SPA WORLDWIDE ARTICLE ON AYURVEDA

Lotus Blossoming
By Shari Myck
Spa Worldwide

Kerala is about healing. This mystical spiritual land is the birth place of Ayurveda, India's ancient healing system, and home to the country's most authentic practitioners.

Inside the new Tamara Ayurveda Spa at Taj Malabar in Cochin, Dr. Hemalatha Ramesh has arranged the spa in accordance with Vastu Vidya philosophy. "The energy must feel right for healing'" says Ramesh.

While Westerners usually come looking for a tactile, pleasurable experience, spa-ing is different here. For starters, individuals do not "choose" their spa therapies; treatments are "prescribed." And massage is not so much about working out knotted muscles as it is about the application of custom-blended oil (lots of it) to nourish and detoxify the body. " Ayurveda is a way of life; a daily routine."

Divined by ancient seers more than 5,000 years ago, Ayurveda (also under the fourth Hindu Veda) translators to "knowledge of life." In Hinduism, it is believed that souls return to earth in a different from to right the wrongs of their past life. A three dimensional purification of the soul isnecessary to discharge the sins of each birth -in physical, mental, and spiritual planes. Yoga meditation, pleasant demeanour, and physical cleansing-all part of Ayurveda serve as "tools" for purifying the soul so future reincarnation will be unnecessary.

Consultations with an Ayurvedic physician being with a prakuthi (body constitution) reading. According to Hindu philosophy, we are comprised of three doshas made up of the five elements: Vata (air/space), Pitta (fire), and Kapha(water/earth). Every individual displays one dominant dosha, sometimes two. Illness occurs when there is a disturbance in equilibrium among the three.

Treatment to restore balance comes in the form of ahara (dietary recommendations), vihara (exercise regimen), and dinavharya (cleansing of mind and body). Treatments can be administered anytime, but monsoon season (June to August) is when the body is reportedly most receptive.

Inside her perfectly "vastu-ed" office, Ramesh places three fingers on the inside of my right writs. "Pitta/vata," she says matter-of-factly. "I knew immediately by your hair, skin tone, the way you walk, hold your head, present yourself. Your vata is highly elevated, which could make you antsy,' she smiles at the word. "You never sit at home and just do nothing." (how does know that?) "you need to find calm. Wearing pearls would be good for you." (So I've been told). Ramesh prescribes my treatment: "Rise before the sun to meditate, practice yoga daily, and eat only foods compatible with your dosha.' (she provides me with a detailed list.) The grand finale: a mind-body cleansing to be experienced in the spa, but which I'm to continue at home.

I follow Latha, a soft -spoken woman in lavender sari, into a treatment room brimming with bright, sculpted bottles of exotic oils and jasmine. Latha smiles shyly before handing me my spa attire, a paper loincloth and we both giggle as I make my way onto the handcarved, neem wood table specially designed to absorb oil.

I decline the eye drops (a mixture of cooked coconut water, honey, raw camphor, and seven herbs) on the basis of wearing contact lenses, but open my mind to the other Ayurveda must-dos:" a mouth rise of sesame oil and cinnamon (to disinfect); turmeric and sweet flag powder, inhaled fist through the nose then smoked like a cigarette ( yes, I am actually wearing loincloth and smoking in a spa) to clear sinuses; and a tooth-whitening powder of neem tree bark, cinnamon, and herbs. Fragrant thriphaladi (coconut) oil is massaged into my scalp and hair a luxury I could easily get used to followed by a full - body application of medicated oil (prescribed by Ramesh "to decrease my vata and rejuvenate")

As I lie face down, Latha generously applies the warm oil to my back, arms, legs and buttocks and then grips my hands tightly to keep me from sliding, like a slippery noodle, off the table when it's time to turn over. A foggy steam bath, fragrant with jasmine, flowers afterward I'm shepherded into a hot shower where a thick paste of crushed green gram (bean sprout is applied to remove the oil.)

"Am I really expected to do this every days?" Latha merely smiles at my inquiry, but Ramesh confirms. "Ayurveda is a way of life. A message not a massage," she reminds me.