At 11 am in the morning I stand outside iron grill gate leading to a vast compound with green leafy trees everywhere and people walking briskly. The guard checks for my and my mom’s name in the list and lead us in. We are escorted to the reception and greeted by very kind lady draped in beautiful saree and flowers in her hair.
Avoid coming here repeatedly, thus saving time and money by learning the lifestyle which is more important than your concern for healing/cure,” a green and white board on the campus of Jindal Naturecure Institute advises sternly.
This is my first introduction with the Institue where I will be staying for next 15 days.
I fill in the required forms and punch my credit card details thinking I have to make most of it and have to walk out healthy and energised from here.
My friend have been reccomming me for years to visit Jindal for my migraine but honestly I never had enough time or faith. But this year, after being dependent on allopathic medicine for almost 3 years, I decided to try alternative medicine and visit Jindal with an open and positive mind.
I am sent to visit my naturopath doctor Dr. Kiran after basic height, weight, BMI checks. As I enter the cabin, I am surprised to see Dr. Kiran is a guy. With a kind face and smile on it he asks me about my concerns. After hearing me out patiently, he explains to me about my course of treatment here and advise some blood tests as well.
Naturopathy is based on the belief that the human body has the innate ability to heal itself. It focuses primarily on how diet, exercise, and healthy lifestyle interventions, in combination with natural therapies, can restore and optimize health. Key treatments here can be broadly classified into naturopathy, Yoga, Chinese accupunture and Physiotherapy. For my migraine, I was advised to focus on accupunture and yoga specifically.
Over the next 15 days, my schedule was something like this.
Waking up at 5:00 am with the bhajans being played on music system deployed in every room. After 10 minutes of laying lazily in bed, I finally get up, change to my yoga clothes and head towards yoga complex. It feels windy and cold on a January morning.
It’s time for morning yogic kriyas (techniques) like getting medicated ghee drops in nose, jalneeti, gargling and cleaning eyes with trifala eye tonic. Believe me after all these kriyas, you are no more sleepy and wide awake.
Then it’s time for laughing session and medication. We in a herd of around 100 people head towards Jaimal hall where we will practice laughter followed by brief session of meditation.
After these sessions we head back to yoga complex for our one hour Yoga session from 6:35 to 7:35 am. I have been practicing yoga for almost 2 years now hence, I loved this session. You are given a prescription of Yoga asanas by your yoga instructor which describes which asans you should be doing and which are a straight no no for your specific medical condition for example in my case I use to avoid hasta chakrasana, bhastrika, greeva abhyas.
7:45 am is breakfast time in Jindals where we get handful of glassful of breakfast. Everyone is on a different diet. Mine use to be milk and bread, one considered to be the best. Others use to be satieted with one glass of tender cocunut water or bitter gourd juice.
After breakfast is the time for naturopathy treatments. Well, everyone is prescribed plethora of treatments basis their ailments but the one treatment that is most dreaded is colon therapy. It is believed that healthy gut is essential for a healthy body. I understand dertook 3 colon treatments una span of 15 days. As dangerous it may sound, it is not so. The therapists are well trained and ease you with the process.
Other than colon cleansing, there are mud packs, baths and massages to name a few. Well, Jindal is quite famous for its massages like Kerali, herbal, hot stone and salt glow.
Massages are believed to relieve stress, stretch the muscles and balance the body’s flow of energy.
Lunch starts at 11 am here. Fasting is practiced by a lot of inmates here to get rid of bodily toxins but you are supplied with enough juices and smoothies throughout the day to keep going. The meals may contain roti and vegetable, soups, salads and steamed vegetables and served as per your diet chart. It takes couple of days to acclimatize to the new diet but by the end of your stay you will start to relish the organic and fresh fruits and vegetables grown here.
Post lunch is the power nap time. It is advised to take rest during the day to restore your energy. After rest, I use to go from my accupunture sessions. It is believed that accupunture really helps in migraine and I dedicatedly took 10 sessions.
Evening use to start with wholesome juice and dates for me. Then I use to go for a 10km walk with my mum. The walking trail is beautiful with trees and farm on both sides, views of sunset by the lake and occasional peacocks on the trail.
There is a tradition of early dinner from 5:45 to 6:30 pm here where you meet and greet people asking each other one question for sure – Which day is it ?
After dinner there are multiple activities one can do like playing indoor games or simply walk. Ours favourite use to be reflexology, which is a accupunture trail with hot and cold water and helps you relax.
In a nutshell I walked out of the campus after 15 days feeling rejuvenated, energised, healthy and ready for a new beginning. It will be unfair to expect miraculous results but Jindal surely helped me to embrace a healthy lifestyle. It helped me to get over my dependency on medications and I lost not just me weight there, I left behind negative energies and vibes as well. It’s the first retreat that I went to and I hope to visit retreats like this every year.
In the end I would just like to say don’t hesitate to give it a chance. You might end up feeling differently.