Meet Your Spirit Animal — and Tame It— at Canyon Ranch Miami Beach

Yes, we know it’s summer in Miami and that means hot, hot sun and afternoon rain showers, but the Canyon Ranch Miami Beach is absolutely the perfect place this time of year. Not only is the water lake-flat, but it’s warm and clear. Sure, your days take a little more planning— but that’s all part of the fun.

There is a very full schedule of over 40 classes a day, so there’s always something going on. But we recommend in order to avoid afternoon storms, you hustle down to the beach right after your class (or better yet, take one right there) and grab a chair after your early morning “Buff Ballet Booty” or Gyrotonics class. That way you can enjoy your day in the sun before the sky turns dark.

Order lunch on the beach from their famous Canyon Ranch menu— where nothing is fried and everything is delicious.  That way you can make upstairs before the clouds roll in just in time for your 4 p.m. treatment. Maybe you’ll hear the pitter-patter of the drops against the window, but more than likely you will be deep in the bowels of the building— a world away from what’s going on outside.

And let’s talk about the mind-boggling plethora of treatments they offer. Sure, there are massages and facials and all that spa-goers know and love, but Canyon Ranch has so much more than that. They have energy sessions that retune the subtle rhythm of your cerebrospinal fluid as it circulates around the brain and spinal cord called CranioSacral treatments. It’s hard to imagine a gentle laying of hands can do all that, but we can attest — it works.

There are also Reiki sessions, Acutonics (placing tuning forks on acupuncture and trigger points), and energy sessions that clears, strengthens, balances and repairs the human energy field (really, they do.) They even have a real, live shamen who will tell you —among other things— what is your spirit animal!

Take your pick— after any of these therapies you’ll feel so blissed-out that the only thing to do is go into “Aquavana.” It’s a fitting name for their thermal suite (read: spa facilities) that include a eucalyptus-scented steam room, an infrared sauna, rain showers complete with thunder, lightening and tropical scents, an herbal-scented hamam with Mediterranean mosaic tiles and a polar room with freezing mist that comes in three different aromatic blasts of your choice.

Post-heat, you’ll want a juice from the juicebar, which includes all the good greens like kale, cucumber and celery in addition to the tastier selections like pineapple, carrot and apple. The juice will make a perfect intermesso before a delicious dinner at their famous Canyon Ranch Grill, which features healthy options without being too restrictive.

Before dinner you might want to take a moment to sit in their tranquil palm garden or attend a lecture, which range from subject from

The beauty of Canyon Ranch is that you can go as deep or as light as you’d like. Come with friends and use the spa, get some fun treatments and eat grass-fed burgers with their famous baked artichoke fries and hand-muddled cocktails. Or, come and drink juice, eat vegetarian cuisine and take care of your health with medical testing that runs the gamut from genetic to stress-tests. The choice is yours to take in as much or as little wellness as you want against the backdrop of a beautiful, modern beach-front hotel on a surprisingly quiet stretch of Collins Avenue. Take advantage of their “One More Night” promotion when booking now through December 20.