By Valerie Summers
The charming, picturesque town of Ojai offers a welcome respite from frantic city life. With its slowed down pace, charming shops, fine restaurants and beautiful hiking trails it is often referred to by locals as Shangri-La. It’s a gathering place for artists and a venue for an annual Music Festival, Folk Dance Festival, Lavender Festival and Tennis Tournament. It is also the perfect place for a girl’s spa getaway at The Oaks at Ojai.
Women (and an occasional man) from all over the country and Canada descend on The Oaks as a destination for rejuvenation, relaxation, camaraderie, pampering, exercise and healthy eating. The low keyed ambiance is 
homey and comfortable with most women donning workout clothes or bathing suits and going make-up free during their stay. It’s a place where guests feel relaxed coming alone and when they do they are sure to leave having made new friends. The Oaks also provides a fine setting for business or social gatherings.
Each day, a variety of up to 15 classes is available for all fitness levels and includes cardio, strength and flexibility training. These take place in the mirrored Coral Spa Room or outside swimming pool. Some of the classes featured include Body Booty Camp, Mind Body Awareness, Core Care and Upper Body Sculpt, Yoga, Aqua Cardio and the especially fun Hi/Lo Classic Cardio Dance Class with Elizabeth, like something out of Flashdance. Each morning guests are invited to participate in a one hour brisk walk or a 30 minute stroll around the town arriving back at The Oaks just in time for breakfast. A more advanced two-hour hike is also available on specified days.
Guests may also enjoy lectures on health and beauty and have access to fitness equipment, weights, hot tub, sauna and steam room, an inviting swimming pool and plenty of places to relax at The Oaks.
The schedule focuses on healthy weight loss, overall wellness and conscious eating with the calorie content of each meal listed. The meals are delicious and 
unbelievably low in calories and the gift store offers The Oaks recipe books making it easier for guests to return home continuing their new regime of healthy, conscious eating. Most foods served at The Oaks are locally grown to support environmentally-sustainable farming practices. This fitness destination spa highlights a 1,000 calorie-a-day menu featuring foods that are low in fat, salt and sugar and high in protein and complex carbs. Fresh fruits, vegetables and home-grown herbs, a wide variety of whole grains, fresh seafood and poultry and delicious seasonings are the ingredients of healthy eating and on this regimen one never feels hungry. It’s hard to believe that food so healthy and low in calories can taste so good.
Built in the 1920s, The Oaks includes 46 guest rooms with interiors decorated in the Spanish Mission Revival style. Accommodations range from cozy singles in the main building to spacious double courtyard suites featuring oversized tubs with jets…soaking in one is the perfect way to end a busy day of activities. The grounds, filled with fruit trees, enhance the surroundings scattered with comfortable outside lounging furniture.
The full menu of pampering services features Hot River Rock Massage, Reflexology, Acupuncture, Swedish Massage, Facials and Aromatherapy treatments. Eating disorder, life coaching, body analysis and fitness experts provide private consultations. The perfect way to end a visit to The Oaks is with a spa pedicure and manicure and perhaps a new hairdo, relaxed, revived and beautified.
The Oaks at Ojai offers an affordable year ‘round escape as a fitness and weight loss spa destination and for pampering, camaraderie, relaxation, a kick start on a healthy lifestyle or all of the above.
The Oaks at Ojai is conveniently situated just 90 minutes from Los Angeles and less than an hour from Santa Barbara. Guests may fly into Los Angeles International Airport, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank or Van Nuys Regional Airport. Address: 122 East Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA. Phone: 800/753-OAKS. Web address: www.oaksspa.com.