Ayurvedic Spa Review - Elemental Embrace Wellness Spa Retreat

Detoxification is a key concept at Elemental Embrace, and it can involve anything from a day visit to a week-long stay in one of the spa's twelve guest rooms or two suites, each decorated differently in a serene palate and natural fibres. (The remarkably comfortable mattresses on the California king and twin beds - your choice - are specially made in India of a coconut fibre and foam sandwich.)

The detox process aims to rid the body of chemical toxins and cleanse the mind of stress, while re-balancing the dasha. It centers on alternating daily Abhyanga Mardana and Shirodhara massage treatments supplemented by other specialized treatments as recommended by the Ayurvedic physicians. These extras can include everything from colonic hydrotherapy to a dozen specialized massages using herbed ghee (clarified butter) or sesame oil, to herbal steam baths. Guests undergoing a detoxification program are fully monitored by the Ayurvedic doctors, at least one of whom is on call at all times. Resident guests typically opt for a two-or three-day destressor package.

If this is beginning to sound too much like a visit to clinic and not enough like a spa experience, don't be misled. A few days at Elemental Embrace would make a great start to a honeymoon. Ayurvedic massage is as hedonistic as it is therapeutic.

The Abhyanga Mardana is done by two therapists working in unison on either side of your body using long, sweeping strokes and precise pressure, and what seems like about a litre of warmed, herbed, sesame oil. The table on which you lie naked or nearly so, comfortably bolstered with rolled towels, is a massive teak plank, channeled along its edges like a carving board to catch the excess oil. The light is very dim and the music is Indian and hypnotic.

An hour and a half of this leaves you feeling totally relaxed, energized and clear-headed all at the same time. Shirodhara treatment involves an initial massage in similar style, followed by forty-five minutes of something that has to be experienced to be appreciated - as you lie on the teak table under warm towels, your eyes covered with a cotton cloth, warmed, herbed oil is trickled from a large copper urn back and forth across your forehead, back and forth, back and forthŠuntil you lose track of time and everything else. The treatment ends with a few minutes in a steam cabinet with more herbs and finally a shower.

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