Top 10 Wellness Finds for 2020

By Gillian Flynn and Mia Park

It might not be necessary to jump on the New Year’s bandwagons considering our lifestyle is decidedly evergreen, but it’s still fun to compile a list of wellness faves that personify our environs on the daily. From the world’s greenest little hotel in Encinitas to the inaugural San Diego-crafted organic hard seltzer, we think a toast to 2020 is in order!

Skip the communal healing options. Alpha Wellness Sensations is a design-build firm with a team of dedicated individuals committed to offering unique, functional, and innovative spa solutions including bespoke saunas, luxury infrared cabins, steam rooms, immersive salt caves, built-in ice chambers, and experience showers for residential and commercial clients. “Our company applies age-old detoxification and relaxation rituals with the latest tested and proven technologies to create award-winning designs that help people heal holistically,” says San Diego’s Josephine Leaders, owner of the U.S. division of the Belgium-based company. “I design spaces that encourage the health and wellness of the people who use them.” From start to finish, Alpha Wellness Sensations designs, fabricates, ships, installs, and performs a detailed training on how to use all products and projects. 619.807.3205, jo@alpha-wellness-sensations.com

Conscious cuddlers have a new refuge at the Inn at Moonlight Beach, a five-room organic Xanadu dotted with exotic gardens and nooks for zen-ing out. The B&B is a groovy reflection of an earlier Encinitas: a moon calendar dictates the biodynamic farm schedule; tea leaves are for drinking and reading; breezy aromatherapy comes courtesy of a “fragrance hill” atop the property. It has all the BoHo feels with the green cred to back it up. Going beyond LEED certification, it earned the WELL Building Standard, ticking off a 100-plus checklist from air quality to sustainable building. 760.450.5028, innatmoonlightbeach.com

We’re crazy for Odisea, a new wellness line that’s decidedly local thanks to this brother-and-sister duo navigating the crowded CBD marketplace. In addition to a luscious bath bomb and skin cream, the lifestyle brand is debuting the first-ever 100 percent biodegradable face mask, leaving hotel guests gleaming from coast to coast at luxury properties like NYC’s Dream Hotel. Co-owners Brett Weiss and Heather Iantorno wanted to create a line that aptly reflects North County’s endless-summer community. The masks, for example, are ideal to tear open after a surf session or post-hike to quench parched skin. Packed with extra hydration, Odisea is good to the last drop. odisealife.com

With a megawatt sphere of influence, a local craft beer titan is breaking up the monopoly on hard seltzer. Josh Landan, the CEO/founder of Saint Archer Brewing Co., Harland Brewing, and Scout Distribution, has attained a zenith of 20+ California influencers as part owners of Ashland Hard Seltzer. On the roster: comedian Adam Devine, singer Chris Lane, surfer Taylor Knox, Skinny Confidential’s Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, and North County’s poster girl of style Andrea Van De Vort. Crafted in San Diego, Ashland is 99 calories with 5 percent alcohol and no sugar, fat, carbs, or gluten. Brewed with alkaline water, its four organic flavors include blackberry lemonade, pineapple (winner!), tangerine, and lime. Most refreshing? Its traditional 12 oz. can. ashlandhardseltzer.com

Before the throngs of aspiring podcasters took to their attics, seasoned journalist and award-winning speaker Shelby Stanger was on a mission to interview subjects on how they leapt — and thrived. Her Wild Ideas Worth Living podcast is Exhibit A of plunge-taking, dedicated toward empowering others to break from the mundane and live out their wildest impulse. One big question at a time, this La Jolla native coaxed an apex of guests from Cheryl Strayed and Mick Ebeling to more accidental heroes like Pattie Gonia, the world’s first outdoor drag queen and activist, with whom Stanger paddled out in Del Mar. Yeeow! With trademark camaraderie and surfer lilt, Stanger inconspicuously takes hold of your mind. Listeners can’t help but ask themselves, “What if?” wildideasworthliving.com, shelbystanger.com

We love a good local success story, especially one that has stayed so true to its San Diego roots. Kopari continues its world domination in the coconut category with a little investment from their friends at L Catterton, a private equity firm. Thirty products and counting, Kopari earns its globally glowing reviews and beach-babe rep naturally with organic deodorant, luscious and legit body milk, and lust-have Coconut Lip Glossy. “The feel-good aspect behind Kopari is everywhere,” says co-founder Gigi Goldman, who exemplifies the La Jolla lifestyle. “It starts with our passion for sourcing ingredients, which totally shines through in our final product.” koparibeauty.com

Considering JuneShine’s hard kombucha is hailed for its gut-health ingredients, only “medicinal” bar food would do at Enclave Adventurous Superfood, the new eatery inside its breezy Scripps Ranch HQ, JuneShine Ranch. The “wellness gastropub” serves meal delivery packages that are “free.” And by that we mean free of added sugar, gluten, and artificial preservatives. The packages can also cater to those who would like no soy. The all-day menu by Chef Lan Thai features superior poke bowls, chicken soup, main courses like organic grass-fed brisket, and dumplings offered once a week or every other week. And get this: There’s even Korean-style wings — from Temecula-based Pasturebird — that can possibly purify you of toxins. Enclave also offers packages for new moms. 858.869.5670, adventuroussuperfood.com

Initially developed in Japan in the late 1970s as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, cryotherapy has evolved over the decades to become a popular therapy for athletic performance and recovery as well as overall well-being. Cryo Shield Therapy in Del Mar’s Flower Hill Promenade, founded in 2016 by former Padres pitcher James Shields, specializes in muscle recovery, pain management, and body care. Its mission is to help clients be their best self through holistic and non-invasive services. In addition to cryotherapy, Cryo Shield also offers NormaTec recovery systems, Cryoskin toning and slimming treatments, and infrared saunas. 858.793.3300, cryoshieldtherapy.com

Flourish + Live Well is a new retail space in Oceanside founded by longtime friends Regie Brown and Sally Stirnkorb. Specializing in providing well-researched, hemp-infused CBD balms, scrubs, and candles, the store also carries socially-conscious gifts. For example, Stirnkorb sources fair trade totes from Global Fashion Mission to support the plight of victims of human trafficking. Chavez for Charity’s “Color for Causes” bracelets allow customers to pick the cause they want to support through their purchases. And with Oceanside being home to many military families, a variety of the line’s “Unselfie” bands support the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which provides care for the families of America’s fallen military heroes. 858.260.8142, flourishandlivewell.com

Little Italy’s Saffron & Sage is a holistic health club designed to connect San Diegans to practitioners and products to support  optimal well-being. The 3,000-square-foot sanctuary features light-filled treatment rooms, a movement and meditation studio, clean beauty boutique, and apothecary. Members can access an array of services and classes including acupuncture, botanical medicine, energy therapy, fire cupping, sound therapy, and more. The studio also hosts curated wellness classes designed to nourish the body and cultivate a clear mind through breathwork, sound baths, cleansing meditation, energy work, and yoga. saffronsageliving.com