We are constantly reading about how we could be eating healthier, meditating more and stressing less, but when work, children and daily routines are involved, we have all been guilty of putting our health on the back burner. What we don’t realise though is just how easy the path to wellbeing and that healthy glow can be, and how energising oneself is a process to be learnt and enjoyed. Wellness retreats have been the craze of the past decade, but what’s the point if all the intense exercise, restrictive diets and impossible yoga poses are to be forgotten the second we return home? What other wellness retreats lack, MasQi, The Energy House, boasts. Instead of fad diets they give nutritious and delicious meals. Instead of intense HIIT exercises, they teach strengthening yoga practices and ancient meditation methods. If it’s a new lease of life you’re looking for, as well as a luxurious healthy holiday in the Alicante wilderness, then MasQi has got you covered.

Founded by Sonia Ferre, the MasQi hotel in Alicante is almost hidden by the lush greenery of the Sierra de Mariola National Park. As the hotel emerges from between the trees, you breathe in the smell of fresh cut grass, and hear the tweeting of birds that let you know you’re far from the chaos of city life.

Stepping inside the 19^th century restored farmhouse, you’ll be greeted with an airy coolness and shown to your room with a view of nature that few luxury hotels in Spain could beat. Furnished with polished wood, soft rugs and crisp white bedding, this is where you’ll catch up on beauty sleep after a day of activities and soothing treatments.

Heading outside, you’ll wonder through the garden, where you can soak up the sun next to the pool, and immediately notice the impressive dome where yoga and activities take place. Constructed of triangular segments both white and transparent, this cool shelter is the perfect place to learn the art of meditation and yoga with a fantastic view of the sunset behind the garden’s trees in the evenings.

Food comes first when changing your lifestyle for the better, and Sonia wanted her wellness retreat not only to provide fantastic food but educate people on what they can eat to feel energised all day, every day. In the hotel’s rustic restaurant adorned with vine plants, every dish served is made up of one-hundred percent ecological ingredients, whole wheat flours and fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables. Dishes are even cooked with titanium so that the food retains 93% of its nutritional value and to avoid heavy metals.

While the menus are mostly vegan, fresh wild fish is also served and cooked to perfection. Among the favourites are tuna tataki, Thai couscous and cream of sweet potato with tender octopus. Masqi’s ethos is that one should be healthy not hungry when changing their lifestyle, and you certainly feel full yet light and energised after eating here. Sonia talks enthusiastically about the mood-altering powers of food, and once you return home you’ll be able to find the hotel’s recipes on their blog so that you can carry your good mood back from your holiday to your working life.

As well as diet, exercise and mindful practices are essential to our wellbeing, and what better place to practice than on the doorstep of your luxury hotel in Spain? A worry for many when it comes to wellness retreats is that they won’t be at a high as level as other people there in practices such as meditation and yoga. At MasQi, The Energy House, however, anyone of any level can join in and develop their skills, whether you are a beginner or accomplished yogi. Sonia strives to make sure everyone feels comfortable and able to try new life-changing practices, and this allows people the space to work on themselves in a relaxed manner, just how a healthy holiday should feel.

As well as the typical practices of yoga and meditation, MasQi also offers less common bio-energetic therapies, mentoring and Ayurveda, all of which have the power to heal and change your outlook on life for the better. Sonia believes that everyone has a ‘crisis’, and this is actually applicable to any aspect of your life that you are not content with. Through mentoring practices, you are able to gain a broader perspective of your problems and understand where they stem from, and this has helped many visitors to MasQi, from stressed businesswomen to couples on the brink of divorce. Ayurveda, meaning ‘science of life’ in Hindi, is a particular favourite due to its luxuriously relaxing effects. Dating back more than 5,000 years and originating in India, this range of methods work to heal the mind, body and spirit through natural oil massages and treatments adapted to you. Whatever is holding you down, MasQi, The Energy House has a treatment to build you up to your full potential again.

Wellness retreats are all to often rushed, temporary fixes to bigger problems and stresses in our lives, but at MasQi, The Energy House, the goal is much bigger than that. This luxury hotel in Alicante is not just a sterile yoga studio with fad-diet-food and a pool. Instead, it is a haven where one feels truly connected to nature and is encouraged to heal their soul and body in long lasting ways that go beyond their stay there. With silence all around apart from the sounds of animals, birds and the gentle breeze, you feel worlds away from our busy world, giving you space to unwind and grow in a way that no other healthy holiday can.