"Shaanti Holistic Health Retreat" read an orange sign on a large stone next to the secluded beachfront. I wasn't sure whether "holistic retreat" meant I would come across a group of singing monks or a religious sect performing rituals, but I wanted to find out. Orange and red cushions and mattresses covered a cement structure, which was later described to me as the "chill-out room," as I reached what seemed to be a reception area. Tasreen Keshavjee, the managing director of Shaanti, approached me and with enthusiasm explained exactly what the retreat was about. "Shaanti represents a holistic approach to healing. Since almost all ailments and disease originate from stress and anxiety, the best way to cure them is to attack the root cause. Take away the stress, take away the anxiety and work on the mind and body so that the process is sustainable," Keshavjee said. The retreat, which opened in November 2004, is the first of its kind in the area. Most of the numerous hotels that line this tropical resort provide massages and other health and beauty treatments, but Shaanti offers a specific healing method aimed at improving both the physical and mental state. The wooden platform on the beachfront is for daily yoga lessons and the tree house is the vegetarian restaurant. The buildings are rooms for overnight accommodation. Signs are written in English with a Hindi-styled font. Furniture is covered by the orange and red cushions, which are made from the local East African kikoy material, a colourful cloth originally worn by men but recently very fashionable among young local designers. Most of the floors are made from local galana stone, and fishing canoes are used as shelves in the restaurant and in the reception areas.

All these indigenous elements in the decor help the retreat fit in with its naturalsurroundings. Adding to this sense of harmony with nature are troops of colobus, syke and vervet monkeys that regularly feed, rest and play in the nearby trees. Meeting Tasreen and seeing the beautiful setting were all it took for me to book a massage - an abhyanga - where warm medicated oils are applied to the body to improve circulation and promote relaxation. Without knowing what to expect, I walked into one of the small makuti-roofed bandas (huts with straw roofs), where a Kenyan girl shyly told me to take my clothes off. She tied a long rectangular piece of cloth attached to a string around my waist and had me lie on the massage bed. Moments prior to the massage, the resident ayurvedic doctor from Kerala, in southern India, met me to see what type of herbal oils were best for me. I had a slight cold, which was taken into account in the choice of oils that were to be mixed and applied on my skin. Ayurveda is a 3,000-year-old system of healing, taught by "rishis" of India, or Hindu sages. It is designed to create balance and tranquillity in body, mind and spirit through massage, diet and meditation. I had the most common type of treatment, but Shaanti also offers steam treatments and other techniques for rejuvenation and stress relief. As I lay on the massage bed, the oils were heated and poured in a small bowl. Then I was told to sit up, and the masseuse began pouring the warm oil on my shoulders. This type of massage consists of rubbing the oil up and down the arms and legs by going over the back and stomach; it lasts an hour. Unlike other types of massage, you don't relax during the treatment, but the effects are intended to last. The hour flew by. I was given a robe made of kikoy to wear for the next hour while the oil soaked into my skin. I headed towards the open-air "chill-out room," which looks out to the Indian Ocean, sat on a mattress and ordered the juice of the moment - a freshly squeezed watermelon and mango drink.

I was then advised to take a steam bath with eucalyptus essence to make my cold go away and make the oil soak into my skin faster. Once done with the bath, I returned for more - an hour-long facial massage, and a taste of the vegetarian menu, which, at the customer's request, can be Indian food or continental, always accompanied by freshly squeezed juices. But according to the ayurvedic system, the meal must include six basic tastes - sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. The tree house restaurant overlooks the white beach. My meal started with a green salad, followed by assorted tropical fruits. The main course was a particularly tasty and light curry served with cumin rice, lentils and chapati - a puffy bread. After the meal there was a wide assortment of herbal and Indian teas, which you can drink in the chill-out room or on a chaise lounge under one of the many umbrellas randomly placed in the garden, again looking at the ocean. Kenya's coasts are becoming known for diving and for opportunities to see whale sharks, but Shaanti is yet another reason for travellers - especially Western workaholics - to go to Diani. By Beatrice Lacoo.

Here's more on what's new. Niche Marketing: Spas are attracting more and more couples, teens, pregnant women and men. Packages for pregnant women typically include gentle yoga, massage, facial and pedicure. Now the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa in California's Mommy-to-be package has added another option - belly casts, in which a plaster gauze mask is applied to the woman's belly to create a life-size replica of her pregnant form. It costs $159 US. The resulting sculpture can be displayed and decorated. At the Sea Spa at Loews Coronado Bay resort in California, "you wouldn't believe how many teenagers have spa parties," said spokeswoman Anne Stephany. The spa is opening a room later this month just for teens that will have a colourful, fun Southern California theme instead of the serene white walls found in most spas. Designed PBteen, the teen brand of Pottery Barn, the room will have surf boards, tropical flowers and shaggy rugs. Men now make up 29 per cent of spa clients across the industry, up from 24 per cent three years ago, according to the International Spa Association. Because of the trend, sports massages and executive men's facials are now regularly offered on spa menus. "Most men are introduced to spas a girlfriend or spouse and they go in kicking and screaming," said Lynne Walker McNees, president of the organization. But once they try it, they like it and come back on their own, she said. Couples are using spa weekends both to relax and to reconnect with each other, and many spas have treatment rooms where couples can get massages side side. "One of our guests came here with his wife three or four times last year and told me, 'This is where I touch base with my wife, because we're so busy the rest of the time,' " said Valerie Clarke Simpson, spa manager at the Sanibel Harbour resort in Fort Myers, Fla. Asian and Indian Influences: Yoga, tai chi, shiatsu, Thai massage and other Asian practices involving relaxation, exercise, breathing and meditation have long been spa staples. Now destination spas are going increasingly exotic, offering less well-known Asian treatments and creating rituals with roots in American Indian culture.

At the Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, guests can get an acupuncture-derived Manaka tapping treatment, where pressure points are gently tapped with a wooden hammer and peg. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York, is offering shirobhyanga, a 20-minute head massage from India designed to reduce tension and increase circulation. A "watsu" massage pool, where shiatsu massage is performed in 37 C water, is offered at the Loews' Sea Spa. Miraval in Catalina, Ariz., is known for its spiritual approach to the spa experience (its full trademarked name is Miraval, Life in Balance). The spa's Restore Your Heart treatment has two components - stone massage, in which heated black basalt stones and cool white marble stones are applied to the body; and a smudging ceremony, in which dried herbs like sage and sweetgrass are burned. The fragrant smoke is waved into corners with a feather. Guests are also sent home with an abalone shell from the Sea of Cortez, which the spa says will repel negativity, and a third eye stone, a talisman of "clarity, vision and self-power." Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has just launched a boutique spa called Sasura, where clients can take part in a sasura ritual described as a "Japanese-inspired process of renewal," complete with a gong, the scent of lotus blossoms, and a green-tea wrap. The Sasura spas will also specialize in services for travellers seeking short getaways or single treatments. Sasura is "a balance of harmony and purity," said spokeswoman Lorraine Park. "People are into the Asian arts and things that are ritualistic." Local Ingredients: "Spas are so mainstream now that local ingredients and local products are being used to create niches," said Kate Mearns, chairman of the International Spa Association. The Cliff House Resort and Spa in Ogunquit, Maine, puts organic Maine blueberries in its body wraps and facial masks. At the Sanibel Harbour spa, scrubs are made with pulverized seashells and sand, while masks contain sea water, seaweed, sea salt and algae. At the just-opened spa at Mohonk Mountain House resort in New Paltz, N.Y., bath oil is made from a local witch hazel plant bearing red flowers instead of the usual yellow. Exfoliants contain Shawangunk grit, made from local stone. "We're bringing elements of nature into the spa with indigenous products," said spa director Hollis Beckwith. -By Beth Hapaz

YOUR NEXT VACATIONS: MAKE FRANCE YOUR NEXT DESTINATION