VANA – EXCLUSIVE TO HEALING HOLIDAYS
Healing Holidays can arrange a 7-night Ashram programme from £2,480 per person sharing, including British
Airways flights, transfers, full-board accommodation and inclusions of the Ashram programme. For more details,
visit: healingholidays.com/gq Tel: 020-7529 8549.You find yourself
speaking to everyone
you come across, and
sitting with perfect
strangers at meal-timespajamas – your normal clothes are not
allowed. And while you may initially
wonder if you’re going to be told the
date of the End Time, you’ll instead
have a meeting with an in-house doctor
who’ll prescribe your treatments for
the week based on your requirements
(mine: stress and anxiety relief, with
some weight loss as a bonus). And this
is how you will spend your time: fitting
in the optional group classes between
your one-on-one scheduled treat-
ments (mostly various forms of tra-
ditional Tibetian massage or the kind
of enforced-yoga where an instruc-
tor personally bends you like a Stretch
Armstrong toy), thinking of meals as
an actual activity in themselves, and
without even once requiring the mental
energy to wonder what you’re going to
wear, because you’re always wearing
the same thing.
The most stressful decision I ever had
to make was pondering if I had enough
time for a swim before my scheduled
yoga nidra class (it’s commonly known
as “sleepy yoga” as it takes place with
your eyes closed while lying on yourback: several people fall asleep and at
least one person will snore).
The outfits also make it perfect for
the solo traveller. While some of Vana’s
guests visit as couples, and others as
small groups, many of Vana’s visitors
arrive alone for some much-needed
rest, relaxation and muscle-tenderising.
But the very silliness of everyone
dressing in all-white somehow breaks
down social barriers: you find your-
self speaking to everyone you come
across, and sitting with perfect stran-
gers at meal-times on the large commu-
nal dining tables.
There are outside outings too, which- if you’re anything like me – you’ll
clasp with both hands, as while Vana’s
grounds are serene they can also prove
a little sterile, and without them it’s
possible to spend your entire trip only
seeing India from the backseat of a
minivan that takes you from the airport
and back. And while you should only embark on some treks
if you have a reasonable level of fitness – the morning hike to
Barlowganj is stunning but not for the weak-hearted – others
are must-do no matter the state of your ticker, like the trip to
an Aarti ceremony in Rishikesh on the banks of the Ganges,
the holiest place for Hindus, a cacophony of rhythmic chant-
ing which culminates with flaming lamps passed towards the
river as a religious offering and the gifting of small ships of
flowers to the tide. You will be moved no matter your faith.
But then Vana doesn’t rely on you putting your faith
too deeply into any one thing; it just asks you to look at
the results. I left Vana almost entirely stress-free and 2kg
lighter without even trying. Now that’s the kind of miracle
I can get behind.The tranquility of a Vana
treatment room; the resort at
sunset; (below) the food may
lack spice, salt and fat, but it
is beautifully presentedWELLNESS04-20WellnessVanaNEW_3542152.indd 134 12/02/2020 11:21
134 GQ.CO.UK APRIL 2020