The Ultimate Thalassotherapy Experience at THE PASONA natureverse retreat on Awaji Island

THE PASONA natureverse retreat has drawn attention because its exterior resembles the Grand Ring, the symbol of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

This is far more than an ordinary hotel.

President Iwamoto described it in an interview as a one-of-a-kind facility.
It is a new retreat designed to restore balance to both mind and body, with accommodations, restaurants, wellness services, shopping, and more all brought together in one facility.
Guests take part in a personalized three-night, four-day program that helps them better understand their bodies and return to everyday life ready to adopt healthier habits than before.

The price may come as a surprise, but viewed as an investment in yourself—like a personal-development seminar—it may be worth considering.

At the end of a media preview, I also had the opportunity to try the thalassotherapy program.

In Japan, a thalassotherapy facility where you can relax while receiving guided exercise from a personal trainer appears to be available only in Okinawa and at THE PASONA natureverse retreat.

When I watched a model demonstrate the experience, it looked pleasant: exercising while lightly floating in the pool, then ending by drifting on the surface and gazing up at the ceiling.
Once I tried it myself, however, I discovered many impressive details that simply cannot be appreciated by watching alone.

Remarkably, I was the only person from the media preview who had signed up—Happyell’s editor-in-chief—so I was able to enjoy the entire thalassotherapy facility by myself. It was an extraordinarily luxurious experience!

Here is the experience, step by step.

First, you change into a swimsuit in the locker room, take a shower, and enter the pool.

There are two pools, one at 33°C and another at 36°C.
You begin in the 33°C pool.

At first, the water felt lukewarm, almost like a bath that had cooled down. Once the training began, however, my body started warming from within, and the sensation became wonderfully comfortable.

The water temperature felt just right.

Note: The photo shows a model demonstrating the experience for members of the press, but I personally completed the same program.

The first exercise involves walking through the pool while stretching.

The pool is filled with filtered seawater drawn from the sea directly in front of the facility, and its salinity is 3.5%, the same as seawater, so your body feels light and almost buoyant even while walking.

You move sideways through the pool, but it is not simply a matter of walking.
Currents flow against you from the direction you are moving, creating resistance.
Other currents come from the side and may push you off course. The pool is not very wide, so a wall or handrail is always close by.

This gentle resistance created by strength training with water currents is something I could not detect at all while watching participants from above.

Because this is personal training, the trainer asked questions such as, “Do you exercise regularly?” and “Is there any part of your body that concerns you?”

For regular overnight guests, muscle balance and other physical measurements are taken after check-in. The training plan is then tailored to those results and the guest’s answers to the initial questions.

In my case, long hours of desk and computer work had left me with significant shoulder stiffness. I also found it difficult to rotate my arm when serving or hitting an overhead in tennis, so I explained that to the trainer.

I walked while doing stretch-like movements that involved twisting my arms and rotating my shoulders.
At times, I raised one leg while extending my arms, along with a variety of other exercises.

On land, you have to engage your core and focus on balance or you may fall.
In seawater, there is little fear of falling, so I could concentrate fully on training my arms and shoulders.

Strength training with weak deep core muscles can reportedly place stress on the lower back and potentially lead to back pain, but seawater training reduces that concern.

Partway through the course, water jets help loosen the muscles in your back, lower back, and calves.

This makes it easy to alternate between training, immediately relaxing the muscles, and then returning to training.

Next, you move to the 36°C pool.

This pool has underwater chairs where you can recline and relax while water jets massage the soles of your feet.

Farther inside is another pool resembling a whirlpool bath, offering time to relax and loosen the body.

After relaxing, you return to the 33°C pool.

There are two flotation options: one uses foam bars tucked under the arms, while the other has a thin sheet stretched between two large floats so you can lie back on it.

I tried the version with the reclining sheet.
The photo shows the version that uses foam bars.

Because you are floating, you do not feel your body weight, and your body feels almost weightless.

The trainer speaks to you in a way similar to guided meditation, allowing all tension to leave your body.
With no sense of heaviness, you can truly let go and relax.

Finally, you leave the pool and enter the hammam.

A hammam is a steam bath traditionally found in public bathhouses in Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey and Morocco.
The room is 41.3°C with nearly 100% humidity. It is not as hot as a sauna, but it warms the body deeply.

The stone-like seats are heated along both the backrest and sitting surface, creating an experience similar to a gentle hot-stone spa.

Your back, lower back, face, and entire body become thoroughly warm.

Herbs from Awaji Island are used here. During my visit, I touched herbs that had been picked that very morning from the garden on the grounds, then relaxed in the warmth while enjoying the fragrance left on my hands.

The thalassotherapy experience ends with a shower as you leave.

After changing, I drank a warming tea selected from a wide variety, which left me feeling warm from the inside as well.

My Impressions of the Thalassotherapy Experience

The thalassotherapy eased the fatigue that had built up from work, and it felt wonderful!

The next day, my legs felt light, though my muscles were sore.
It seemed that the program had worked and strengthened muscles I do not normally use.

For overnight guests, sessions with a personal thalassotherapy trainer are limited to reserved time slots, but the facilities can be used freely without a personal trainer.

You can also take your time enjoying the hammam.

Guests may also select herbs for a mugwort steam treatment.

I did not try them on this visit, but separate spa treatments are also available in addition to thalassotherapy.
Options include a dry treatment focused mainly on shiatsu pressure and an oil massage.

Reservations appear to fill up quickly, so booking early is recommended.

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