In Pueblo language, “Tamaya” means both “the people” and “a quiet place,” both of which will resonate after a journey to The Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in Santa Ana, New Mexico. Tamaya is the word for the people of the Santa Ana Pueblo, known as the Tamayame here in their ancestral lands.
The resort, which is owned by the Santa Ana Pueblo and managed by Hyatt, sits on 550 acres of high desert, a short half an hour drive from Albuquerque International Sunport airport.
Walking into the space, you’ll immediately feel the tribal connection. There is a small museum in the front of the space with a traditional Kiva (a round communal structure accessed by ladder) in the resort’s main entrance. The museum features art and history from the Pueblo’s history (dating from before 1500). The resort’s main “living room” features a kiva fireplace and the earthen colors of traditional Pueblo pottery.
The resort’s newly renovated 327 king and double-queen guest rooms also have grounded, Pueblo-inspired details like rounded, adobe style corners in the newly refreshed and enlarged bathrooms and color schemes that echo the brush of the high desert outside. (The 15-million-dollar renovation was recently completed so everything looks and feels out-of-the-box fresh.)
Sequester yourself in a room or suite facing the Sandia Mountains (which means “watermelon” in Spanish) and you’ll see how the range got its name. When the sun sets in red and gold, the rugged mountains turn a brilliant watermelon pink, edged by the green line of Cottonwood trees that edge the Rio Grande Valley.
You can dine out on the balcony beyond the “Living Room at the Rio Grande Lounge” and sip a margarita with chili on the rim while you see the watermelon effect for yourself. It’s a wonderful way to prepare yourself for a journey to the Resort’s 16,000 sq. ft. Tamaya Mist Spa.
You’ll feel the warm, earthen colors of the Pueblo here (everything in the spa and the resort from design to treatments must be approved by the Pueblo). Treatments include the Ancient Drumming ritual, an 80-minute reversal of all your stress and worldly cares through an exfoliating treatment with “living clay” sourced from Jemez Springs (an ancient healing site nearby). The practitioner rhythmically “drums” your entire body with handmade, sage-infused poultices. You’re then cocooned in comfort of a snug thermal wrap while you revel in a head and neck massage and feel a hot towel warming your hands and feet followed by a warm shower to finalize the cleansing properties of the entire experience.
For anyone with an aversion to mud, or as an alternative to a full body treatment, the 80-minute massage is a similar journey into the mental “quiet place” that the word Tamaya evokes.
My practitioner was gentle and deliberate as she used over 10 different Eminence products (the Hungarian spa line with organic botanicals as their foundation). The various scents of the botanicals are paired with cool and warming procedures and as you are paced through these rituals, your spa professional gives a full back and neck massage, a head massage and a foot and ankle massage that works as lymphatic drainage as well as overall de-stressing and de-toxing. The effects of this treatment leave one limp with deep relaxation and glowing with the effects of the botanical infusions in the product. (Plus, there is never an attempt to sell you on anything, although you may end up wanting everything used on you because it feels and smells so heavenly). The spa also has worked with the Santa Ana Pueblo to create their own body lotion and soap product line infused with local sage—a traditional source of healing and banishment of negativity so you can take home that peace in the form of that uplifting and moisturizing product.
After my treatment I spent an hour relaxing in the Kiva Pool: again a “quiet place” of tranquility that is surrounded Pueblo style by a warm, rounded adobe style wall. You look up at the broad, New Mexican desert sky, punctuated by a few puffy clouds floating in a deep cerulean blue sky and you’ll know that the “quiet place” of the Pueblo word Tamaya also stands for deep peace, connectedness to the earth and a joy in the beauty that surrounds you.
Visitors staying for more than a night or two should get out and visit the Resort’s Stables at Tamaya where rescue ponies and horses await your sugar cubes and strokes. There are also miles of guided trails along the Rio Grand where the ancient Cottonwood Trees will gracefully shade your walk as you take in the stark beauty of the Sandia Mountains beyond. And once a year on July 26, you can visit the ancient Santa Ana Pueblo for their annual Feast Day in honor of their patroness, Saint Anne. Corn dances and other traditional rituals are held and shared with guests from all over the world. It’s a once a year chance to see where the peace of the “quiet place” of the Tamaya Resort comes from: in its deepest, authentic source.
The post Tamaya: A Circle of Wellness appeared first on Organic Spa Magazine.