Summer 2023 pounced on Saskatchewan, pushing spring off the landscape in no time. One day snow and ice were ubiquitous; the next, the fast melt. Snowdrops, pansies, violets, and crocuses popped like sentinels out of warming ground and pointed ahead to the eighteen hours of daylight on the way. Even Little Manitou Lake warmed up early. What better timing for treating yourself to some down time, for some serious relaxation.

There’s more. What is so unique about this summer is that we have come out of the malaise, constraints, and alienation of the trying times just past, right smack into the promise of summer sunshine. Renewal and recreating our lives are high priorities with special meaning for us all.

At Manitou Waters, we are offering a spa program in which you can fully experience the wholeness of body and mind. Savour the rejuvenating power of Manitou’s healing waters and the remarkable renewal permeating your body from healing peloid muds. But that’s not all; you will be part of a joyful, customized creative project from which will come an object of beauty. This summer, Manitou Waters is hosting its 2-day Whole Body – Whole Mind Healing Arts Spa Retreat. The two days will include a felted slipper project, various spa treatments, herbal walks, discovery-making of delicious gluten-free delicacies, and swimming in the glorious waters of Little Manitou Lake.

You will learn how to felt, with your own creative hands, a pair of wool slippers customized perfectly to your own feet that you will take home. There is no need to know how to felt because you will learn all the steps in making a perfectly fitting slipper. The first step and, perhaps, the hardest, is choosing what colour your slippers will be. There are, after all, many colours of wool fleece to choose from. Then comes the design of the outer layer, which will result in a unique pattern that will separate your slippers from the ordinary. The various steps involved in the creation of slippers will take place over two days, interspersed with relaxing and soothing spa therapies, a poetry reading all about spirit and creativity, and music on our very own Mercredi’s Stage.

The variety of available spa treatments will surprise, pamper, exhilarate, and nourish you. Picture yourself immersed in a medicinal peat mud bath in one of the three claw-foot bathtubs overlooking the beautiful Manitou Lake. The peat mud comes from the Czech Republic and is over 20,000 years old, odourless, tasteless, and pitch black. This “earth” has unsurpassed therapeutic properties. Some of the miraculous therapeutic actions of peat include anti-inflammatory care, relief of pain, and support for estrogenic activity. These miraculous muds contain anti-viral and anti-microbial properties, alleviate arthritic pain, and detoxify unwanted substances such as uric acid from the body, to mention just a few.

Earth therapies have been used since time immemorial and are bedrock in some cultures as an unrivalled therapy. In fact, if you have never had a mud bath or wrap, you are in for a treat since you may well have no idea what you are missing.

Hydrotherapy is not well known in North America where pharmaceuticals and synthetics dominate. Water therapies have been in use since time immemorial. There was a time when water was one of the few reliable therapeutic interventions available. Historically, water therapies were effective for almost all of the diseases that plagued people. Since the advent of convenient and conventional drugs, the need for water therapies has been eclipsed. Yet, in taking one of many different water applications, you will soon realize how soothing and relaxing a simple compress or herbal bath can be. During your stay, you will experience some very unique and special water treatments, plus learn how to do them at home.

Manitou Lake is renowned for its therapeutic waters, high in magnesium. Swimming in Manitou Lake will leave your skin feeling young, soft, and hydrated. The mineral content is so high that it is impossible to sink in the water. Similar to the Dead Sea, swimming in Manitou Lake is truly a highlight of the summer for so many who visit Manitou Beach.

At Manitou Waters Retreat Center, there is a teaching kitchen. Your retreat will include several food demonstrations designed to expand your repertoire of healthy organic meals. Preparing and sharing high quality, nutrient dense food are profound pathways for grounding and connecting people. At Manitou Waters, we follow the LOIS principle of eating: Local, Organic, In season, and Sustainable (foods). Meals will be over-the–moon-delicious and, yes, there will be recipes to take home. Accommodation is available onsite for those from afar.

During the two-day retreat, you will re-discover the harmony of inner balance and feel the power of being centred in your body and mind. Just tell everybody that you’ve gone swimming. They’ll understand.

Sussanna Czeranko, ND, is a licensed naturopathic doctor practicing in Manitou Beach, SK. She has been conducting workshops and seminars for over thirty years in the areas of detox and cleanses, Buteyko Breathing, nutrition, and spa therapy. She includes clinical nutritional counselling, homeopathy, botanical medicine, and lifestyle counsellilng in her practice. She is the founder of Manitou Waters Healing Arts, specializing in traditional naturopathic therapies. Also a certified Buteyko Breathing Educator, she is the author of the 12-volume series The Hevert Collection, published by NUNM Press in Portland, Oregon. She has published over 150 articles in professional journals on natural medicine topics. For more information, see the display ad on page 11 of the 29.2 July/August issue of the WHOLifE Journal.