Ayurveda Journey - The Treatment
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary. WARNING: Not for the faint-hearted - read at your own risk!
Unknown to me before I came was that a 21 day Ayurvedic PanchaKarma course consisted of at least 10-14 days of pre-treatment, getting the body ready for the treatment. I thought I was doing well but since I was not sweating as much as they would have liked, I was treated to 10 minutes in the ‘sweat box’ after an oil
Ayurveda Journey - Change In Treatment
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary.
Week two started with a change in treatment for Sonali. The pounding with leaf bundles has given way to oil, LOTS of oil - two gallons in fact. She is to undergo seven days of shirodhara and tailadhara. These treatments are often offered at ‘Ayurveda Spas’ almost as a menu item on a long list of treatments. This can be dangerous. All treatment should be specific to the patie
Ayurveda Journey - Week 1 Progress Report
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary.
Today marks the end of the first week here at the SDJ Ayurvedalaya and it might be a good time to review current status. The first week was spent largely on settling the body down and removing toxins so that any treatments may have a beneficial effect. This removal process has been through food, various medications and oil massages. Most importantly the effect of being here
Ayurveda Journey - The Pounding
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary. The oil massage for both Sonali and I was repeated every day for the first three days before the doctor announced that my treatment will now change, For me they prescribed Podi Kizhi which was pounding with hot cloth bundles filled with a mixture of dried herbs ground into a powder. The idea is to reduce my excess Kapha, which should bring about a lightness in the body.
The
Ayurveda Journey - The Consultation
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary. We were woken early by jet-lag but the bonus was being able to hear the morning birdsong chorus. Later in the day this would be replaced by the less than melodious call of peacocks that roam around SDJ. Not particularly shy of humans, but they can be magnificent.
The regime of medication meant that there was another herb mix for us to drink at 6am, followed by breakfast serv
Ayurveda Journey - The Oil Massage
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee continue to lead us through their Ayurvedic retreat diary. Abhyanga (oil massage) is an individually prepared herbal-oil massage designed to deeply penetrate the skin, relax the mind-body, break up impurities, and stimulate both arterial and lymphatic circulation. It enhances the ability of nutrients to reach starved cells and allows for the removal of stagnant waste. The desired result is a heightened state of awareness that will dir
Ayurveda Journey - Arrival
Festival founders Ram and Sonali Banerjee keep a diary on their Ayurvedic retreat so that we can all discover more about this ancient practice. The first day of our great Ayurvedic adventure actually started the day before when we boarded a plane at Heathrow bounded for Kochi, India via Abu Dhabi – yes , it's actually on the way – and there are no direct flights to Kochi from England. Thus began day 1 as we landed around 8 at a bright, warm small airport that has all the soun
