BY TARA NARAYAN

IF YOU’VE lost faith but are still looking for a bona fide Ayurveda centre, apart from those located in five and seven star hotels which are quite beyond the reach of ordinary citizens, you cannot do better than check out the brand new Ayurveda centre of Ayurcare, which opened for serious business on May 1, 2009, in Porvorim in Goa. Healthcare is serious business, be it mainstream Allopathy or any of the other alternate systems of medicine and healing which are fast making a come back in our times, because Allopathy can be quite disillusioning vis-à-vis today’s so called degenerative or lifestyle diseases. A first visit to the new franchise of Ayurcare (which is affiliated to an ISO 9001:2000 company, perhaps the fastest growing company in India) inspires trust.

SOOTHING AMBIENCE

STEP inside and one is greeted with a warm smile and a soft, soothing atmosphere. Elvis Pereira, the CEO, is open to a tour of the premises, which comprises of three spacious rooms for treatment. The rooms are fitted with the traditional hardware of Ayurveda e.g. wooden droni palettes, steam chambers, bathrooms attached…and yes, they use disposal kits here for reasons of hygiene. Meet their staff: Anu, Sandhya, Prassana, Indu, and the boys, namely Vipin, Jason, Sebin, Ajo, they’ve all be trained in Kerala. They have a full time vaid trained in Ayurveda, Dr. Filgin George and he takes your case history before any treatments are prescribed.

Also meet proprietor Viju D. Varghese, a financial consultant in Dubai, but who has sunk most of his and his wife Juliana’s funds towards this new franchise operation in Ayurveda care. Why Goa? Mr. Varghese replied, “Because I like Goa and my wife is a Goan!” Please, they’re not offering beauty massages here but authentic Ayurvedic treatments which include traditional massages and, “We don’t do cross treatment!” What’s that? Their trained girls will treat women patients and their trained boys will treat male patients, “Last week a group of Indian tourists walked in and demanded for women to massage them…we had to tell them we’re not a massage parlour but an Ayurveda centre!”

Their USP is that the Ayurcare centres (the company already has 39 centres operating the country over with Hyderabad having 12 centres and Bangalore six centres) source their training and medicines from the Dhanvantri Vaidyashala in Kerala (which is as well known as the Kottakkal Arya Vaidyashala). Dhanvantri has been in traditional Ayurveda treatments for the last 70 years. Walking around, one takes in the bottles of treatment oils in a kitchen-cum-store room; they have about 19 medicated oils, and BSS certified Vipin M.V. from the Malabar Institute and Bharat Seva Samaj in Trivandrum, responded to a query…the “Narayan thailam” is popular in almost all treatments to ease body stiffness. They have the exclusive oils of “psor” (yes, for psoriasis), “murivenna” (for slip disc and other back problems), “karpasasthyadi” and “kottamchuykkadi” oils are used for obese patients who have to lose weight, “sahacharadi” is for body pain and stiffness again, “pinda thailam” is for foot treatments…and so on.

SENSORY BLISS

THEY have a “tharpana” treatment for improving vision, “We call it the Sensory Bliss treatment…medicated ghee is applied but it helps if you do the minimum seven-day treatment.” This generally speaking aids the rejuvenation of all five senses actually…and the panchakarma treatment they follow is a little different because of its origins in Kerala, “We practice Kerala Ayurveda or Keraleeya panchakarma here…” Panchakarma is the detox or cleansing programme central to any Ayurveda treatment. Through the five procedures of “vamana, nasya, virechan, raktamokshana and vasti” the body must first be internally cleansed of ama (toxins) before it can be saturated with medicated oils for healing and rejuvenation to take place anew.

BASIC HUMOURS

MOST Ayurveda patients soon become familiar with the three basic humours or doshas - vata (representing the nervous system which regulates all movement), pitta (the cause of all metabolic process and bio-transformation) and kapha (based on the principle of cohesion and functions through body fluids) - which make up their very own distinct physiological constitution or prakruti. Only on the basis of an understanding of a patient’s prakruti can appropriate treatments, diets and counselling be prescribed.
For better clarification, the Hyderabad-born and bred Mr. Varghese said ask their Ayurveda consultant, Dr. Filgim George. Soft spoken Dr. George smiled, as if to say, you can’t learn all about Ayurveda in a few minutes! Ayurveda is said to be a gift from Lord Brahma and the sage physician Vaghata who lived in Kerala practiced it…it has been influenced by Buddhism although some Buddhist influences have not been good! Kerala Ayurveda has treatments like “ilakkizhi” when “leaf bolus” is used and “njavarakkizhi” when “cooked rice bolus” is used.

Ayurveda, educated Dr. George, does primarily believe in the four classical Indian principles of dharma (duty), artha (wealth), kama (sex) and moksha (salvation) which most Hindus are familiar with, “To be healthy you cannot go against nature…Ayurveda is a life science catering not just to specific diseases but to the general well being of a person.” It would be better to simply come and experience one of their treatments to understand Ayurveda! Ayurveda is very good for all kinds of chronic ailments like pain in the joints (e.g. arthritis) and they have excellent obesity and post-pregnancy programmes for women, “Our treatments use heated oil which offers good results…the oils are multifaceted and nourish the tissues affected.”

Finally, why has Ayurveda become so expensive? The overheads are high, exclaimed Mr. Viju Varghese. But once folk know the efficacy of Ayurveda they’re willing to invest in the maintenance of their health. The convinced amongst their patients are already subscribing to their membership packages whereby for say Rs. 25,000 one may book 50 sessions of treatment, “It’s a membership which holds good for family members too…treatment and rejuvenation, we’re giving it at half the actual price in Goa!” Membership packages make more economical sense than single treatments…but there’re plus points at Ayurcare which you can discover yourself with a visit.

Be sure to ask for a copy of Ayurcare’s latest leaflet - “Wellness News” - for it’s a useful newsletter to clue one self up about Ayurveda and how it is making a real comeback in India as also abroad, wherever long-suffering patients have had enough of mainstream Allopathy! The alternate traditional systems of healing - Ayurveda, Homopathy, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha - are far more gentle and holistic and they’re polishing up their data base too to become modern day efficient systems. A word of caution though: Please sieve the real from the fake! When it comes to quackery it is there everywhere in our world and patients have to do some homework before offering up their mind and body, heart and soul to find relief from the nagging health problems of life.