4 Ways to Elevate Your Health and Wellness Routine in 2025
Feel your best this year with local and international businesses offering sauna sessions, innovative workouts, thoughtful aesthetic services, and tropical escapes 2025 is going to be your year—especially if you stick to that resolution to move your body and invest in self-care. Luckily, San Diego County and the wider world are flush with businesses that […]
Feel your best this year with local and international businesses offering sauna sessions, innovative workouts, thoughtful aesthetic services, and tropical escapes
2025 is going to be your year—especially if you stick to that resolution to move your body and invest in self-care. Luckily, San Diego County and the wider world are flush with businesses that make it easy to meet your goals. Seeking holistic solutions to aches and pains? Drop by Pure Infrared Sauna Studio. Filled your 2025 vision board with photos of flawless skin? Cara Studios can make that dream a reality. Have “work out more” on your list this year, but aren’t sure how you’ll find the time? Coastal Fit can tone you up with a once-weekly, 20-minute session. And if you want to combine wellness and wanderlust, The Kayon Resort Ubud is a Balinese escape for anyone who prefers a vacation spot that supports their fitness goals instead of throwing them off. Here’s how to upgrade your health and beauty routine this year.
Sweat It Out with Pure Infrared Sauna Studio
Sweat and reset at Pure Infrared Sauna Studio’s downtown San Diego and Solana Beach locations. This studio combines the latest in innovative wellness recovery modalities and state-of-the-art equipment in a serene atmosphere to help you reset both your body and your mind.
Owner Matt Stewart is a certified health coach and nutritionist and an athlete who has tried it all—from pain killers and cortisone to CBD and stem cells—to treat and manage injuries and pain and maintain his active lifestyle. He founded Pure to give others access to the holistic tools he’s found most effective—especially infrared saunas.
In contrast to traditional steam saunas, infrared technology uses full-spectrum light to generate heat within the body in a cooler—and more comfortable—environment. It’s designed to induce a deep sweat that soothes achy muscles and joints (making it ideal for athletes or anyone with chronic discomfort), improves circulation, reduces inflammation, boosts your immune system, and helps you flush out environmental pollutants and unwind from daily anxieties. Studies have shown that regular sauna use can lower elevated blood pressure, improve asthma symptoms, and reduce pain associated with conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Each private sauna suite is meticulously designed for comfort, equipped with amenities like calming music and TVs for meditation or entertainment, as well as attentive staff members well-versed in guiding first-timers. Additionally, every sauna sesh comes with medical-grade chromotherapy, which employs colored light to relief stress, boost energy, smooth skin, drive cell renewal, support a more youthful visage, and even whiten teeth.
And that’s not the only way to lighten up at Pure. Clients can book a 10-minute session in a powerful and safe 360-degree red-light bed for a health and beauty double-whammy—the therapy can strengthen cell health and improve skin tone and texture, reducing the appearance of wrinkles and promoting a radiant glow.
If you’re looking to enhance your wellness routine even further, Pure offers more holistic recovery tools in one comfortable studio. Admittedly, not all are as cozy as the saunas—the studio’s cold plunge pools maintain a bracing 50-degree temperature, but immersing yourself in frigid H2O is worth it for benefits like reduced inflammation; lowered levels of cortisol, the stress hormone; and a mood-boosting rush of endorphins. Clients can book contrast therapy sessions to take advantage of both the sauna and cold plunge amenities and maximize the results of each.
Other available modalities include compression boots (ideal for runners and other athletes working to improve their circulation and relieve soreness), a pulsed electromagnetic frequency mat (designed to help with pain and inflammation), and salt therapy with a halotherapy generator that produces salt particles to turn the studio space into the equivalent of a healing salt cave. It’s all at Pure, so you can leave pain, sluggishness, and stress in 2024.
Pure Infrared Studios: 2665 5th Avenue Suite 103 San Diego, CA 92103
Let’s say your goal for 2025 is to get stronger and leaner. You could hire a trainer, scour the internet for workout plans, bump sweaty shoulders in crowded fitness classes, take up jogging, and dedicate hours a day to bicep curls and sumo squats in the gym. Or you could spend 20 minutes a week at Coastal Fit in Encinitas, San Diego County’s largest studio specializing in Whole Body Electro Muscle Stimulation (WB-EMS).
Originating from long-used physical therapy practices, EMS is an FDA-approved technology aimed at delivering maximum results in minimal time. At every EMS session, you’ll don a specialized suit that lines all of your major muscle groups with electrodes. Once the suit gets hooked up to an EMS machine, you’ll feel tiny pulses throughout your body—that’s those electrodes causing 98 percent of your muscle fibers to contract 85 times per second (for context, you’re looking at about one to two contractions in a single muscle group for every second you spend doing a traditional gym workout).
While the machine does its thing, a Certified EMS Trainer will guide you through a 20-minute workout consisting of low-impact functional movements, including lunges, squats, and light-weight exercises suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels. After a cool-down stretch, you’re done—really! Thanks to all those muscle contractions, the session is equivalent to two-and-a-half hours of conventional strength training (in less time than it takes to cook a Rachael Ray recipe).
Coastal Fit combines this innovative technology with ultra-personalized coaching. The studio’s trainers will spend time during your first visit learning about your health history and current fitness capabilities and goals to create the perfect workout plan for you. They’ll use that info to calibrate the EMS machine to your specific needs, so you can exercise knowing an expert has your back.
After only a few weeks, you’ll start to feel stronger. By the end of your first month, you may begin to see changes in your body, including reduced fat and toned muscles (plus, that newfound muscle mass may speed up your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories all day long). Because EMS contracts almost 100 percent of your muscles at once, you may notice more symmetry. And EMS’s low-impact methods will limit the strain and pain that may come with traditional training, and the contractions will boost your circulation, improving your immune system and reducing muscle fatigue and tension.
You’ll get to achieve all these results in Coastal Fit’s peaceful North County studio equipped with handy locker rooms and a roomy stretching space, under the guidance of dedicated coaches, so you can consider your New Year’s resolution as good as met.
Coastal Fit EMS Studio 613 Westlake Street, Suite 126 Encinitas, CA 92024 coastalfit.com
Level Up Your Beauty Routine with Cara Studios
Want to step fresh-faced into the new year? Head to Cara Studios. Founded by Cara Paymaster, an esthetician and brow artist with nearly two decades of experience, the La Jolla–based studio focuses on safe and effective skincare for all—including those who are often underrepresented in the beauty industry or have a difficult time finding providers with expertise in their needs.
In addition to certifications to treat acne-prone and aging skin, Paymaster has training in scar revision and cancer-safe oncology skincare. She worked with JoElle Lee—known for her role as former first lady Michelle Obama’s esthetician—to learn how to provide services for people of all ethnic backgrounds. Want buccal or myofacial release massage? Paymaster’s got you. Looking for a hands-on, holistic alternative to Botox and fillers or a surgical face lift? She’s trained in Yakov Gershkovich’s popular massage technique.
So, no matter your skin type or concern, you can keep that commitment to regular self-care at Cara Studios. Newbies can start by booking The Facial, a 75-minute treatment that includes cleansing, exfoliation, extractions, and hydration, plus relaxing massages for your face, hands, arms, feet, and scalp. From there, you can work with Cara Studios’ team to determine which services best suit your needs and skin goals, whether that’s a sculpting massage, smoothing hydrodermabrasion, a microcurrent treatment to boost the efficacy of serums and other products, or dermaplaning to tackle acne scars.
If you’re ready to take your facial care routine to the next level, Cara Studios offers a number of acid peels—from the zero-downtime CoolPeel to the powerful BioRePeel—to even out your skin tone and texture, slough off any signs of aging (including fine lines), and brighten your complexion. And skincare doesn’t stop at the neck at Cara Studios. Clients can schedule a clear skin back treatment intended to help bid bacne adieu.
Once your skin is aglow, ensure your brows are as beautiful as your complexion with the studio’s brow waxing, shaping, and tinting services. Or book a brow lamination for a gelled-down look that lasts up to two months. The experienced team at Cara Studios tints lashes and performs lip and chin waxes, too.
With even more treatments available at Cara Studios—including tension-relieving reflexology and a red and blue light therapy lounge with activities designed to help you destress and get in touch with yourself while pampering your skin—it’s easy to find your bliss and give your complexion everything it needs to thrive in 2025.
Cara Studios 909 Prospect St., Ste 100E La Jolla, CA 92037 carapaymaster.com
Unwind at The Kayon Jungle Resort
The best way to kickstart a new wellness routine? A full reset. To get centered for a beautiful beginning to 2025, book a stay at The Kayon Jungle Resort. Nestled in the lush rainforests on the island of Bali and perched atop sprawling hills, the resort embodies the art of wellness, offering a gorgeous setting, luxurious rooms, an unmissable spa, a spectacular pool, and a suite of yoga classes to help you slow down and unwind.
To begin your stay on a relaxing note, Serayu Wellness has a range of services geared toward nurturing your body and soothing any aches and pains. Choose from restorative body, foot, and head massages; nourishing scrubs, baths, and body wraps; and facials, manicures, pedicures, and hair treatments. Time at Serayu Wellness comes with complimentary drinks and bites, and guests can book services individually or in pairs.
For fitness-focused guests, The Kayon Jungle Resort’s yoga facility provides a diverse lineup of classes, with experienced Balinese yoga instructors teaching strengthening poses and postures, breathwork, and meditation to people of all ages, levels, and abilities. A Gym & Recreation center on site also offers a healthy escape, with state-of-the-art cardio equipment and free weights for in-house guests.
Of course, make sure you leave time to dine at one of the resort’s many restaurants and accommodations. The KePitu Restaurant hosts a menu that dances between international favorites, healthy choices, local delights, and signature specialties. The KePitu Bar and Lounge offers guests a range of refreshments, from fresh juices and gourmet coffee to tantalizing cocktails, boutique wines, icy cold beers, and top-shelf spirits. The Canyon Jetty Restaurant a unique jungle escape with intimate dining huts for guests to enjoy local and international dishes.
When it’s time to head to bed, The Kayon Jungle Resort has ample options to suit any kind of stay you’re seeking. Guests hoping to experience aquatic ambiance can opt for the Jungle Pool Villa, a contemporary Balinese-style escape built with local stone, bamboo, and woven rattan furniture. Roosting near a pool, as its name implies, the villa is surrounded by lush jungle. Want canyon views? Book The Kayon Jungle Suite, which comes with incredible vistas thanks to its seat above the treetops. And in the Valley Pool Villas, you’ll look out at gorgeous tropical jungle views. No matter which room you choose, you’ll be waking up in paradise.
Inspired by the effortless charm of French cafés, this taste of France on Orange Avenue invites guests to embrace the simple pleasure of taking their time.
Strolling down Orange Avenue on a sunny afternoon, you’ll hear the hum of beach cruisers rolling by and visitors making their way toward the Hotel del Coronado. Dogs pause to greet one another on the sidewalk, palm trees sway overhead, and for a moment, you’re convinced you’re living inside the postcard from the gift shop you just passed.
Then the scene shifts. Towering white columns, black café awnings and gold-trimmed windows frame Little Frenchie, where woven bistro chairs spill onto the sidewalk and servers deliver bubbling crocks of French onion soup. The scent of caramelized onions and melted Gruyère is practically an invitation to ask, “How long for a table for two?”
That feeling of pulling up a chair and staying awhile is exactly what inspired Little Frenchie. French cuisine has a reputation for feeling a little intimidating, but the restaurant is rewriting that narrative with food and wine that feels approachable.
“Sometimes when you read a French menu, you come across words you can’t even pronounce,” David Spatafore, the owner of Little Frenchie, says. “We wanted to create a restaurant where people felt comfortable.”
Little Frenchie was designed to capture the spirit of the French sidewalk cafés that inspired it. Dating back to 1917, the space already carried the charm of a Parisian bistro, with architectural details that felt more at home on a European street corner than in Coronado. The team saw an opportunity to create a restaurant that matched the character of the space while filling a gap in the neighborhood.
The result is a French restaurant that honors tradition without taking itself too seriously.
At Little Frenchie, classic French techniques are at the heart of the menu, but there is always room for creativity. A cassoulet featuring Toulouse sausage and duck confit pays homage to the recipes and regions that inspired it, while a rich hot chocolate made with ingredients imported from France brings a taste of French café culture to Coronado.
The team loves finding unexpected ways to make familiar dishes feel new. A burger becomes a showstopper when it is finished tableside with melted raclette, while a French Dip gets elevated with prime beef and Wagyu makes its way into the burgers. Even Eggs Benedict gets a French twist, swapping the traditional English muffin for a buttery croissant. The GB&J, Little Frenchie’s take on a grilled cheese, brings that same playful approach with seasonal jam and French Brie layered into a comforting classic.
Nearly everything at Little Frenchie is made from scratch, with ingredients carefully chosen to match the restaurant’s standards. Even the bread receives special attention. Each morning, the team sends a car to Prager Brothers Artisan Bread to pick up freshly baked loaves, ensuring every element of the meal reflects the restaurant’s commitment to quality.
Wine is woven into the experience just as naturally as the food. Inspired by the effortless pairings found in French cafés and bistros, Little Frenchie’s by-the-glass selection invites guests to sip their way through different regions and discover new favorites without the pressure of knowing all the rules.
Growing up, Laika Nur, MD, Scripps Clinic sports medicine specialist, loved watching beach volleyball when the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour came to her hometown of Chicago. A talented volleyball player herself, she remembers sitting in the stands all day, and once, even got a couple autographs. Years later, Dr. Nur was attending a professional event focused on women’s sports, and the discussion turned to a new professional women’s volleyball league. The general manager and coaching staff for San Diego’s team, the Mojo, happened to be in attendance, and Dr. Nur took the opportunity to ask them if they needed a team doctor. Flash forward to the Mojo’s inaugural 2024 season, when Dr. Nur officially became the team physician. Click here to read more about Dr. Nur and how she incorporates lessons she learned on the court into her practice.
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Your feet and ankles probably aren’t something you give much thought to—until something goes wrong. Orthopedic surgeons at Scripps Clinic are on the leading edge of foot and ankle reconstruction, treating patients with sports injuries, deformities, traumatic injuries and other conditions. That includes repairing torn Achilles tendons with a minimally invasive procedure that shrinks the incision site to less than a centimeter, and performing advanced ankle replacement on some patients with ankle arthritis. Read more about Scripps’ innovations in foot and ankle care here.
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Mai Vue was just 34 weeks pregnant when she delivered her baby. Her pregnancy had been complicated, and she’d had a recent second trimester pregnancy loss, which led to her receiving specialized care from Sean Daneshmand, MD, a Scripps Clinic perinatologist who oversees high-risk pregnancies. Dr. Daneshmand and his team took care of Mai during her pregnancy, through the birth of her healthy baby girl and beyond. Mai was part of a program Scripps launched to provide support to new moms in the weeks and months after delivery. The postpartum program, known as Scripps Health’s Fourth Trimester Continuum of Care, provides care for women with high-risk pregnancies to optimize their health after childbirth and reduce the risk of complications in future pregnancies. Click here to learn more.
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It’s estimated that one in five people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer at some point in their lives. When you factor in living in a sun-soaked city like San Diego and the outdoorsy lifestyle that comes with it, that figure can jump to as high as one in three, which makes early detection and intervention all the more important. Dermatologists at Bighorn Mohs and Dermatology Center are using innovative imaging methods and advanced surgical techniques to diagnose and treat skin cancer. For certain cancers in sensitive spots, like the face, dermatologists perform Mohs surgery, removing skin tissue layer by layer until reaching healthy, cancer-free tissue. They also use a process called immunohistochemistry to view tissue samples taken during Mohs surgery in far greater detail than previous methods. Read more about how Scripps is advancing skin cancer care here.
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When endurance athlete Isaac Sanchez learned he had cancer, he felt blindsided. He was healthy, surfed often and was training for an Ironman triathlon. But he had to put that on hold to undergo treatment. His physicians at Scripps Cancer Center developed a plan to treat the cancer in his tonsil and lymph nodes that included six-and-a-half weeks of near-daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy. He also worked with a Scripps Cancer Center dietitian to enhance his nutrition to promote strength and healing. Today, Isaac’s back to doing what he loves. Read more of his story here.
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