Near+Far’s ‘Feeling Well’ series explores the most innovative, calming and sophisticated wellness spaces in the Middle East and beyond. The series highlights the spots in the world for health-conscious travellers and luxury lovers who want to feel well while at home, and away. This time we visit The Hundred Wellness Centre, a converted residential space now a warm and welcoming wellness haven

About The Hundred Wellness Centre

The Hundred Wellness Centres is one of Jumeirah’s best-kept secrets, a spot for those in the know and true health and wellness aficionados, but also those looking to enhance their mental of emotional wellbeing. Not as shiny as its neighbouring Pilates and wellness studios, and with a more at-home vibe, this pioneering space has fostered a strong community of Dubaians, who come for specialised Pilates and yoga classes, but also therapies like dry needling and physiotherapy. Housed in a whitewashed Jumeirah villa, the clinic, studio, and cafe feels more like a friend’s house than a wellness centre, which is probably why its customers return day after day. This homeliness is down to because of its passionate owner, Emirati entrepreneur Asma Hilal Lootah – who, back in 2008, opened the second-only Pilates studio in the UAE and the first owned by an Emirati woman.

It’s now the country’s longest-standing Pilates space, alongside a destination for holistic health and lifestyle destination, with classes and therapies, but also life and relationship coaching, events, organic markets, and the fantastic 100 Cafe. Open every day except Fridays, The Hundred Wellness is a place to disconnect, re-connect, and heal your mind, body and soul in the soothing villa itself or out in the shaded green garden to the sound of birdsong.

The space

The Hundred Wellness is home to a studio which offers – and not the fast-paced contemporary kind sweeping the city, the slow, mindful, focused and challenging original teachings of Josef Pilates. Reformers are rustic-luxe and wooden, the space is clean and bright, and there’s no music played during classes – to embody Pilates’ own teachings and focus on the controlled dance-like movements. In the main foyer are a small wellness shopping stand and the 100 Cafe, with a central table, window seating and comfortable sofas – calling on those who want to feel communal but also shy away. Outside is a beautiful green shaded garden with more seating, while treatments happen on the villa’s second floor. Bright bathrooms stocked with beautifully fragranced toiletries complete the offering.

The offering

The Hundred Wellness Centre is a holistic health clinic and studio encompassing mind, body and soul, and its therapies reflect this ethos. For the mind, there’s life coaching, marriage coaching, occupational therapy and psychology. For the body, there’s Pilates, homoeopathy, chiropractic treatments, an infrared sauna, specialised natural supplement plans, Pilates, yoga and more. There are reformer Pilates classes for beginners, and intermediate sessions for those versed in classic Pilates (don’t be caught out by contemporary, as the two are very different and intermediate requires a base knowledge of terminology and moves). Classes are long (a full 60 minutes), intense, slow and transformative, but above all, welcoming, inclusive and patient. Other therapies take place on the villa’s second floor. While the 100 Cafe is the treat at the end of it, it’s also a destination in itself and popular with locals coming for coffee (or matcha), apple cider vinegar tonics and vitamin-rich fare.

The menu

The 100 Cafe is a wellbeing conscious eater’s dream – with every powder, pollen and vitamin on its minimalist chalkboard-style menu. There are fresh smoothies and juices – loaded with antioxidant-rich fruits, nut milk, superfood powders and protein powders – along with medicinal teas, homemade nut ‘mylk’ shakes and its signature ‘water kefir’. Breakfast and light lunches are excellent, and menu highlights include acai bowls, chia puddings, matcha pancakes and scrambled eggs, alongside tartines and toasties loaded with goodness.

The vibe

Zen, modern, and trendy, yet wholesome, down to earth, rustic and not pretentious in the slightest. Entering The Hundred Wellness Centre feels like visiting someone’s home, and it’s totally fine to bring your laptop and grab a seat in the garden or work from the communal table for hours on end, ordering matches as you go. Classes themselves have a friendly community feeling, and fellow classmates have no qualms with newbies – or those needing more time to master each move – and instructors are as personable and lovely as they are highly skilled and inspirational. Clearly stemming from its owner, The Hundred Wellness Centre is a space of complete wellness, warmth and restoration – and one of Dubai’s most loved and truly authentically healing wellness destinations – all while being beautifully Insatgrammable.

Pilates AED140 per session (block booking discount available), treatments from AED350, psychology sessions from AED750 an hour; Jumeirah 1, Dubai; thehundred.ae,  @thehundredwellness

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