Kerala

WHEN YOU VISIT KERALA it feels as though you’re in an undiscovered part of India. It’s uncommercial, and everywhere you look is green.

Travelling from the airport to our hotel, we felt that we were seeing a ‘real’ part of the country, not somewhere just for the tourists.

I was visiting with my husband Adarsh and daughter Mahi, three. It was going to be a family holiday with a difference.

I am interested in ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine that dates back 1,000 years, and had picked our hotel, the Leela, because it’s well known for its spa with ayurveda treatments.

While we enjoyed the usual elements of a family holiday - being by the pool and walking along the beaches - each day I slipped away to the spa to learn more about the ancient medicine.

And, as it happened, a lot more about me. Our room overlooked the Indian Ocean. There were lots of coconut trees in the gardens and we were often given fresh coconuts and could drink the water out of them.

On the first morning, I met the ayurveda doctor at the spa. It is his job to tell you what your body type is and figure out where you’re going wrong with your lifestyle. I was not a straightforward case.

An undiscovered part of India

The doctor told me that I was a certain body type living the life of another body type. This was making me extremely imbalanced. There are three body types in ayurveda: kapha, vata and pitta. A typical kapha, like me, has good skin tending towards oiliness.

They have lustrous hair, bright eyes and strong nails but they can be heavy-set and overweight, with slow metabolisms. Vata people will be thinner with dry skin and dry hair, and their nails will be quite brittle. Pitta people are the luckiest of all - usually lean and athletic with good digestive systems.

However, they tend to be quite fiery by nature.

My husband happens to be pitta. Having diagnosed me as kapha, the doctor said I was living a vata lifestyle: rushing about, being extremely busy and active all the time.

I was not being true to myself. He pointed out that many people look at their bodies only from the outside. But ayurveda looks at the body from the inside. What is particularly important is what you eat and how that affects your body on the inside.

Many people tend to forget that. We ate ayurvedic food to suit our body types, although my daughter is too young to be diagnosed as a particular type. We were served only vegetarian food.

I also felt a buzz after each session

This, we were told, helps treat your imbalance and you do not need to worry about weight. Dishes included rice, lentils, pesto, roasted vegetables and tofu. But we were never given a pudding - they are not considered ayurvedic.

They’re big on massages at the Leela spa. They are good for circulation, so I was put on a course to reduce the dryness of my body caused by imbalance. They were wonderful and I had two a day. I was also recommended a couple of herbal medicines: one to balance my hormones and another to balance my digestive system.

If this is not strong you do not get the nutrients from your food. I tried meditation, yoga and breathing exercises calledpranayama. I did yoga pretty much every day and each session ended with pranayama. You’re always more relaxed on holiday but I began to feel muchmore so. The breathing exercises were so calming.

I started looking at the world around me differently. My brain stopped whizzing with a thousand thoughts and, even though I felt calm, I also felt a buzz after each session.

During our eight days in Kerala I got into a routine of waking at 6.45am, going to the spa at 7am, eating breakfast with the family,taking my daughter to the kids’ club, going back to the spa, then being together in the afternoons.

The kids’ club was great: they had lots of toys, drawing, painting and dance. There was a treasure hunt one day and a magician.

Although there was a bar, we didn’t drink alcohol as it doesn’t fit in with ayurveda, which is all about feeding your body good things.

I had mas-al tea every morning but no other caffeine. We hung out by the hotel’s beach and went for walks on the public beach, which was very atmospheric - the resort of Kovalam is a bit hippy really.

My husband did not go for massages or meditations, but he did go on a detox. Each morning he drank a tea medicated with certain herbs which helped mobilise lots of toxins in his body.

Everything will happen, if you just stay calm

This made him tired, and I told him: ‘That’s because it’s working. You’re detoxing.’ At the end, he felt great.

I felt much better, too. I’m certain the week worked for us and when we left, I felt much more focused.

The treatments were not overwhelming or overly serious. The pranayama continues to help me with stress. Back in London in our normal lives I can be stressed out throughout the day.

But I’ve learnt that stressing does not help: you do not have more time to do things if youstress. Everything will happen, if you just stay calm - and all it takes is five minutes a day.