We all know life is chaotic and sometimes wellness goals feel impossible to maintain, whether improving performance, controlling weight, or being more mindful about what goes into our bodies. Four Seasons Westlake Village is leading the charge in helping to hone healthy lifestyle choices. Each month, the hotel offers a 3-night 4-day wellness retreat guided by experts to help reset, reflect, and rejuvenate. 

The urban retreat hotel features a 40,000 sf. Center for Health & Wellbeing on a 12-acre property less than an hour from most points in L.A., making it the perfect luxe spa day or convenient local escape. A new family-friendly poolscape – complete with hammocks, daybeds, and comfy loungers – opened beside a beautifully designed outdoor Kitchen & Bar. A new med-spa by CURE occupies over 7,000 feet in the Center for Health & Wellbeing to provide concierge medical services including IV drips, Botox, fillers, body contouring, laser hair removal, hair restoration, hormone replacement therapy, weight loss therapy, sleep studies, brain mapping, and pain management.

Set at the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu’s sunny beaches and dramatic coastal trails, just arriving to this relaxed refined California hotel oasis is a step in the right direction. Stressed out Angelenos need this staycation. With greetings of green juices upon check-in, the hotel uplifts the spirit by incorporating cheery and bright luxe décor of coastal Cali blues and sandy neutrals with gold accents and botanical patterns. Sunlight spills into every room with hugging mountainscape views and a cascading waterfall rock feature accenting the main lawn. 

Each Wellness Retreat is individually custom, with focuses such as Optimum Performance, Sustainable Weight Loss, or Spa & Beauty. The Center’s on-site registered dietitians, exercise physiologists, clinical psychologists and mindfulness teachers work with each guest to define, achieve, and maintain optimal health goals. The team designs a daily agenda using the latest science and technology to drive individual results and features guest experts to amplify the learning experience. 

Upon arrival, we were thrust into a nutrition workshop with lovely Emmaline Rasmussen, the hotel’s registered dietician, who lead us through goals for healthy eating and longevity – like the importance of more fruits and veggies, changing up proteins, and the negative effects of sugar and daily alcohol intake. We learned how to craft healthy dishes and work together as a team, even using herbs from the Four Season’s gardens, before dining together over discussions of our hard work. 

One evening, 8 of us attendees (who quickly felt a sense of camaraderie) dined on Grilled Avocado with peanut salsa macha and Adobo Baja Red Snapper in a private room at Coin and Candor restaurant with the Four Seasons General Manager and an expert sleep doctor, Dr. Sam Kashani, who enlightened us with his methods to help achieve optimum sleep. This dinner Q&A format allowed many of us to gain valuable advice from a board-certified Sleep Medicine specialist who practices at UCLA and beyond. One thing reiterated was the importance of giving the body what it needs, as the sleep you need may be different than someone else, and you can’t pay back sleep debt. 

Another morning over a thoughtfully curated selection of nourishing brunch options, we listened to expert Scott Silveira discuss the secrets of metabolism and the importance of resistance training 1-2 times per week to keep muscle tone as we grow older. He even showed us an MRI cross-section of the upper leg muscles of a very active person versus a sedentary person and what happens to muscle as we age or become inactive. A Life Balance Workshop had us reflecting with counselor Julie Frumin about connection, not only to other people but to ourselves and the connection of our mind and body. Plus, the importance of disconnecting from our iPhones and focusing on the present. 

Yoga was practiced daily inside and outside the hotel (and even one day on the beach in Malibu) along with meditation. This was a new activity for my husband and helped his body stretch and elongate while offering time to reflect. I practice regularly to help me unwind and focus, so my favorite new exercise session was the circuit training class in the gym – mixing it up with personal training routines incorporating resistance bands, treadmills, and machines. After my body composition analysis was calculated in a Bodypod, I was determined to get sweaty and put my ultimate energy into this “beat-down.”

The afternoons were filled with relaxing options like a massage, facial, or mani pedi at the spa – followed by pool time in our private cabana reserved for our group and dipping into the new outdoor Jacuzzis near the hotel’s greenhouse. My masseuse Gianna gave a detailed foot reflexology using pressure points that literally helped me relax so much I think I fell asleep. The warm bed and toasty robe were nice touches. My other masseuse Ebony’s relaxing bodywork used techniques like a lengthy scalp and neck manipulation, zoning in on where she felt the most tension. 

One of our favorite sessions happened before bedtime in the hotel’s dark room, with a special sound bath hosted by resident Stephanie Lekkos, who welcomed us to lay down under blankets and let the waves of the singing bowls wash over us tranquilly. But this sound bath was like no other we have experienced in SoCal, as a wide variety of ancient sacred Native American percussion instruments were used as well as large gongs and tinker bell noises that seemed to fly around us as part of the reverberation. The whole calming experience was accented with a guided meditative story and spritzes of aromatherapy oils, followed by a Tarot card reading ending.

Every night I looked forward to returning to our suite, as fun surprises were left for us – like jars of fresh lavender, raw chamomile tea, The Age Proof Brain book, an aromatherapy gift set, or OSE Malibu beauty products infused with seaweed to support anti-aging. 

The camaraderie and connections made on this retreat added to the experience, as we bounced ideas off one another. One participant even recounted how his sister met her future husband on this same program and eventually had their wedding at the Four Seasons Westlake Village. A special group dinner in the candlelit greenhouse herb garden concluded our final night, with multicourse treats by Chef Samantha Johnson like fig and beet salad, tuna and citrus sashimi, grilled fish, and strawberry dessert with lime sorbet. Two of the days we were chauffeured to Malibu in private shuttles for trail hikes at Charmlee and Sycamore Canyon parks – and ended our healthy weekend of awareness with a wholesome brunch made for us beachside after early morning yoga and meditation next to the crashing waves.

There is no better time like the New Year to reflect on health and reset the mind and body for future longevity. The Center for Health & Wellbeing at Four Seasons Westlake Village helps to achieve that in a variety of ways – from targeted retreats to flexible wellness stays, day passes, a la carte treatments, and monthly memberships – all paired with the luxurious amenities and personalized care Four Seasons is known for.  

Learn more here.