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Holistic healing
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While conventional doctors view you as a pair of eyes or a heart, Isaac Mathai believes in a holistic approach.
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Holistic health: keeping body, mind and soul intact; (below): the aesthetic architecture of the centre
THE WORD soukhya, in Sanskrit, means `well being, happiness, and a harmonious state of the mind, body, and spirit'. The joint, Soukhya, aims to provide that - but for a price. But for the patrons of this high-end holistic health clinic that's the last of their worries. Money may not be able to buy well-being but it seems it can make looking for it a lot easier.
Soukya is the dream project of 42-year-old Isaac Mathai and has been operational for a few months now. A holistic physician, Dr. Mathai has a client list that reads like a who's who, with names like Tina Turner, Sting, and Sarah Ferguson on it.
This health centre at Whitefield, Bangalore, will host the Global Holistic Health Summit sponsored by The National Foundation for Alternative Medicine, USA, from January 12 to 17. Guest speakers will include the Dalai Lama and New Age guru Deepak Chopra. Soukhya is spread over 30 acres of lush greenery.
After getting his homoeopathy degree from his native Kerala, Dr. Mathai did his MD from the Hahnemann Post-Graduate Institute of Homoeopathy in London. He then practised in Europe's largest holistic clinic, the Hale Clinic, for 10 years. It was here that he built his reputation and the envious client list. He also studied Chinese pulse diagnosis and acupuncture.
"The holistic approach lays emphasis on health promotion, prevention of illness, and early intervention. It is not like you get up one morning at 40 and have a major illness. The illness has been building up for maybe a decade. It's just that you don't know," says Dr. Mathai. He points out that people today suffer illnesses in their 40s that typically had manifested in the 60s for their parents' generation. This is due to high stress levels, irregular sleep patterns and dietary imbalances.
Dr. Mathai, who calls himself a health manager, says: "We are here to calm the mind and balance the body. The power to heal is within a person, just waiting to be tapped. We just initiate some changes and you carry them back to your life."
The concept of rejuvenation has been practised in India since ancient times. At Dr. Mathai's health centre, clients are introduced to life changes that lead to healthier living and can be easily followed once they return home. A special exercise routine is devised that fits in with the individual's lifestyle. Keeping in view the busy schedule of clients, a 15-minute yoga routine thrice a week has been devised.
For the rest of the week, clients can play an outdoor sport, and take a day off. "I tell my patients it's okay to miss a day of exercise and they should not be stressed out about it. They must learn to relax."
Dr. Mathai says that all things at Soukhya have a purpose: like cobbled walkways connecting places (increases concentration), and black flooring in yoga room (black absorbs bad vibes).
The centre is designed to be a health haven for the haves offering time-tested healing techniques combined with modern medicine.
After checking in, clients undergo a thorough medical evaluation to create an individualised holistic treatment programme.
The integrated medicines used are drawn from ayurveda, allopathy, homoeopathy, and naturopathy with consultants from the unani and siddha system too.
Then there are complementary therapies such as acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, yoga, colon irrigation, reflexology, and so on.
The array of therapeutic massages and water therapies for pampering the body includes the circular shower, vinchy shower (where horizontal hot and cold water jets help alleviate stress and tones up the body), Turkish bath, Dead Sea mudpack, and underwater massage. Under water, the muscles are more relaxed and resistance is also lower, so massage is more effective.
In fact, the swimming pool here is only four feet deep so that clients can swim, walk and even exercise in it. There is a pebbled walkway with running water too.
Most people come here for either rejuvenation, or after they have had an episode of illness or surgery.
The health packages offered are stress management, weight management, detoxification, rejuvenation, and the therapeutic skincare. Doctors study each individual's history and then prescribe specific treatments. "You just can't do a thing because everyone is doing it. We choose temperament over fashion," says Dr. Mathai.
The diet includes vegetables, milk, and eggs. With almost 70 per cent of the patrons coming from the US, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, international standards have to be maintained.
The rooms have handcrafted four-poster beds and private garden space.
And with touches like open-air bathrooms (along with regular closed ones) really fascinate the foreign clients.
To keep up a model that appeals to the international client is an expensive proposition.
But Dr. Mathai hopes that one day he can have a more affordable version of his holistic health centre.
In this day of specialisation when doctors look at you as a heart, a pair of eyes, or a malnourished fibula, it should be comforting to be viewed not only as a whole body, complete with an aura and soul.
REHMAT MERCHANT
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
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