Speaker spotlight: Karina Stewart, founder, Kamalaya Wellness Retreat, Koh Samui

The countdown has begun for the fourth World Spa & Wellness Convention taking place on 5-6 February 2018. This month we speak to Karina Stewart founder of award-winning wellness retreat, Kamalaya, Koh Samui.

Why is ‘make wellness the key destination to repeat business’ a topic that is close to you?

“Wellness” has become a term to refer to the growing interest all around the world.  It is a term that is widely used and used in different contexts, a term that requires some definition in order to ensure we use it in a context that is accurate and thus avoid the risk of diluting the term.  For us at Kamalaya, ‘wellness’ is: “Living a life in which the physical, emotional, social, mental and spiritual aspects of our lives are healthy and balanced such as to create positive health, quality of life, a sense of wellbeing and a positive contribution to our communities. It is a dynamic process of ongoing change and growth towards physical, mental and social wellbeing. It is a journey of increased awareness, active and engaged choices towards a healthy, fulfilling and meaningful and successful life for oneself and importantly, for our larger communities.”  So in essence, we are speaking of a way of life, much more than absence of disease.  It is a shift in paradigm in which living and making choices and our daily actions reflect these values.  It requires a willingness to increase our personal awareness of how we live every aspect of our lives in order to make better choices, and become the empowered authors of of our lives.

What would you like the audience to take away from this session?

The inspiration and motivation to question and explore more fully what ‘wellness’ means to them personally and some tools for making decisions and choices about how to better incorporate Wellness into their personal lives including their business life.

What can the audience expect from this session?

To engage in a discussion with leaders in the Wellness industry and to learn from the different perspectives and expertise each panelist offers from different approaches and perspectives on our industry.

What do you think have been the most important wellness industry developments in the last few years?

The astounding growth of properties, services, and approaches to Wellness within the Wellness industry itself has been one of the most impressive developments.  

While there are trends within fitness, beauty, medical technology which will appeal to the industry as the solution for their guests, what I notice is that the businesses that truly thrive are the ones that are not chasing after the latest trends but the ones which have a core philosophy and follow that approach with integrity and persistence.  

As the co-owner of the award winning Kamalaya Wellness Retreat in Koh Samui, what wellness initiatives have you successfully achieved in the past?

We have recently launched our Kamalaya Life Enhancement retreats which we envisioned from the inception of Kamalaya and which we are very proud to launch this year.  While we continue to excel at personal customized Wellness programs for our guests, we also discovered from our guests the wish for group retreats in which our guests could benefit from the guidance of one of our experts and from the group dynamics and community that enhance a retreat.  These are facilitated by experts in their respective fields such as “Yin-Yang Yoga Immersion” with Simon Low,  "Finding Emotional Balance and Freedom” with our three Life Enhancement Mentors and  “Awakening Your Essential Self” facilitated by me.

We participate in initiative including Global Wellness Day which has been doing a beautiful job of promoting Wellness through the world.

As well we have created a training academy in Thailand - Lotus Academy.  And we have various initiatives within the local community initiated by our team such as community service for the local Buddhist monasteries and workshops classes for the local community.

What are your future plans for Kamalaya in terms of wellness initiatives?

Kamalaya will continue to grow and develop in an organic way which means in a way that is responsive to the needs of our local communities and to guests and our team.

Kariana will be speaking alongside Andrew Gibson and Jeremy McCarthy on Monday 5th February, register your interest for a spa conference pass here 

The countdown has begun for the fourth World Spa & Wellness Convention taking place on 5-6 February 2018. This month we speak to Karina Stewart founder of award-winning wellness retreat, Kamalaya, Koh Samui.

Why is ‘make wellness the key destination to repeat business’ a topic that is close to you?

“Wellness” has become a term to refer to the growing interest all around the world.  It is a term that is widely used and used in different contexts, a term that requires some definition in order to ensure we use it in a context that is accurate and thus avoid the risk of diluting the term.  For us at Kamalaya, ‘wellness’ is: “Living a life in which the physical, emotional, social, mental and spiritual aspects of our lives are healthy and balanced such as to create positive health, quality of life, a sense of wellbeing and a positive contribution to our communities. It is a dynamic process of ongoing change and growth towards physical, mental and social wellbeing. It is a journey of increased awareness, active and engaged choices towards a healthy, fulfilling and meaningful and successful life for oneself and importantly, for our larger communities.”  So in essence, we are speaking of a way of life, much more than absence of disease.  It is a shift in paradigm in which living and making choices and our daily actions reflect these values.  It requires a willingness to increase our personal awareness of how we live every aspect of our lives in order to make better choices, and become the empowered authors of of our lives.

What would you like the audience to take away from this session?

The inspiration and motivation to question and explore more fully what ‘wellness’ means to them personally and some tools for making decisions and choices about how to better incorporate Wellness into their personal lives including their business life.

What can the audience expect from this session?

To engage in a discussion with leaders in the Wellness industry and to learn from the different perspectives and expertise each panelist offers from different approaches and perspectives on our industry.

What do you think have been the most important wellness industry developments in the last few years?

The astounding growth of properties, services, and approaches to Wellness within the Wellness industry itself has been one of the most impressive developments.  

While there are trends within fitness, beauty, medical technology which will appeal to the industry as the solution for their guests, what I notice is that the businesses that truly thrive are the ones that are not chasing after the latest trends but the ones which have a core philosophy and follow that approach with integrity and persistence.  

As the co-owner of the award winning Kamalaya Wellness Retreat in Koh Samui, what wellness initiatives have you successfully achieved in the past?

We have recently launched our Kamalaya Life Enhancement retreats which we envisioned from the inception of Kamalaya and which we are very proud to launch this year.  While we continue to excel at personal customized Wellness programs for our guests, we also discovered from our guests the wish for group retreats in which our guests could benefit from the guidance of one of our experts and from the group dynamics and community that enhance a retreat.  These are facilitated by experts in their respective fields such as “Yin-Yang Yoga Immersion” with Simon Low,  "Finding Emotional Balance and Freedom” with our three Life Enhancement Mentors and  “Awakening Your Essential Self” facilitated by me.

We participate in initiative including Global Wellness Day which has been doing a beautiful job of promoting Wellness through the world.

As well we have created a training academy in Thailand - Lotus Academy.  And we have various initiatives within the local community initiated by our team such as community service for the local Buddhist monasteries and workshops classes for the local community.

What are your future plans for Kamalaya in terms of wellness initiatives?

Kamalaya will continue to grow and develop in an organic way which means in a way that is responsive to the needs of our local communities and to guests and our team.

Kariana will be speaking alongside Andrew Gibson and Jeremy McCarthy on Monday 5th February, register your interest for a spa conference pass here