The natural alternative

PRINCE CHARLES PAID a visit. So did Sarah Ferguson, Sting, Tina Turner, Deepak Chopra, Pandit Ravi Shankar. A roster of celebrities and people of 56 different nationalities have checked in at Soukya – to recuperate and rejuvenate.

Soukya – meaning wellness in Sanskrit – was launched by Dr Issac Mathai, as an international holistic health centre at Whitefield, near Bangalore, India. It offers different systems of medicine like Ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy and a wide range of complementary therapies like yoga, acupuncture, reflexology, acupressure etc in a single facility. Soukya is set on a sprawling 30-acre organic farm estate, 23 kms from Bangalore.

Dr Mathai studied and worked in London for a number of years. “I wanted to get all the different system of medicine under one roof, both for treating medical conditions as well as for health improvement,” said Dr Mathai, who is in Dubai on an invitation of Capital Club located at Dubai International Financial Centre. The club invited him to address its members on holistic health and integrative medicine.

He said alternative or integrative medicine has witnessed a surge in popularity in the past decade or so. “This is because people nowadays are afflicted more by lifestyle diseases, like diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, arthritis etc rather than chronic ones,” he explained. “And Western medicine, which is fantastic for acute crisis management, is not as effective for long term management of illnesses as integrative medicine.”

When asked his advice about how to deal with the increasing stress of life in Dubai, the doctor pointed out that New York is more stressful than Dubai. “But people in New York take health seriously. Whatever the time, whatever the weather conditions, they go for walks or go swimming or to the gym or do yogaÖ whatever,” he said.

“This is lacking in Dubai. You know, people here are not walking at all. Majority use cars. Then they sit in air-conditioned environment all the time. They’re not exposed to nature. So, they have to take some time off for health and do somethingÖ anything: go walking, swim, play a game, go the gym. Do simple things. And eat proper, healthy food. That will make a big difference.”

Dr Mathai said that anyone can acquire health if they make conscious efforts. “But for any conscious effort you need an action plan. And the simplest of action plan is: eat your food in time, have some regimen in life, do some exercise, drink lots of water and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. And do some relaxation exercises or meditate - something that will enhance your spirit.”

When asked what sort of health suggestions he would give to members of the Capital Club who are inclined to lead extremely high tension lives, Dr Mathai said, “I’d tell them to take a health break - a continuous, occasional ‘do-nothing’ break, where there is no action plan. It should be a break which should improve their health.”

He added, “See, we have a state of balance, imbalance, ill health and disease. If you’re conscious enough you can sense when you move from imbalance to ill health. That’s the time to take action, to make corrections.”

Dr Mathai is available for advice or consultation on drmathai@soukya.com