The Harbour House Hotel’s focus on environmental wellness has been developing steadily over recent years to offer a holistic experience for its guests, whether they are staying at one of its eco-friendly rooms or eating in the dining room supplied with fresh ingredients from its on-site organic farm.
The amenities have grown lately to enlarge that sense of wellness with the addition of the Still Point Yoga Studio last year and Solace Organic Day Spa in February. Perhaps not surprisingly, there’s a fellowship of cooperating yet independent business women behind the organic convergence.
Glenda Woodward, who bought the hotel with her husband Jack in 2004, noted the “greening” of the 95-year-old establishment began right away with changes to environmentally friendly cleaning products and low-voltage lighting. Since then there have been steady steps toward creating a more “wholesome” space, including breaking ground on a farm that hadn’t produced in over 50 years and introducing the living weed eaters (goats).
“We just changed the vibe and it was a natural progression,” Woodward said of the new tenants.
“We wanted something more Zen and it was a chance for us to make the most of an opportunity — it just added to our vision of where we were going.”
The yoga space and spa are off-shoots of well-established Salt Spring businesses. Still Point studio opened as a venue for Ganges Yoga Studio owner Celeste Mallett Jason to pursue her private practice, and a place for her to offer custom-designed sessions and restorative work.
Facing onto the organic garden, the 900-square-foot studio is a warm enclave featuring honey-golden walls and cork floors and rich paprika accents. Mallett Jason keeps a regular schedule of classes on Mondays and will be collaborating with the hotel and spa to create package events.
The space is also available to rent and is perfect for small conference groups and education forums. Yoga classes can be incorporated directly into such events or restorative classes can be conducted between breaks, in one of the many options open to clients.
“For me, it was easy to come into what was here already and just add to that,” Mallett Jason said of the hotel’s green standards and overall philosophy.
“I used to always talk and teach about finding the still point within, and this quiet little studio was a natural fit.”
Julie Doobenen is another island business woman whose existing practice fit well with the Harbour House ideal when it came to an expansion. Her Solace Organic Spa is a well-known south-end forest retreat where an infrared sauna and soaker tub are available, along with many types of bodywork and esthetic services.
The day spa at the hotel, with its ocean view treatment room and location “a breath away from town,” is perfect both for hotel guests and island residents who like to conserve their travel miles. It will offer many of the same services as 
the forest spa, along with the handmade organic skincare, aromatherapy and teas that Doobenen is famed for.
The spa will additionally feature two new organic German lines, including Dr. Hauschka. Doobenen’s eco-friendly practice extends to in-house laundry with natural products, organic sheets, locally grown flowers and environmentally friendly paint. She even uses an organic and vegan nail polish.
Putting their services together is something that Doobenen and Mallet Jason have actually thought about for several years, and being at the Harbour House has finally given them that platform. And with all three forces joining together, the opportunity for co-operation is one that should benefit the business owners and clients alike.
An integrated marketing approach will see the development of packages offering hotel stays together with yoga and 
spa services later this year. For the upcoming weekend, locals and visitors can take advantage of individual Mother’s Day specials on May 8 with a restorative yoga class from 9 to 11 a.m. in the morning, followed by the hotel restaurant’s brunch and perhaps a foot and hand treatment afterward at the spa.
“I’ve always loved networking and especially in a small community where tourism is seasonal, it’s nice for businesses to work together,” Doobenen said.
“It’s really exciting — it feels like we have a really good team and there’s a lot of room to grow.”
Source: GulfIslandsDriftwood.com