5 Minutes With Santani Wellness Kandy, Sri Lanka

Burnt out through a global strategy consulting career and seeking help at numerous wellness facilities around the world, Vickum Nawagamuwage was left with half answers to the question, "what is wellness". He has since redefined wellness and founded the multi award winning Santani Wellness Kandy. This redefinition connects modern science with the ancient practices of healing and anti aging to provide a logical and scientific answer to "what is wellness"


1. What is the basic philosophy of Santani Wellness Kandy?  
Today's wellness is centered around stress resulting from work-life balance and toxins resulting from bad eating (processed foods and more), pollution and other chemicals that enter our body. Therefore, we do yoga, meditation, detoxing and cleansing (originating from Ayurveda) as primary tools in today’s wellness arena. We do not believe this is a grounded or logical or science based approach, as Ayurveda, Yoga, Meditation all originated about 5000 years ago in Himalayas where there were no work-life balance issues, stress or toxins as we know them today. They had simple lives with long hours of sleep and there were absolutely no chemical additions in food or the environment. In this context it seems most of the wellness industry is based on pseudo- scientific and illogical assuptions and hence the resulting treatment protocols are sub optimal.  

The key question in true wellness is what were they detoxing and cleansing (both physically and mentally) 5000 years ago if there weren’t any external chemicals entering their bodies? Santani Wellness Kandy’s philosophy stems from answering this question and we bring a science based approach that is logical and connects the ancient wisdoms of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Meditation with modern science. We focus on the original toxin.  

Santani Wellness Kandy believes that wellness is about preventative healthcare and anti aging. All of worlds chronic diseases such as cardiovascular issues, hypertension, diabetes, liver conditions, and even cancer are degenerative conditions. Degeneration is simply aging. If we manage the aging process better, we can prevent the onset of degenerative conditions and we have the opportunity to live a better life.  


2. What makes you different from other wellness spas? 
As mentioned above we are beyond just a “fad” and we use a scientific and logical approach to wellness that is based on today’s science. This allows our guests to have a much greater and logical understanding of our mind, body, spirit, and how each treatment protocol is impacting themselves. This is much more than just feeling good or shedding a few pounds and lends to proper lifestyle change that is sustainable.  


3. What are Santani Wellness Kandy’s most popular programmes?  

• Santani Detox 
• Santani Weightloss 
• Santani Ayurveda 
• Rebalancing Bliss 
• Sleep Enhancement 

4. How do you support your guests to find the right treatments?  
At Santani Wellness Kandy we focus on personalised wellness as that is key if it needs to be sustainable. Any two people coming on the same package will have two different protocols based on their needs. This is facilitated through multiple analysis

1. Ayurvedic body type analysis of Vata, Pitta, Kappha – This is a fundamental analysis that drives all protocols at Santani Wellness Kandy. This is similar to Ectomorph, Endomorph, and Mesomorph in western science but with much deeper analysis on how each of the body types react with stress and aging etc. Therefore, two guests with the same body type will be provided different treatments based on their individual needs.
     
2. Lifestyle analysis – This goes hand in hand as our focus is on anti aging. It is different from simply going to a clinic and getting a colon cleanse or doing a simple juice diet for detoxing. Sudden changes in lifestyle can create more stress in our systems and can be more harmful than beneficial. Take for instance the impact that is created when an individual who has had been on a diet with a large intake of steak and potatoes, is put on a juice diet overnight. That kind of treatment is simply not sustainable, and is harmful to our bodies . Through the lifestyle analysis we understand where they are coming from and their goals and what they can practically do on a day to day basis. We then combine the results of the body type analysis with this to create personalised treatments.
3. Rasa Haya Food Philisophy – We believe that nutrition is obtained through food and not pills. Proper and balanced food can provide the required nutrition to the body. In that context juicing or raw food diets are sub-optimal and can create long term harm in our bodies. Rasa Haya means six tastes and these are the primary tastes that the body can recognise and hence if we are missing one of these, food cravings come. However, if you do not have an understanding of the six tastes, you do not know what you are missing and just try to fulfil the craving with whatever food you can find. This leads to further cravings as the body is filled with food but not satisfied. Also, certain tastes correspond with body types and we make sure all this is considered in planning a treatment protocol. From a nutrition point of view, each of the tastes correspond with the type of nutrition needed and if you have a balanced diet and all required nutrition naturally comes through. We also focus on Keto diet from a Western point of view and combine Keto and Ayurveda Rasa Haya concept in our cuisine.  

5. Who will most benefit from a stay at Santani Wellness Kandy? 
Given all of the above and the fact that true wellness is about managing your aging process, anyone above 30 (where the aging process generally sets in) benefits from a stay at Santani Wellness Kandy. This is essential preventative healthcare management and is similar to servicing your car. With this approach we have no minimum stays and even a 3 night stay at Santani Wellness Kandy can have high level of de-stressing and the ability to create transformational experience. 


6. What are the benefits, short-term and long-term, of a stay? 
Short term is pure relaxation and better understanding about our lives. Also, depending on what package the guest is on, there will be immediate results. For example, guests on weight loss packages lose on average 5 to 7 KG on a 7 night stay. Guests on sleeping pills have completely come out of using pills to sleep, etc. In the long run as mentioned above, its all about lifestyle change and preventative healthcare. You can have much better quality of life as you age and live longer.  


7. What is the best time to go to Santani Wellness Kandy?  
Santani Wellness Kandy is a year around destination. May/June and November will have some rain but the rain in the mountains make it even more spectacular and wellness guests have routines that will not get impacted by the rain.  


8. Is there a minimum stay at your resort? 
No but we recommend at least 3 nights.  


9. Do you provide support after your guests stay? 
Yes, Santani Wellness Kandy guests are life long guests given the focus on sustainable lifestyle change we advocate. We have an exit consultation as well and we provide formal guidance on post Santani Wellness Kandy lifestyle management to our guests. Also, the guests can reach out to us anytime to clarify and get advise on anything related to wellness after a stay at Santani. 


If you are interested in visiting Santani Wellness Kandy for yourself then get in touch with one of our wellness experts today by calling 020 7843 3597 or emailing info@healingholidays.co.uk