ON A SHOWAROUND OF VANA, a super-exclusive wellness retreat bordering a forest in Dehradun, I stepped into the balcony of a suite and was shocked to find a massive cobweb, its house-proud owner giving me a nonchalant stare. “We believe in co-existence,” explained Prasoon Kumar Pandey, the property’s general manager.
It’s gestures such as these—and there are several— that define Vana’s off beat approach, charting a unique course in the world of wellness. For one, rather than succumb to a single system of healing, Vana promotes several—Ayurveda, Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan) and yoga among them—taking the best of each with an open mind. That sort of thing takes a rare passion to pull off. In Vana’s case, its guiding light is its founder, Veer Singh, whose enthusiasm for wellness led him to create this retreat and steer it to a very high standard.
My room—which I fancied as a ‘monastic cell’—was spacious, stylishly subdued in décor, and tech-friendly. There were beautiful views of the mountains under a deep-blue Dehradun sky, but I had to keep the balcony door shut owing to our tailed relatives who love Vana nearly as much as us. Imagined as a forest, guests are referred to as Vanavasis or forest dwellers here. Certainly, we all looked the same, clad in our white Abraham & Thakore kurta-pajamas that are compulsory in the public spaces.
I was welcomed with a Tibetan Kunye massage. Vana is one of the few dedicated centres of Tibetan wellness in the world. The Dalai Lama blessed it at its opening. The therapies, I soon figured, are of the ‘serious’ kind, less ‘indulgent spa’, more ‘healing medicine’.
Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Outlook Traveller.
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Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Outlook Traveller.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Chutneys For Every Season
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BADGE OF HONOUR
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RAILS OF THE Raj
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THE RHYTHM OF BOLLYWOOD
FROM THE RAILROAD THRILLER MISS FRONTIER MAIL 1936) TO SHAH RUKH KHAN DANCING ON A TRAIN IN DIL SE' 1998), TRAINS HAVE GIVEN UNFORGETTABLE SONG SEQUENCES TO MANY HINDI FILMS
MEMORY'S OASIS
REMEMBRANCES OF GROWING UP IN SEALDAH RAILWAY OFFICERS COLONY IN KOLKATA
A FAREWELL × TO FLAVOURS
FROM CUTLETS AND RAILWAY MUTTON CURRY IN DINING CARS TO THE UNREMARKABLE FARE AVAILABLE TODAY, THE JOURNEY OF FOOD ON THE INDIAN RAILWAY IS FASCINATING
HERITAGE ON THE TRACKS
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HIDDEN LIVES
SPANNING 65,000 KILOMETRES THROUGH DENSELY POPULATED INDIA, THE RAILWAYS ARE A BACKDROP TO COUNTLESS STORIES. 'THE UNRESERVED' BY FILMMAKER SAMARTH MAHAJAN CAPTURES A FEW
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