A Haven for Spiritual Health

Indian mysticism is continuing under a heading called health tourism’.

Take the Mahakumbh mela that had around 60 million people at Allahabad congregating under one sky. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, watching a Kumbh procession is to witness the greatest show on earth without rehearsal. The shout and cries of ash-smeared SADHUS (holy men) mingled with the neighing horses, trumpeting elephants, bellowing bulls add to the orchestra of celebration. Nobody can leave the spectacle emotionally untouched.

India has been able to keep alive many elements of its ancient culture that is now being practiced the world over. Yoga, for instance, is the result of thousands of years of study. Unlike many health programmes in the West, yoga has been tried and tested and has proven its worth as a system promoting well being and health.

With tension and stress becoming a part of our daily life, Rishikesh, a Starting point for treks to Himalayan pilgrimage centers such as Badrinath, Kedarnath, is known as the yoga capital of the world.

Indian treatments are without doubt different from their western counterparts, distinctive in their attempts to successfully blend ancient systems of meditation, yoga and ayurveda with treatments such as aromatherapy. ‘Aromaveda’, at the Oberoi, Raj Vilas in Jaipur, for instance, is one such instance. Joining the fray are other deluxe hotels also. Visitors to the South India are drawn to copper sauna and royal herbal bath.

Spas, incorporating international treatments such as Swedish and Thai massages, are slowly but surely coming up in India. The first of a few resort spas (In The Himalayas), offers a mind-body-soul a approach for those on a voyage of imperative discovery. Even Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, has international spas in the suburbs to rejuvenate stressed corporates.

India still embodies a spiritual dimension which is virtually non-existent today in a world that simply disregards spiritual knowledge as irrelevant, or illusory, probably pathological, no part of the real world. From flex logy, acupuncture, magnetic therapies to modern gyms dotted around the country, India can provide it all. Health tourism, today, is definitely a sage brand and one that works.