British GQ - 04.2020

Best medical spa

The ROYAL treatment

Nothing is left to chance when it comes to healing at Villa Stephanie in Baden Baden

Story by Rebecca Newman

Muse S Mindful

Meditation Device

This latest version of

the brain-wave

detecting EEG

headband monitors

your meditation

responses, your

heart-rate and

offers bio-feedback.

It can also help

you sleep. £330,

choosemuse.com

Apple Watch Series

The fitness tracker

is dead. Long live the

smartwatch that’ll

keep tabs on your

exercise, manage your

notifications and

look fine while doing so.

From £399. apple.com

Beats PowerBeats Pro

Finally, a pair of

fitness headphones

that won’t fall out of

your ears mid-HIIT

class and actually

sound great to boot.

£219, beatsbydre.com

WELLNESS

The Villa Stephanie sits within

the foothills of the Black Forest

ay you’re a man in

the prime of your

life, but occasionally

you feel a touch

medium. Even,

perhaps, overcooked.

There’s this place

you might want

to know. From the

outside, it’s just an ordinary royal resi-

dence turned five-star hotel. But Villa

Stephanie is also one of the world’s

leading medical spas. From the front

she’s all Beaux Arts beauty; a door in

the library leads to a state-of-the-art

clinic which melds holistic and ayur-

vedic approaches with DNA and cellu-

lar therapies. It’s the kind of place that

doesn’t just want to make you better,

it wants to make you the best.

of cutting-edge diagnostics with a

hint of Barbarella. The staff gleam

with vitality. I follow one for a

selection of blood tests, and further

interviews with the doctors.

From this data, a bespoke pro-

gramme is composed. People come

with a range of needs. Haus Julian

hosts a circle of specialists, and

while detox (from stress or from

heavy living) is a focus, anything

can be addressed, from enhanced

athletic performance to operation

recovery or weight loss and fertility.

I’m put on IV drips to balance my

blood minerals. I stand on an

ink pad, and imbalances

in my soles are linked to

knee issues and even

low energy, as the

muscles need con-

stantly to work to

correct my posture

(corrective insoles

are created overnight).

The days are a glorious

blur of training and treat-

ments (lymph drainage, reflexol-

ogy), meals of gilthead and fillet

steak. Wi-Fi and electronic con-

tamination is blocked to encourage

deepest sleep.

In the moments between appoint-

ments, there is 5,000 sq m of spa to

explore. A pool opens out onto the

park, endless varieties of sauna,

hammam and plunge pools. With

only 15 rooms, 12 of which are

suites, Villa Stephanie feels private

• like home, as it were. You can
  choose to breakfast in the salon or
  the garden. They’ll notice if you go
  for a run, and have a drink waiting
  for you. The whole is impeccable. As
  is the medical offer. “We are very
  German,” says Dr Konig, the Head
  of Medical Care. “We are super
  accurate and won’t miss a thing.”

VILLA STEPHANIE – EXCLUSIVE TO HEALING HOLIDAYS

Healing Holidays can arrange a 7-night Detox programme from £4,450 per person sharing, including British Airways flights, transfers, full

board accommodation and inclusions of the Detox programme. For more details, visit: healingholidays.com/gq Tel: 020-7529 8549.

HEALING HOLIDAYS EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Receive one free night if you book a seven-night Detox or Weight-loss programme. Valid for stays

until 31 March 2020.

On arrival in the foothills of the Black

Forest in Baden Baden, I am ushered

through for a full medical history

and given a “bioelectric impedance”

analysis. This uses electric currents to

measure fat, muscle and water compo-

sition. To my surprise, and brief excite-

ment, I discover my body fat is too low

(which can relate to too much intensity

training). Instead of merely pointing

to neat definition, this actually means

there is insufficient cushioning around

my internal organs and is a danger sign.

Disappointingly, the solution is not

pulled pork or T-bones, but to eat more

nut and seed oils.

I’m then invited to Haus

Julian, the clinic that

adjoins the hotel. It’s

a bright, white space

to get you up and

running or send

you off the sleep.

The tech

Three

great new

gadgets...

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