A calm treatment room prepared for therapy

Hands, oil, breath,
water and time.

Every therapy here is prescribed rather than chosen from a menu — and several will be recommended against if they do not suit you.

How Treatments Are Chosen

There is no treatment menu.

Guests sometimes arrive expecting to select their therapies in advance, the way one books a spa. We work the other way round: the consultation comes first, and the therapies follow from it.

What is listed below is the full range available. Which of them appear in your week — and in what order — is your practitioner’s decision, revised as they observe how you respond.

Ayurveda

5 therapies

Warm oil therapy being applied during a massage

01Warm oil, four hands

Abhyanga

A rhythmic full-body oil therapy — the foundation of most Ayurvedic programmes and the treatment guests remember.

Warm, herb-infused oil is applied in long, unhurried strokes that follow the direction of the tissues. Two therapists usually work together, which is why the rhythm feels continuous rather than sided. It is traditionally used to soften dryness, ease tension held in the body, and settle the nervous system before deeper work.

Typical duration: 60 – 90 minutes
Often chosen for: Physical tension · Dryness and restlessness · Preparing for deeper therapy

Warm oil flowing during a traditional head therapy

02A continuous stream

Shirodhara

A steady thread of warm oil poured across the forehead — one of the quietest hours available to you here.

The name describes what happens: shiro, the head; dhara, a flow. A fine, unbroken stream of warm oil moves slowly across the forehead for the length of the treatment. Guests frequently lose track of time entirely. It is commonly chosen where sleep is broken or the mind is difficult to quieten.

Typical duration: 45 – 60 minutes
Often chosen for: A mind that will not settle · Disturbed sleep · Mental fatigue

03Herbal steam

Swedana

Gentle herbal steam therapy, usually following oil application, to open and soften.

Steam infused with seasonal herbs is applied after oil therapy, when the tissues are already receptive. The treatment is warm rather than intense and is always paced to the guest. It is traditionally used to ease stiffness and support the body’s natural clearing processes.

Typical duration: 20 – 30 minutes
Often chosen for: Stiffness and heaviness · Following oil therapy · Cold, damp seasons

A traditional wooden Ayurvedic treatment table

04The classical sequence

Panchakarma

A structured, practitioner-led cleansing sequence undertaken over a longer stay and always individually prescribed.

Panchakarma is not a single treatment but a staged process — preparation, the principal therapies, and a carefully managed return to ordinary eating and activity. It requires time and supervision, which is why it is only offered on longer stays and only after consultation. Your practitioner will tell you plainly if it is not appropriate for you.

Typical duration: Across a 14+ night stay
Often chosen for: Longer stays · Guests with prior Ayurvedic experience · Seasonal reset

A therapist applying precise pressure during treatment

05Points of vitality

Marma

Precise, light pressure at the body’s traditional vital points.

Marma work is quieter than it looks. The therapist holds and releases specific points with very little pressure, working slowly through a sequence. It is often used alongside oil therapy where tension is localised — a shoulder, a jaw, the base of the skull.

Typical duration: 45 minutes
Often chosen for: Localised tension · Post-injury stiffness · Subtle, low-intensity work

Breath & Sound

2 therapies

Singing bowls arranged for a sound session

06Resonance and rest

Sound Healing

Singing bowls, gong and voice in a darkened room, usually lying down.

Sessions are simple: you lie down, covered and warm, and the sound moves around the room. Most guests describe it as somewhere between deep rest and sleep. It is a good entry point for anyone who finds seated meditation difficult.

Typical duration: 45 minutes
Often chosen for: Difficulty with seated meditation · Evening wind-down · Group practice

07Pranayama

Breathwork

Structured breathing practice — the most portable thing you will take home.

Sessions move between slow, lengthening practices and more active ones, chosen to suit the time of day and the guest. Unlike most of what happens here, breath practice costs nothing and needs no equipment, which is why we teach it deliberately rather than in passing.

Typical duration: 30 – 45 minutes
Often chosen for: Stress and agitation · Focus · Building a home practice

Nature

2 therapies

A natural stone bathing pool surrounded by planting

08Warm and cold water

Hydrotherapy

Contrast bathing and warm mineral pools set within the gardens.

Alternating warm and cool water, taken slowly and never pushed. Our pools sit among the gardens rather than indoors, so the experience is as much about being outside as about the water itself.

Typical duration: 30 – 60 minutes
Often chosen for: Circulation and warmth · After movement sessions · Muscle recovery

Sunlight falling through forest trees on a quiet trail

09Time under trees

Nature Therapy

Slow, guided time in the forest — walking is optional, noticing is not.

A guided session that is closer to sitting than hiking. Guests are led a short distance into the trees and then simply stay there, with prompts to notice what is around them. It is the session guests are most sceptical about beforehand and most attached to afterwards.

Typical duration: 90 minutes
Often chosen for: Screen fatigue · Reconnecting after a busy period · Anyone new to meditation

Nourishment

1 therapy

Hands holding a simple bowl of food at a wooden table

10Food as practice

Mindful Nutrition

A consultation and a kitchen session — understanding what suits you, and how to actually cook it.

Half conversation, half practical. The first part covers your constitution, your season and your current routine. The second happens in the kitchen with our chefs, working through a handful of dishes simple enough to repeat at home on an ordinary weeknight.

Typical duration: 2 hours
Often chosen for: Irregular eating · Cooking for one · Understanding constitution and food

Vedic Wellness offers lifestyle, nutrition and traditional wellness experiences. Our programmes are not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment, and individual experiences vary. Please consult your physician before beginning any new wellness programme, particularly if you are managing a health condition, are pregnant, or are taking medication.