Sanctuary in Sedona
The fire-colored red rock surrounding Mii amo (three-night packages from $1,400; miiamo.com) in Sedona, Arizona, transports guests far from their everyday lives to a raw grandeur laced with iron and quartz 350 million years in the making. Long before the 2001 arrival of the destination spa, the horseshoe-shaped Boynton Canyon, sacred to the Hopi, Navajo, Apache, and Yavapai nations, was revered as a fountain of youth and the seat of local creation stories. Not to mention its reputation as a vortex of electromagnetic and psychoactive energy, the kind that reportedly twists juniper trees and yields enlightenment and healing. The primary vortex, called Kachina Woman, and the subject of the Garden of Eden canyon legend, lies a short hike from Mii amo as part of a public, 400-mile trail network. The new Trail House stands as the headquarters for hiking, biking, and rock climbing excursions for guests of the spa and surrounding Enchantment Resort.
Mii amo means “one’s path” or “journey” in Yuman, the traditional Native American language of northern Arizona. The 23-year-old, first-of-its-kind destination spa celebrated an anticipated reopening last year, after a two-year closure and a $40 million renovation by the architects responsible for the original design. The expansion retained its iconic first impression (like entering a portal through a stargate) and added three casita buildings with seven accommodations to the original 16 casitas and suites that were fully renovated. The new suites have fireplaces, private courtyards, and soaking tubs with views of the canyon, all with the same nod to the modernist sensibility of the Anasazi and adobe dwellings that the Ancestral Pueblo people constructed a thousand years ago. The kiva-like Crystal Grotto continues to preside over ceremonies and daily guided meditations; the staff charges crystals and stones here and energizes oils for treatments.
The spa’s restaurant, Hummingbird, is newly filled with natural light and canyon views, an entire back wall of new windows, and new cuisine that prioritizes ingredients from local ranches, orchards, and purveyors. Rotating seasonal dishes feature foods as local as the on-site chef’s garden, microgreens from Sedona, and fish from a farm in Oak Creek Canyon. Executive Chef Beau Widener incorporates Ayurvedic techniques into options such as mushroom curry with za’atar-spiced laffa bread. As ever, dining in robe is encouraged, and the welcome addition of an outdoor patio and roaring fireplace allows for time to take in the exceptional night sky and desert air.
The spa itself increased its footprint to 42,000 square feet without changing its discreet position nestled into the natural slope of the red rock canyon wall. The most dramatic addition: a private, Mii amo Journey guest-only lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows (guests of the Enchantment Resort lounge elsewhere). Spa treatment rooms, now all illuminated by natural light, remain occupied by longtime, specially trained therapists for chakra balancing, energy clearing, reading of the moment, intuitive massage, and soul consciousness. These tried-and-true treatments, many pioneered at Mii amo, are rounded out by new options such as the CBD massage, Ancestral Stone massage, and High Desert Enzyme Wrap.
Expanded facilities and treatments are matched by a new, luxurious 10-night journey, now on offer in addition to the longstanding three-, four-, and seven-night packages, which include accommodations, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and a $250 daily spa credit, as well as access to fitness and movement facilities, the pool, and more than 50 weekly hikes, lectures, and workshops.
