If you have ever been to Sri Lanka, you know that the people there are more than pleased to welcome you with their open hearts and bright smiles.
Lucky me, the trip from Penang Island via Kuala Lumpur to Colombo just took about 3 hours.
Time I spent with reading, counting clouds and exchanging stories with strangers. As I arrived at the tiny airport in Colombo, I was reminded to my days back in Indonesia. The airport was simple and easy manageable which helped a lot while arranging the papers for my tourist visa. Since I already applied for it online two days before my departure I just had to fill out the arrival card and was through immigrations 10 minutes later. Waiting for my driver took a bit longer.
Half an our of asian rubber time later, I was sitting in an air-conditioned car while holding a nice little welcome bag in my hands. A small bag filled with a bottle of water and a tiny cushion presented by my driver.
” We have a bit of a drive in front of us” , he told me and smiled.
So I took of my shoes and made myself as comfortable as possible while enjoying the sightseeing through my back window. Busy little roads, markets filled with all different kinds of fruits, kids playing football right next to street.. yes this country truly reminds me of my life on Java.
Two hours later I arrived happy and excited at the hotel in Beruwala. As I walked into the entrance hall I immediately liked the modern and open but still traditional concept of the hotel. I had a really early flight and arrived at the hotel around 12 noon. So I checked in and already enjoyed my first and very delicious lunch sharing it together with my little chipmunk friends. The Rooms are simple but nice and reach from one bedroom to twin beds over to sea view bungalows, so you can choose whatever your heart desires.
My very first appointment was set at 2pm where I met with my doctor who also remained my contact person for the rest of my stay. So after pulse and tongue diagnoses and a couple of questions later she confirmed my Dosha ( Ayurvedic Type of Personality ) and my treatment plan was set. I was ready to go.
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M Y U S U A L D A Y
6.00 am Morning Yoga
8.00 am Breakfast
7.30 am Accupuncture
– Resting Time –
10.00 am Fresh juice
10.45 am Full body oil massage
11.15 am Herbal stamps
11.30 am Steam bath
12.00 pm Herbal packs
12.30 pm Herbal bath
13.00 pm Lunch
– Resting Time –
17.00 Thai Chi
19.00 Dinner
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Special treatments like Shirodhara where often placed towards the afternoon around 3pm. Shirodhara is a really gentle ayurvedic application to clear your head and strengthen your Intuition. This method can heal eye diseases, Sinusitis, Insomnia, Tinitus, Vertigo and many more. The name Shirodhare comes from the Sanskrit words shirt ( head ) and dharma ( flow ). Here warm oil is poured over your forehead which ends in soft tripping on the point between your eyebrows, the place of your third eye chakra. The whole process is done for about 20 minutes two days in a row. During this time you are not allow to shower but get a chic turban instead ( to wear for 2 days ). Sounds silly.. but is a true blissful experience!
3pm was also another time to remember since that`s the time where the herbal pills and tonic`s were ready to pick up. You also didn`t want to miss out tea break at 3.30pm which was a nice opportunity to get in touch with other participants at Barberyn.
In the afternoon you could again join different activities like Yoga or Thai Chi where I finally signed up for my first class and super enjoyed it. While yoga was held inside a wonderful spacious yoga shala with hindu paintings all over the place, Thai Chi like it open air and was held on an amazing rooftop pavilion overlooking the sea ( amazing sundowns!! ) If you feel not to tired you have also the possibility to go on organized day trips around Beruwala.
Dinner was served à la carte while for breakfast and lunch you could choose from a big buffet with a wide range of Sri Lankan goodies inspired by Ayurvedic cuisine. Since you were treated on all levels you might get certain food recommendations while an advice against others. On your table was your daily herbal medicine together with an information tag about your health condition. To keep this information personal but still inform the waiters and dietitians, everything is written in their local language Tamil. So have fun decoding it 😉
Long story short my summary at the end:
I would totally recommend this retreat to anybody who is interested in Ayurveda and wants to keep up a balanced healthy life! Even if I saw really fancy newer looking Ayurveda hotels down the beach, I would book this hotel without an eye wink again. Knowing that Barberyn Reef was the first Ayurveda Hotel in Sri Lanka, I felt good hands. In total I stayed there for 7 full days but would definitely recommend to stay a minimum of 10 days. The best would even be to have 2 full weeks to get the best results out of your treatments. Of course I made some pictures for you, but less than I wanted since most of the time I was covered in oil.
For a more detailed Information please have a look on their personal website
If you are interested to learn more about Ayurveda? Then stay tuned for my next blog post coming soon!
L O V E & Healing
yours Lisa
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