Claire's Story - Individual Ayurvedic Panchakarma Detox Retreat - May/June 2024 - 14 days – Kerala, India
- Alena Speed
- Jul 3, 2024
- 4 min read
I had a lovely catch up with Claire last week over the cup of camomile tea for Claire and a cup of almond flat white for me. Claire has just returned from her 14-day Individual Panchakarma Retreat in India and looked radiant and content.
“The best thing I could do for myself” , “I feel like me again” , “My lower back pain is mostly gone” she said.
A bit of back story
Claire (in her early 50s) came to my clinic a few months ago looking absolutely exhausted, going through hormonal fluctuations and not feeling like herself, with severe chronic lumbar pain that was making her life harder than it needed to be.
Claire had limited knowledge of Ayurveda but felt that she needed a health re-set. So, she took some time from her busy career schedule, and we undertook a 3-day Ayurvedic Cleanse where she received 3hour daily treatments and maintained Ayurvedic light diet protocol finalised with the light purge. These 3 days gave Claire a kick start towards some positive changes and a reset that she needed.
Claire also knew that she wanted to go deeper to reduce her lumbar pain issue. She positively manifested that all stars would align and she was absolutely rearing to go when she booked her Panchakarma Detox in May.
I remember still confirming with the hospital the dates of Claire’s stay when she texted me that the air tickets are booked for the days she manifested; she just knew she needed to go (real Pitta right there).
Now, I was hesitant that 14 days would be sufficient to rid the issues completely, as generally 21 or 28 day Panchakarma detox is recommended. But Claire only had 14 days so we went with that. Upon her return, Claire felt that 14 days was perfect for her.
Flights
Generally, it takes around 5hrs to Singapore with 1-3hr stopover and then 4.5hrs to Cochin, Kerala with the flight arriving to Cochin late night 10-11pm. Well, for Claire she did experience a significant delay with her visa checks which is quite uncommon in my previous experience so by the time she left the airport it was 3am.
Claire said she just smiled, was patient and waited for the Indian customs officials to let her through.
Our meet and greet delegation @Wellness Meditours were patiently waiting for Claire with flowers and coconuts during the delay, bless them, to finally whisk Claire away to the Ayurvedic Centre.
Treatments during Ayurvedic Panchakarma Detox
So, Claire’s treatment protocol during her Ayurvedic Panchakarma Detox was geared to pacify her vata dosha, reduce her low back pain, balance hormones and relieve stress.
She had 3 days of ghee intake with day 1 – 50ml of medicated ghee, day 2 – 100ml of ghee and day 3 – 150ml and I think she is an absolute champion, as it is not the easiest thing to do but sooo necessary, as taking ghee is one of the magical ingredients of the preparation for the Panchakarma detox.
Taking warm liquid ghee was awful, Claire said, but she complied as she knew it was part of the process and necessary for her healing.
Otherwise, Claire was absolutely blissed out with all the 3hr daily Ayurvedic treatments; quite often she would ask the staff to leave her treatment room door open so she could enjoy sounds of rain over the river and coolness of the air.
Staff are lovely and couldn’t do enough to help Claire.
Weather
Perfect, cool and rainy but definitely enough breaks in the weather to have plentiful walks.
No need for air conditioning, the fan was just perfect.
May/June/July in Kerala are Monsoon season and perfect to undergo Panchakarma detoxification in Kerala.
Activity
Now, Claire is a Pitta girl and she would not be able to just sit around the centre all day, so she walked through the little village where the Centre is nestled for about 1hr in the morning and same in the afternoon getting plenty of exercise.
Claire did admit that morning daily yoga at the centre was not quite her cup of tea, so she did her own yoga and breathing practice in her room each morning (admittedly, in my experience yoga classes are very different in India – there is a lot of repetitive breathwork, and every session follows the same sequence slowly building up on the previous day’s sequence depending on participants of the class). So, to us westerners it might seem a bit boring, however that is what our busy mind perhaps needs – repetition, routine, and stillness to calm our quite often over stimulated nervous system.
Food
Absolutely delicious, fresh Ayurvedic vegetarian meals
Claire said that it was indeed easy to indulge with various little dishes on offer at each meal, but she was tuning in to herself and enjoyed smaller portions.
Claire stayed away from coffee or tea through the whole duration of her stay.
Final Day
On the last day, Claire was picked up by our Wellness Meditours Dr. Varsha and Asokan and visited Asokan’s and Reji’s home in Thrissur where she had a lovely traditional brunch and had some sightseeing before going to Cochin International Airport for her flight home.
She was content and rearing to get back home, refreshed and looking forward to being back and feeling good.
Claire said this was a transformative experience and she was extremely grateful to have discovered Ayurveda in her life.
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