We have built a world that treats exhaustion as a badge of honour. At Kalari Rasayana in southern Kerala, I’ve been learning a 5,000-year-old antidote, and it starts in the most unexpected place.
For five mornings of my Panchakarma, breakfast doesn’t exist. Instead, at 8am, my doctor hands me a glass of warm, golden, medicated ghee, and I drink it.
It is not how I imagined a wellness retreat would look. But Kalari Rasayana is an Ayurvedic hospital, and here, I’ve come to understand that Ayurveda doesn’t begin on a massage table. It begins with an idea our always-on culture has almost entirely forgotten: that health is not simply the absence of illness, but a state of balance between body, mind and the world around us.
Ayurveda, from the Sanskrit for “knowledge of life”, is India’s traditional system of medicine, and it is a government-regulated medical system in India today. For thousands of years it has been telling us something we keep trying to ignore: we cannot keep running on empty and expect to thrive.
The life-changing power of habit
My first lesson came from my yoga teacher.
“Don’t do yoga because you’re motivated,” he told me on my first morning. “Do it because it’s a habit.”
It is one of the wisest things anyone has said to me in years. We tend to believe transformation comes from grand gestures: the dramatic resolution, the heroic burst of willpower. But motivation is fleeting. Habit is what carries us.
Ten days into my 14-day stay, after silent meals, gentle yoga punctuated throughout the day and twice-daily visits with my doctor followed by various treatments and anti-inflammatory cuisine, I’ve seen the truth of it in my own body. Real change comes from showing up for the same simple rhythms, day after day. That, I’ve realised, is the very heart of Ayurveda.
A room full of people running on empty
I came here, like so many others, to give my body a complete reset, lose weight, and learn new healthy habits to lead a more active life.
People come from around the world because of a wide range of mental and physical health issues. Some are healing from grief. Others are addressing weight, skin or digestion issues and chronic illnesses. And many, perhaps most, are simply burnt out. They are the successful, the capable, the people who kept saying yes until their bodies finally said no.
The minimum stay here is two weeks, but many patients on my visit were planning to stay three or four.
At the centre of my stay is Panchakarma, Ayurveda’s premier treatment for deep physical and mental detoxification. It isn’t a spa detox. It’s an intense reset in which every oil treatment, herbal brew and deliberate rest period forces the body and mind to slow down completely. That’s precisely why it must be supervised, as mine is, by my consultant Ayurvedic doctor, Dr Belraj DN, who is both caring and kind.
And let me be honest: it is not for the faint-hearted. But people come here with a strong determination to improve their health and a deep belief in the power of this ancient healing.
(Read Part One of my stay: Leaving My World Behind At Ayurvedic Hospital Kalari Rasayana)
Ancient wisdom for modern lives
Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit words: ayur, life, and veda, knowledge. Its roots are traditionally traced back more than 5,000 years to the Vedic period in India. That makes it one of the oldest systems of medicine still practised today, and makes me reflect how the answers to our most modern problems are often very old.
Kerala has always been Ayurveda’s stronghold, with knowledge passed down through families of hereditary physicians. Its monsoon season is considered the ideal time for treatment, when the body is thought to be most receptive. My treatment is guided by Dr Belraj, who completed a five-year Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery followed by a long internship. He has been practising for 17 years, and is one of six doctors here at the hospital.
Balance is the goal
The idea at the core of Ayurveda is disarmingly simple: we are each born with a unique constitution, or prakriti, made up of three doshas.
Vata (air & ether): The spark of movement and creativity. In balance, it brings agility and inspiration; out of balance, it turns into restlessness and anxiety.
Pitta (fire & water): The drive of digestion and ambition. In balance, it fuels transformation and sharp focus; in excess, it ignites inflammation and irritability.
Kapha (earth & water): The foundation of structure, steadiness, and stamina. In balance, it anchors and nourishes; left unchecked, it accumulates as heaviness and stagnation.
In this view, illness begins when we drift out of balance through diet, stress, the seasons or simply the relentless way we live. The goal of treatment is not to silence symptoms but to address their cause.
I was assessed as mainly Kapha, with Pitta as my secondary dosha, so my regime is designed to lighten and clear. Nothing here is one-size-fits-all. Even the ginger-infused hot water delivered to my room twice a day is prescribed for me alone and so are all of my meals and twice-daily treatments. When did any of us last receive care this personal?
The benefits of drinking ghee
Ghee is clarified butter, the golden fat left when the milk solids are removed. In the West we cook with it. In Ayurveda it is medicine: the classical texts rank it as the most prized of all the sneha, the oils and fats used in treatment.
Because ghee is fat-soluble, it’s considered an ideal carrier for herbs, taking their properties deep into the body’s tissues. The medicated ghee I drink, called ghrita, is slowly cooked with herbal decoctions chosen for my condition.
The treatment is called snehapana, which literally means “drinking fat”. Each morning, instead of breakfast, I drink a measured dose, followed by warm water, a slice of lime and a lime leaf to clear my palate. The dose rises every day. In Ayurvedic thinking, the ghee lubricates the body from within and loosens accumulated toxins, known as ama, so they can be drawn back into the digestive tract and eliminated.
Each glass is harder to finish than the last, and that is exactly the sign Dr Belraj is watching for. On day five he told me I’d reached “saturation” and could stop.
Panchakarma: the five actions
The ghee is preparation for Panchakarma, the best known of Ayurveda’s cleansing therapies. The name means “five actions”, describing five classical ways of clearing the body. Not everyone undergoes all five therapies. Dr Belraj tailored my treatment specifically to my constitution and condition, guiding me through the traditional three stages:
1. Purvakarma (Preparation)
Internal oiling with herbal ghee, followed by external treatments and steam to loosen deep-seated toxins. My early days began with body scrubs and hot herbal compresses to ease inflammation, moving into long, sweeping massages with herb-infused oil, slow-brewed on site over open fires for days. After the ghee phase came twice-daily two-hour massages, daily yoga, and three gentle meals.
2. Pradhanakarma (Main Treatment)
The targeted cleanse itself. For my body, Dr Belraj prescribed virechana.
3. Paschatkarma (Recovery)
The delicate restoration phase. Meals restart with thin rice gruel (kanji), slowly rekindling the digestive fire step by step.
The part nobody puts in the brochure
Nothing tested me more than virechana, my purgation day.
It was a long day spent close to my room, and it asked something of me that our culture rarely allows: complete surrender. It wasn’t pleasant. But I was well supported by Dr Belraj and his team, who checked on me throughout and kept me well hydrated and rested. I kept reminding myself that this was the day everything the ghee had loosened was finally leaving my body.
By 4pm I felt well enough to leave my room, go for a walk and enjoy a full meal again.
Blissful Ayurvedic massages
The treatments became even more blissful after purgation day, when Saranya and Archana, my two massage therapists, began the famous shirodhara: a slow, steady stream of warm oil poured over my forehead. Later came takradhara, the same ritual using medicated buttermilk.
“You will be like a baby,” Archana said as she massaged my face. She was right. It’s hard to describe how deeply relaxing it is to lie there as the warm liquid flows across your brow and your thoughts slowly slip away.
Next was njavarakizhi, a hot compress made with Kerala’s medicinal njavara rice cooked in milk and herbs, then bundled in cloth. As it warmed, it became a soft, gelatinous mixture that glided over my body. It’s the final stage of the treatment and, as the doctor explained, “This part is all about nourishing your body.”
The real gift came the next morning. I woke from a deep, restorative sleep, the kind so many of us have forgotten is possible, feeling lighter than I have in years. My head was clear, my skin was glowing, and I felt calm, as if something heavier than toxins had been cleared away.
I came to Kerala thinking I understood Ayurveda. I’m leaving knowing I’d barely scratched the surface.
This treatment has been nothing short of life-changing.
The wisdom of surrender
When I arrived, a fellow patient told me simply to trust the process and surrender to it.
After five days of ghee, my purgation day, oil, yoga nidra and silence, I understand what she meant. We spend so much of our lives at war with our bodies: overriding their signals, pushing through their fatigue, treating rest as a reward we haven’t yet earned. Ayurveda asks us to listen to ourselves, our minds and bodies, more closely.
FAQ: Ayurveda and Panchakarma
What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of medicine, traditionally traced back more than 5,000 years. The name comes from the Sanskrit ayur (life) and veda (knowledge). It treats health as a balance between body, mind and environment, and it is regulated in India by the Ministry of AYUSH.
What are the three doshas?
Vata (air and ether), Pitta (fire and water) and Kapha (earth and water). Your unique combination, called your prakriti, shapes your diet, treatments and daily routine. I was assessed as mainly Kapha, with some Pitta.
What is Panchakarma?
Panchakarma, meaning “five actions”, is Ayurveda’s best-known cleansing therapy. It moves through three stages: preparation (oiling and massage), the main cleansing treatment, and a gradual recovery. Your doctor chooses which of the five treatments suit you.
Why do you drink ghee in Ayurveda?
During snehapana, the preparation phase, you drink an increasing dose of medicated ghee each morning. In Ayurvedic thinking, it lubricates the body and loosens toxins (ama) so they can be eliminated during the cleansing phase. I reached “saturation” on day five, but everyone is different.
What is virechana like?
Virechana is supervised therapeutic purgation, traditionally used to clear excess Pitta. Because I’m Kapha with a strong Pitta influence, it was the right fit for me. It meant a full day resting in my room. By 4pm I was out walking, and the next morning I felt lighter than I have in years.
How long does Panchakarma take?
Patients at Kalari Rasayana stay for 14, 21 or 30 days, depending on their condition and goals. My stay was the minimum stay – 14 days. And, I would have happily stayed 21 days or more as the benefits are so rewarding.
Is Panchakarma safe?
Only under the supervision of a qualified Ayurvedic doctor who assesses you first. It isn’t a DIY detox. Speak to your GP before starting, particularly if you have a medical condition or take medication.
Why is Kerala famous for Ayurveda?
Kerala has a long tradition of hereditary Ayurvedic physician families. Its monsoon season is considered the ideal time for treatment, because the body is thought to be most receptive then.
Find out more about Kalari Rasayana here: https://www.cghearth.com/kalari-rasayana
Robyn Foyster is staying at Kalari Rasayana as a guest of CGH Earth. The Carousel retains full editorial independence.
