An Ayurvedic Spa

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• An Ayurvedic Glossary
• Five Important Ayurvedic Herbs 

“Ayurvedic medicine is not just to make you feel good; it is to infuse a level of silence, consciousness, and being in every cell of the body—that same ­silence you feel when you go into the mountains.”
—John Douillard 

Mary Beth Shea, a Chicago stock market executive, tried everything from acupuncture to biofeedback to rid herself of chronic fatigue syndrome—with spotty results, at best. She went to health spas two or three times a year and returned feeling great—for about a week. Then she picked up a virus in a Jamaican spa that sent her right back to square one.

“I couldn’t get better,” she says. “My digestion was out of whack, and I was extremely fatigued.”

After reading a book on Ayurveda, the traditional healing method from India, Shea booked a six-day rejuvenation package at The Raj Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center in Fairfield, Iowa. The Raj is a spa-like center that offers individual consultation with Ayurvedic doctors and customized purification treatments to help remove the effects of stress, fatigue, and environmental toxins. There, Shea enjoyed organic vegetarian meals, herbal oil massages, relaxation treatments, herbal steam treatments, and yoga and meditation classes. She also attended lectures on preventive health care, ranging from home beauty tips to suggestions for healthy and stress-free living. Shea discovered that her diet—which had seemed healthy enough—was wrong for her constitution. She returned to Chicago a new woman.

“The results were instantaneous,” Shea says. “I had a significant increase in energy. I have not been sick since that first visit to The Raj over a year ago. Of course, I continue the routine at home.”

 A day at the spa 

A typical day at The Raj, an Ayurvedic health center in Fairfield, Iowa, would go something like this.

8 a.m. Vegetarian breakfast.
10 a.m. Consultation with an Ayurvedic expert (known as a vaidya), who determines individual body type and designs a program of herbal treatments.
10:30 a.m. Rejuvenation or beauty treatments such as warm herbal oil massage or steam treatment followed by a rest period spent listening to music.
1 p.m. Vegetarian lunch.
2:30 p.m. Attend a lecture on preventive health care.
4 p.m. Yoga class.
5 p.m. Relax or meditate.
7 p.m. Vegetarian dinner.
8 p.m. Attend a lecture on stress-free living.
9:30 p.m. Sip hot, spiced milk before going to bed.

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