[Advertising] Just in time for the beginning of the year, I’m out of energy. I love Christmas, the holidays with the extended family, New Year’s Eve and then our mill brunch, which we traditionally give for all friends on Epiphany – usually in 2 shifts. But after that, I collapse like a soufflé. Everyone comes back from vacation refreshed – and I am just about to manage my daily routine. And the year lies ahead of me.
A small ferry boat brought us to Barbern Sands.
An Ayurveda cure builds up!
The best medicine for me against this is to go far away, lots of sun, exercise, healthy food and spoiling. In other words: an Ayurveda cure. That’s exactly why I go to Sri Lanka to Barberyn with my husband. At first it was an insider tip from friends. Now we are visiting it for the third time. I am exhausted – and on top of that I have an inflamed eye. And a freshly operated toe. But I am vaccinated, boosted, tested and can’t believe that I will land in Colombo in 9 hours.
My favorite resort: The Barberyn
So far we’ve stayed at the Barberyn Reef – located on a reef where you can swim beautifully. Actually, I don’t like to call it a hotel. It’s kind of like Schloss Elmau (hotel with alpine view in Bavaria) in the tropics to me: old wood, simple furnishings, traditional treatment rooms that reflect decades of experience. And a dining room open to the garden. A magic mountain by the sea.
Thursday, January 13, 2022
The trip was perfect – after a car ride that we slept through, we boarded a small ferry boat that took us to the Barberyn Sands – simply dreamlike – another world – gliding like this through the tropical vegetation of the lazily flowing Bentota Ganga. The Sands is located on a narrow headland between the river mouth and the sea. The sun rises over the lagoon and sets over the sea. Rarely have I experienced such golden-orange sunsets like here.
The last meters to the hotel.
Jet lag and the loss of a night gave me a hard time the first two days. The program started with a consultation on the very first day…
The diagnostics are important
The Ayuvedic doctor measured my blood pressure and pulse for a long time, and looked at my eyes and my tongue. I am weighed – ouch 55 kg – 3 gained because of Christmas, Corona and foot surgery. Her diagnosis: Too much Vata – which manifested itself in lack of concentration and jumpiness. I noticed myself thinking about a thousand things at once and yet not moving forward. Pita is also elevated – this surprised me because I was often tired – so I suspected Kapha. But my irritability…. doesn’t matter. It will all be better now, thanks to a long list of ayurvedic herbal medicine, which we get daily from our compartment. Powders, pills and tinctures are wrapped (each in parchment by itself) into the daily schedule. No plastic – maybe the way it used to be in Europe back in the days. They are made in their own pharmacy – or rather herbal kitchen.
This is where the herbal packs are put together.
I wander past the rows of glasses with indefinable contents. This is also another world. At the entrance to the herbal bath, I am fascinated by the archaic shimmering cauldron of herbs: It looks like Obelix’s magic potion.
A bubbling cauldron of herbs- fascinates me!
Just as important as this medical treatment is the „treatment“, the physical applications. This really compensates for all the bitter pills! Men are massaged only by men, women by women. My masseuses wear striped dresses and white aprons around their round middles and look a bit like pre-war English nurses. They are of radiant gentleness and rounded motherliness. Although they are half my age.
The women are of radiant gentleness and plump motherliness.
„My“ masseuse takes me by the hand like a child and leads me into the massage room. I wear a slip that will be the color of a pond after the cure and that I will never take off during the treatment. Also, a green sarong cloth in which I wrap myself – or am wrapped – on my way from one station to the other.
I wear a green Sarong cloth during the treatment.
The massage starts with a head massage and lots of sesame oil. I am sitting in front of a mirror and my masseuse starts to drip and rub some oil on the crown of my head. Subsequently, she massages my head, neck, shoulders and back. I notice how tense my shoulders are. After that I move to the couch, my face is gently massaged. That’s what distinguishes the whole massage: strong yet gentle. At some point I realize that it is exactly this massage that the physician Leboyer practiced on babies. And which I tried to practice on my middle child. With little success: it was simply too cold.
This is the place where I get my massage.
Back to the Barberyn: Now a second masseuse joins in and the synchronous massage begins. Ayurveda believes that this is the only way to keep the two halves of the body in balance. An incredible experience that leaves me feeling like a freshly skinned crab (odd comparison, I know). I feel as vulnerable as a child – and am taken by the hand again.
Now come the herbal packs. I lie in the garden under a kind of pergola. Hot or warm paper packets from orange to brown are packed on my neuralgic points: abdomen, kidneys, joints, liver. Cucumber slices are put on the eyes. Also good. I am covered and allowed to rest, surrounded by the sound of the sea, the chirping of birds and the squawking of chipmunks. It’s amazing that doing nothing can make you this tired.
After about half an hour comes the last act: the herbal bath. I go – supplied with a kind of sesame almond bran and shampoo – under the shower and rub off the remains of the packs, try in vain to free the hair from oil and then go into the hand of the „bather“. In a rectangular marble basin, which I reach via a staircase, the hot herbal decoction is filled about 30 cm high. I sit down – and lean against the wooden frame in the tub. Then I am doused almost rhythmically: the upper body, legs, feet, arms. Just everything, according to a recurring order. After that I am almost finished. The treatment lasted two hours and I am tired – from doing nothing. Now a few more pricks during the acupuncture, half an hour of rest.
When would I ever have so much time for myself at home?
You want to know more about my stay? Click here for day 2!
sunset on our first evening