Inside 21 Days of Ayurvedic Boot Camp: Monastic Seclusion, Intransigent Schedules, and So Much Ghee

28.02.2024 - 23:14 / cntraveler.com

At night, the road from Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam seems like one long strip of flashing colored lights festooning shops and restaurants. Kerala is a state on the move. Every empty space is a building site; the plan is to transform the main coastal route from single-lane mayhem to a sleek superhighway. For now, makeshift markets huddle next to gleaming gyms and car showrooms, while wandering pi-dogs and kamikaze auto-rickshaws slow the traffic to a lurching stop-start crawl.

Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Kalari Rasayana Ayurveda Hospital is a retreat without distractions.

But Kerala’s move to modernize doesn’t extend to every aspect of life. The southern Indian state is famed as the birthplace of Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old traditional healthcare system. Ayurveda remains mainstream medicine here, and hospitals, clinics and training schools abound. A sudden right turn and the lights vanish. The road becomes narrow, winding through villages and coconut groves, where palms arch over stone walls. Abruptly, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a sign appears: Kalari Rasayana Ayurveda Hospital.

Kalari is unlike standard Western spa programs in that participants might find themselves checking in with fellow attendees asking, “Are you OK?”

“No way out for three weeks—you’re trapped!” my driver laughs, as the gates close behind me. He’s not joking. Once inside, it will be 21 days of monastic seclusion. No sightseeing or sunbathing, no trips to the beach or shopping at markets. Kalari Rasayana is one of two Ayurvedic hospitals owned by CGH Earth, the family-run hotel chain. In the early noughties, managing director Jose Dominic became concerned Ayurveda was becoming diluted and debased. He had a point. Ayurvedic treatments were springing up on spa menus across the globe, often sanitised to the point where they bore little resemblance to the original. Panchakarma was a prime example. The stringent cleanse and rejuvenation regime, once the sole preserve of princes, is often shoehorned into a five-day flurry.

Kalari sits on over eight acres overlooking the placid Lake Paravur.

Kalari Kovilakom opened in 2004, in a renovated palace, with a two-week minimum stay and an unwavering adherence to authentic Ayurvedic protocols. It proved so popular that a second hospital, Kalari Rasayana, followed in 2013, stretching over eight acres of coconut groves facing serene Lake Paravur. Kalari Rasayana has the feel of a sanatorium merged with a strict boarding school. You’re assigned a doctor who prescribes everything from treatments to diet. There is zero choice involved, and pleas for changes are met with a broad smile and a polite shake of the head.

Days follow an equally intransigent timetable: 6:15 a.m. asana and