A drizzly 2.5-hour drive to Canyon Ranch Lenox paired well with our somber mood. My sister Cheryl and I were about to mark the first anniversary of our mother’s death that occurred two days before my sister’s birthday. In fact, a few years earlier, we lost our father a day before Mother’s Day, and right before that, our stepmother, also at the time of Cheryl’s birthday. Added to this somber cocktail was the two-year anniversary of my beloved dog’s death. We were still experiencing trauma from all those losses.

Although this would be Cheryl’s first visit to Canyon Ranch, it was my second time at the Lenox location. A decade later, here I am again, but this time to reconnect the joy in my life. Cheryl’s goal was to relax and renew her spirit with a multitude of body treatments and lots of exercise classes. These were the pathways we chose with specific itineraries. But first things first. We were hungry.

Lunch at the Canyon Grill is where I found immediate comfort from a bowl of butternut squash soup, served with a glass of pomegranate spritzer. Cheryl and I parted ways for a bit, as we were on different pathways. I headed to a chakra workshop where the last 12 minutes were spent with feet rooted on the floor and imagining these roots going from the bottoms of my feet and grabbing from the earth all that I need to heal. The class was instructed to imagine the color ruby swirling from our feet through our legs. I left the classroom with an understanding of the various chakras and what each group relates to as far as emotions.

Next, I headed to the fitness center for a physiology session, where I discussed my hip flexor issues among more physical barriers. Heather and I developed a strategy to incorporate exercise throughout my workdays – and to follow my joy on weekends to do what I love and need; Pilates Reformer Class and group hikes in the woods top my list.

I met up with my sister at a Restorative Yoga class before we departed the fitness center for a class on forgiveness, where we learned the key was to release harm, loss, and pain. By dinnertime, we were in a mode of healing with top experts in the fields of wellness, spirituality, and mental health. With dinner, my wine glass was filled with apple cider vinegar blended with dark berries, a healthy alternative to red wine. Dessert of coconut macaroons and homemade hot fudge topped on maple ice cream was filling, but served in a portion that was just enough not to feel glutenous. After dinner, we headed back to our room to reflect on our productive first day of healing.

We awoke refreshed and ready to replace a sorrowful time with a celebratory mindset on Cheryl’s birthday, a day overshadowed by the deaths of loved ones. She awoke a bit agitated in the awareness that her life was now focused on winding down, but her excitement knowing she would soon be a grandmother assuaged her anxiety. Being at Canyon Ranch to receive the support and expert guidance left her able to celebrate the day with updated memories of healing and a positive outlook on taking care of her health, both mentally and physically. Her pathway led her to a personal training session, a barre class, a Hungarian Body Wash treatment that she shared “felt as though I was washing away old hurts – and starting fresh.” Meanwhile, I was on a full schedule of emotional health sessions to better understand the replays of my past traumas, and the experience was draining, but productive. Even the tarot card reading revealed the same truths of my past, but the promising outlook of a healthy change of pace in the near future.

The next two days were filled with workshops, a chakra balancing massage, a two-hour glorious kayak on a nearby river, a walk through the labyrinth, and a 20-minute workout for offsetting the pain of plantar fasciitis. But what impacted me the most was a soul journey. This spiritual experience proved to be an unexpected life-changing 15 minutes.

My session was held in a room where the spirituality center is located. I laid on a twin bed with a blanket covering my clothed body and an eye mask. I heard the vibrational hum from a sound bowl while my guide directed the start of my journey. He asked me where I envisioned my feet. The idea of taking a journey didn’t seem feasible, but the ease of what happened next was self-enlightenment. All the travel experiences of my past collided in a “best of” type of journey taken by mode of riding a waterfall.

My feet were nestled in warm sand while I overlooked the clear Mediterranean blue water with crisp whiter-than-white waves rolling toward the tips of my toes. My guide’s voice asked if I saw a path ahead. “No, I did not,” I responded. But I could see swaying palm trees to my right and a sort of pathway that led me in that direction. “Do you see a door,” he asked. I did see a door, and it was the same large wooden, ornate, bisque-colored door I remember seeing at Olivia Newton John’s former Gaia Resort in Australia. It was a door set outside as you walk in the open-air entrance. “Open the door and go in,” said my guide. “What do you see?” I saw a botanical garden, felt the humidity, and breathed in a scent of lemongrass in the air.”

“Enjoy the adventure. See you in 15 minutes,” he said.

A nearby waterfall beckoned me for a ride, and I took it for some time before landing in a bed of rose petals. I noticed a mud bath so took a dip before riding the waterfall to the top of a volcano, the same volcano I hiked inside during a trip to the Canary Islands 8 years earlier. It looked the same inside – set up for a symphony, but this time the orchestra was there and they were playing. I noticed a wine barrel in the corner – the same wine barrel I recalled from a trip to Bordeaus -- with the same lighted candle and bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild on top. I poured myself a tasting before departing the volcano and taking the waterfall to Paris, where I happily dined at an outdoor café with a group of friends. The waterfall appeared again, and I rode it to Venice, where I met an Italian man who serenaded me while we rode a gondola. He brought me to his family’s home, where we enjoyed an Italian meal before I swooshed off to Maine, arriving at my son’s home with lobster rolls in hand for him and his wife. We laughed and enjoyed our time together, and then I heard a voice, “Time to go back through the door.” I didn’t want to leave, but I knew I had no choice, so I removed my eye mask and sat up, feeling physically and mentally happy, as if I actually experienced all of those visits that brought me so much happiness. In 15 minutes, I reconnected with all actions that emanated joy.

We departed Canyon Ranch feeling renewed, grounded with nature, invigorated to live a healthy life, and rewired to know we deserved the pleasures in life. Fully immersed in the positive and healing energy field around us, we stopped to have fun apple-picking at a nearby orchard and then hit the road back home. The drizzle had finally subsided and all we felt was sunshine and gratitude.

Charlene Peters is a travel writer and author of "Travel Makes Me Hungry."