International Spa Review - Elemental Embrace Wellness Spa Retreat

As a system of medicine - probably the world's oldest - Ayurveda offers a full range of treatments for what ails you, and as clinical procedure enjoys much the same status in India as acupuncture in China or shiatsu in Japan: in each country these ancient therapies are taught in universities and practiced in hospitals alongside Western medicine.

But Ayurveda, the "science of life" in Sanskrit, is more than medicine. It is a roadmap to a "good" life in every sense of the word. Ayurvedic physicians, called vaidyas, go through four years of post-secondary schooling and follow that with a year's internship, usually in a rural clinic.

If you book in to Elemental Embrace for Ayurvedic treatments and a consultation, you can expect to be quizzed by one of the doctors about your medical history, living habits, tastes, dreams, food preferences, propensity to perspire, bowel movements, and a hundred other thingsŠ information the practitioners need to identify your general dasha, or physiological and mental makeup.

The idea is that everyone has a blend of vata (air and space, representing, roughly, the nervous system), pitta (fire and water - the enzyme system in modern Western terms), and kapha (water and earth, approximating the nutritive/digestive system).

The goal of Ayurvedic medicine is to achieve a three-way balance, which is the key to good health, serene spirits, and long life. On the basis of their consultation, the doctors can identify which of the elements is out of whack and recommend dietary and lifestyle changes, herbal remedies and massage. And they can tailor your therapy sessions specifically to you, right down to the herbs used in the warmed sesame oil (both imported from India).

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