“The natural beauty of AlUla makes me feel in sync with myself,” begins Danah Ashoor, radiating calm, “it makes me feel like I'm home. As simple as that.” She is not alone. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, travellers have found in AlUla a place to stop, to rest, to breathe - quite literally an oasis of calm.
“My childhood was not an easy childhood,” Danah continues, “so I've always been curious about psychology and trying to understand people and trying to understand their behaviours and how to be empathetic with them.” This led to her becoming a life coach and yoga instructor, and subsequently being drawn to AlUla as the perfect environment to continue her calling as a wellness teacher.
“My childhood was not an easy childhood,” Danah continues, “so I've always been curious about psychology and trying to understand people and trying to understand their behaviours and how to be empathetic with them.” This led to her becoming a life coach and yoga instructor, and subsequently being drawn to AlUla as the perfect environment to continue her calling as a wellness teacher.
Connecting with Nature
Connecting with Nature
“The message behind practising yoga and mindfulness is just to live a healthy, simple life how we're supposed to,” Danah explains, “It's about connecting to yourself, understanding your heart, connecting with your soul, your body and mind.” She believes that we are not designed to live in the hustle and bustle of a big city, but rather meant to live among nature. And with its combination of clean desert air, peaceful wide-open spaces, and swathes of flourishing and fragrant flora, AlUla offers just that.
“I connect to nature in AlUla, by breathing, by walking,” Danah shares, “I love the air here, that there is no pollution. I love the greenery. I love the balance between the mountains and the palm trees and the desert. I love the shadows. I love the fragrances.” The spiritual and psychological nourishment that being outdoors provides is well documented, and in AlUla, time is easily spent outside. Add its spectacular landscapes filled with majestic rock formations, endless rolling dunes and soaring sandstone canyons, and it can take on wholly new life-affirming energy that is hugely beneficial to personal growth and development.
“AlUla is allowing me to be whoever I am,” Danah confirms, “here you can allow your emotions to come out and the truth comes out…it's about knowing where you are at the moment when you're truthful to your body, when you're truthful to your thoughts and you're truthful to your emotions, it makes you more truthful to others as well.”
“AlUla is a beautiful place for me because it gives the real reflection of what's happening within,” she adds, beaming.
“I connect to nature in AlUla, by breathing, by walking,” Danah shares, “I love the air here, that there is no pollution. I love the greenery. I love the balance between the mountains and the palm trees and the desert. I love the shadows. I love the fragrances.” The spiritual and psychological nourishment that being outdoors provides is well documented, and in AlUla, time is easily spent outside. Add its spectacular landscapes filled with majestic rock formations, endless rolling dunes and soaring sandstone canyons, and it can take on wholly new life-affirming energy that is hugely beneficial to personal growth and development.
“AlUla is allowing me to be whoever I am,” Danah confirms, “here you can allow your emotions to come out and the truth comes out…it's about knowing where you are at the moment when you're truthful to your body, when you're truthful to your thoughts and you're truthful to your emotions, it makes you more truthful to others as well.”
“AlUla is a beautiful place for me because it gives the real reflection of what's happening within,” she adds, beaming.
A Destination for Wellness
A Destination for Wellness
Complementing AlUla as a destination for promoting wellbeing is a wealth of wellness-related facilities, activities and events. From sunrise yoga sessions in the wonderfully scenic surroundings of the Oasis to state-of-the-art spa treatments in one of its five-star hotels, AlUla provides visitors of all inclinations with a wide range of wellness experiences.
The AlUla Wellness Festival, too, attracts world-class practitioners and industry experts from all over the globe and turns AlUla into a veritable wellness hub for energising and healing the mind, body, and soul. This annual festival has become a key highlight on the international wellness calendar, including holistic living and restorative experiences that focus on the power of silence and meditation.
Of course, just communing with AlUla’s landscape is enough to boost wellbeing, whether it's hiking through its magnificent desert, exploring its ancient oasis or climbing its soaring sandstone mountains. There’s little doubt the combination of exercising among such spectacular and tranquil scenery can have a hugely positive impact on mental and physical health.
The AlUla Wellness Festival, too, attracts world-class practitioners and industry experts from all over the globe and turns AlUla into a veritable wellness hub for energising and healing the mind, body, and soul. This annual festival has become a key highlight on the international wellness calendar, including holistic living and restorative experiences that focus on the power of silence and meditation.
Of course, just communing with AlUla’s landscape is enough to boost wellbeing, whether it's hiking through its magnificent desert, exploring its ancient oasis or climbing its soaring sandstone mountains. There’s little doubt the combination of exercising among such spectacular and tranquil scenery can have a hugely positive impact on mental and physical health.
Meaning in the Stars
Meaning in the Stars
Stargazing in AlUla is another way visitors look to connect with the eternal and feel their place within the cosmos. And Danah particularly loves to venture into the desert to gaze up at AlUla’s unparalleled night sky. “Every one of the stars in the sky is completely random,” the guide tells her group, “it's as if we've picked up a bowl of rice and thrown it into the sky and whatever stuck, stuck.”
But very much like today, “civilisations spent thousands and thousands of years creating meaning… [and] the more connected to the sky they were, the better chance of survival they had.” It echoes the sense of wellbeing we all feel as human beings when we are connected to a deeper reality, and there is something about AlUla that brings you closer to it.
“Every time I look at the sky when it's dark,” Danah tells us, “I feel like I'm literally nothing – like a small piece of sand in the world in this universe, and it gives you this humbling feeling.” As it has done for so many people who’ve visited this extraordinary place, AlUla’s unique energy has played a vital part in Danah’s journey of self-realisation.
“I feel like I was searching for myself and my soul, and it just appeared to me in AlUla.”
But very much like today, “civilisations spent thousands and thousands of years creating meaning… [and] the more connected to the sky they were, the better chance of survival they had.” It echoes the sense of wellbeing we all feel as human beings when we are connected to a deeper reality, and there is something about AlUla that brings you closer to it.
“Every time I look at the sky when it's dark,” Danah tells us, “I feel like I'm literally nothing – like a small piece of sand in the world in this universe, and it gives you this humbling feeling.” As it has done for so many people who’ve visited this extraordinary place, AlUla’s unique energy has played a vital part in Danah’s journey of self-realisation.
“I feel like I was searching for myself and my soul, and it just appeared to me in AlUla.”
