Sri Lanka – For some people, the traditional medical practices of Africa and Asia are hocus-pocus. I was thinking maybe they had a point as I lay on the flat, wooden bed under some enormous, leafy trees, basted head to toe in herbal oils like a turkey ready for the oven, wearing nothing but a threadbare maroon cotton wrap.
Green and red pastes and poultices were slapped on various parts of my body, and clouds of mosquitoes were kept at bay by billows of incense, while crows hopped around in the branches above.
This was my second day of treatments at the oldest and respected Ayurvedic health resort in Sri Lanka.
On arrival, after unpacking in my beautiful but simple room, I had an hour-long consultation with a gently-spoken, resident Ayurvedic doctor, who spoke little English. She took my pulse (one of the primary forms of Ayurvedic diagnosis), looked deeply into my eyes, checked my furry tongue, and asked some rather odd questions, apparently to uncover possible ailments and lifestyle-related issues.
“You like tomatoes? You feel cold more than hot? Your maternal grandfather was overweight?”
As it turns out, he was.
“You are here, why?”
At which point, still a little tired after my long flight, I was wondering why myself.
Barberyn Reef Resort, south of the capital Colombo, was the first Ayurvedic health resort in Sri Lanka. In 1968, before Ayurveda became popular in the West, a far-sighted Sri Lankan practitioner, Sudano Rodgrigo, opened the resort and it was the first in the country to provide authentic Ayurvedic healing holidays and treatments to foreign guests.
Rodgrigo’s family still runs Barberyn Reef in Beruwala, as well as the smart Barberyn Beach Resort in Weligama, further along Sri Lanka’s famous coastal Galle Road.
In countries such as India and Sri Lanka, the 5 000-year-old traditional medical system of Ayurveda, (meaning “the science of life”) is respected and integrated into the official health systems of those countries.
In fact, so acceptable is the ancient system of Ayurvedic health care in Sri Lanka, it supports an enormous and fascinating sector of the tourism industry, attracting hundreds of American and European “patients”. While many visitors come just to relax, de-stress, and maybe partake in a little yoga, others come to Barberyn with common ailments such as acne, insomnia, arthritis and back pains, gastric disorders of various degrees, obesity and urinary tract infections. They also deal with ailments such as early stages of liver problems and some life-threatening diseases.
In Ayurveda, it is believed that each person’s constitution or capacity for health is based on a particular relationship of three fundamental and vital energies called doshas, known by their Sanskrit names of Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
At Barberyn, the aim is to help balance the doshas which is done through food, nutrition and various therapies such as Rakatha Mokshana Karma, (blood letting therapy), Lepa (herbal pastes) and Panchakarma.
The purification therapy includes herbal medicines, specific diets, oil massages, heat treatments, herbal baths and herbal steam baths. Gentle exercise such as yoga, swimming and walking are encouraged. While yoga takes place regularly, the adjacent warm Indian Ocean and lovely, long beaches provide plenty of opportunities for the latter.
Healing the Ayurvedic way is not a fast process and, normally, the minimum recommended period of treatment is two weeks. It is generally only after a fortnight that the doctors will diagnose a course of treatment. For more lasting effects, a stay of three to four weeks is recommended.
One of the first orders of business is to cleanse the body and introduce a new way of eating which ostensibly brings the dietary and metabolic systems into balance.
Food, nutrition and appropriate digestion of food are fundamental to Ayurveda and are considered a complementary natural medicine. The thinking is that more often than not, with the right nutrition and elimination of wastes, the body will heal itself – in which case no treatment may be necessary at all. This really appealed to me.
Each meal is attended by one of the resident physicians. Their job is to ensure that you eat the right food and to check that you are taking your – let’s face it – pretty nasty tasting medicines. The pills, decoctions and other medications are fascinating, being freshly prepared daily in the ancient traditional methods of Ayurveda using leaves, bark, twigs, seeds and roots that would not look terribly out of place in the traditional muthi markets of South Africa.
“The Food Police”, as we fondly called the physicians on duty, would wander past our table and check a card written in squiggly Sinhala, (the writing of Sri Lanka). If you had helped yourself to inappropriate food from the buffet table, they would smile regretfully, waggle their heads Indian style and with a gentle “Not for you-hoo,” firmly whip your plate from under your nose and return with whatever it was you were supposed to be eating.
I am inordinately fond of Asian and Indian food, so I didn’t find the meals too difficult. However, on the odd occasion, my poor sister, who had different “ailments” and therefore a different diet from me, struggled. She would wait until the food police had returned to their posts, check over her shoulder to ensure no one was watching, and have to hold her nose in order to gulp down her food or beverage. Her worst was the “King Coconut” juice, which had bits of coconut floating in it. I loved it – which rather enraged her!
The massages, herbal oils, warm steam baths and yoga were stunning and the staff incredibly kind and well geared towards tourists. Within the two weeks, both of us had lost weight and were positively glowing with good health.
We left knowing that not only had we enjoyed a truly authentic Sri Lankan experience, but that we were healthier and more relaxed than we had ever been in our lives – something not too many of us can say after a stressful overseas trip.
Sunday Tribune