A "Heavenly" 10: Count Threads Instead of Sheep

The Heavenly B...zzzzzzzzzz


It takes me a half hour–maybe more–to get to sleep at night. I punch the pillow, squish the pillow, place it here, place it there, take it off, put it back. Pull the covers on. Toss the covers off. It’s a nightmare trying to get to sleep. I don’t suffer from insomnia. My mind just never sleeps. I mean, shut up already! I’m tired. So if my head hits the pillow and I’m out, it means either I’m dead tired or I’m on a really good bed.

When I stayed at the Westin National Harbor recently (see Summers Retreat), I had my first experience with the hotel chain’s signature 10-layer Heavenly Bed. The Heavenly Bed was introduced in 1999, but I don’t remember ever being in one. I’ve been in variations of the bed at other hotels and resorts, but this was the first time I stayed at a Westin and boy, was it hard getting up in the morning!

The Heavenly Bed has triple-sheeted bedding, topped with a down blanket and duvet-enclosed comforter, a cushion mattress and king-size plump goose down and plush feather pillows. The bed is so comfortable, guests started to inquire about buying one for home. Now you can buy a variation of the bed and bedding online. Since then they have extended the Heavenly creations into a lifestyle brand that includes such offerings as a Heavenly Robe, Heavenly bath line, Heavenly shower heads, a Heavenly travel blanket, and I’ll be doggone–a Heavenly dog bed. As the Westin hotel chain celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the celebrated bed, expect more Heavenly product launches and promotions this year.

Another thing I like about Westin is Breathe Westin. More than 82 of the Westin hotels are smoke-free. Through surveys, Westin discovered that 92% of their guests request non-smoking rooms. Eighty-one percent of consumers hate it when they stay in a non-smoking room and it reeks of smoke. Been there. Eighty percent of consumers prefer restaurants and other indoor public spaces to be free of cigarette and cigar smoke.

I get headaches and have trouble breathing when I’m around smokers (no offense to all you smokers out there–but it’s not healthy). So, bravo. A hotel with a heathier environment sounds like heaven to me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I Was Super-Charged by the World’s First Giant Singing Bowl

Image
I was standing in a private room looking at a huge bronze singing bowl. I was in Lucerne, the third stop on a trip to four regions in Switzerland, staying at the Palace Luzern.  The hotel describes it as the world’s first giant singing bowl and I had signed up for the “ceremony,” an experience that promised a “state of lightness and deep relaxation.”  Photo: Courtesy of Palace Luzern The giant bowl is struck, causing 1,000 frequencies to flow through the body and “Every cell unites in harmonious vibration,” states information at the hotel website. OK. Sure. The giant singing bowl took 15 years to create.  This process included studying the effects and functions of small traditional Tibetan singing bowls, making the mould for the bowl, which was cast in solid bronze and has a diameter of 1.76 meters and a weight of 1.2 tons.  It had to be housed in this cozy room on the ground floor instead of in the third floor spa (for obvious reasons.) It ...
Read more

Flowmotion Yoga

Image
I took Sarah Tomson Beyer’s flow yoga class, Flowmotion: Find Your Rhythm, What’s Your Flow, when she came to Pure East in Manhattan. The two-hour class began with warm-up sun salutations and then we were taken through a number of Flowmotion sequences that we would do during the class. As the class moves forward, the pace of the sequences build and you're supposed to “tune into your rhythm and express your flow.” Flowmotion is a cross between modern dance and yoga. Beyer has a background in dance and her technique reminds me of a yoga class I used to take on Mondays and Wednesdays at New York Sports Club. That teacher's name was also Sarah and she was a former gymnast and dancer. Moving through the fluid, and at times therapeutic sequences, makes you feel serene. Unfortunately the room in which we had the class was too small for the number of participants, making the “flow” a bit difficult, and if you're a beginner to yoga (or have been playing hooky fr...
Read more

Voyage: Herbal Remedy for Jet Lag

Image
Lavender. Photo: Jill Wellington from Pexels Voyage is a jet lag remedy I could have really used during the years when I was crazy enough to travel from New York to Hawaii and then straight to Jamaica!  Voyage is an herbal jet lag remedy formulated by clinical herbalist Kilu Horecki , who is trained in western herbalism and Chinese traditional and Ayurvedic medicine.  The claim is that Voyage helps when you’re traveling across multiple time zones. In addition to helping your body cope with the usual symptoms of jet lag, it also helps with altitude and travel sickness, calms anxiety, boosts the immune system and protects against food poisoning.  Photo: Courtesy of Kilu Voyage contains a proprietary blend of “organic and wildcrafted botanical ingredients,” some of which include: Albizzia , a plant native to China. The flowers, stems and bark are used to make medicine. It is taken for anxiety, depression and insomnia, and to improve mood. Albizz...
Read more