And on the 5th day she visited the Ashram!  Raj picked me up at 7:00am for our hour drive to the Art of Living International Center. It was early morning and the farmers were just setting up their displays of fruits and vegetables for the day.

I had called to schedule treatments a few weeks ago and was told that the only appointment I needed to make was with the Ayurveda Doctor to take my pulse (Naadi Pareeksha).  After that, she would determine what treatments I would need in order to balance my imbalances (perfect Ayurvedic protocol).

Knowing that I was in good hands I just sat back and enjoyed the drive.

Raj had driven someone to the ashram a long time ago but had forgotten just exactly how to enter the compound.  After trying 3 different driveways and getting direction from a couple of people, we finely found the correct entrance.

How could we have missed this humongous sign?  Oh and have I mentioned just how huge the billboards are here?  The billboards are about 4 to 6 times as big as the ones in the United States. I am not sure what the thinking behind this is, usually traffic is at a halt, no chance you would be driving too fast to read the message of a small billboard!  Check out the size of the motorcycle to the sign! Anyway, I guess we are here!

Beyond the cinderblock fence we could see many buildings with a similar look to them all belonging to the Ashram.  We were actually going to the Sri Sri Ayurveda Pañchakarma Center. As we were driving into the driveway, again guarded by guards, I noticed two doctors administrating some sort of therapy to two young boys in the driveway.  I did not want to be disrespectful and take pictures, but I could not figure out what they were doing to their heads.

Anyway, I got out of the car and there was no one around to give me any sort of direction.  I wandered over to these buildings which looked like maybe treatment rooms and asked an attendant if he could give me directions to the registration desk.

The building here with the bamboo shades was registration.  There I met Shailesh Sharma who checked me in and then sent me to the building next door for my 8:30Am appointment with the doctor.

After a short consultation she determined I was of Pitta constitution and that I had a Pitta/Vata imbalance.  She questioned me for quite some time about congestion. I reassured her a few times that I never experience congestion and she seemed very surprised.  She asked if my lungs had ever been damaged.  I thought this was an odd question, and assured her that they hadn’t.  I told her I do a lot of cardio exercise and had never had any problems in this area. She felt sure that at some point damage had been done to my lungs.  She asked me if I ever smoked, and I told her no, that I found it a disgusting habit.  She said, well think about it a bit, maybe something will come to you.

I agreed and then she filled out a form for me to later pick up some herbals at the health center later.  She then called the café to order my breakfast which she gave them the imbalance I was experiencing so that they could fix just the perfect balancing breakfast for me. (Pulse needs to be done on an empty stomach so I had not eaten yet this morning and was starving!)

So I walked over to this open-aired building where I found a little café.  I was greeted and told to sit where I would like and they would bring me my food.  I told them my name and they answered, “Yes we know”.  Alrighty then.

This was my breakfast.  It was a small cup of chickpea curry, appan (a sort of pancake) and a small cup of sweet herbal tea. Breakfast was very tasty, especially the tea.  It had a taste that I had never experienced.  The breakfast looked small, more like a snack.  I ate with my hands, a skill I was continuing to fine-tune and enjoyed it very much.

As I was sitting in the eating hut I really wanted to take some pictures, but was not quite sure if it was appropriate.  Some boys and an older gentlemen are standing on a porch of a building right next to the eating hut just gazing at something, not sure what! They were standing behind screens on poles. The screens were adjustable and were set up by the therapist for the patients as new ones wandered out to that area.  They were swaying from side to side.  What is this?

Anyway, having not gotten directions to where my therapies were to take place in a few hours, I just wandered back to where the reception desk was.  On a bench outside the doctor’s office sat the doctor.  She asked how my breakfast was and asked if I would like to sit and talk while waiting for my treatments to begin. (You cannot receive treatments for 3 hours after eating).  How lucky was this!  We had a very nice conversation about Ayurveda, she told me her background, I told her mine.   I learned a lot just sitting there.  When she brought up my “lung” condition again, I told her that my parents had smoked and that my 2 sisters and brother and I had been exposed to car-fulls of cigarette smoke growing up.  She said that very well could be what damaged my lungs.  That sort of bummed me out, but did not surprise me.

As the time got closer to treatment time, I went to wait in the waiting room of the treatment building.  These two pictures were displayed.  I thought they were so pretty that I had to take pictures.

Soon my therapist came to get me to take me back to her room that faced a small courtyard.  As I entered the room I was surprised and thrilled to see the equipment.  It was awesome.  I don’t know how old it was but it was beautiful.

The mahogany massage table was gorgous.  You might be able to see the indentation at the top of the table where your head can sit down in it.  For my massage, or abyanga, I was told to strip naked and after I did she tied a string around my waist and then placed a leaf like thing between my legs which she then tucked under the string, as if to make a pair of panties. She then said a prayer in sanskrit and then had me lay on the table face down. She then untied the string and removed the pieces.  Then she poured in large amounts, very very hot oil.  It’s smell was intoxicating.  She then began the abyanga.  I asked her what kind of oil it was and she said “medicated”!  I thought to myself, of course it is medicated but with what.  Then as if my mind opened up, I realized it was triphala.  Super, super, super strong triphala oil. You all know how much I love triphala oil.  Well, then I melted.

After about an hour of incredible massage, I was told to get into the steam.  I had wondered what this piece of equipment was (my therapist was not too talkative).  So I slid off the table and as she lifted the lid and placed a towel over the hot slats, I placed myself on the grill, and she closed the lid (my head stuck out the top).  She said “let me know when you get hot!” What!  I had just had hot oil poured and rubbed on my body for an hour…and I am pitta…and it is the pitta time of year…and the pitta time of day…and I am post menapausal….is this really what the doctor ordered up for my “vata/pitta” imbalance? I am already hot!

Thank God I am pitta.  Because only a pitta could have ego’d it though 15 minutes on the grill (I actually loved every minute of it).  When the 15 minutes were up, it was back on the table for shirodara.  She slides a fixture with a very old copper pot over to the table (you can see it in the picture).  Then for another 45 minutes, she danced hot oil in patterns over my forhead to the ryhthm of mantras in the background.  And again I surrendered.

After my treatments it was lunchtime even though I was not hungry.  Shailesh told me that people come to the ashram just for the lunch and that I should go and experience it. So I did.  First they brought a small bowl of cream of corn spinach soup.

It was yummy and I am now full.

But the main lunch was still to come.  The waiter brought me a big plate of food, of which I was not familiar with much of what was on it (pictured below).  Clockwise you will see Carrot Thoran, small pieces of carrot sort of like a baby carrot salad.  Next is Baby Corn Tiranga, this was very good, but like the carrot thoran, it was only a bite or two.  Next was the Bhindi Puli Curry, which I figured out was a green curry with okra.  The Pomegranate Salad was easy and refreshing.  The Banana Stem Raita was my least favorite of the foods, not much flavor and an interesting texture.  Then of course there was Rice and Chapatti.

The doctor and I had had a long discussion about drinking milk as for me it is such a staple in my diet.  She suggested one glass a day and along the same lines, 1 teaspoon of ghee a day.  So happy to see milk on my plate, I gulped it down only to after one swallow realize that it was not milk.  Sour!!!!  It was Buttermilk. Well I know every meal has to have all 6 tastes (Salty, Sweet, Sour, Pungent, Astringent, and Bitter).  Here is the sour!  I have used buttermilk in recipes, but never drank it on its own. I am afraid I had to pass on that one. The last thing on the plate was Wheat Payasam, which was so sweet and yummy; I ate the entire small bowl and wanted more!

After lunch and before I left the ashram, I wanted to visit the meditation center.

To get there, I walked through these gates and found a dirt road which went straight up a hill.

When I got to the top of the hill I found the meditation center, the Vishalakshi Mantap.