Recharge, Recover, and Feel Your Best In Our New Wellness & Recovery Studio

You hit the trail early at Moses Cone, Bass Lake or somewhere along the Parkway, or you walk every block of Main Street, by the second morning your legs are tight and your usual routine is a distant memory. Most hotel “gyms” don’t help much: a lone treadmill facing a wall, if you’re lucky.

A mountain getaway should leave you feeling recharged, reenergized, and rested as you return home.

That’s exactly why we built the new Wellness & Recovery Studio. It’s a calm, sunlit room designed around the way our guests actually like to move: a little cardio before coffee, a stretch after a long hike, and a few quiet minutes of centered recovery before heading out for the evening.

You’ll find gyms in the High Country, and you’ll find spas. A single space offering cardio, strength training, a barre wall, an infrared sauna, and professional-grade red light therapy together in one room is a much rarer thing in Blowing Rock, and it’s open around the clock, exclusively for guests staying at The Manor.

Take The Tour

Cardio. A treadmill, two stationary bikes, a Concept2 rower, and a Rogue Echo Bike, so you can walk, ride, row, or push the pace without waiting your turn.

Meet the Echo Bike. If you’ve watched the CrossFit Games, you’ve seen this one. The Rogue Echo is a fan-powered air bike with moving arms, so your upper body works right along with your legs. There’s no resistance knob: the harder you push, the more the fan pushes back. That makes it just as good for an easy five-minute warm-up as it is for an all-out interval session. The console has preset 20/10 and 10/20 intervals, plus targets for time, distance, and calories.

Strength. Kettlebells on their own rack, a REP Fitness Nighthawk adjustable bench, and two REP 3-in-1 plyo boxes for practical, full-body work without a wall of machines.

Barre + mobility. A wall of tall mirrors with a 12-foot barre, two 6×15-foot rubber floor mats, plus yoga mats, yoga blocks, foam rollers, mini bands, resistance bands, and stability balls for stretching, balance work, or a barre routine.

Recovery. A Dynamic Saunas infrared sauna and a PlatinumLED BIOMAX red light therapy panel with its own seat, plus fresh towels and a filtered water station.

Comforts. Two 55-inch TVs for follow-along workouts or the morning news, window blinds, and plenty of greenery to keep the room feeling calm rather than clinical.

Red Light Therapy: Proven Skin & Tissue Healing

Red light therapy uses specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light delivered by an LED panel. Ours is the PlatinumLED BIOMAX 300, a 9th-generation panel from one of the longest-running brands in the category. A few things worth knowing:

• It uses a seven-band spectrum of red and near-infrared light, and the red, near-infrared, and blue arrays can each be adjusted independently.
• The BIOMAX 300 is a targeted panel with 100 LEDs, designed for focused areas such as joints, shoulders, the lower back, or the face.
• PlatinumLED lists every BIOMAX light as an FDA Class II medical device, built in an FDA-registered facility with ETL/UL, CE, and RoHS safety certification.
• Many guests simply enjoy it as a warm, relaxing part of a post-hike or post-workout routine.

Using The BIOMAX Red Light Panel

Watch first: PlatinumLED BIOMAX 9th Gen walkthrough (YouTube). It covers the panel’s controls and features in a few minutes. This is a third-party review, not an official PlatinumLED tutorial.

Step by step

1. Power on. Flip the red power switch on the back of the panel. The screen will light up and show the menu.
2. Set your time. Press MENU to highlight the timer, then use + or – to set your session. First time? Start with 5–10 minutes.
3. Choose your light. The default mode runs red and near-infrared together, which is what most people use. You can switch to red-only or near-infrared-only from the same menu.
4. Find your distance. About 8–14 inches from the panel for muscles and joints, or 16–24 inches for the face. Light works best on bare skin.
5. Protect your eyes. Never look directly into the panel. Close your eyes, look away, or use the goggles provided.
6. Relax. Have a seat on the bench in front of the panel. It shuts off automatically when the timer ends.

Good to know

• PlatinumLED’s general guideline is 10–20 minutes per area, up to 2–3 areas per day. Start shorter and farther away, then work up.
• Near-infrared light is invisible, so the panel may look dimmer than it is. That’s normal.
• If you’re pregnant or taking medication that makes you sensitive to light, check with your doctor before using red light therapy.
• Red light therapy is a general wellness tool, not a treatment for any medical condition.

The Infrared Sauna

Our compact infrared sauna is the easiest way to warm up after a cool mountain morning, and the perfect bookend to a workout or a long day on the trails.

About the sauna

• Dynamic Saunas Elite 1-Person, crafted from Pacific clear cedar with a tempered glass door.
• Gentle, even heat from four ultra-low-EMF far-infrared carbon panels.
• Comfortable temperatures: typically 118–132°F, with a max of 140°F. That’s cooler than a traditional sauna, which is why many people find infrared easier to settle into.
• Built-in light: interior chromotherapy color lighting with a red light setting, plus a reading light.
• Your soundtrack: Bluetooth audio with a built-in speaker, so you can pair your phone.
• Controls inside: an interior LED control panel lets you adjust temperature, time, lights, and audio without stepping out.

How to use it

1. Turn it on. Use the LED control panel to set your temperature and session time. Give it about 10–15 minutes to warm up.
2. Start easy. 10–15 minutes is plenty for a first session. You can always go a little longer next time.
3. Set the mood. Pick a light color (or the red light setting) and pair your phone over Bluetooth for music or a podcast.
4. Sit on a towel. Fresh towels are in the cabinet.
5. Hydrate. Grab a water before and after.
6. Listen to your body. If you feel dizzy or lightheaded, step out and cool down.
7. Power it off when you’re done so it’s ready for the next guest.

Please skip the sauna after alcohol, and check with your doctor first if you’re pregnant or have a heart condition or blood pressure concerns. The sauna is a one-person cabin, so please use it one guest at a time.

Your High Country Recovery Ritual

Not sure where to start? Here’s a simple plan for an afternoon visit to The Studio:

1. Hike in the morning. Bass Lake, Glen Burney, or your favorite stretch along the Parkway.
2. Come back and stretch. Ten minutes on the movement floor or at the barre.
3. Warm up in the sauna. Settle in for an easy session and let the mountain chill fade.
4. Finish with red light. A short, targeted session on whatever worked hardest that day.
5. Head out for dinner. Main Street is waiting.

What’s Next

This room was designed to do more than a typical hotel gym. Over the coming months we’re planning small-group sessions and will be sharing easy-to-follow programs like Saturday morning mobility, barre and core, and guided recovery blocks. Keep an eye on this page for more information.

Feel Your Best

Picture it: a morning on the trail, an easy stretch, a warm sauna, a few minutes under the red light, then dinner on Main Street feeling loose, rested, and ready for tomorrow’s hike. That’s the stay we built this entire property for and invite you to join us at The Manor.