Relax, unwind, slow down, and leave all your everyday stress behind. This is the time to take care of yourself, to recharge and leave feeling rejuvenated
Duration: 5 days, 4 nights
Destination: 10 minutes drive from Port Alfred, Eastern Cape. It is a scenic & easy 90-minute drive from East London Airport. Shuttle is available for groups (at extra cost).
Accommodation: St Francis Health Centre, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
INCLUDED IN YOUR PACKAGE :
Accommodation
All meals, Teas & Water
Treatments as defined below under Treatments.
Two Personal consultations and monitoring assessments with a professional Health Consultant. (Incoming consultation on Friday or Saturday. Outgoing on Monday PM or Tuesday AM)
EXCLUDED:
Local flights
Gratuities
Any transport to and from the destination
Holistic Health Today!
We live in a time of great imbalance, pollutants and chemicals in our food, and a highly stressfull environment
Almost everyone in our fast-paced society is struggling to manage daily stress, and many are afflicted with chronic depression and anxiety, face epidemic rates of obesity and chronic disease.
There has never been a greater need for the holistic health approach, and people are demanding medical alternatives and actively seeking better options for their personal wellness. This has resulted in constant research and development in the wellness industry.
Even so, very few medical doctors practice holistic health care, so Health Centres focussed on holistic health are in high demand.
St Francis Health Centre has been specialising in Holistic Wellness Programs since 1987
Health is more than the absence of disease, it’s the concious embracing of life!
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This statement from the preamble to the World Health Organization’s constitution, adopted in 1946, almost 80 years ago, illustrates its belief in holistic health from its very formation. Without a doubt, this observation made so many years ago is even more relevant to us today!
At the St Francis Health Centre, the belief is that healthy living is an integral way of life. Activating the natural self-healing, and balancing powers and processes in your body is the essence of well-being.
The experienced staff will bring about these changes through detoxing, building your immune system, relaxation and helping you to reconnect with yourself and nature. All under expert care and a mindful eye.
By learning how to incorporate and balance a healthy and nutritious diet with gentle exercise and relaxation, our lives become less stressful, our relationships improve, our self-esteem gets a boost, and we gain greater control over our well-being.
Just relax and let the experienced staff help you reach self-rejuvenation of mind, body, and soul!
Background of the Health Centre
This Health Centre is unique in South Africa in that every brick, bush, building and colour was meticulously researched and refined over many years by the founder and original owner Anneliese Cowley, who opened it’s doors in 1987.
As you walk into the entrance hall of the main building you are immediately welcomed by a sense of well-being. There is a comforting smell which, almost slightly medicinal, but not so clinical. The intriguing smell is a complex combination of various oils and homoeopathic medicinal compounds.
This building, its very shape, the different pastel colours of the walls, the massive magnificent crystal in the foyer, the almost ad-hoc scattering of pink quartz crystals, and the soft carpeting, unheard of in this day and age, were all purposely thought through and meticulously researched by Anneliese, the founder. Outside of a few required modernisations, the essence of that original recipe hasn’t changed.
So don’t expect Italian tiled floors, Marble or stainless steel. Expect sanctuary and calmness .You could be walking into a century-old Wellness Centre in Igls Austria
Treatments
The St Francis Health Centre Team are specialists in, and dedicated to, the relief of stress, anxiety and assisted weight control through natural healing. Embrace the opportunity to enjoy an unforgettable experience in a beautiful and tranquil environment where nature is your partner.
The therapeutic treatments are an integral part of your journey to healing the body, mind, heart, and soul with natural healing treatments to promote your overall wellness and balance.
The treatments included in this package are:
3 Gentle full-body massages
3 Aqua aerobics sessions
3 Steam Bath sessions
3 Passive toner sessions
3 Ultra long-wave treatments
I gentle Hatha Yoga class
Should you wish to enjoy treatments not included in this package you can arrange them with StoryScape Travel upon booking.
The Sanctuary
The Sanctuary is a sacred space where you will find peace, stillness and silence, providing the opportunity for deep inner reflection. The design of the building is based on a profoundly mystical geometric configuration called the ‘Grace’. It is composed of an outer circle containing a square (with its corners touching the circle) and an inner circle inside the square.
The Sanctuary’s ‘Grace’ has been modified with a smaller inner circle, which provides the seating in the Sanctuary. The walls of the Sanctuary form the square. The inner circle contains an eight-pointed star, which is shown in the carpet design on the floor. The eight points of the star extend as invisible rays from the centre, which are marked as window openings in the four corners and walls.
The roof contains a pyramid with angles the same as the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Made of clear glass, with its apex directly above the centre of the inner circle, light streams into the space. The walls are painted violet (a high spiritual vibration) and the carpet is a lighter tone.
The Labyrinth
The St Francis Health Centre Labyrinth, built in 1999, is a replica of the Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France. At its most basic level, the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey of life. It is also a journey to the centre of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.
This journey is taken in a safe space created by sacred geometry. The circular shape signifies wholeness and unity. Rose Quartz strategically placed brings unconditional love and protection to all those who walk our Labyrinth.
Walking the Labyrinth can be divided into three stages:
1. Walking In – This signifies cleansing, emptying and letting go of the past.
2. Time in the Centre – This signifies a time of focus, reflection, introspection and inspiration, dealing wwith the present
3. Walking Out – This signifies integration, action, being grounded, becoming energised and empowered, dea;ling with the future.
We suggest you walk barefoot if possible, in order to be fully grounded with the Earth.
We are what we eat or digest.
Our daily food intake contributes a great deal to our well-being, physically, mentally and emotionally. Most people try to eat a balanced diet but often the good food does not seem to get absorbed. The detoxification diet at the St Francis Health Centre is a healthy vegetarian diet that allows the gastro-intestinal system to have a rest, rejuvenate and start functioning better again, producing the right enzymes for digestion.
Your first day is a liquid day which is not a starvation day as most people will get more nutrition absorbed out of the vegetable broth, the herbal teas and fruit juices than from a three-course meal which takes a lot of energy to chew and digest. 80% of energy produced by the food we eat goes back into digestion, so the easier it is to digest the more goes into our cells.
2nd Day – you will have a fruit at lunchtime and pureed vegetable soup in the evening.
3rd Day – we serve a salad platter (simple), a fruit, and diced vegetable soup.
4th Day – you will receive oats and oatbran, a vegetable platter and a salad platter. Oats and oatbran are high in fibre, Calcium and Magnesium. It needs to be chewed well or else you might get a headache because the Liver and Gallbladder are not coping to break down the oats.
5th Day – you will recieve a light fruit Breakfast and a goody bag for your trip back to the airport
Holistic health practitioners have many ways of healing, but they share a common basic approach. They believe in the ancient concept that healing is most effective when you consider the whole person, rather than focusing on specific illnesses, body parts or symptoms. Long before penicillin or X-rays, healers recognized the importance of emotional and spiritual well-being in achieving physical health. Two of the most well-documented ancient holistic health traditions are Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda.
Both ancient traditions believe that there is an integral relationship between the different Elements and the food we eat, or should eat, even colours come into the equation to assist our Well-being. Read More.
Anneliese Cowley, founder and the inspiration behind St Francis Health Centre didn’t follow any specific Holistic Health tradition but implemented her programs based on years of experience and practical observations.
As Socrates said in the 4th century B.C., “the part can never be well unless the whole is well.”