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Healing Waters Lodge set to de-stress
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | Guests at the lodge will stay at the relocated and refurbished pre-Civil War log cabin. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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MONTEREY - Healing Waters Lodge is a retreat center in Highland County hoping to attract frazzled visitors living the fast-lane life of urban America. It is for people looking for that special place that will not only provide the rest and recuperation they need, but the stimulus and challenge their bodies and minds have become accustomed to.
"It's a health maintenance program," said owner and founder Dr. Vernon Sylvest.
Sylvest is a trained pathologist and holistic medicine specialist who works most of the week in Richmond, but he won't be practicing medicine on his 200- acre retreat on the Cowpasture River Road, seven miles north of U.S. 250.
The retreat is for people who are not sick, he said. It's about lifestyle and attitude.
Healing Lodge was inspired by a trip Sylvest took to California to The Ashram (a health retreat).
"The Ashram is not an ashram; there's nothing overtly spiritual about it," said Sylvest. "It is a modern house, it's become so popular because Oprah (Winfrey) has been there. We are incorporating a lot of the things that they did, but we are going to incorporate educational stuff, entertainment, several evenings of serious stuff, and the rest will be fun stuff."
 | | Anne and Dr. Vernon Sylvest hope to move full-time to their Head Waters based Healing Waters Lodge. But living and working in Richmond won't stop them from spending their free time with their guests at the 200-acre health spa and retreat. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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The standard one-week retreat schedule is regimented and routine, but certainly not ordinary. The fee for a one-week stay is set at $2,500. Sylvest is marketing Healing Waters to top-level managers who are used to established routines and getting things done. They'll be asked to leave their cell phones behind, though. The lodge will house up to nine visitors who will share rooms family-style. Guests will also share meals cooked on the premises in the lodge's commercial kitchen.
First thing in the morning, guests participate in a yoga class, followed by a light breakfast. The lodge features an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. Guests will eat less than they're accustomed to, but will get the nutrients and vitamins they need, Sylvest said.
 | | Healing Waters Lodge on the Cowpasture River Road in Highland is a rural rustic retreat with spa amenities. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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"Stress creates hunger," said Sylvest. There's no stress at Healing Waters, so the craving for more food needed to maintain a healthy weight and level of activity should start to diminish as the week progresses, he explained. After breakfast, the guests are taken on a guided hike.
After a small lunch, guests will have an hour of light gym exercise and, once the pool is installed, an hour for swimming. One more hour of yoga and an hour of massage are packed in before dinner.
Yoga instructors and massage therapists are on call. There are three one-room cottages set aside for the massage therapists and a conference hall for yoga, exercise and evening discussions.
 | | Up to nine guests at a time will spend one week at the lodge. They will sleep in the lodge's family-style bedrooms. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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"Following dinner we will have different kinds of sharings," said Sylvest.
Sylvest will be at the lodge on weekends, initially. He said, "I am going to share basic information, very good science, so they can understand how they can live and be free of stress and be in a state of mind that allows positive things to happen."
"The goal of healthy living is to not get sick and live longer than you thought you could," said Sylvest.
In his book, "The Formula: Who Gets Sick; Who Gets Well; Who is Unhappy; Who is Happy and Why" published in 1996 by SunStar Publishing, Sylvest describes how he was cured of an incurable disease through prayer. He also learned that forgiveness is essential to good health.
The formula for healing prescribed by Sylvest is prayer, meditation, vigilance and focus. He explained, "Prayer three times daily, aloud, for approximately five minutes, silently, as needed. Meditation twice daily for 15-30 minutes. Monitor each thought, choose to think only positive thoughts. Focus on love, trust, gratitude and respect for everyone and everything in every situation."
The formula can be summed up in one sentence, "Look, love, forgive and watch things improve," he said.
He is working on a second book titled, "The End of Fear," which continues with his formula for good health described in his first book.
He has been a pathologist and an associate medical director at Bostwick Laboratories in Richmond since 2002.
Sylvest's wife, Anne, is an artist and a retired operating room nurse. "I've been right in there with creating the space (for Healing Waters)," she said. "I'm an artist, my meditation is painting."
"Her work is all over the lodge," said Vernon.
"I will have my studio here when we are at the lodge," Anne added. A painting of a farmhouse window hangs in the living room of the lodge. "After I painted it, this whole thing came up for us," she said. "That was my foresight of this. I was painting this before I knew this existed." She also helped with the interior decorations, furnishings and paintings in the cottages and main house, and was instrumental in selecting the staff at Healing Waters. "When the program starts, to me it is important to have the right people in place," she said.
"We have one full-time person (Darrell Cornelius) now and a bunch of part-time people," said Vernon added.
Cornelius, of Head Waters, is the facility manager. His son, Jake, will also work for the lodge. Linda Simmons, owner of Stonewall Grocery in McDowell, will be office and house manager. Devonne Armstrong of Seldom Seen will be the cook.
Healing Waters Lodge is on property once owned by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist known for her work on the dying process. Before her, the property was owned by Raymond Moody, who conducted near death studies.
The Sylvests bought the land in 1995 for the purpose of using it for healing work and as a conference center. They plan to relocate to Highland County fulltime some day.
For more information on Healing Waters Lodge go online t o www.healingwaterslodgevirginia.com.
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