An Interview with Shivani Schneider and Sushil Hussein Mrad, Eupepsia Wellness Resort Co-Founders: ‘Our Whole Retreat Approach is Integrated and Focused on Meeting Guests’ Needs and Goals to Help them Achieve Long-Lasting Impact’

“With the help of a team of specialists, Eupepsia customizes its wellness retreats to each person’s bio-individuality, health condition, and personal goals for optimum benefits.”

Eupepsia Wellness Resort, a wellness sanctuary resort, was established with a mission to help people reconnect with themselves at the level of their body, energy, emotion, mind, and spirit. It’s situated in Virginia in the vicinity of the Jefferson National Forest and the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Eupepsia was incorporated in 2017.

Shivani Schneider & Sushil Hussein Mrad, Eupepsia Co-Founders, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Explain your services in brief, Ms. Schneider.

Eupepsia is an award-winning wellness resort set in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It was ranked #2 Best Wellness Resort in the US for two years in a row. Eupepsia Wellness Resort earned this honor from voters in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice awards.

Set on 256 acres of farm and woodland, the boutique resort is a wellness sanctuary offering both tranquillity and comfort, with extensive outdoor and indoor facilities in a white cedar chalet environment, designed to help people reconnect with themselves and align with nature, for far-reaching and lasting benefits.

Founded on the science and philosophy of Ayurveda, Eupepsia provides an immersive experience through an integrated approach centered around sound sleep, clean ‘farm-to-table’ eating, advanced health, fitness, and yoga therapies as well as mindfulness for optimal energy.

Guests can enjoy delicious and healthy plant-based meals in one of the many outdoor dining facilities. The chef-prepared meals draw on world cuisine, are prepared with fresh produce from our organic greenhouses, botanical garden, and fruit tree orchards, helping guests stay well-nourished. There are also extensive indoor facilities that encourage communal dining.

They can experience a meditative yoga session in the large 8,000 square-feet Grand Yoga Hall, built from red cedar and marble with handcrafted teakwood paneling or in Eupepsia’s open-air yoga studios on the pond or in the pergola. They can breathe in the fresh air and enjoy quiet contemplation in our gardens or relax by the creek to experience full serenity.

Fitness-minded guests will enjoy a variety of training sessions in Eupepsia’s state-of-the-art functional training gym and multi-functional sports hall.

Guests can discover the healing and detoxing power of water therapy in Eupepsia’s indoor or outdoor spa and relish the endless nature view while swimming in our hydrotherapy pool or soaking in our outdoor power jet pool. They can also enjoy a salt flotation room treatment, the indoor hydrotherapy pool with an underwater treadmill, state-of-the-art aqua bikes, infrared sauna, and experience the benefits of halotherapy in the Himalayan Salt Chalet.

The resort offers a host of all-natural treatments from traditional ‘Ayurveda Shirodhara’ treatments to cutting-edge high-frequency ultrasound natural facelifts. These include signature massages and re-balancing treatments indoors or in the new outdoor cabana helping guests to relax to the soft trickling sound of the nearby creek.

To complement their activities and treatments, guests are invited to attend a variety of transformative talks and workshops during their stay. Guests with more specific wellness needs can also book specialized assessments, such as Ayurvedic evaluations, and one-on-one consultations.

Q. Mr. Mrad, there is so much choice when it comes to wellness retreats. What makes your retreat unique?

Guests tell us that they love Eupepsia’s immersive and integrated experience with real-time curation, which helps them get the most of their wellness retreats with us.

We offer them specialized programs, whether they’re looking to completely rejuvenate, de-stress, detox, lose weight, get fit, or simply wanting to relax and enjoy the beauty of the natural surroundings.

This approach reflects our mission to help people improve their health naturally, achieve inner and outer balance and wellness at all levels of the self: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, for a truly transformative experience.

Q. Generally, retreats are expensive. How affordable are your services, Ms. Schneider?

Our goal is to make Eupepsia accessible to as many people as possible. With that in mind, our packages offer great value for money, as evidenced by the high number of return and loyal guests we have.

Q. Mr. Mrad, do you have an integrated approach that focuses on goal-setting and realistic expectations, with an eye toward long-lasting results?

Our whole retreat approach is integrated and focused on meeting guests’ needs and goals to help them achieve long-lasting impact. We guide people based on the latest scientific advancements. Our guests’ experience journey starts with screenings and assessments, based on which we can create personalized programs taking into account each person’s bio-individuality. We believe in providing our guests with the experience of wellness that will help them see and feel the positive changes within themselves, while also empowering them with the knowledge to continue caring for themselves once they are back home. We blend them seamlessly, providing educative talks and workshops, which are followed by guided spa, yoga, fitness, and therapy sessions. Guests leave with a personalized home program we develop for them and specially selected tools and products from our wellness boutique enabling them to sustain their experience back at home. We stay in touch with our guests and are available to them whenever they need us.

Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched, Ms. Schneider?

We are always innovating to deliver an exceptional experience to our guests. Based on research on the latest in wellness science and technology and our experience, we are constantly introducing new products, services, and facility offerings. As mentioned earlier, we launched immunity boosting ‘Outdoor Wellness Staycations’ this year, a full-fledged offering of personalized wellness staycations with brand new therapies as well as expanded facilities and amenities that bring guests closer to nature.

Appealing to anybody keen to re-balance and boost their immunity, Eupepsia Wellness Staycations are also ideal as Wellness Sabbaticals for professionals who are working from home or want to combine work with wellness to improve their health.

The boutique resort’s 26 double bedrooms open directly onto the outdoors, offering direct access to open spaces with ample fresh air and privacy and with contactless features, allowing guests to be safely on social distance. Guests can experience nature-filled sleep in our new treehouse guest rooms.

While enjoying alfresco healthy dining, the newly built outdoor spa and the newly launched wellness treatments and therapies, guests can also go on guided hikes along the forest trails starting on the property and breathe in some of the purest air in the nation on one of the seven hiking trails in and around the property, connected to the Appalachian Trail and nearby Jefferson National Forest. They can set on a nature walk, lose themselves in the sounds, colors, and scents of the forest, and experience deep mindfulness and connection with nature. Or they can grab a bike and cycle to the top of Big Walker Mountain, where they can enjoy a breathtaking, panoramic view of five neighboring states.

They can also engage in gardening therapy in our organic greenhouses, joining our horticulturist on a tour of our vegetables, herbs, and Ayurvedic plants and learn about organic gardening hands-on.

Fitness-minded guests can experience the benefits of “green exercise” outdoors: enhanced vital energy, focus, mental and physical strength as well as increased stamina, lower blood pressure, uplifted emotions, increased blood flow, and improved lung capacity.

They can relax and unwind with our outdoor water leisure activities: from canoeing and pedal boating on the Eupepsia Pond to kayaking down the New River and swimming in mountain creeks and waterfalls.

Q. What are your trajectories for the next five years?

As part of our commitment to our guests’ wellness, we are always keeping abreast of new scientific advancements, which we will continuously incorporate into our services, while at the same time remaining close and true to nature, whose healing powers science is increasingly recognizing as priceless. These include oxygen and hydrogen therapy, which is scientifically proven to support general health and wellbeing.

The Charismatic Duo at the Helm of Eupepsia Wellness Resort

Shivani Schneider and Sushil Hussein Mrad co-founded Eupepsia Wellness Resort with a mission to help people improve their health naturally.

“Our goal is to make Eupepsia accessible to as many people as possible. With that in mind, our packages offer great value for money, as evidenced by the high number of return and loyal guests we have.