Jenny Bugarin Tan
Nurture Wellness Village in Tagaytay celebrates Global Wellness Day
Philippines joins 82 countries to promote 7-point manifesto
Some 83 countries including the Philippines had recently signed a manifesto agreement calling for global action to promote health and wellness. The activity coincided with the 4th anniversary of Global Wellness Day which is being held every second Saturday of June.
In the Philippines, Nurture Wellness Village (www.nurturewellnessvillage.com) in Tagaytay hosted its first Global Wellness Day (www.globalwellnessday.org) celebration by inviting bloggers and online media to a two-day camping in its newly developed property called Camp Nurture also located in Tagaytay. The Camp is set to formally open in October but we were so lucky to have an exclusive peek and first-hand experience through the kind invitation of Dr. Mike Turvill, a British national and his Filipina wife Cathy. Mike is a Doctor in Organic Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in UK while Cathy is an internationally licensed therapist (CIBTAC, UK) and Certified Wellness Specialist from the USA.
In her opening speech, Ms. Cathy shared the importance of CHOICES which stands for “Choose to be positive and control stress; healthy eating and hydrate; oxygenate with movement; immune boost with supplements; cleanse your body, mind, emotions, and environment; embrace natural therapies; and sleep, social, and spiritual support.”
Just an hour drive from Manila, Nurture Wellness Village is a lush garden sanctuary offering different kinds of spa treatments, detox and acupuncture programs, stress management services, wellness workshops and unique venue for weddings and corporate events including glamping or glamorous camping. It has been internationally recognized by CNN Go as one of the Most Relaxing Spas in Asia and has been featured several times by foreign media for its distinctive “ecotherapy” or healing by and through nature.
Popular Filipino dishes and fresh juices are also main attractions and a wonderful experience at Nurture from fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables that are readily available from the garden to the table. Organic chickens and freshest mushrooms are served and cooked in many ways. The mushroom tinola (clear soup) is an instant hit among us. Bowl of hot clear soup with chunks of mushroom and some fragrant herbs welcomed us upon our arrival at the Camp followed by a platter of assorted servings of grilled tilapia fish with laing (gabi leaves in coconut milk) filling, chicken pork adobo in coconut milk and beef stew or locally known as caldereta.
To mark the celebration of Global Wellness Day in the Philippines, Ms. Vicky Aquino, wellness ambassador of the Philippines travelled all the way from Manila to Tagaytay and shared with us the importance of the 7-point manifesto to wellness.
With abundant natural resources, the Philippines stands to benefit from global awareness on wellness according to Ms. Cathy whose advocacy started over 15 years ago. Nurture Wellness Village has hundreds of staff who are mostly from nearby communities. They were trained by the country’s notable spa and massage experts. In fact, many of them are housewives, homemakers, and farmers and are also professional masseuse, wellness instructors, tai-chi and yoga teachers — and they’ve been sharing their experiences and knowledge to hotels and spas nationwide.
Nurture Farmacy is inspired by the use of traditional herbal medicines — and we were given a crash course by Ms. Lina Bay on natural remedies for headache, cough, stomach cramps, dizziness, and to more serious ones like kidney infection, bleeding disorders, and insomnia. We’d all exclaim in awe as we recognize wild plants and weeds that are familiar to us but unaware of their super healing “powers.”
And we get to practice what we all learned right away during an exciting match called “Salad Wars.” We were asked to make our own salad by using all available ingredients, healing herbs, vegetables around us. Our team opted for Zen-like approach with strips of carrots, turnips and cucumber wrapped in a mixed of lettuce and arugula leaves ala “lumpia” or egg roll in honey mustard sauce. The second match took us around the farm for some serious Filipino-inspired salad made of green mango, cucumber, turnips, carrots, mixed greens and edible flowers neatly arranged inside a coconut shell and drenched with balsamic vinegar and honey sauce – both salads were declared winners and the latter was judged by Culinary General Chef Chris Carangian, Cavite-based chef notable for promoting Filipino regional heirloom recipes.
Chef Chris also shared rich history of some Filipino desserts and regional dishes over lunch on the second day of our stay at Nurture Wellness Village which coincided with the 118th celebration of Philippine Independence Day. We sampled – and eventually we’re allowed to make our own version of “Independence Day dessert” which combines peanut butter with chocolate, kesong puti, almonds, brownies, dark chocolate crumbs, banana, and yogurt with stevia as natural sweetener.
If you are looking for good food for the tummy, for the mind, and for the soul, Nurture Wellness Village offers plenty of choices and they happily only come from two basic ingredients: nature and people. I’ve never seen a bunch of cheerful, friendly, and energetic employees. Perhaps, it was because of their refreshing green workplace or the food that they eat during lunchbreak or the yoga, massage, and meditation break they enjoy in between – just some of the perks that are so hard to find in the city.
Find out more about wellness by visiting www.nurturewellnessvillage.com. Photos are from the author and provided by Nurture.
