The Hypnotic World of Water Therapy: 7 Places to Experience Wellness’ Next Big Obsession

Habitas Bacalar, Yucatan Peninsula

The treatment: Janzu

Known as the ‘Lagoon of Seven Colors,’ Lake Bacalar in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is renowned for its multihued healing water, which makes it the ideal backdrop for Janzu. This water therapy experience is offered at Habitas Bacalar, a boutique lagoonside hotel, merging gentle over- and underwater movement and aquatic meditation under the guidance of a shamanic aquatherapist. With your nose clipped to prevent you from inhaling water, you float, glide, and circle under their watchful eye, releasing tension and emotions along the way. Janzu is often described as an experience of rebirth, and the feeling of surrender and disconnect from day-to-day life feels both ecstatic and ethereal.

On Grand Cayman island in the Caribbean, the calming hammam space at Meraki Wellness

John Athimaritis / Meraki

Meraki Wellness, Grand Cayman

The treatment: Hammam

Hammam is one of the world’s oldest water therapies, with Roman and Byzantine bathhouse origins but popularized in Islamic cultures in the Middle East and North Africa. At newly opened Meraki in Grand Cayman, this ancient cleansing and relaxing water therapy finds an expansive and contemporary home in the Caribbean. Here you can melt away during the 90-minute hammam ritual, which utilizes water in a variety of temperatures and states; steam to open the pores, giant soapy foam peaks to cleanse, and warm water continuously poured over your body to remove any suds or scrubs used to exfoliate your skin. During the treatment, calming movements and healing products merge to soothe the soul and the body. You’ll walk away from the experience with rejuvenated skin and a deep sense of calm; it’s easy to see why hammam has stood the test of time.

Taking the waters at Hôtel Barrière L’Hermitage La Baule

Courtesy Hôtel Barrière