural adherence to principles of geobiology which aims to balance a location's energy fields. The home is also equipped with an integrated Faraday shield to block electromagnetic interferences, and a red light system for respect of natural circadian rhythms leading to maximum rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.

A single bedroom space for two, the home invites slowing down and detaching from the stresses of daily life. It sits immersed in the woods and features large bay windows that allow for constant connection with nature. The home's thermal spa offerings distinguish it from other woodland retreats, and a daily healthy breakfast service is included.

Wellness amenities include an infrared/Finnish sauna hybrid, a hammam with organic eucalyptus, a Himalayan salt bath, an indoor cold plunge, and an outdoor hot tub. There’s a well-stocked wellness literature library in home, and yoga equipment. Furnishings are comfortable and simple, with a quiet, unexaggerated style. An indoor fireplace keeps things cozy in the cooler seasons, and there’s an outdoor propane fireplace as well.

Connecting guests to the four elements of heat, water, light and sound is fundamental to the experience at the home. Heat for the creation of enhanced personal security can be found in the sauna and hammam. Immersion in water of varying temperatures releases toxins, enhances purification, and revitalizes or relaxes. Light variation regulates circadian rhythms and the body’s nervous system, creating the ideal atmosphere for rejuvenating rest. And the sounds of nature—gurgling water, soothing wind, the natural creaks and cracks of the trees and forest lead to a lightness of being and encourage restful meditation.

Around

Located in Eastman, Québec, in the Eastern Townships, the house stands only about two minutes from Lac d’Argent on foot. The town of Eastman stands in the shadow of Mount Orford, a literary village where locals are passionate about books and reading. Authors gather in the community for Les Correspondences event annually, and there is an impressive community library. Nature is all around the village, and there are marked trails for walkers and cyclists, including the Sentier Louise Portal, the heritage trail, the paths of the Missisquoi-Nord Park, and the trails encircling the local Spa Eastman. Four lakes fill the Missisquoi Valley, waters popular for fishing, swimming, kayaking and other watersports. And for a more vigorous natural workout, take to the La Montagnarde Trail in any season for biking and hiking or cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.