Wellness Around The World

001: Miami, baby!

Welcome to this new series on By Benchis, where we talk about our four favorite wellness spots in cities we visit more than twice a year — cities we stay in long enough to actually know what's good.

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Wellness to us is not biohacking, packing yourself with creatine, and pretending you're Immortal Unc on TikTok. Wellness to us is a holistic approach — it's taking care of both the mind and the body. What nurtures your belly? Yes, a quinoa salad is delicious, but so is ice cream. What nurtures your soul? Probably taking a flight from LGA to MIA in the depths of winter, landing, and hearing Spanish and Portuguese. But yes, going to a yoga class puts us at ease as well.

Miami has had a questionable reputation, but like in life — and in our true meaning of wellness — it's all about balance. Sure, you can party at Space until the sunlight reminds you that it is, in fact, 7 AM, your hair is frizzy from the humidity, your white tank top, skirt, and black boots are somehow not as dirty as you thought they'd be, and you go get a Cubano to either wake you up or put you straight to sleep. But you can also wake up at 8 AM, feel the breeze at the beach, grab a smoothie, and go to a Pilates class before spending the rest of the day in Bal Harbour. Wellness is about understanding where you are in life and what your body requires. A bit of drinking won't kill you. A bit of partying won't kill you. Because I'm pretty sure only eating kale and taking magnesium will make you, well…boring? And that’s not exactly wellness, is it?

And that’s the beautiful thing about Miami — much like the immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and many others — it has a constant resilience and an ability to reinvent itself. Miami's transformation is itself an act of wellness, a city healing its own reputation. The Miami we've come to know is outgrowing its messy phase without losing its personality. It’s not becoming LA. It’s still Miami. But it also has cold plunges now. The velvet ropes are still there, but so are the yoga mats, and somehow that contradiction is exactly what makes it work.

Slim Aarons

Then there’s the energy you can’t bottle and replicate anywhere else — the cultural richness that feeds you in ways no supplement ever could. You eat Venezuelan arepa for breakfast, take a yoga class taught in Spanglish, and end the night hearing infinite pero, like, and bro in the same sentence. That blend of cultures isn’t just atmosphere — it’s a form of nourishment. It makes you feel like the world is bigger than your routine, and that alone is healing. That, mis amigos, is wellness. Also, let's not pretend the sunshine isn’t doing half the work lol. There’s a reason people fly south in the depths of winter, and it’s not vanity — it’s survival. Warmth on your skin, salt in the air, the ocean reminding you that you’re a small, beautiful speck. Natural Vitamin D absorbance. That’s wellness no studio can replicate.

Miami is no longer the city where you lose yourself — it’s becoming a city where you find yourself, too. New spaces are opening with intention. Studios, cafés, and spots that understand you don’t have to choose between a night out and a morning ritual. The city is renewing, and with it comes more nuance, more meaning, and a growing reputation as one of the wellness capitals of the Americas.

Miami’s motto, and ours, is simple: have fun, but take care of yourself. Here are four places that let us do both.