Like many of you, I'm thinking a lot about my New Year's resolutions. Every year I diligently make promises to myself that I intend to keep, but I always revert back to my coffee-swilling, bacon-eating, gym-phobic ways within a month or two.

What I need is some professional help to inspire me to make permanent changes in my life, but the program would have to be fun if I’m going to commit. That's why this year I'm contemplating indulging in a wellness regimen at a destination spa.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member Mandan Lynn.

It used to be that there were just a few simple facilities offering little more than a morning hike, but today's destination spas have become vacations unto their own, providing a hybrid of relaxation, adventure, and self-help education.

Forbes identified 11 fabulous spas that will help you lose weight, Concierge explored the best spas for an intensive yoga retreat, and Spafinder will even help you locate spas focusing on wellness the world over. But "new you" programs go far beyond simple fitness classes and weight loss management.

Why not visit the spa on the lips of Manhattan's elite--The Mayflower Inn--to work on that novel you keep promising yourself you'll write with the "Deep Focus Writing Workshop"?

Looking for more sweat and less stress? Try the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in the Las Vegas desert and sign up for heart-pounding, calorie-crunching thrills like canyon hiking, hot springs kayaking, and rock climbing.

Or make a like a star-stubbed celebrity and visit We Care, a holistic fasting spa in Desert Hot Springs, California, but don’t be fooled by the coddling name. The spa is located miles from civilization and surrounded by a high fence. Guests subsist entirely on liquids like vegetable juice and fiber drinks and undergo (cough, cough) colonics.

How will you keep your resolutions in 2008?