AYURVEDIC PANCHAKARMA IN SRI LANKA JAN 2016
A BLOG
Mishka and I have just returned from a Kur in Sri Lanka, at an Ayurvedic Centre there,– the whole 2 week Panchakarma process. Mishka was there, same place too, in Nov ‘14, and loved it. I’ve also been through the process before, once in Switzerland, at the Maharishi place there, twice in Massachusetts at the centre started there by Deepak Chopra, once in England, in Bournemouth, all some time ago now, but since then I’ve made several visits to Ayurvedic Centres in Germany for a week or so of much the same sort of treatments. It works well for me, always, and so it was very much here again…
We Wild Geese have all tasted, at least to some extent, wonderful states of bliss, love, unity, oneness, peace, tranquility, emptiness – these are states the cosmic energy work we do together brings.
But there are other beautiful states we as human beings can experience too – like pleasure. At its peak it can be exquisite, at its most intense: every breath, every look, every instant – just pure pleasure (experienced once in a total way for me in a Music & Silence Group in the Black Forest many years ago).
My student/friend Deepen recently published a very fine book on Pleasure – we had exchanges about it in the time of its preparation, so maybe I contributed a little to the final outcome. Then recently I wrote to him: what about the state of Enjoyment? Doesn’t that widen the scope? Isn’t that a fundamentally state of positivity and joy hitting us as we move through the world?
But then, some of the greatest experiences we can have may not be at the time very enjoyable at all, so….
After 2 weeks of Panchakarma there at the Sithnara Ayurveda Resort, with 4 or 5 treatments every day, plus a short consultation with the doctor, I can’t say that I really enjoyed it, day by day, and throughout, but I did and still do experience a tremendous gratefulness – and that too is a wonderful feeling, when you can really appreciate what is brought to you by life, by other people. and bow down inside in thankfulness.
And along with that gratitude comes a deep respect for all who work there at Sithnara, and respect is something we all love and appreciate, for ourselves, for what we do in life.
And I know that many of you feel all this about the Work we do together…
The Resort is right on the ocean. There it is, just at the bottom of the 30 meter garden, with its neat swimming pool, sun-chairs and hammocks slung between trees, the sea, pounding away day and night, no soft Mediterranean flush on the shore but giant waves roaring their way in. Every day there were surfers, almost all Westerners, fighting there way out, hovering out there, going for the incoming waves as they broke, riding them in, many times getting dumped, and then out again for the next one. (I’m no water baby but back in the Sixties, living for some months in Sydney, I was able to make that peak experience – the wave you’re on so high that the people on the beach look tiny – on Bondi Beach.)
The food there – very Sri Lankan (even curry for breakfast offered, but always fresh fruit too). Mishka loved much of it, but for me it was sometimes really nice, other times so-so for my palate, but I knew it was the right food for me there, so….
The main doctor there, Dinusha, is simply beautiful – apart from her skills too! A huge heart, an open mind, a gentle style of coaxing, staying always relaxed as she worked through all those there each day, one by one – mostly anyway. Still quite young, her consultations were something we looked forward to each day.
So, otherwise it was these 4 or 5 sessions every day, from the tight group of practitioners. Almost all my sessions came from the 2 main men there, with whom I developed close & loving relationships. Occasionally a fabled face massage from one of the young women – one simply ecstatic – and of course it was the women who mostly, but not always, treated Mishka and the other dozen women visitors there, women being by far the majority, and I think pretty well always too. They know a lot more about taking care of themselves than we men do…
And they all worked so well together as a team, and not only the practioners, but those serving us at mealtimes, the cooks, the room cleaners – all. I saw nothing but concern for the visitors and harmony between them. No doubt partly attributable to Dr Dinusha.
On Monday we both had all our sessions in the morning and in the afternoon took a trip to Galle, an hour’s drive away – an old colonial town by the sea. I was there for the first time 50 or so years before, and it was still the same, and also very different. Now full of modern shops, some as smart and
luxurious as any you could find in the West, as well as the typical shops of the culture there.
The drive there – if you have been that way somewhere, in the East, you can imagine…bicycles, motorbikes, tuk-tuks (the motorized rickshaws) in their hundreds, cars, vans, lorries, buses, and in the villages pedestrians and dogs too – all vying for space on the single-lane road – which is just a name because everyone, going both ways, used the whole road, white lines completely ignored – you would be overtaking something on the wrong side of the road, and then something – maybe even a bus – would be overtaking you. In Germany, they would al lose their licenses in no time. But that’s the way they all proceed on the roads, and always have done. I was sitting in the front alongside the driver – with no seat belt; “It doesn’t work,” the driver informed me from within the safety of his own. But I was never worried once, more like driving alongside him through the chaos…
We shopped around a bit, looking for something for our boys – we already had things for the home team – found what Mishka was after, and finished up there with a cappuccino in one of the smart colonial hotels there, my first coffee for 2 weeks – and a first bidee too – a local Sri Lankan one.
I didn’t miss them either in this time.
On the way back we diverted to look at the Peace Pagoda, built by the Japanese, a striking white dome with a gold cap that can be seen from all around.
Then back in the mad traffic, now in the dark, so that instead of shapes it was with lights that you played the escapism games…
As we drove – there & back – through the villages, on the pavements, and by the wayside – so many Europeans, I was amazed, often it seemed they outnumbered the locals…But of course inland, up in the hills and the tea-gardens, it’s surely a different matter…
The room we had there was one of the best, delightful, quite spacious, with a balcony overlooking the sea. The weather was mixed, several grey days, some days intermittent sun, sometimes some hours of it (so we both got a bit of a tan), no rain till the last day.
Mishka got in some sea time. It was just a narrow beach there, and a very short way into the sea there was a coral reef, so my meetings with the sea were seldom and short but Mishka, like the surfers, found her way beyond the reef easily enough, and had her bouts of swimming and snorkeling, which she loves.
On our last day there we were treated to hot baths, Mishka with flowers, Michael with spices (see the aftermath of that in the photo at the top), and special food too.
Warm goodbyes and appreciations all round, and then we were off to Colombo, this time in torrential rain the whole way, fortunately there was little traffic so we made it in the usual three hours…
Then the 10/11 hour flight back, not easy for me, managing just 2 or 3 hours sleep, and we were early morning in Frankfurt, time for a coffee and then the train to Freiburg where Pranama picked us up and we were back at UNACHO, great to see our boys again (we had been a couple of times in contact with them whilst away), great welcomes from the team, and a pile of papers waiting for me to get me up-to-date with the world. Mishka had managed to get me all the football played whilst we were away, which saved me many hours on my return.
A hot bath, a good English breakfast, and I was home again.
Next up comes the mail, so if you’ve written me in our absence, soon you will get a reply.
Next up here for us all is the next leg of OPT4, so we will both soon be back in our stride again.
LotsofLOVE
Michael
PS: We were so enamoured and impressed by Dr Dinusha that we (Mishka & Priya) are looking at ways to bring her over to Germany, and to UNACHO too, so that Energy Fielders (and others) can book a session with her, at the very least. We see. L M