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| Option 2: Bethsaida Hermitage |
I am thrilled to announce my dates for the upcoming Group Ayurveda healing holiday. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world we can all meet up at the bottom of India.
I will be facilitating a Group Holiday starting from January 29th next year and spaces are limited so contact me to book now and join our Group. You can choose to come for an 8 day or a 17 day Healing Holiday and your dates can begin anytime between the 29th January and end of February as I will be there for you the whole time.
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| Option 3: Dr Franklin's Panchakarma Institute |
You can choose to stay at any one of our
three Resorts on offer. The benefits of coming on a fully facilitated Group holiday
are numerous including meeting like-minded people, but also to have a personalised
holiday with time just for you.
There will be a few occasions where we will
have get-togethers and beyond that you can choose how much or how little time
you spend with the rest of the group. I give you all a local sim card to put
into your mobile phone so you can all be in touch with each other if you want
to, and I’m just a call away.
In-fact you will be surprised how much time
is taken up when you are treating yourself with love and focusing just on your
wellbeing.
HERE’S A HOLIDAY SNAP-SHOT:
It starts with being picked up from Trivandrum International Airport (TRV) which is at the bottom of Kerala, South India.
It starts with being picked up from Trivandrum International Airport (TRV) which is at the bottom of Kerala, South India.
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| Sandra outside Dr George's AyurGe Treatment Centre (Option 1) |
Depending on the time of your arrival you
may check in and go straight to bed or join me for a welcome beverage. The next day I take you to meet your Ayurveda
Doctor for your first Consultation and from there we work out your Treatment
schedule.
Each day you may wish to start with a yoga class
or a Meditation for Busy Minds class
with me and then go for your treatment.
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| my post treatment snack costs 100Rs approx aud$1.80 |
Daily Ayurveda treatments go for two or more hours
and often this treatment time is broken up into two sessions – one in the
morning and one in the afternoon. Sessions go for around an hour or more, and afterwards
it’s recommended that you keep the herbal medicated oils on your body for at
least another hour.
After my morning treatment I like to do one
of the following: grab some fresh fruit
or fresh coconut from the ladies on the boardwalk and sit and watch life go by
on the beach. Breakfast is provided each
day and its best to keep that light before treatment anyway, so nice to follow
treatment with a mega vitamin hit.
Sometimes I would just go back to my room to
meditate or read, or go and relax by the swimming pool. |
| Me post treatment in my Lungi |
Don’t worry about how you look as you are
given a special Lungi to wear post-treatment which is two metres of cloth and
they tie it so you look like a Grecian God or Goddess. They scrape the excess oil off you but you
do look gloriously healthy and oily and it’s funny because you see so many
other people walking around like this and you can go and you can also go sit in
a café to eat as they are used to it.
(NB:
(NB:
So after your hour or so, you can go and
wash the oil off. I recommend you buy
some lovely natural Ayurveda products to wash with and I can take you up to the
local Supermarket to buy pretty much anything you like – it’s cheap and lots of
fun (and they take credit card).
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| I bought all of these natural Ayurveda products for aud$12 |
When it’s time to wash off I like to
“shower” the local way so I either request a stool, chair or sit on the toilet
and use the shower nozzle or the bucket and scoop to wash off. It’s totally opposite from my quick in and
out shower at home and I think in-keeping with the concept of going slow and
being mindful that you are there, and doing something loving for yourself.
So after that it’s almost lunch time. Depending on your choice of Holiday Plan you
could be eating at the Ayur Restaurant
(which is included in Holiday Option 2) which is the only dedicated Ayurveda restaurant
in Kovalam or you can choose to go where ever you like (my favourite
restaurants are listed on the Additional Holiday Information page).
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| Life&Leaf Ayurveda restaurant at Dr Franklin's |
If you are staying at Dr Franklin’s
Panchakarma Centre, it’s a little out from Kovalam and their Resort is all
inclusive with their own private Ayurveda Restaurant to you get all meals according to your Dosha type included (Holiday Option 3).
In the afternoon you can swim in the
private pool or beach, hire a beach umbrella and lounge chair, rest, eat,
relax, go sight-seeing, ride and elephant or just meander a few minutes down to
the beach front where the boardwalk is full of lovely shops, cafes and
restaurants.
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| super cute silk tea-cosy |
It’s a bit of a shopping paradise with beautiful things to buy from locals or people bringing things in from Tibet or one of my favourites is the guy who has a shop with things made by the Kashmiri Gypsies.
All of our Resorts provide wifi so you can
hook yourself up to a device but I recommend you keep this activity to a
minimum so you stay connected to where YOU are.
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| This is the Udvartana powder massage used for weight-loss |
And then in the afternoon your treatment
routine begins again with returning to the Ayurveda centre for another hour+
treatment and then sitting in your oils for another hour, showering and then it’s
almost dinner time.
During this time you can also book in with
me for a consultation for a Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan (as Optional extras –
see Dosha Nutrition Plans), or I could be helping care for your kids at the
Childcare Centre I will run at the Golden Sands Resort.
We purposely keep an element of flexibility
in your day so that you can choose to move things around just in-case you want
to do something else for the day; after all it is your holiday.
If you don’t want to book in, but know
someone who really could do with a healing holiday then please make the
recommendation and I will give you a cash thank you for your referral. Or
better still, bring together nine other people and you can come for free.
Namaste, Alison Jose
(Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. It is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. Nama means bow, and te means you. Therefore,namaste literally means "I bow to you" or the divine spark within me is connecting with the divine spark in you.)