What I learned very quickly was that many of the most lasting healing experiences have one thing in common—access to and a focus on a specific set of locally found natural resources (such as hot springs, steam vents, mud baths, algae, sea water, mountain air, or local plants and minerals). Some even possess (or purport to possess) vortexes. But that’s another story for another newsletter.

Anyway, in my travels, it became clear that nearly all cultures at one time or another have found ways to embrace nature as a tool for enhancing health and wellbeing. This includes the obvious things like using local materials to build shelter and local plants and animals to provide nourishment or a means of economic sustenance. But it also includes the less obvious things—the things in life that just make people feel better. Over time, as cultures develop and advance, a greater premium is naturally put on culture, health, belief, art, architecture, cuisine, you name it.

In Japan, for instance, a highly ritualized, very refined culture centered on hot springs evolved in tandem with the dynamic and highly ritualized civic culture flourished. Hot springs were left often in their natural form, but an entire Onsen Town lifestyle developed—where spa visitors would stroll through the streets of hot springs towns dressed in identical cotton yukata (one-piece robes that accompany you during the duration of your visit to the springs).

In Italy, home of some of the world’s most ritualized Spa culture (immortalized in Federico Felini’s 8 1/2), ‘taking the waters’ is a time-honored tradition. At the elegant Terme de Saturnia near Florence, I shuddered at the lumps of algae floating in the the vast network of pools—only to later realize that the substance was actually full of healing nutrients that formed the foundation not only of the baths’ healing essence, but also of spa’s elaborate line of packaged wellness products. Many bathers linger, luxuriously rubbing the algae all over their skin day and night.

On the Atlantic coast of Europe, I discovered many Thalassotherapy centers using a combination of sea water, local algae and exposure to sea air in their healing treatments. Even the architecture these established therapy centers is deliberately designed to help visitors experience the healing powers of their coastal environs first-hand.

And in my native Germany, the government categorizes Kur (cure) towns or villages into classes by the types of natural resources they focus on using in their healing treatments—water, air, herbs, springs, mud, etc. One of the most unique German Kur systems is Kneipp therapy, an integrated approach to health enhancement that uses cold water affusion alternated with warm herbal baths, consumption of herbal teas, adherence to a structured diet, and commitment to rigorous exercise and spiritual practice.

Some spas in Europe even practice use of “liquid sound” treatments, I found, where live music is amplified into subtly colored underwater environments so that the mind and body are surrounded by waves of healing, harmonic sensation.

Harmony Projects is a client who was battling this very issue when developing the spa experiences at Gibb’s Guest Farm in Tanzania. There is a rich tradition of Maasai using plants and animal products in healing, and much of the work takes place in the forests in talking to the “Worry Tree” and for the medicine man to gather healing plants. We created “The African Living Spa” … it’s not a building in which we go to heal, but it’s nature all around, where healing occurs. Patrons are taken into the forest by the Maasai medicine man for evaluation and to gather ingredients, and then the actual treatments take place either in the medicine man’s village or the patron’s guest house. Gibb’s Farm is the only listing in Africa for Healing Hotels of the world.

Anyway, in my travels, I realized that the most successful and sustainable spa concepts are the ones that focus on using local ingredients, indigenous practices, and domestic cultural traditions to create enlivening and awakening sensory experiences. The goal, for both our Chinese client, and other clients in a range of other businesses, has always been to find distinctive ways to surface those ingredients, practices and traditions—and then invite people the world over to immerse themselves in those elements.

And if there’s anything I take pleasure in more (even that traveling the world taking spa treatments) it’s helping my clients develop destinations that nurture deep and lastingly healthy cultural connections.

That’s all for now. Here’s wishing you and yours all health and happiness this Spring.

Cheers,

Uta

What’s in a name? In preparation for a design charrette in Charlottesville, VA we came across Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom. That’s where Charlottesville got its name.

In the first twenty-one years of her marriage Queen Charlotte gave birth to fifteen children – nine sons and six daughters. In contrast to most European Royal houses George III and Charlotte had a harmonious marriage. However, during their lifetimes the British court had the reputation of being the dullest in all of Europe because of their notoriously frugal, plain, and pious life-style. Their charities, however, were legend. Hospitals such as the famous Queen’s Lying-in Hospital in London which was founded by Charlotte, orphanages, “decayed” musicians, and untold poor families could rely on their munificent patronage. Eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart happily fulfilled Queen Charlotte’s request and dedicated his Opus 3 to her.

Charlotte played a prominent, though reticent, role on the stage of European world history. As Queen of Great Britain and consort of George III she became an eye witness of a turbulent age. During the reign of George III (1760-1820) Great Britain developed into a far-reaching empire by colonizing Australia, New Zealand, and India, and conquering Canada and the West Indies. However, this empire also suffered the loss of the American colonies (1776) and the tremors of the French Revolution (1789), and countered Napoleon’s threatening advances with the victories at Trafalgar (1805) and Waterloo (1815).

St

Charlotte was also an amateur botanist who helped expand Kew Gardens, the famous botanical gardens near London. Among many of the exotic plants Captain Cook collected for Kew Gardens on his many journeys, South Africa’s strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) specifically commemorates Queen Charlotte.

First, the solstice. No one’s really sure how long ago humans began recognizing the winter solstice and heralding it as a turning point — a moment in time that, after many days of diminishing daylight and lengthening darkness, marked the imminent return of the sun. Cultures around the world have, for centuries, performed solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient belief that light would not return without direct human intervention — either via celebration or vigil.

Even the Neolithic peoples, whose lives were tied to the nature of the seasons and cycles of harvest, were deeply attuned to the turning skies. Many of them had the skill to pinpoint a celestial event like the solstice. Over 10,000 years ago, they watched the movement of the sun and the moon. They celebrated both — with fertility rites, fire festivals, and offerings and prayers to their gods and goddesses. And they marked each by carving notches into bone that appear to delineate the cycles of the moon and sun.

Not unlike our very earliest ancestors, we mark the changing of the seasons via a wide array of cultural traditions — from feasting and gift giving through baking and sharing treats that have deep and particular meaning to us all. Everything from the scent of evergreen boughs to the sight of, say, candles flickering inside a frosty window has the power, at this time of year, to strike a deep and resonant chord within each of us.
For my family and I, Christmas traditions are rich and varied but distinctly German. They all have their roots in the ancient Nordic ‘Jul’ festivities — which were all about bringing greens in from outdoors, creating warmth and light in whatever way possible. Oh, and baking seasonal sweet cookies and treats!

The recipes I use have been handed down over generations and have tended, over time, to resurface only during the time of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas). My understanding is that this is tied directly back to the fact that “sugar-baking” was usually only done by the bakery guilds in early Germany and that, as rules were relaxed during Advent, the average family was allowed to step in and bake their own cookies and sweets at home and to share with friends and loved ones

Even the ingredients we tend to use at this time of year (from sugar and peppermint to allspice and cinnamon) have deep cultural significance and have been seen, at various times and by various societies, as being curative, restorative and distinctly festive.

It’s a delightful and vivid time full of meaningful traditions and resonant experiences to be shared with family and friends. We here at Xsense wish you and yours a beautiful, authentic holiday season. And until next year, we wish you continued health, connectedness, and prosperity.

Tell us about your favorite traditions on our facebook page.

Just for fun, we’ve posted a few of my favorite traditional German Christmas cookie recipes for you on our blog.  Enjoy!

Vanillekipferl

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup fine white sugar and mix with
3 Tbsp. vanilla sugar**
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts or almonds
1 egg

Preparation
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Cut the cold butter into the flour. Add the 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, ground nuts, and egg. Dampen hands with cold water and knead mixture into dough. Chill for 1/2 hour. Roll chunks of the chilled dough between your palms to form 1/2-inch thick ropes. Cut and form crescents and place on baking sheet. Bake at 325° F for 10 to 15 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown. Roll the crescents in fine white sugar/vanilla sugar mixture while still hot. Roll the crescents in this mixture while they are still hot.

** If vanilla sugar is unavailable where you live, you can make your own by placing a vanilla bean and 1 lb. of granulated sugar in an airtight container for 1 week.

Zimtsterne

Ingredients
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 cups almonds, ground (with skin)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar, for rolling

Preparation
Beat egg whites together with salt until stiff. Slowly add sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Set aside about 1/2 cup of the sugar and egg white mixture. Add to the remaining mixture the ground almonds, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Form into a ball and allow to chill for 1 hour. Remove 2 cups of dough from the refrigerator. Spread a 1/4-inch layer of powdered sugar over the work surface and roll the ball in the sugar until covered. Roll into a flat disk about 1/4-inch thick. The dough will have a sticky consistency; continue to add powdered sugar as needed to make the mass workable. Use a star-shaped cookie cutter, or other forms if desired, and place cut shapes on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. With a pastry brush, brush a small amount of the reserved egg white mixture onto the top of each cookie. Bake at 300° F for 25 minutes.

Magenbrot

Ingredients
1/2 lb whole spelt flour
1/2 lb rye flour 
2 eggs
8 oz sugar
8 oz butter
5 oz ground almonds
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 package candied orange peel
1/2 package candied lemon peel
2 tbsp rum

Glaze
Dark chocolate for glaze
Preparation
Put all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and work into a ball of dough. Turn out onto a board and form 1-inch thick rolls. Place on cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Cut into slices or other shapes while still hot and glaze with melted chocolate.

Spitzbuben

Ingredients
3 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 cups ground almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of butter
10 ounce jar of raspberry jam
Baking paper

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix one cup of sugar, melted butter, almonds, and vanilla. Slowly stir in flour one teaspoon at a time. Knead dough very well. Roll dough into about 1/8″ thickness. Cut the dough with a cookie cutter until all the dough is used. Place cookies onto cookie sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a light golden brown. While still warm spread jam between two cookies and roll in sugar. Allow to cool.

Jul Horses

Ingredients
8 oz honey
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 lb whole spelt flour
4 eggs

Frosting
Egg white
Powdered sugar

Preparation
Warm honey in a pot, add sugar and honey and stir until all melted. Add cinnamon and cloves and take off heat. Cool slightly. Put flour into large mixing bowl and work in honey mixture and eggs. Cover bowl with a cloth and leave at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Turn out onto a wooden board, sprinkled with flour and roll out about ¼ inch. Cut out cookies and place on cookie sheets covered with baking paper. Bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. For the frosting, whip egg white until stiff, adding powdered sugar until very stiff. Place into a small ziplock bag. Cut a corner off the ziplock and use this as your piping tool. Leftover keep well in the fridge.

Springerle

Ingredients
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
4 eggs
4 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Whole anise seeds

Preparation
Beat the eggs with an electric mixer for 10 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients along with the lemon zest and a 1/2 teaspoon of the anise seeds to the egg mixture. Mix well. Cover tightly and chill 4-5 hours. Divide the dough into fourths. Roll 1/4″ thick, dust lightly with flour and press with springerle mold*. Cut the individual cookies apart with a cutter wheel. Place them on a lightly floured surface, cover with a towel and let stand to dry overnight. Grease baking sheets and sprinkle them with anise seeds. Brush the excess flour from the cookies, place them on the sheets and bake at 250F for 25 to 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

The growing trend toward authenticity is discussed in a recent article published by the Urban Land Institute called The Industry: A Year Later.

In short they say, the new “normal” is about focusing on what is important and prioritizing what is meaningful, both as humans and as organizations.

For many of the 76 million baby boomers, this has meant simplifying their lives and shifting from material wealth toward a growing awareness of the impact of consumption, while the next generations seem to be more naturally attuned to social consciousness and to giving priority to quality of life over quantity of possessions.

Many people refer to this as the “new normal.” If this is a valid way to frame the changes being observed, the new normal seems to be fueled by three behaviors:

• Caution. While the focus on due diligence has tempered financing and development activity, a healthy degree of caution will require more fiduciary responsibility and realistic expectations for returns and outcomes going forward.
• Doing more with less. This is not just a function of assiduous cost cutting. There seems to be a genuine recognition that many common business practices in the past two decades were simply bloated. Necessary trimming has showed how productivity increases can be achieved with fewer resources.
• Higher purpose. The survey panel identified many examples of a drive toward authenticity and achieving more than just profits.

To read the full article follow this link : http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2010/Nov/BreuerYearLater

On our down time we were able to visit the National Museum of the American Indian.  It was so thoughtfully executed and thought-provoking… What a truely phenominal contribution!

We flew back to California feeling inspired and excited about the future of the industry… and left a trail of X’s behind us.

We quickly became known as the booth with X's all over the ground...

www.thepresidiolandmark.com

We knew something was right from the very beginning when it seemed their team just “got it.”  From there, the refining began with intuitive questions, open perspectives, and the integrity of a commitment for getting to the essence of things.  We appreciate the brilliance you bring to the table and the time we’ve been able to enjoy while working with you.  Truly, thank you, Bucktrout.

bucktroutcreative.com