Four Days to a Better Lifetime

You’ve heard the adage, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” While staff at the Center for Health & Wellbeing at the Four Seasons Westlake Village (fourseasons.com) would like most guests to eat more fish, their philosophy is more a metaphor for the proverb. Unlike fitness boot camps where you work out endlessly and then go back to real life, the Center teaches clients how to go back and live healthier, eat better, and exercise more efficiently—for the rest of their real life.

Originally launched as the California Health and Longevity Institute, the Los Angeles–area Center has rebranded and refocused on nutrition, weight, and lifestyle, offering four-day wellness immersions. (Medical options are offered through the on-site practice CURE Medical, which does executive physicals, blood and genetic testing, hyperbaric and cryotherapy treatments, and a host of cosmetic and elective procedures.)

The retreat focus is educational, leaving participants with more knowledge to live better. Staff members take an evidence-based and realistic approach to address each client, using established science to recommend incremental lifestyle changes. All programs include meetings with multiple experts, both in personalized, one-on-one sessions and through presentations, often held during mealtime. These are mostly served in the Center’s Wellness Kitchen, where its culinary staff prepares dishes featuring healthy recipes. The Center occupies its own wing at one end of the resort, which also houses the spa, vast fitness center, and cycling, yoga, and motion studios. At 40,000 square feet with 128 different treatments, the spa is the largest of any Four Seasons in the world.

All attendees hear from multiple personal trainers and nutritionists, a psychologist specializing in life balance, and a nationally acclaimed sleep expert such as Dr. Sam Kashani, an instructor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and a member of the board of directors for the California Sleep Society. In addition, depending on the selected track, guests may have additional private personal training, nutrition, and/or life counseling sessions.

There are three retreat themes, or tracks, to choose from, held simultaneously within each four-day program, which feature small groups (averaging 10 people). They share common elements, so participants eat, attend presentations, and do some group activities such as yoga and hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains together, separating for focus-specific activities and personal electives.

All three tracks include lodging, guided hikes, expert presentations, group fitness programs, yoga and meditation classes, a spa treatment, meals, a cooking class, computerized Body Composition Analysis, unlimited access to all resort fitness classes and equipment, and use of a pool cabana. The fitness-focused Optimum Performance track adds a VO2 Max treadmill analysis, a personalized session with a dietitian, and a private workout session focused on functional training and technique. Sustainable Weight Loss adds a dietitian session, goal-setting fitness consultation, and mental fitness consultation, plus extra hands-on cooking classes. The Spa & Beauty track includes the hikes, yoga, and fitness basics, adding a body treatment, facial treatment, salon treatment, and one elective specialist consultation.

Because the theme is life improvement after the experience, all retreats include a follow-up one month later with the expert specialist of your choice to reassess, clarify, and entertain next steps, helping to keep the healthy momentum going.