When it is time for a reset, try the Vaidyagrama retreat

Jyoti Pande Lavakare

IT’s a varied group of people from across the world who find their way to Thirumalayampalayam, a dusty hamlet in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu.

Each of them is looking for something to energize body and mind — lift them from the trough into which they have slipped.

There is an 84-year-old Kutchi grandmother whose family moved back to India from Zanzibar in the 1960s. A data scientist who flies in from Australia every couple of years. A  young Englishman accompanying his young brother who has been here for over three months. Middle-aged corporate lawyers and craft and textile designers.

Here at Vaidyagrama, a facility run by classical Ayurveda physicians, they hope to find a solution for malaises that seem to defy standard medical diagnosis because everything seems fine and yet nothing is.

I have been in and out of here and written on my experience before, but this time it is different. Tatwa Tantu is a special six-day retreat which  educates, nurtures and rejuvenates through the doorway of the senses, leading to seeing our interconnectedness with the five elements of fire, air, water, earth and space. 

The retreat helps you experience and understand the thread of reality interwoven through the sacred knowledge of temple architecture, vaastu, sangeet, nritya, sculpture, Ayurveda, Jyotish and Vedanta through renowned artistes, gurus and scholars.

The experience has been curated by Vijayalakshmi Vijaykumar of Indica, an organization that protects and nurtures intangible Indian heritage. She has pulled together many exponents of traditional disciplines.

 

 

It is a breathtakingly long list: Bharatanatyam maestro Dr Padma Subrahmanyam; heritage architect and conservationist Meera Natampally; Vedic scholar Dr Rangan Ramakrishnan; Alankara Shastra expert Dr Vishwanath M.V., Vedic astrology educator, numerologist and Tarot card expert Shirdi Nath Tekur; flautist B. Vijay Gopal; Ritambhara Retreat founder and Chanakya University Director Dr Vinayachandra Banavathy; and Upanishad, Brahmasutra, Bhagavad Gita and Purana scholar Swami Sadatmananda Saraswati.

At the same time you can learn to weave flowers, make kumkum, vibhuti or a clay Ganesha, create a kollam, learn yoga or just listen to stories from our ancient, sacred texts. And, of course, receive daily customised Ayurvedic treatments based on your doshas.

The next Tatwa Tantu September 6 to 12, 2025 Enrol now for the next Tatwa Tantu. It comes at no extra cost if you are planning to take Ayurveda treatments at Vaidyagrama. But there are just 60 rooms so book now and fit it into your treatment plan. The retreat explores the thread of reality by delving into profound concepts like the trigunas and pancha bhutas, complemented by timeless Puranic stories and teachings. During the retreat, you can enjoy a blend of insightful talks, yoga nidra, bhajans, and kirtans conducted by renowned experts and artists, seamlessly integrated with your personalized healing experience. Highlights of the retreat Guruthi Puja on 6 September : A powerful ritual honouring Mother Goddess Shakti, designed to remove obstacles and invite divine blessings. Enlightening talks: Distinguished speakers such as Dr Rangan Ramakrishnan, Dr Guha Viswanath, Swami Taponidhi Saraswati, Dr Ramadas, and Dr Vinayachandra Banavathy. Dance workshops: Padmashri Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and Bharatanatyam exponent Rukmini Vijayakumar.

Vaidyagrama is a little oasis of tranquility in rural Tamil Nadu, less than 10 km from its border with Kerala. Coming here over the past three years has changed many of my perceptions of life.

Have you ever had that moment in your life when you felt utterly weary in body, mind or spirit; a period when you felt burnt out, drifting, burdened with life’s journey and the weight of just living each day? That feeling may have passed over time, or it may have worsened, requiring more attention.

These moments can happen to anyone and at any time. It can happen when you’re still young and fit, when you’re older, or perhaps after you have survived a life-altering disease, accident or traumatic event. Or maybe you are going through the transition of menopause. Perhaps you are standing at a mid-life crossroads, or merely questioning your purpose on this earth.

That’s when you think longingly of emerald trees swaying to the tune of an inner song, of tropical beaches with miles of unbroken silver sand and turquoise waters, of crystal waterfalls, sentinel cliffs and still lagoons, wildflowers dancing in the wind or the rhythm of the rain on the earth. All calming thoughts that, unsurprisingly, pull you towards nature in all its primal, bountiful glory. Because ultimately, you too are a child of nature and the universe is reminding you to become one with it. This is when you need to reboot yourself, to reset, rebalance, rejuvenate and come back to your life feeling more productive and alive.

There are many places that will help you reset. One of them is Vaidyagrama.

I first came here in 2022 after a bad bout of shingles and a worse bout of the virulent Delta strain of Covid. Steroids had battered my body which was already going through menopausal changes. This was soon after losing my mother to lung cancer. The trauma of watching her gradually suffocate to death had triggered thyroiditis which nudged my thyroid gland from hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism. Worse, I was struggling with increasing tailbone pain.

The pandemic had left my body tired, my mind restless, my nerves jangled and my soul jaded. And once the effects of the steroids wore off, my old pains returned with a vengeance along with many new ones. I needed a place to rest, to just be.

I can’t say that my pains have vanished, but Vaidyagrama’s healing energy has improved things, and definitely increased my resilience and ability to bear that pain more lightly.

But more than anything else, Vaidyagrama made me realize that I’m not alone. I found my tribe here — a self-selected collective of people who are looking for different things — whether it be a larger sense of purpose or some deeper meaning in their lives, or just rest and recovery or even perhaps to shed a few extra kilos or get relief for a chronic condition.

In most cases, what begins as an external reset and rejuvenation ends up as an inward  journey, the beginning of a spiritual quest that they never knew they needed. Even the most temporal person can get pulled into the spiritual energy of a place which has been set up with an intention that is pure and given to service. You can see it in the genuine smiles of the therapists, the gentle enthusiasm of the gardeners, cleaners and cooks and other uniformed staff and the sincerity with which they do their daily jobs.

“I was a mess the first time I came here. Totally burnt out,” says Kirti Khanna, director, Neilsen ANZ, who comes here from Sydney every two years. “This place revived me.” She is planning to send her parents here. “If they’ll come without me,” she says wryly. “This is a journey one needs to take alone. This time too, even the week before coming here, I was filled with anxiety and dread, crying for no reason. I just knew I had to reset. I feel so much better now.”

 

 

“Everyone needs this kind of reset at some point in their lives,” says Rahul Singh, a line producer who runs Filming Indo and is accompanying a two-woman crew of the Dutch public broadcasting channel, KroNcrv. The three of them are in Vaidyagrama for a recce before they start filming a documentary in December on the principles of Ayurveda from its ground zero. The film will also feature Kottakal Arya Vaidyashala in Nattikka in Thrissur district of Kerala across the border. “It’s not just at a physical level or an intellectual level. This place touches you at every level, deeply, spiritually,” says Rohan Ghosh-Roy, a corporate lawyer who is in the process of relocating back to India after a year away in the United States. 

If, like me, you believe your body is a vehicle for your soul to experience the world, then just as you would service your car annually, you must service this body too. Even if you don’t believe that, scientifically speaking, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress can slow down the pace of ageing at a cellular level. And what better way to do that than at Vaidyagrama.