How a Los Cabos Wellness Retreat Led Me to Reconnect With My Body After Breast Cancer Surgery

At the moment, I consider my life in two distinct chapters: earlier than BC and after BC.

Final Labor Day, I had simply arrived in Telluride, Colorado, for the Film Festival. The mountains glowed with golden gentle, evoking a way of enchantment and chance. Inside days, the glow vanished. My physician broke the spell with the information: I had breast most cancers. I wanted to return to New York Metropolis instantly to satisfy with a surgeon and talk about therapy choices.

Deep down, I wasn’t stunned. Breast most cancers runs in my household, and I knew my threat was excessive. My resolution to have a double mastectomy felt inevitable—however it wasn’t straightforward. I’d by no means had surgical procedure earlier than, and this was a brutal introduction. Nonetheless, I wished to do every part I may to keep away from a recurrence. I labored on making peace with my alternative, whilst I recalibrated what my future—and physique—may appear to be.

For me, the toughest a part of having most cancers wasn’t the medical ups and downs—it was telling my two sons, then 20 and 23. One was learning in Dublin, the opposite working in London. Breaking the information over a Zoom name broke my coronary heart. I attempted to reassure them that I’d be okay, regardless that I wasn’t certain myself. Would I be positive? Would they?

One of many first issues most cancers modified was journey. Because the boys had left residence, we celebrated the top of every yr with household journeys—France, Portugal, and different locations the place we may reconnect, discover collectively, and forge new traditions. This time, we stayed near residence. No wandering unfamiliar streets. As a substitute, we walked well-worn paths in New York, visited previous mates, watched the skaters at Bryant Park, and cocooned indoors—simply my boys, a tree, and me.

A Therapeutic Journey Begins

My first surgical procedure was a aid: profitable, with clear lymph nodes and no problems. My physician and I agreed to delay the second surgical procedure to permit time for bodily and emotional therapeutic. I returned to work and began a weekly yoga class to ease the tightness in my chest and shoulders.

A month later, my husband and I returned to Telluride for our annual winter journey. I couldn’t ski or carry my very own baggage, however I may sit on the deck and take within the snow-covered mountains. It was sufficient.

However even because the scars on my chest healed, my coronary heart remembered the ache and worry. So when my editor requested me to cowl the SOUL Wellness Retreat in Los Cabos, the chance appeared heaven-sent. I used to be able to shift from being a affected person to being an individual once more. And I wished to place into apply what I’d been studying in yoga: meditation, gratitude, and letting go.

Turning the Web page at Nobu Resort

Once we stepped out of Los Cabos Worldwide Airport, the warmth hit like a wall. However after an hour’s drive by means of Baja’s cactus-studded desert, we arrived at Nobu Hotel Los Cabos—hidden on the finish of a winding highway within the personal Diamante neighborhood. It felt like I’d stumbled upon a secret retreat I didn’t know I wanted.

We have been greeted with chilled towels and matcha lemonade, wealthy in antioxidants. That small, considerate second grounded me within the current. As we walked by means of the Zen Rock Backyard and open-air foyer, I took a deep breath. It felt good to reach.

With 200 rooms and suites, plus 60 residences, Nobu blends Japanese minimalism with Mexican craftsmanship. My room—over 500 sq. ft—was bigger than my first New York residence. A studying nook, a personal balcony overlooking the pool, and within the distance, the Pacific. The centerpiece was an onsen-style soaking tub, set beneath a skylight and framed by a wall of river rocks. Simply entering into the house was an invite to decelerate. It wasn’t only a room; it was a sanctuary.

On the SOUL Wellness Retreat, every day introduced a unique sort of restoration. Mornings started with ocean views, the sound of the ocean, and a soy matcha latte on my balcony. Then yoga, sound therapeutic, or breathwork. After class, we confronted the vas Pacific and journaled: “Set your intentions. Let go of what now not serves you.”

I wrote about every part I used to be carrying: Will I see my youngsters settled? What type will my physique lastly take? Will the most cancers come again? When will I really feel like “me” once more?  How quickly will I really feel able to actually journey? What’s going to my subsequent, extra sophisticated surgical procedure be like? Will the ache be manageable?

Then I let the questions go—at the very least for the second.

On the 13,000-square-foot Esencia Wellness Spa, I booked an aromatherapy therapeutic massage. Remedies included volcanic stone remedy and sea salt scrubs infused with native herbs and important oils. Even with 13 therapy rooms, I by no means felt rushed. A spa butler guided me from check-in by means of the hydrotherapy circuit to my therapeutic massage, the place the therapist was delicate and expert with my post-mastectomy physique.

My frequent journeys to the Nobu Resort Cabos’ outside hydrotherapy backyard turned one other house for renewal. I’d transfer from the steam room to soften away the stress earlier than shifting to the invigorating bucket bathe, soaking within the jacuzzi, braving the energizing chilly plunge, and at last, a sleep within the walled backyard. Every cycle left me extra balanced and centered.

Each meal at Nobu was a reminder that wellness doesn’t imply deprivation. On the Mediterranean-inspired Muna, we had quick ribs with jocoque (a wealthy, tangy dairy just like buttermilk) and endive. On the Mexican-inspired Pacific, entire child corn got here with toasted grasshopper mayonnaise. Regional flavors gave me an actual sense of place. Subsequent door, the open-air M Bar was good for sundown mocktails—aromatic with thyme, basil, orgeat, and contemporary berries—or a craft cocktail, if that’s your factor.

Among the many Timber and Hilltops

After Nobu’s serene luxurious, Acre Resort was a lush escape. We have been there for a farm-to-table lunch and a hands-on soy candle workshop. Acre’s tropical oasis additionally homes an animal rescue sanctuary (sure, emotional assist canines!), an artwork studio, and a Tree Home Spa, providing restorative therapies like cactus detox wraps and lavender scrubs with herbs grown on-site. Company can keep in considered one of 12 luxe tree homes suspended above the Earth for an elevating expertise, or in one of many 10 family-friendly haciendas. It felt like a spot for each escape and connection.

We additionally visited Monte Cardón, the place chef Ubaldo Martínez creates personalised, hyper-local meals utilizing components harvested inside 12 miles in his sluggish meals kitchen. Earlier than dinner, we participated in a standard cacao ceremony, rooted in Mayan therapeutic practices—that second modified every part.

We floor cacao beans into paste, set intentions, and sat in silence. As I labored the beans and silently meditated, tears got here unexpectedly. I acknowledged the worry I nonetheless carried as a breast most cancers survivor and reconnected with my physique as it’s. The expertise was each cathartic and therapeutic—and I walked away feeling lighter, like a weight had been lifted.

House to Heal

Los Cabos confirmed me that wellness is not a guidelines—it is a gradual unfolding. It is the heat of the solar, the scent of the ocean and desert, the style of meals simply harvested from Earth. It is a reminder that therapeutic has its personal time and tempo. And generally, usually, it begins by merely being nonetheless.  Therapeutic isn’t simply medical—it’s in motion, stillness, ritual, and reconnection. After I arrived, I did not know precisely what I wanted emotionally, however now I used to be able to face my subsequent surgical procedure.

After I left Nobu Resort Los Cabos, I wasn’t simply rested—I used to be restored. Los Cabos gave me the house, silence, and inspiration to reset my post-mastectomy physique and thoughts. It wasn’t a luxurious wellness escape; it was a journey to determine myself as a breast most cancers survivor.