The morning after

A walk in the estate grounds

The morning after V-therapy I woke up looking forward to some rather more humane treatment, to be preceded by the prospect of breakfast – my first real food for a week. Most of the meals here are served “thali-style” which means that they are served on a brass tray about 25cm in diameter with a number of small brass bowls each containing a different dish to accompany, or follow, the starchy part of the meal, which could be chapatis, or rice or one of the special Kerala breads or a kind of couscous. Being on the “Weight Management” menu I had a slightly different menu with minuscule portions, but by this time my stomach had shrunk so much that I never once felt hungry.

Breakfast starts with a large glass of freshly squeezed or blended fruit juice – orange, water-melon, grape, coconut, mango, pineapple – different every day. Sometimes my breakfast differs and could be a small bowl of lentils, or oatmeal porridge, at other times it’s a smaller version of the rice with vegetables and dhal that the other guests are having. Of course I’ve had plenty of time to work up something of an appetite since I’ll have been up 3 hours already for my morning exercise and yoga routine. At 10 every day now I have my prescribed treatment, which generally includes some element of massage from the two handsome young men who attend to my naked body on the massage table.

Consulting rooms and treatment block

For this 5-day phase my treatment is head massage and powder massage. For the head massage I sit on a low stool while one of the boys vigorously massages oil into my scalp and then starts generally knocking my head around quite roughly, finishing off with a firm massage of my neck and shoulders. Then I climb up onto the massage table while the other boy finishes preparing the “powder,” which has the texture of fine sawdust, being the ground-up roots of a particular blend of herbs. This compound is warmed over the hob and then massaged all over my body. While the massage starts off gently, it builds into very hard rubbing to and fro across my stomach and has an immediate exfoliating effect so that after a couple of days my skin is very soft and supple. After 20 minutes or so I am covered from head to toe with brown sawdust, and they brush me off so I can clamber into the steam-box. Finally, when I am well-cooked, there’s the medication, which at this phase is nose-drops (in addition to the 5 herbal pills and medicines I am currently prescribed.)

I cannot over-emphasise the professionalism of the establishment. There is a consultant, a senior doctor and a junior doctor, and each day every guest has a consultation with one of the three, on a daily rotation, for about 15-20 minutes. These doctors have an initial training that lasts five and a half years, at all times being taught both Western and Ayurvedic disciplines. This is followed by a one-year internship before they are qualified to call themselves doctors and practise as such. Subsequently they can go on to specialise: our consultant here is doing his Master’s in Pharmacology. To have so much specialist attention is a real bonus. All three of them demonstrate meticulous conscientiousness in their approach as well as a thorough investigation of all aspects of the physical, medical and emotional state of all the guests. It’s very   impressive.

All guests are encouraged to keep a daily journal to record their physical and emotional feelings on a daily basis. This helps the doctors to be aware of initial issues and the way that these develop over the duration of the treatment. Even looking back just a few days, I am aware of the constant change in my mental state; there is much more calmness in addition to the physical changes. At this half-way stage (as I write this instalment) I am curious to know what further changes are in store.