Inside the Secret California Retreat Where Hollywood Goes to Reset

Golden Door has been transforming the lives of its guests for 75 years. Tucked away in the hills of Southern California, it is a place built around a single belief: that true wellbeing comes from movement as well as stillness, and that carving out space for yourself is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

In this episode, Méline visits one of the world's most respected wellness retreats to understand what makes it work. She sits down with General Manager and COO Kathy Van Ness to explore the philosophy behind a place built around the belief that peace is the foundation of longevity. She walks the on-site gardens with Executive Chef Greg Fry Jr to understand why food grown in living soil tastes and heals differently. And she experiences a sound bath with practitioner Kumiko Katherine, who explains how shifting your brain from beta to alpha wave can reset the nervous system in minutes.

This is not a video about luxury. It is about what it actually takes to slow down in a world that rewards speed, and why the most powerful thing you can do for your health might simply be to pause.

They explain:

◼ Why being peaceful is the single most important factor for longevity
◼ How Golden Door designs every detail of the week to create genuine transformation
◼ The reason food grown on-site heals differently from supermarket produce
◼ What a sound bath actually does to your brain and why it works
◼ The two things you can do at home tomorrow that cost nothing

0:00 Intro
1:01 Inside Golden Door: The Philosophy Behind the Place
1:19 75 Years of Transformation: How It All Started
4:48 Why Being Peaceful Is the Most Important Thing for Longevity
5:02 Inside the Gardens: Why Soil Health Is the Secret to Nutrition
6:18 The Diet of Yeses: How Golden Door Approaches Food
7:52 Sound Bath: What It Does to Your Brain and Why It Works
9:11 How to Reset Your Mind When You Cannot Put the Phone Down


◼ Visit Golden Door:
https://www.goldendoor.com

◼ Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thegoldendoor

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Some places promise relaxation, others promise transformation. At Golden Door, I'm meeting the people who make those promises a reality. Together, they reveal something far beyond wellness or luxury. They curate a different way of living and highlight the importance of carving out space for ourselves in an increasingly noisy world. Tucked away among the hills of Southern California, Golden Door offers a place built around the belief that true well-being comes from movement as well as stillness. They have a philosophy that shapes every guest's experience from the food grown right here on site to the practices designed to help people reconnect with themselves in an increasingly busy world. To begin my visit, I'm sitting down with Kathy Van Ness, Golden Door's general manager, to understand their vision. Could you tell us the original story of the Golden Door and the why it looks so special here?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, the Golden Door was originated about 75 years ago. It's one of the only places where you can come and sort of refind yourself, recharge, get away from toxins. It was literally created to change people's lives. Being peaceful today in a very hectic world is your number one most important thing for longevity. When you come into Golden Door, it's a weak program. All our guests come in together. But here, because of the way we curate our business, everybody knows each other. And every night when you meet in the dining room, the same guests are congregating back again, creating literally a sense of community. So you're working out in the morning, using somewhere about 5,000 calories. Let's just make it an average all morning. You're with your personal trainer. You've already met your guest services person, you've already talked to your pre-arrival person. So we already know a little bit about you before you come, which is very important to know what the reasons are. Incredible services, incredible staff. It's gonna take hold of you for the whole week. You're gonna change. Happens every single week. What do you think is special about Golden Doors method? You know, I you you have to look at the staff. You know, the staff has to be, it's a really high-quality, highly educated staff as far as wellness and health care. You pull together all the staff, some of the staff members who've been here for 20 years, 30 years, highly experienced in train.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

My first impression is when I see the door outside, it's very discreet in very screen. It's not like you know what it is, and then when you work in, you're like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

It's not like bragging in your face. You're not meant to be. And that's exactly how the staff is. It's not about flash, it's about quality.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

It's a huge resort, and also to have 250 staffs is a lot of financial stress. So to run a such you know successful resort, what'd it take to maintain like such a high-quality business?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

It's all about the people. If everybody has good metrics and good plans and good strip good standards, it's it just happens. I do literally walk around sometimes and say, wow, remember something about hotels. A hotel is open 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. I love this property, I love my staff, I love my guests, and take care of them because while they're working for you, their life is in your hands. Your success comes from how you get to take care of them. That's probably one of my greatest achievements and my greatest things that I love is making sure that the staff is recognized and taken care of and grows. And that there's their life grows, their salaries grow, their positions, positions can grow, and they know that.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Is there anything we can do at home that will help us through you know leaving a happy and more fulfilled life in good health? Two easy things.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Pause and walk. When you wake up in the morning, I don't care if it's 15 minutes. Go outside and walk around. I don't care if you're in an apartment building and condomini. I don't care. Go walk outside for 15 minutes. If you did it every single day for just 15 minutes, find something beautiful to look at. Pause and look at it and go back and start your day. You could be meditating right here. You need to get done with this interview. You look outside to this beautiful cherry blossoms blooming. You have a hummingbird that's been swimming by us all morning. You just by pausing and looking at that for 15 minutes, your whole self will calm down, just talking about it at will.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

It's clear that Golden Door is about far more than relaxation. Every element here is intentional from the daily routines to the environment itself. One of the clearest examples of that is in the food that is grown here. To understand that connection, I'm joining Executive Chef Greg Fry Jr. for a walk through Golden Doors Gardens.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Satisfying a good healthy diet needs to have a good amount of produce, vegetables, because that fiber is really the secret to filling you up and making you feel satiated, but it's also the secret to all the really good nutrients. Having great vegetable, great produce allows them to really love that. The tomato gets its flavor from the soil, the microbiology in the soil. The key goal to a great-tasting tomato is thousands of organic compounds in the soil. And if your soil isn't healthy, your tomato is not going to taste as good. And it's like having a great wine. Great wine grapes come from places where they have great tiroir, great soil, that the vines had to struggle. Tomatoes are just the same.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

And is there any dietary rules or dietary hybrids that we can adapt at home?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Try to keep as natural as you can. Processes of turning something in actually destroy a lot of the nutrients that we're after. Think about the grocery store. Buy from the outside of the grocery store, where the fresh stuff is, right? In the center of the grocery store is all the stuff that's put in a box and put in a bag, and it's meant to sit there for a long time. It's not nutrient dense.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

When people come to Golden Door, what typically they are having in their food or diet, and is that going to help them with their health and the wellness?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

This is not meant to be an austerity diet, so a diet of nothing and no's. I want a diet of yeses. I want it inclusive. So if you're having the yogurt, it's not non-fat yogurt. It's full fat. Full fat yogurt maybe a little bit less on the protein, but that balance of the fat and the protein is needed. So there's a lot of what we are doing in the dietary nutritionals to make sure that the guests have the fuel they need to go through the week. They're not sitting by the pool all day long. Our guests are up at five o'clock in the morning, they're hiking the mountain. I mean, most of our guests have their 10,000 steps in before breakfast. They are active all the way through till lunch, so I need to make sure that I am fueling them. So while the calorie program you would find around 12 to 2,000 at our top, it's so much more about how dense can we pack those nutrients in there. I want my guests to sit down, eat a very satisfying meal, and still feel that they can get up from their chair and go do the next class. Eating healthy, eating clean is important. Feeling satiated is important for your mind and your body and your soul. Nobody wants to eat a diet that is not fun to eat.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Walking through the gardens with Greg, I see how food is part of a wider philosophy of the Golden Door. That idea of slowing down and reconnecting runs through every aspect of the experience. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the therapies that they offer. I'm meeting with Kumiko Catherine to experience a sound bath and learn how sound becomes a tool for quieting the mind and creating space for calm. Kumiko creates immersive layers of sound designed to encourage relaxation and focus. I'm curious to discover how something as simple could have such a profound effect on the way we feel. Could you tell us what is sound bath and why it's good for us?

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Sound bath is for me a guided meditation. Someone will take you to the brain wave with alpha wave. When we are functioning our everyday life, our brain is better wave, which is doing the tour, paying the bill, and so forth. And that's left side and right side brain becoming quiet. When you come out from the sound bus, most people feel at eased, relaxed, and deeply sleepy.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

And what do you think makes a difference for you after you practice sound healing for so long?

SPEAKER_03 8:53

People come in here a little bit tense and irritated. I can feel the energy because I'm doing this for a long time. Then when they finish, their eye is brightened and do you know me to change, like a soften? And they are very grateful of how they are relaxed. We are all guilty of the scrolling and the texting and all the time. It's very difficult. So that's why I always ask my client to just close the eyes, drop the phone, and let's try it. Close the eye, and through the nose, inhale towards the crown of the head and through the nose, exhale through. Breathe in gratitude, breathe out like girl. Breathe in gratitude. And breathe out like girl. A couple times. And then gently open your eyes. Then squish away that foam, drag in, and try not touch it. That's a little bit reset your mind because otherwise our brain is so attracted to adrenaline. Reset your mind time to time. Very helpful. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Over the course of my time at Golden Door, I've come to realize that wellness here isn't treated as a destination, it's a practice. Through Kathy's insight into the philosophy of the place, Greg's connection between nourishment and the land, and Kumiko's exploration of sound and stillness, a common thread emerged. The importance of creating space to reconnect with ourselves.