The OG of calm: Inside the Thai sanctuary that defined the global wellness craze

“Exercise, not meditation!” comes the voice of the man crouched between my knees.

Mr A, Chiva-Som’s 20-year veteran trainer, is simply attempting to wake legs from a lazy Aussie winter.

But in the middle of a private Pilates class, singing out “ouch” wasn’t going to save me.

Mr A has heard all the excuses and somehow knows how you can improve — much like Chiva-Som, every bit the OG of wellness.

Long before Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, when the World Wide Web was on training wheels, a highly successful Thai banker — Boonchu Rojanastien — was realising his family beach house in Hua Hin, three hours south of Bangkok, wasn’t going to cut it. The groups of friends joining his family for beach walks, fresh air, good food and relaxation were growing.

Word was spreading about this haven on the Gulf of Thailand and the seed of an idea was developing.

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On various European travels, Rojanastien had seen so-called “health farms”. It prompted some thought about whether there was more to life than the heavy scheduling of his all-encompassing work.

So, too, the fact that he held an impressive slice of prime beachfront land perfect for redevelopment.

In 1995 — with the triangular guiding principles of Mind, Body and Spirit — Rojanastien turned the beach house into the exclusive adult’s only luxury retreat Chiva-Som, meaning Haven of Life.

Thirty years on, Chiva-Som stands alone in its authority and its offer.

While it’s a place that welcomed Posh, Becks, Elle and Naomi — the allure is equally magnetic to those of us using two names.

Chiva-Som general manager Vaipanya Kongkwanyuen, or VP as everyone knows him, says COVID lockdowns sharpened people’s interest in wellness. What was a shuttered and closed-off world led to immobility, and in many regions, spikes in depression. People clambered for healthier ways and teachings.

“We noticed two main patterns in our guests during this period: first, the understandable urge to embrace freedom after prolonged restrictions, and second, a growing collective desire to restore vitality, peace of mind, and resilience,” VP tells ROAM.

“Importantly, we also saw a heightened awareness of mental health, with many people recognising wellness not only as physical strength but also as emotional balance and inner wellbeing.”

You get a hint of what’s to come before you’re even out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The luxury chauffeur who’ll transport you south to the resort eagerly points out the Chiva-Som monogrammed bags of biscuits and the Chiva-Som blanket on the backseat. Hey, if biscuits are healthy, this is paradise.

On landing the first thing you notice, while trying to work out whether you want the private butler to unpack your suitcase, is the quiet.

Beautiful traditional Thai architecture — shapely wooden structures of steep spires and openness — are set in lush greenery as lanky palm trees line the pool.

It’s five-star luxury but not pretentious — a collection of the good aspects of the last series of The White Lotus.

Nobody moves fast at Chiva-Som.

The staff stop and smile and offer a traditional Thai greeting each time they walk past — unhurried despite what must be lengthy daily schedules.

It forces you to slow down too. Well, you can’t rush your choice of pillow from the 14 that make up the dedicated “pillow menu”.

It’s at the first breakfast that you come to appreciate that this is a wellness retreat, one of incredibly healthy foods. Like really healthy.

Nothing too salty, too oily or too sweet, according to the chef. The eggs Benedict come on a cauliflower hash brown with dairy-free hollandaise sauce. Not quite the usual weekend favourite at the local cafe, though surprisingly tasty.

The portions are very small. And while you could keep going back to the buffet, there’s a strong overtone that most of us are overindulging in food in our daily lives — looking down at these petite Chiva-Som servings a welcome wake-up call.

The menu’s selection of (healthy) shots starts with apple cider vinegar and ends with celery, beetroot and coconut oil. Still, coffee is available. Good coffee too — think local beans and a decent barista.

Every dish comes with calorie, carb, fat and protein information and tracking them becomes weirdly addictive. Menus are rather low carb, but if you’re a natural carb loader, your body seems to adapt somewhere into the second or third day. Suddenly, the gluten-free beetroot bread with homemade strawberry spread seems like the best thing since, well, the sliced stuff.

Have allergies? A dedicated chef will make sure nothing leaves the kitchen that you can’t eat.

Yes, these people are serious about food, furthered by the fact that for the 54 rooms that make up Chiva-Som, there are 34 chefs. Their leader, head chef Sinchai Srivipa, lights up on explaining the organic certification from Germany for every salad leaf, herb and vegetable grown at two nearby gardens.

Two restaurants inform the resort — Taste of Siam is where you’ll eagerly caffeinate each morning, watching the sun rise over the South China Sea. At night it slaps on white tablecloths and rolls out the wine selection from 6pm. Yes, wine. And champagne.

The more formal Emerald Restaurant launches a new menu this October. Think culinary influences from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia with a Chiva-Som twist. You can also tuck into a “Steamboat” — a tableside copper pot boiling on a burner and filled with a heady-scented coconut soup. Throw in proteins and vegetables of your choice, so too Thai condiments, et voilà, you’re the chef.

Chiva-Som offers a holistic and whole-body approach to wellness. While there’s a gym, private training, individual stretching sessions and private pilates — “exercise is not wellness”, according to VP. Because you can’t simply pump some iron and expect to be well.

The core of Chiva-Som is presented by the fact it offers 200 individual treatments with more aligned treatment rooms than guest rooms — 80 of them, in fact.

You’d imagine such a deep list impossible to navigate, at least until you walk into a first meeting with an allocated consultant (each a graduate of the Chiva-Som academy in Bangkok).

The consult works as a one-on-one session where you share your physical, emotional and psychological baggage. The consultant listens, probes and kind of swoops you up, piecing together the matrix on how to spend every waking hour of your stay. It’s like an onion, my consultant tells me “we peel back the layers”.

Most Chiva-Som guests stay five or seven nights, though some have moved in for two to three months. The main aim for most is weight loss, with detoxification from stress and mental health issues a close second.

Digestive issues are another dominant area, though whatever the concern or desire, the consultant’s targeted meal plan (there are many) is impressively put in play so that the next time you walk into the restaurant, wait staff are versed on which menu to provide.

Daily massages (you choose from the menu), exercise regimes, holistic practices like acupuncture and acupressure are also scheduled — and you’re off with a timetable and the determination to change your ways. The staff seem to genuinely embrace flexibility and if you do want more or less of something, a consultant can alter the schedule.

A Watsu Pool combines Shiatsu massage and warm water therapy which often brings out emotions. Acupressure, meanwhile, involves the use of a sharp, pen-like instrument to clear blockages in the face and head.

One thing that takes some time is the strictly enforced no-phone policy — devices are limited to in-room use only.

It’s at first a little frustrating, though it ultimately adds to the peaceful feeling that blankets the experience. And according to the GM, it’s needed to curb temptation.

It’s arguably an approach aimed at keeping the teens focused. Yes, where once Chiva-Som was a strictly adults-only affair, teenagers — those often lost to online distractions and who’ve grown up with wellness front and centre — are now invited from the age of 14.

Families make the trip together, particularly mothers and daughters. And as the clientele has become younger, so too the resort has moved with them, introducing hiking and mountain biking, as well as cooking classes that show you how the executive chef turns down the calorie count with recipes you can take home.

There’s such pride in this family-run retreat (Rojanastien’s son now oversees Chiva-Som) that after a week of padding around in the resort-provided tracksuit and slippers (a lovely shade of clotted cream) you feel so Chiva-conditioned that you wonder how you’ll ever re-enter the real world.

A naturopath spends an hour with you to work out what you’ll eat “out there” if you wish to follow a healthier path, with the overarching message: please, listen to your body.

A physio then does an all-body check, informing you where your strengths and weaknesses are — more homework for real life.

You ultimately walk away feeling fortunate to have walked in — more aware of your body and how much more you should be caring for it, with the simple, if powerful, words of Boonchu Rojanastien front of mind: “Above all, enjoy your life.”

chivasom.com