General Information
- “Brahma Muhurtha” is roughly between 4.00 AM and 6.00 AM & we request you to be up by this time & hence you will have to go to bed early which is re-emphasized later. At around 5.45 AM or earlier, after cleaning/gargling your mouth with water, you can drink around 100 to 200 ml of room temperature water sip by sip. After 15 minutes at 6.00 AM, you would usually have warm medicine to drink.
- “Dasanakanti churnam” a medicinal tooth powder made of 15 herbs is highly suggested instead of toothpaste. Can buy more in the pharmacy if needed.
- Post lunch activities (optional) at 2.00 PM (Suspended for COVID) & the evening pooja (optional) at 5.30 PM. On Thursdays, if you are interested to join our “Bhajans” (Suspended for COVID) we request you to consume the medicines before the Bhajan so that there would be a gap between the medicine and the prasadam offered at around 6PM.
- You would be finishing your dinner around 7.45 PM & the best time to go to bed would be around 9 PM. Early to bed helps to get up at “Brahma muhurta”.
- We request NOT to engage our staff for your personal work like drying your clothes, buying things from the market etc but in dire need, our office can help.
- Smoking, Using Tobacco, Taking alcohol or any other types of drugs are prohibited during the treatments, inside the campus.
- There would be a lot of free time here and our approach is NOT to keep you engaged with back to back treatments or activities. Our suggestion for you is to introspect and internalize and have some "do nothing moment" rather than getting occupied.
- Attend to natural urges without any delay. These include yawning, burping, passing flatus, thirst, crying, urination and evacuation. At the same time do not initiate the urge forcefully. Inconsistency in the time of evacuation is common during the treatments.
- In any event of leaving the campus gate, you are requested to take consent from the Vaidyas.
- Your blood pressure would be monitored regularly and weight would be measured once a week and our primary weighing machine stationed near Room 4.
- If you are a diabetic, you should monitor your blood sugar with your glucometer frequently and if you do not have one, we can help to check with our glucometer for INR 50 per check.
- We are staying amidst the forest and despite electric fencing, wild animals including elephants, wild boars, wild buffalos, deer, peacocks and snakes are present and so we request you to be watchful & not to go for walks and treks into the wilderness & to the non-illuminated area during nights. However, it is safe to the extent of many staff/ families staying on the campus with kids.
- Our “Green” campus works on solar energy but the air conditioners in all rooms & water heaters of rooms 4 and 9 are on regular government electricity support which tends to be erratic. You can contact our office in case of any inconveniences with it. While using Air conditioners, please keep the doors and windows closed.
- Our admin person meets you every Monday and Friday to make a list of maintenance & Non-Medical issues/requirements. If any most essential items need to be purchased, you can request them at that time and it would be arranged with a service charge of INR 50. However please hire a taxi for your urgent or specific requirements that cannot be sourced locally.
- You can contact our office to know the packages of internet connection if needed.
- We have taken the best possible safety precautions like Face shields, Frequent mask changes, Hand wash, Foot wash, Hand Sanitization, Fogging Disinfection, UV-C light disinfectant, Surface & Air Disinfectant sprays and so on for COVID.
Laundry & Ironing
We have two types of Laundry facility:
- Self-use Washing Machine For self-use, we have a washing machine kept in the Laundry area (near Room 4), which will wash and semi-dry your clothes. Method & steps to use is described on the machine. Washing powder is made available in the amenity box and Rs 50 is charged for each wash. There are two covered cloth hanging facilities, one inside the laundry room and a semi-covered one just outside the laundry room
- Getting it washed and folded ((Discontinued due to COVID) Leave 15 to 25 clothes in the laundry bag to our Bed making staff on Tuesdays or Fridays. The clothes would be washed, dried and folded and returned within 3 days (maximum). The charge for this service is INR 250 per wash which would be added to your bill.
We have an ironing board and an Iron box or Dry Iron Machine placed in the Laundry Room and you are free to use them when needed but please make sure you switch them off after use. We do not have any other option to iron clothes.
Beddings or Bed Linens & Towels
Bed linens and pillow covers are changed on Tuesdays and Fridays for Rooms 1 to 9. And on Wednesdays and Saturdays for Rooms 11 to 16 and two cottages.
We take special care to provide clean bedsheets and pillow covers but as the treatments are primarily oil-based, there can be minuscule oil stains or smell retained on the bedsheets and pillow covers even after going through the industrial laundry with biodegradable chemicals. In case you are not comfortable using them, please feel free to bring your sheets and pillow covers and you can take care of laundering your personal linens.
We have placed 5 Brand new towels in your wardrobe, & they are washed once to remove the starch and your name or initial is marked on the corners to identify when you put them for drying.
Treatments Related
- During treatment, there is a common misconception that people will feel good day by day, but, with all the changes happening due to the treatments, one can experience a sense of tiredness during the treatments and in a few cases, there can be a temporary exaggeration of the presenting complaints also. Fluctuations in blood pressure, blood sugar, sleep, evacuations, hunger etc are common.
- The extent of cure and time taken to experience the betterment depends upon the nature of a person, the nature of the problem, the chronicity of the problem, associated ailments, thoroughness in following the physician’s advice, mind-set of the person, faith of the person and even the astrological time cycle which is influencing the person.
- Generally, it is seen that most patients respond positively in 3 months after the completion of treatments as it takes time to get back to the normal rhythm. Ayurveda is not a magical system that can guarantee a complete cure for all diseases with Panchakarma treatment.
- Ayurveda treatments are not immediate alternatives for the allopathic medications & one cannot expect to quit one’s allopathic medicines by the end of or during the treatments. One might have to continue the regular allopathic medicines until advised otherwise. Please ensure you bring the regular supply of allopathic medication for the entire duration of your stay.
- We cannot predict the outcome of the treatments as it could be appreciated only after the treatments and we do not offer any guarantee on outcome.
- During Ayurveda treatments, to enjoy the goodness of the treatments, we request you to be an observer of treatments and processes instead of inquisitively trying to analyse the treatments even if you are very knowledgeable about Ayurveda. Also, we do not encourage questions like “What is my Prakriti? What is my Dosha?” etc which are huge topics that need a lot of explanation.
- A peaceful and positive mindset is required to get the full benefit from the treatments. Avoid subjects, topics, activities, thoughts & situations that may contribute to the provocation of emotional outbursts. Faith in Ayurveda and faith in the treatments offered will also contribute to results.
- Treatment type, Treatment time, Treatment room and allocation of therapists are at the discretion of the vaidyas and it is not possible to meet your special preferences. There are various treatment slots during the day from 9.00 AM until 5.15 PM and your treatment slot can be at any time based on the availability.
- We do not suggest any physical activity that produces exertion during your stay here for treatments, including the strenuous Yoga Asana as they would be counterproductive for the treatments. However, you can continue a few simple and relaxed asana practices. It is very gentle and slow which does not exert you. Pranayama and Meditation can be complimentary. Sexual activity is contraindicated. Reduce energy drain by avoiding intense discussions, gadget usage, internet usage, reading, writing or thinking.
- Time consumed for a bath after your treatments have a crucial impact on our operations in addition to impacting other person’s treatment, therapist availability and so on. We want your bath to be finished maximum in 15 minutes & the steps involved are mentioned below.
- Step 1- Therapists will wash your head with your shampoo( from your room) using lukewarm water (NOT HOT) & (for ladies) tie the head with a towel - 5 minutes.
- Step 2 -While sitting on the stool, the bath paste will be applied all over the body. Therapists would rub the paste on your back and legs & you can rub yourself on your upper body and private parts. Therapists pour hot water and help you wash off the bath paste.- 8 minutes.
- Step 3 - You can stand holding the handrail and more water would be poured to help wash the leftover bath paste- 2 minutes.
- Optional Step 4 but not preferred- You can use more water to wash by yourself for max of 2 more minutes or go to your room to continue and finish with a quick bath.
- Another additional bath/shower in your room is not advised as it might lead to Flu/Common Cold because of oil-based treatments. If you are very particular about your morning bath, we suggest taking a quick body wash leaving the head. Please note that we have to stop the external treatments if one has or a tendency to have a common cold/ flu, Nasal congestion, running nose, sinusitis or fever.
- Please wear easy to remove garments to the treatment room and you can either come back with the same garment and change to new in your room or take a quickly wearable garment as a change cloth.
- Immediately after the treatment/ bath, we suggest you dry your hair completely. You can use a towel/hairdryer and a few hair dryers are available in front of room 4 on Use & return basis.
- Exposure to Sun, wind, rains, cold weather etc is not advisable during the treatments and if you wish to have a gentle and relaxing walk around the campus, please select the time of the day which is suitable. The night walk is contraindicated as it would be cold, and also because of the animal movements in this locale. There might be a few treatment specific restrictions in addition to this & it will be explained by the Vaidyas as & when required.
- If you are in an Air-conditioned room, please do not use them at least 2 hours before and 2 hours after the main treatments. Even during the other periods please use them close to the outside temperature and only on need.
- Women on the menstrual cycle (bleeding) will not have any external treatments and female patients are advised to plan their arrival considering the menstrual cycle.
- Considering the time needed for recovery as mentioned in the previous point, on getting discharged from here and on reaching home, we advise you to take a good period of rest after discharge before gradually going back to the normal busy routine of life.
Food Related
It is so important to adjust the quantity of food based on your hunger at mealtime & at the same time you have to stick with the mealtime. If you are NOT hungry at a particular mealtime, take just a few spoons of food. Of course, it’s not good to waste food but in the context of better treatment, don’t feel bad about waste, we will use it to feed animals and birds. In case you need more food, please do not hesitate to call the canteen and reception.
Simple Breakfast would be served at around 7.45 AM. Lunch at around 12.30 PM would be more elaborate as it’s the main meal of the day. Dinner around 7.30 PM would again be simple. A snack and/or a hot soup (immunity building drink) would be served around 4 PM. We suggest you skip the snack if you are not hungry however we highly recommend you to consume the soups which are specially included for immunity building.
Avoid overeating and eating before the previous meal has been digested. Avoid eating too quickly and swallowing without chewing.
We take an extra workload on us to serve the food in your room and not in a common dining area where one would tend to externalize by talking, socializing etc. We wish your eating should be like a ritualistic/ meditative process with a complete focus on food and completely connected with the food. Even while having a meal with others, please do not talk or discuss.
We do not provide a zero sugar diet even to a person who is diabetic as cutting sugars is just escaping from the problem but our approach is to handle the problem.
We do not provide any special meal options. We have our standard 10-day diet plan that mainly focuses on being conducive for treatment. Our meal also has Onion and Garlic sometimes and it would NOT be possible to give an Onion-Garlic free meal or any customized meal.
The quantity of serving is fixed and we would NOT be able to serve extra items, however, we have two food serving sizes. By default, you would be getting a “big-serving” and if needed, you can inform the vaidyas to change it to a “small-serving”. Switching the serving size can be accepted a maximum of twice.
The food that is best suited during the treatments will be served by us with the utmost care and efforts to bring varieties and also to suit different palates and we advise you to get along with our food regime. In case of issues in taste, quantity, varieties etc you can buy fruits like Pomegranates, Apples or Guava for standby and our office can help you buy them if available locally with a small extra service charge but they cannot do it immediately and it may take one or two days to arrange.
Water-Related
Water should be consumed based on thirst. Do not over drink.
Drink at least 100 ml to 200 ml of water with food, sip by sip and it can be even more but try to avoid drinking water immediately after food for around 50 minutes.
The water for drinking and cooking is purified by (RO) Reverse Osmosis or 5 stage Purified Rainwater (the best water as explained in Ayurveda) and the ones served in the Jug is non boiled water RO water, and we want you to use boiled water for drinking. Not just for hygiene purposes but as a treatment recommendation. You can consume the boiled water warm or even cooled down to room temperature. Please note that the water boiled and kept overnight is not good for consuming the next day as per Ayurveda.
People staying in Room 1 to 9 can use the RO machine (with Hot and Normal water) located opposite to Room 2 for your drinking requirements. Water is made available near Room 15 for people on the first floor. A water storage container is kept in both cottages.
Water Jug and thermos are provided to store your water. Additionally, a water kettle is provided to boil water. Dishwashing liquids and scrubs are made available in the Amenity box for cleaning your utensils as we do not change them until discharge.
After the Meal
Immediately after each meal, take a relaxed walk/ stroll with around 50 steps and not more than 100 steps. After this, it's better if you rest for around 20 minutes in a sitting/ reclined position or if you feel very tired, you can lie down on your left side.
DO NOT SLEEP as sleeping during the day is contradictory for the treatment and more specifically sleeping after food is TOTALLY against the treatment however if one is too sleepy after lunch, then sleeping for 20 minutes approx in a sitting/ reclined posture is acceptable.
If one is so tired during the day or sleepy because of insufficient night sleep, one can sleep for around 1 hour but definitely before lunch or much after lunch. The best time for it would be around 11 AM or at around 4 PM.
Medications Related
You can consume the medicines with a prayerful mind, preferably after a short prayer to Lord Dhanwantari. It’s your choice to brush your teeth before or rinse/swish your mouth before the 6 AM medication.
Please keep the used medicine containers in the tray and leave it outside your room before 10 Am.
Unlike Modern Medicine, our medicines do not have a one to one relationship with the disease but are based on the concepts of Ayurveda which are holistic and we would not be in a position to explain the purpose of each medicine prescribed.
Information about some basic formulations that you might consume during the stay here.
KASHAYAM:Kashayam is an ayurvedic formulation prepared by taking aqueous extract by boiling raw herbs/drugs in water. They are water-soluble extracts of herbal ingredients.
KWATHAM/KASHAYAM TABLET:Kashayam tablet is a relatively new concept in Ayurveda introduced in the last 20 years after research to make Kashayam into tablets. Kwatham tablets are introduced to improve the shelf-life of the product and also to be more convenient for the intake.
ARISHTAM and ASAVAM:Arishtam and Asavam is a concept based on controlled natural Alcoholic fermentation of herbs in a sugar medium. They become more efficient with time or do not lose potency easily.
CHOORNAMChoornam is a fine powder of herb or combination of different herbs in a specific proportion. Herbs mentioned in the classical formulation are cleaned, dried thoroughly, pulverized and sieved.
GRITHAM:Gritham is a Medicated ghee where fat-soluble and water-soluble active substances are extracted from herbs by boiling the herbs with prescribed liquids like water kashayam, Juice milk etc along with kalka (fine paste of herbs) until the water content evaporates.
GULIKA / VATI / GUGGULUGulika is a formulation in which the powder of raw drugs (Herbal or Herbo-minerals) triturated together with certain Kasayam or Juice or even honey and prepared in the form of pills or tablets.
LEHYAM and RASAYANA:Avaleha or lehyam is a semi-solid formulation usually called Ayurveda Jam. It is prepared by boiling prescribed herbs with juices and decoction, with the addition of jaggery, sugar or syrup from sugar candy until the correct consistency is achieved and later, spices and glee are added in the mixture. Honey is also added in few lehyas after the preparation reaches room temperature.
THAILAM:Tailam is a Medicated oil prepared by adding Kalka (herbal paste), kwatha (herbal decoction), and drava dravyas(liquids) to oil in specific proportions & subjecting them to a specified heating pattern. By this process, one can ensure the transformation of the active therapeutic properties of the ingredients to the solvents.
TIPPING THE STAFF:As we believe that tipping the staff might drive people to show partiality in the care and service offered, we wish you DO NOT tip them directly. If you wish to tip them, you can drop it in an envelope with your name in the staff fund box in the office and it would equally reach all the workers here except the managerial personnel. Though we prefer to offer this equally to everyone, if you wish to offer special tips to a particular person, you can mention a note in the envelope.
SDJ Ayurvedalaya is strictly an Ayurveda treatment centre/Hospital, hence please do not expect the facilities of a resort.
WE WISH YOU A COMFORTABLE HEALING STAY AT SDJ AYURVEDALAYA!