NEENA DHILLON » JOURNALIST » SPA BUSINESS
Four generations
underpin the healthy living approach based
on natural medicine at Lapinha Spa in Brazil. We talk to a family who are passionate about
preserving and evolving their holistic vision
THE BREPOHLS “M
y great grandmother fulfi lled her dream of introducing natural medicine to Brazil when she began working on
Lapinha in the 1950s,” observes Marianne Novaes Brepohl. “My dream today is that every Brazilian is given the opportunity to learn something about achieving a healthier lifestyle through our concept. As my father says, ‘we shouldn’t just repeat what our par- ents did – we should think bigger’.” Ambitious talk for the young marketing
and sales director of one of Brazil’s original medical spas. As one of the country’s lead- ing holistic health retreats, the zero-carbon Lapinha draws on natural healing systems to address medical issues and introduce lifestyle change among its affl uent clientele, all in the setting of a 550-hectare (1,360-acre) organic farm surrounded by an evergreen forest.
NATURAL INSTINCT Seven key pillars focused on natural medi- cine (see info panel) form the basis of the spa’s philosophy, which originated with
founder Margarida Bornschein Langer, a Brazilian of German descent. Marianne’s father, Dieter Brepohl, who
inherited Lapinha and is the CEO, remem- bers his grandmother well. “Alert, determined and an observer of people, Margarida never had any formal training,” he explains. “She ran an embroidery business despite losing her father at 14 and having to support her younger brother. As an entrepreneur, she became the co-owner of a successful metallurgical [met- als purifi cation] company and subsequently built a real estate portfolio. In 1953, prompted by a gastric illness that wasn’t responding to traditional medicine, she travelled to a clinic in Switzerland and discovered the work of Dr Maximilian Bircher-Benner.” It was at the Bircher-Benner medical
centre that Margarida became inspired by doctors such as Ralph Bircher who advo- cated that nutrition could have a healing eff ect. Falling under the umbrella of natural medicine, where the whole person is treated rather than just the symptoms by the forces of nature, Margarida began to believe that
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diet, exercise and spiritual peace could com- bine to restore a healthy body and mind. She returned to Brazil with a new direc-
tion, purchasing a farm in Paraná state in a region over one hour from the nearest city of Curitiba. Step by step she raised the investment to introduce electricity, com- munications and other integral services. Lapinha offi cially opened in 1972 although Margarida faced fi erce criticism. “T e project was a huge risk. Aſt er all, how
could she expect [São Paulo] city dwellers to fl y 550km to try such new services? Her relatives seriously doubted her judgment,” says Dieter. “Small and fragile, Lapinha has slowly grown as it passed to my parents and then my wife and I. We decided to move on from our lives as Christian missionaries to assume management because we could serve Brazilians in a sustainable and curative way while maintaining our heritage.”
THE LAPINHA OFFERING Today Lapinha has 150 staff , including three doctors, two nutritionists, two physiothera-
SPA BUSINESS 4 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
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