5 ways to recharge with a staycation at Bishop’s Lodge

After this past year and a half, you deserve some pampering. We know of an ideal place to splurge and practice self-care without leaving the state: Bishop’s Lodge, Auberge Resorts Collection, a luxury, Pueblo-style property nestled in the rugged foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, about 3.6 miles northeast of downtown Sante Fe.

The historic resort recently reopened after a $75 million renovation. In addition to refurbishing existing guestrooms and public spaces with earthy colors and Native American art and cultural artifacts, the resort added a Southwestern restaurant, SkyFire; horse stables; a boutique gift shop; and several secluded luxury suites. And a roster of new adventures and wellness options tap into the area’s art, culture, and natural beauty.  

Jean Baptiste Lamy, the first bishop and archbishop of the Diocese of Santa Fe, established a spiritual retreat here in 1853. In 1918, then-owner James Thorpe turned the religious refuge into a resort. In 2014, Richard Holland of Holland Development acquired the property and transformed it into a luxury Auberge Resorts Collection site, adding a healing arts center, conference facilities, event areas, eateries, a 12-room family bunkhouse, outdoor gardens, and a trout habitat.

The lodge offers experiences that immerse guests into the property and its surroundings. You can go rafting on the nearby Rio Grande or take a private tour of Santa Fe art galleries. On-site amenities include a pool, a gym, and an art gallery with an artist-in-residence. (Room rates start at $750.) Below are five things you can do during your stay that will send you home feeling better than when you arrived. 

1. Stay in a private Kiva Suite

Reserved only for adults and tucked in a sheltered corner of the resort’s property, these newly constructed private Kiva Suites have relaxation written all over them. The one-bedroom suite has a king bed set under exposed wooden beams on a Navajo-patterned rug. Leather armchairs offer a place to chill out near the indoor-outdoor adobe kiva fireplace, which draws design inspiration from the partially underground Pueblo Indian structures used for spiritual ceremonies. This suite also has a mosaic-tiled master bath and stone rain shower. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors lead to a private terrace with a plunge pool, where you can sip morning coffee or savor a nightcap under the Milky Way (the area is known for dark skies).

2. Experience an Energy Medicine ritual

The resort’s Energy Medicine ritual uses multiple “energy healing” techniques to promote physical and mental well-being. In Reiki, practitioners gently place or hover their palms on or over a dozen spots on your body. Polarity involves breath work and hands-on therapy, along with no-touch pranic healing and chakra balancing, intended to ensure that the flow of life energy is balanced and not blocked.

Studies have shown that spending time in nature can help reduce stress and boost your mood. So head over to the main lodge to pick up free hiking poles, trail maps, and binoculars. As you walk through the lodge’s 317 surrounding acres of meadows, ridges, and creeks, you’ll see a variety of native vegetation, including sagebrush and pinyon trees. You also might spy desert cottontails, greater sage-grouse, pinyon jays, and mourning doves. Inside the adjacent Santa Fe National Forest, you’ll find cooler mountain air, along with diverse flora and fauna. Stay on the forest’s lower trails for shorter hikes. If time permits, climb to higher elevations to see alpine flowers and lakes. 

Deep breaths fill lungs with oxygen and can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure. You can sign up for a 60-minute group Restorative Yoga class, which begins at 8 a.m. on the property’s promenade. Alternatively, you can arrange for a private class, in which the practitioner will tailor the session to your specific needs. For either class, you’ll need to wear comfortable, nonrestrictive clothes, and you will be given a mat, a blanket, and blocks. The class begins with meditation to ground the body. Then your teacher will guide you through a sequence of poses, involving light movement, to restore a gentle frequency of breath.

5. Create your own healing essence

In Santa Fe, you can create your own botanical essence with local perfumer Roxana Villa, who uses only natural ingredients. Villa takes guests on a tour of Bishop Lodge’s gardens and surrounding woods and explains how to sustainably forage leaves, flowers, barks, and resins. As Villa outlines the process of transferring the plants’ scents into water using a copper still (to create a hydrosol), she shares her knowledge of the benefits and uses of essential oils and hydrosols. You will leave Bishop’s Lodge with your own floral potion, a fragrant reminder of your time at this luxurious, soulful, Southwestern retreat. 

Victoria Abbott Riccardi is a travel, food, and lifestyle author with articles published in Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveller, Hemisphere, and the New York Times.