It’s been a WHILE since I’ve written a blog post – but I have a great reason – I’ve been MIA in Mexico on a much-needed self-care (/bonding/work research) trip with my mom!  🍍✈🧘‍♀️🌴

We went to a magical place called Sanoviv, which is technically a medical institution. Yes you read that right, ‘magical place’ and ‘medical institution’ were used in the same sentence! Sanoviv is a very different kind of hospital that even ‘healthy’ people would benefit from visiting.

They use a super unique approach to help people detoxify, reset, heal through holistic treatments, combining integrative medicine, energy medicine, psychology, nutrition, dentistry, chiropractic, bodywork and fitness into each guests healing journey. 

The founder, Dr. Myron Went, PhD, has an amazing approach to health based on the biological and chemical make up of each individual person: bio-individuality (same concept my health coaching is based on!).

Essentially it’s a place people go to receive holistic healing instead of just “medical procedures.”

They served fresh green juice (or some type of fun, nutrient-dense drink) every hour or so, provide organic clothing to wear so you barely need to pack, have a full-blown organic spa, nutrition/health/cooking/mindfulness seminars daily, and the food is amazing, too! All made fresh, gluten-free, dairy-free, organic and whole food-based.

It was the perfect balance for my mom and I to learn about all they have to offer, while using the opportunity to test out their offerings and naturally rest/reset our bodies!

Here’s a little recap of my experience at Sanoviv, I’m excited to share this amazing place with you:

Getting There

Sanoviv is in a beautiful location, on a cliff right on the water, in Rosarito, Mexico (less than an hour from San Diego airport).

They provide you with everything you need for your stay. Really! Ok except undies, jammies, and a bathing suit, but literally there was no real reason to bring anything else with you. No one wears jewelry, makeup, blow dry their hair (the static interferes with the energy treatments), or cares what anyone else looks like.

They provide all clothes for you – all you wear is organic, cotton clothing – and even toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, bodywash, toothbrush, floss, tongue scraper, and more. They’re completely natural, organic and chemical free to help the body naturally detoxify and truly disconnect.   

You also don’t really need to pack any food, but I have this crazy irrational fear of running out of food when I’m hungry, so I packed some raw protein balls to have in a pinch. I also made a salad to eat on the plane on my flight over. We flew in the day before our trek to Sanoviv and stayed over in San Diego to make the absolute most of our time there…and explore San Diego!

Facility

Each room is a room with a {gorgeous} view of the ocean. All rooms come with a Chi machine and rebounder (improves circulation, increases oxygen, supports pain relief, mental focus, back support, lymph massage), a super comfy bed with all organic cotton sheets, an enema table, your clothes for the week (including socks, slippers and robes), stretch bars and a safe to leave your electronics. I cheated a little to take pictures for you!

The spa includes infared saunas, therapeutic pools with filtered sea water (safe, chlorine-free!), massage rooms, reflexology, facials, quiet room for bioenergetic treatments, reiki, thalassotherapy, body wraps, parafango treatments, and SO much more. Literally everything you can think of, they have.  

In another building they have the psychologists quarters, nutritionists, energy healing practitioners, a meditation/yoga room, gym, activity room (puzzles and games), a library with unlimited literature, the tea bar, lounge area, test kitchen, lecture theater, eating area and meeting space. They also have the nurses station, patient treatment areas, operating rooms and more serious treatment “stuff” like a hypobaric chamber, oxygen therapy, radiation treatments, etc. but I didn’t see those areas. 

Many people actually travel to Sanoviv for dental procedures like mercury amalgam (silver) filling removal. I was able to meet with the dentist while I was there for xrays and consultation.

Food

All of the meals were primarily plant-based, with a mix of raw and cooked, and contained no dairy, no gluten and no soy. Everything was organic and made from scratch. Dressings were made from real, whole foods and tasted amazing, and all legumes were sprouted, nuts were raw and pre-soaked to remove phytic acid, and lots of things were fermented for digestive support. There was also bone broth out for sipping at each meal.

Breakfasts were mainly eggs with veggies and avocado wedges were always out for use! I can’t eat eggs so I opted for either a smoothie or amazing bowl of steel cut oats loaded with nuts, fresh fruit, shredded coconut, and cinnamon.

Lunches were mainly giant, loaded salads with all kinds of fun goodies like homemade onion rings (coated in flax), roasted sweet potatoes, sprouts, cooked veggies, and loads of raw veggies of course. For animal protein, it was a mix of chicken, turkey, or fish. Dinners were really similar, but usually contained more cooked veggies, like one night we had kebobs.

There were snacks available throughout the day if we get hungry, but with all of the juices, wheatgrass, golden milk and coconut water – there wasn’t much extra room in my stomach for more food 🙂 During dinner, the coordinators would bring us our itineraries for the next day.

Daily Activities

I got so excited every night at dinner to check out what they had in store for me to do the next day. Here’s a typical day:

Wake up at 5:30am (keep in mind that’s like 8:30am east coast time) and head downstairs to turn on the infrared sauna to start heating up. While it got hot, we went back to the room to do some rebounding on the trampoline or used the Chi machine. On our way to the sauna, we grabbed some lemon water with cayenne pepper.

After the sauna we washed up, and grabbed a wheatgrass shot on our way to a 7am energy healing class, followed by 7:30 meditation class. The meditation class was particularly amazing since we had REAL waves to focus on and tune into! At 8 there was some type of exercise class – like stretching, tai chi, yoga, or Latin dance, and at 8:30 we’d head to breakfast. 

The rest of my morning til lunch at 1pm varied for me. For example one day I had a massage, one day a facial, one day my dental exam, one day my microscopic blood analysis, one day a stress test (turns out my mental stress was of the charts!), and one day I had a colon hydrotherapy session. When in “Rome!”

At 10 each morning they had green juice ready and waiting for us, and at 11 either a smoothie or a snack. After lunch was usually free-time. They provided green juice at 3, golden milk at 4, and wheatgrass shots at 5, and usually there was some type of class going on like nutrition lecture on the gut and a healthy cooking class.

I usually spent this afternoon time chunk laying by the pool reading, walking around the track by the ocean, doing yoga by the cliff, or sitting in the thalasso pools.

Dinner was at 6, followed by some type of health or nutrition documentary, personal time, and fresh coconut water at 8. Usually by 9pm I was WIPED and ready for bed! 

All in All…

It was a truly amazing, memorable, and eye-opening experience. I learned and realized a lot on this trip. Like I’m pretty addicted to my phone and checking emails! At Sanoviv if you wanted to use your phone around ‘campus’ it had to be on airplane mode…aka no internet. It took me a while to break the habit of automatically reaching for my phone every couple minutes.

I also found myself thinking a lot about gratitude. My health is something I don’t think about often, and feel like I take it for granted sometimes because I’m so distracted and busy with other things. So many people at Sanoviv were there to truly heal from awful illnesses, and made me realize how often we don’t make changes to our lifestyle until we HAVE to.  

Health is not something that should ever be taken for granted. Without your health, the rest really doesn’t matter.  So instead of waiting for a reason to make changes, be proactive and take care of that beautiful vessel you have that carries you through life.

If you are thinking of attending Sanoviv yourself, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

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