January 23, 2025 | Sri Lanka,

Internet free, Ayurveda retreat. Is it worth?

Beatrice Lessi

“You are air”

Says the beautiful, soft-speaking lady in a sari, my Ayurveda doctor, after tapping my arms with her fingers for some minutes. I look down her beautiful Sari, and notice she is barefoot.

“You can’t catch me, I guess”, I answer.”But I might be able to catch you, because you are wearing no shoes”.

“I am working and love my work, I don’t need to go anywhere else! You are different. Always one the go, always somewhere else”, she points out.

It’s my first day in Galle, Sri Lanka, where I came to try an Ayurveda retreat. My Ayurveda consultation lasts almost a hour.

The doctor suggests we use no internet. Wifi is of course available, but one week without connection is a good way to really relax. Will it be hard without news and social media?

I had heard many times about these people who go to Asia on a discovery of themselves, and spend some time for the body and mind. Well, I am NOT that type. I always pride myself of not being esoteric and of knowing myself rather well, so up to now I’ve avoided anything too spiritual.

This time, my husband is interested in losing weight and try Ayurveda too, so here we are. We have a rational excuse.

Quite honestly, we pick the place just because many others are booked up: this seems a rather popular thing to do. It’s called The Fortress Spa & Resort.

But it ends up being perfect for us. It isn’t too hardcore. Just 5 km from here, for example, there is an Ayurveda hospital where people go for 3 or 4 weeks, to do various treatments, all day long. Instead, we get to decide what we do. Our doctor says that we are on holiday, first of all. Which means enjoying.

We decide to fill our offline time with walking, reading, and fitness: weight training, running and yoga.

Massage is every day, and every time different. My husband is also prescribed steam baths, to help flush toxins and lose weight.

I am prescribed different massages involving warm oil, and that means I’m going to be oily the whole week, hair included.

This will prove to be very pleasant, but rather messy and not easily doable at home. My oil, the doc warns me, will also be a bit smelly. But it’s especially made for me and will help ease my osteoarthritis. So I’m in.

The week, needless to say, goes very smoothly. From time to time I meet the doctor è and she tells me some tips to intergrate to my daily life.

Avoid coffee or keep it to the minimum. Drink water before drinking a coffee to limit the bad effects

Always drink water while sitting. Never drink water while standing (this is very hard for me!)
Sleep 8-9 hours per night and not less
Use black seed oil for self massage (to ease osteoarthritis). The massage should be soft and delicate.
Eat fat fish and seeds for Omega 3
Add seeds to breakfast
Add also protein, especially from beans. Moonbeans are the best for my type.
Pasta is ok and rice too, but I shouldn’t exaggerate. To my husband, she suggests he only has carbs at breakfast and lunch. Dinner should be anyway the lightest meal of the day
A program or different massages is planned. I will have warm oil massage, pressure points massage and a the one with oil on my forehead. My oil will be diffeent from the oil that my husband will have. Oil mixtures are customised.
She asks if we are interested in yoga, and since we are, she books us a yoga master.
She suggests we meditate, which I do, but my husband seems quite skeptical, so he leaves it. I am going to meditate anyway.
A tip by the yoga master: always go downstairs backward. It’s especially good for the knees (to prevent pain ) and for balance. Hold yourself to the rail to make sure you don’t fall.
Always get up from bed by rolling on the left side, not right (also from the yoga master)
Stick your ass out when squatting or lifting weights or doing dog’s position in yoga; in general we crunch too much and don’t keep our back straight.

Since we are on a roll, we also decide to eat no sugar for the whole week (something I actually do regularly). The results? We eat much more fruit, to stop the cravings.

And what are the main consequences of no internet? We read more. More sex, obviously.

A very nice feeling of having plenty of time. The ability to get into a book really imagine the characters and what is described. For me, it is like going back to the time I read much more.

I also notice animals more: a turtle near the beach, squirrels climbing trees, birds of any shape and size.

At the end of this experience, we go to the gym and the tv is on. The first news. I see Trump’s face. Yes, internet free was very, very worth!