Inside wellness retreat Rakxa in Bangkok, Thailand that combines ancient healing and medical science

A growing appetite for health data has made diagnostic testing more accessible than ever. On a smaller scale, wearable tech such as Fitbits and Apple Watches track everything from sleep quality to blood oxygen levels in real time, empowering users us to be more in tune with their bodies and more proactive with their lifestyle choices.

Taking it a step further, in recent years—and especially after the Covid-19 pandemic—millions of people have bought direct-to consumer tests to screen their saliva, blood or urine for abnormalities or markers of future disease. One example is Hong Kong-based health sciences company Prenetics, which has become one of the world’s leading genetic testing companies since its launch in 2014. Its affordable at-home test kits, CircleDNA, detect disease risk, food sensitivities, personality and behavioural traits. “Not having a healthcare background has allowed me to think outside the box in terms of how to translate very scientific or medical products to everyday people, which is the biggest challenge in science,” Prenetics founder Danny Yeung told Tatler.

Making diagnostic testing accessible allows individuals to approach their wellness journey with purpose and intention, taking preventive measures in the name of longevity and a better quality of life. A growing number of wellness retreats, like Rakxa, are following suit, going beyond the yoga-and-massages approach to integrate medical-grade testing with holistic treatments rooted in healing modalities such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

“Once you understand yourself, that’s when true healing can begin,” Dr Dinesh Singh, Rakxa’s in-house Ayurvedic doctor, tells me during a consultation.

“At Rakxa, we look for hidden factors, or what we call silent killers, like hormone imbalance, weakened immune systems, toxifications or inflammation: factors that can cause degeneration or lead to degenerative disease,” Dr Athasit Amornthanomchoke, Rakxa’s in-house doctor who specialises in anti-ageing and regenerative and preventive medicine, tells me when we meet. We’re in the Rakxa Cha, the retreat’s tea room; sunlight floods through floor-to-ceiling windows. “For example, if you have symptoms like headaches, it doesn’t mean you have a disease, but it can be a sign that something isn’t balanced or functioning as it should in your body. Medication can treat the symptom, but not the root cause.”

The aim of wellness retreats like Rakxa is to identify the root cause of what’s ailing us—be it poor sleep, sluggish digestion, weight gain and so on—and provide a roadmap to better health without medical intervention when all that may be needed, at least for now, is a change in lifestyle.

Because the truth is, modern lifestyles are making us sick in ways that we haven’t been sick before. “Previously, males over 50 [years old] might have hormone deficiency but we’re seeing more men in their late 30s and early 40s who are beginning to have hormone deficiency due to a sedentary lifestyle, eating too much sugar and fat, low protein, no exercise, smoking, drinking alcohol and chronic stress,” says Amornthanomchoke.

Stress, trauma and mental health are increasingly being taken as seriously as physical factors in the medical field. And it's about time, too. In his book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, psychiatrist and author Bessel van der Kolk writes, “After trauma, the world is experienced with a different nervous system. The survivor’s energy now becomes focused on suppressing inner chaos, at the expense of spontaneous involvement in their lives. These attempts to maintain control over unbearable physiological reactions can result in a whole range of physical symptoms, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and other autoimmune diseases.” He also writes, “Until recently, this bidirectional communication between body and mind was largely ignored by Western science, even as it had long been central to traditional healing practices in many other parts of the world, notably in India and China.”

This integrative approach, which complements modern science with ancient wisdom, is what makes Rakxa Unique. 

“In our programmes, we use medical information to know the body of each guest,” says Amornthanomchoke. “It’s a little bit different to regular health check-ups, which normally check for disease. Our programme checks the function of the body: for example, your energy levels, how well you’re sleeping, how your body moves and how you manage stress. With this medical information, we help our guests decide which treatments should be engaged, combining medical treatments with holistic therapies.”

Guests can have their stay customised based on their results, or select from Rakxa's selection of curated programmes designed to address a variety of health concerns. One of its newer offerings, the five-day Rakxa Rebalance, is a do-all programme that combines a series of complementary treatments—from tai chi and acupuncture to hyperbaric oxygen therapy—to promote physical and mental stability, brain and body coordination, chakra alignment, the flow of vital energy, gut-brain axis and overall health.

Adopting the philosophy that “it takes a village”, Rakxa deploys its dedicated team to rally around each guest to heal, nurture, challenge and educate. The retreat itself is structured like a village: there are 60 villas spread throughout the property, from which you can walk, bike (each villa comes with two bicycles) or summon a buggy to its three treatment buildings. 

Tatler tip: Book the one of the private pool villas, which feature a spacious back yard and plunge pool overlooking the river. 

Rakxa Gaya, its fitness centre, is run by a team of trainers and physiotherapists. It has a gym and private studios where guests run a series of physical diagnostics including a biomechanics analysis, walk-pattern analysis and basal metabolic rate assessment. Rakxa Jai is where matters of the heart are tended to by way of ancient healing modalities—its in-house Thai Traditional Medicine doctor, Dr Chernkan Mookprom, was trained under a body of doctors who served the Thai royal family since the time of King Rama II (1809-1824). I was initially sceptical about how certain treatments—like a chakra-balancing session or marma massage—fit into my programme, which was focused on managing inflammation and gut health.

But as Van der Kolk wrote, these modalities were the originators of preventive medicine. At times when cures and medication either didn’t exist or weren’t readily available, having that deep understanding of one’s own body and its predispositions, as well as taking the right measures to manage stress and maintain optimum health, were crucial to survival.

“To take care of yourself as a whole, just looking at the physical level is not enough,” Wsinee Sukjaroenkraisri, vice president of business strategy and programmes at Rakxa, tells me. “We also look at the mind, and that’s where the traditional or alternative treatments fit into our approach: how are you mentally? How are you managing your stress? Understanding this, we can provide the knowledge and tools you need to adjust or balance your lifestyle.” 

Finally, Rakxa’s VitalLife building houses a team of medical doctors from VitalLife Scientific Wellness Centre, the anti-ageing clinic arm of Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital which, for decades, has been the go-to hospital for many Hongkongers looking to do annual full-body check-ups while making a little getaway of it, too. An added benefit: those who’ve had check-ups or other procedures at Bumrungrad can have their medical records synced to VitalLife at Rakxa.

VitalLife is also home to Rakxa’s impressive collection of medical equipment like a cryo sauna and a hyperbaric chamber where users breathe pure oxygen in a pressurised environment, which is said to promote healing and improve brain function and sleep. There’s an IV lounge where you can sit back in a plush chair and enjoy views of the garden while nutrient-rich formulas are fed into your bloodstream.

There’s also a high-tech aesthetics department, which offers facial diagnostic testing to assess the health and age of your skin, while providing procedures such as Coolsculpting, Thermage skin-lifting and Botox injections. 

“We all want to look and feel our best,” says Dr. Rataporn Ungpakorn, Rakxa’s in-house head of dermatology, lasers & aesthetics, who believes that properly caring for the health of our skin and properly managing how it ages is as important as having a personal trainer or going for regular health check-ups. “We’re increasingly seeing the benefits of aesthetic treatments as part of a holistic approach to wellness.” 

Functioning like a beehive, there’s an excellent network of communication between Rakxa’s departments. Doctors and therapists update one another daily on each guest’s conditions, needs and symptoms, and adjust your programme accordingly to ensure the treatments are complementary and consistently working toward your goals. This communication goes all the way to the kitchen, where chefs work with the doctors and therapist to design the right menu for each guest.

“Our aim is to help our guests improve and maintain a good quality of life for as long as possible,” says Sukjaroenkraisri. “For example, as you age, are you still digesting food correctly? How’s your mobility? Longevity is about more than just how long you live, but also how much you are able to enjoy your body and mind.”

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