Ayurveda at Ulpotha

Many of you ask us what the different Ayurveda options include here at Ulpotha. Ayurveda treatments are an optional additional cost on top of your yoga retreat at Ulpotha:

1-day Ayurveda ($100) includes consultation, oil application / on the whole body (massage) and elimination of toxins via one of the following, as prescribed by our doctor: herbal bath, steam bath, sauna, or hot shower with mung bean body scrub

3-day Ayurveda package ($250)

Day 1: Full body massage and herbal bath
Day 2: Body massage and sauna
Day 3: Body massage, herbal paste and steam.

5-day treatment ($375): ...as above, but on the 4th & 5th day you receive either a head cleanse treatment or a body cleansing treatment, as you wish and according to your needs.

For example, if you have sinus issues, etc., we will give you head treatments. If it's body aches, arthritis, etc we will do body treatments.

PLEASE NOTE that we use Sesame oil in our treatments, so if you have any allergy to sesame, please let us know.

Ayurveda:

What is unique about Ulpotha in the context of Ayurveda is that it already embodies most of the elements required for a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Hence, Ayurveda can be approached without restricting what one can eat or do, nor does it require intensive treatments. In other words, Ayurveda in Ulpotha is unlike Ayurveda anywhere else.

If you have booked some Ayurveda treatments, you may have a formal consultation with Dr Srilal, Ulpotha’s resident Ayurveda doctor. The doctor will then tell you your dosha type, which will allow him to advise you on the eating and living habits you need for a healthy, balanced life. You are encouraged to ask as many questions as your curiosity dictates. This first consultation is free.

Dr Srilal leaves a couple of days for you to acclimatise to your new environment and recover from jet lag before starting treatment. So if you are staying a week, you could book programmes of 5 days or less.

Because our programmes are short by Ayurveda standards (anything less than three weeks is ‘short’), we do the basic preparatory, inhalation and purgation treatments which involve oil application to the body, herbal baths, steam baths, saunas, inhalation, rice milk packs and facials; in short, you’ll feel pampered. The programmes are a great detox and, combined with the yoga and Ulpotha’s delicious food, leave you feeling relaxed, toned, and cleansed. Please keep in mind that short treatments, which are essentially preparatory, are similar regardless of your dosha type.

All Ayurveda programmes begin with detoxification therapies, which include preparatory and elimination treatments. These preparatory treatments are called oleation and fomentation. Please keep in mind that treatments under three weeks are generally very similar.

Treatments will be scheduled in the morning or afternoon. You will have the rest of each day to hang out and do other things, including the optional yoga classes. Guests with treatments can attend at least one yoga class a day. Sometimes you may prefer to just relax after treatments - which is fine.

If a treatment is short, such as the five-day Ashinsanaya or 7-day Sanasuma programmes, you only have enough time for preparatory treatments that support inhalation as an elimination therapy. If you have time for the ten-day Namaskaraya or 14-day Samadhiya programmes, then you can also undergo purgation. However, consultation is critical to determine which elimination therapies are required. If someone is particularly weak, then they will be subject to much more of the preparatory treatments and very little of the elimination therapies regardless of how long a programme they have chosen. In other words, while you need to be on a long programme to undergo elimination therapies, it's not necessarily the case that you will definitely be subject to them.

For the one-week-long Sanasuma (Satisfaction) and ten-day Namaskaraya (Salutation) programmes, you will receive daily treatments. Each day will consist of roughly two hours of treatments. The two-week-long Aswesilla (Solace) programmes include one or two rest days, the three-week-long Samadhiya (Profound) programme includes two or three rest days, and the four-week Mokshaya (Redemption) programme includes three or four rest days.

If we take an example of the Sanasuma treatment, which is administered over the course of seven days, you can expect the following:

• the first day will consist of a full head and face and body oil application, called Abhyanga (a relaxing superficial tissue oil application that soothes the first layer of the body) followed by a herbal bath. Guests will also be given appropriate remedies to take, starting on the first day and continuing through each day of their treatment; these remedies are meant to support the treatments they receive.

• The second day may consist of intensive, deep tissue oil application that is meant to penetrate to the second layer of the body, which is called Angamarda Abyanga, followed by a steam bath.

• The third day will consist of a relaxing body oil application followed by Shirodhara oil application on the forehead and head.

• The fourth day will consist of inhalation therapy accompanied by a head and face oil application and a face steam.

• The fifth day will be a Sarvangadara oil treatment (from a layman's terms, this is a Shirodara but one for the whole body) followed by a steam bath.

• The sixth day will be full-body oil application carried out using poultices made of a special milk rice consisting of medicinal decoctions, followed by a warm water bath.

• The seventh day is a herbal facial treatment consisting of a cleansing scrub, face steam and herbal pack.

Kindly note that we use sesame oil in our treatments.