I have trained my legs, lungs, core and glutes, but until I arrived at Nirvana Mediterranean Excellence on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, I had never given much serious thought to training my face

Words and images: Lauren Murphy

Set between the Taurus Mountains and the sea in Beldibi, near Kemer, Nirvana is the kind of resort where wellness does not require you to sacrifice comfort. It is a five-star, ultra all-inclusive retreat with a private beach, multiple pools, an expansive spa, fitness facilities, generous dining and enough space to switch off without feeling confined to a rigid programme.

It was also the setting for a bespoke Bovisaj face fitness retreat, a one-off group experience created for our visit. Founder Laila Haddioui guided us through facial sculpting, yoga, breathwork and emotional release, with ongoing online support offered afterwards.

The central question was simple: can you train your face in the same way you train your body? And if you can, is it really about looking younger, or is there something much more interesting going on?

Nirvana Mediterranean Excellence has all the hallmarks of a luxury beach resort, but what struck me most was how naturally wellness fitted into everyday life here. One moment I was watching the Mediterranean from a quiet cabana, the next I was heading to a yoga session, before lingering over breakfast rather than rushing to the next activity. It never felt like wellness was something separate from the holiday. Instead, it became part of the rhythm of the stay.

Bovisaj was founded by Laila Haddioui, who spent ten years working in finance before noticing the effect that stress was having on her face. When she felt happy and work was going well, her skin glowed. During more pressured periods, she saw tension appearing in her expression, complexion and posture.

Her question became: how do we grow older gracefully?

What I liked about Laila’s approach was that it was not about fighting your face or promising to reverse ageing. Instead, she encouraged us to understand the face as part of the body.

She described it as a reflection of the soul, where emotion, stress and inner work can all show up. One idea that stayed with me was the difference between emotion and feeling. Emotion lives in the body, she explained, while feeling lives in the mind. An emotion may move through us quickly, but the mind is what keeps replaying it.

It made me think differently about my own face. Not as something to fix, lift or disguise, but as somewhere I might be holding tension without even realising it.

There is some early science behind face fitness, although the research is still developing. The face contains dozens of muscles, and the theory is that targeted movement, massage and release techniques may support muscle tone, circulation and the reduction of tension.

A small 2018 study published in JAMA Dermatology found that a 20-week facial exercise programme was associated with modest improvements in facial appearance, particularly cheek fullness. The evidence remains limited, however, so I would not pretend a few days with a gua sha stone can replace sleep, SPF, hydration or a balanced exercise routine.

Still, the idea that facial tension and muscle tone can affect how we look and feel no longer seemed quite so far-fetched.

Mornings at Nirvana began with yoga before breakfast. With the mountains behind us and the warm Turkish air already settling over the resort, it quickly became my favourite way to begin the day.

This was not exercise designed to chase sweat or punish the body. It was slower and more intentional. We moved, stretched and breathed, allowing the body to wake up gradually rather than launching ourselves straight into a high-intensity session.

Afterwards came generous breakfasts rather than the restrictive menus often associated with wellness breaks. This became one of my favourite things about the resort. Health was not presented as deprivation.

Across Nirvana’s restaurants there was plenty of choice, from lighter Mediterranean dishes to more indulgent dinners. Gusto served comforting Italian favourites, Welldone Steak House offered perfectly cooked meat and seafood, while the Blue Sky Lounge became an easy place to settle with a drink as the sun began to disappear over the coastline.

The variety made the retreat feel sustainable. There was no sense that looking after yourself required stepping away from pleasure. Good food, movement, fresh air and proper rest all worked together.

The resort itself also deserves more attention than the retreat alone. My room became somewhere I genuinely looked forward to returning to after each session, with calming interiors and views that encouraged you to slow down rather than immediately reach for your phone. Across the wider property there are rooms and suites, Cedar Houses overlooking the lagoons and private villas, making it just as suitable for couples or families as it is for wellness travellers.

If there was one message I took from the experience, it was that breath is the key to almost everything.

It sounds simple, almost too simple, but learning to breathe properly changed the way I experienced the retreat. Breath became the thing that brought me back into my body during yoga, helped me sit with emotion during group sessions and allowed my nervous system to stop bracing.

The most powerful moment came during a floating sound-healing session on one of Nirvana’s pools, where we lay on SUP boards while sound travelled across the water.

I expected to feel self-conscious. I thought I would be distracted by the movement of the board or the strangeness of the setting. Instead, I stopped analysing it, leaned into the breathing techniques and allowed myself to experience it fully.

A feeling of peace washed over me like a frequency.

It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. Not in a dramatic way, but in the quiet sense that my body had finally stopped fighting.

Some parts of the retreat asked more from us than I expected. We shared personal experiences, listened to other women’s stories, wrote letters to ourselves to open a year later and created vision boards based on how we wanted our lives to feel, rather than simply how we wanted them to look.

Those moments could easily have felt awkward, but the setting helped. Between sessions, there was space to walk along the beach, swim, retreat to a cabana or return to the privacy of our rooms.

That ability to step away from the group became an important part of the experience. Retreats often focus on what happens during the session, but what happens afterwards can be just as significant.

The fire ceremony became part of that release. We were asked to consider what was holding us back and what we were ready to let go of. On paper, it could have sounded a little much. In the moment, with the sea nearby and the resort quietening around us, it felt grounding.

The most practical element was a face-sculpting and gua sha workshop using Sisley products as part of the ritual.

This was the part I expected to enjoy during the retreat and then probably forget about once I returned home. Instead, learning how to use gua sha properly changed the way I approached it.

Rather than dragging the tool hopefully across my cheekbones, I began to understand the rhythm, pressure and direction behind each movement. I have continued using it at home and can already see a difference in my face looking more lifted.

More importantly, I notice my face more. I notice when I am clenching my jaw, tightening the muscles around my eyes or holding tension between my eyebrows. I notice how often my face is working hard, even when the rest of me is trying to rest.

The retreat sessions were only one part of the stay. Nirvana’s spa allowed the physical side of recovery to continue beyond the programme, with treatment rooms, relaxation spaces and a traditional Turkish wellness influence.

I booked a massage during the retreat, which felt less like an added luxury and more like part of the reset.

The private beach also became central to the experience. Afternoons spent in a cabana, with the mountains behind me and the sea directly ahead, gave me time to absorb what had surfaced during the morning.

For guests who prefer a more active break, the resort also has a fitness centre, water sports and extensive grounds, while its water park and children’s clubs allow families to combine individual wellness time with a broader holiday.

That is perhaps Nirvana’s strongest quality. It does not force everyone staying there to pursue the same version of wellbeing. One guest can spend the morning in the gym, another in the spa, another at the beach, and a family can still enjoy the resort together.

I travelled to Turkey expecting to learn about face fitness. I did not expect to return thinking so much about breath, stress, ageing, recovery and the way emotion sits in the body.

Face fitness may have been the hook, but the wider experience became about something bigger: how much we hold without realising it, and how often the face tells the truth before we do.

I still think there is a place for healthy scepticism. Not every wellness trend should be accepted without question. But this did not feel like a gimmick. It felt like a reminder that the face is not separate from the body, and beauty is not separate from wellbeing.

Nirvana gave us the space to explore that idea without turning the experience into something clinical or austere. The retreat sat naturally alongside beach days, spa treatments, long meals and the easy pleasure of being beside the Mediterranean.

I arrived wondering whether you can train your face like your body. I left thinking that perhaps the better question is whether we can learn to listen to both a little more carefully.

  • Getting there: Corendon Airlines operates direct flights from Glasgow to Antalya, with return fares from approximately £190 per person. Flight time is around five hours.
  • Staying there: Nirvana Mediterranean Excellence is a five-star, ultra all-inclusive beachfront resort in Beldibi, near Kemer, around one hour from Antalya Airport by transfer. Rooms start from approximately £200 per person, per night, depending on the season and room category.
  • Resort facilities: Private beach, pools, water park, spa, fitness centre, children’s clubs, multiple restaurants, rooms, suites, Cedar Houses and luxury villas.
  • The retreat: The Bovisaj programme described was a bespoke group retreat rather than a permanent hotel package. Guests can enquire directly about current wellness experiences and visiting practitioners.
  • What to pack: Comfortable activewear is useful for yoga, fitness sessions and outdoor activities. I wore Vuori throughout the more active days.
  • Nearby: Phaselis Ancient City, Olympos Ancient City, Olympos Teleferik and Göynük Canyon are all within reach for guests wanting to explore beyond the resort.