Ayurveda antistress therapy in Srilanka: my burnout solution

Ayur .. what? Ayurveda!

When it comes to health, you I didn’t really care about it until I got really sick, I took it for granted. And when you experience something like burnout you start searching for a solution and it does not lie in western medicine. We’re great when you break a leg, but when you break your inner energy, it’s a different world.

My experience with Ajurveda antistress therapy:

One month after my burnout I started to notice that I am not moving anywhere -  I was still tired, I could not sleep, my chest was burning like hell and the thought that it could take a few more months to get better was scary. I was scrolling Instagram, when I saw the post from Zen zone. YES! I thought. This is it. I consulted my doctor, bought the plane ticket and 3 days later I was in Srilanka, attending Ayurvedic anti-stress therapy, perfect for burnout sindrom. I had no idea what is ajurveda or what to expect - I just had a really good feeling about it and I promised myself that I will stay open-minded all the time.

The flight there was horrible - my chest hurt like hell if I was even a bit stressed, so a bumpy flight and snow storm on the way to Istanbul did not really help. I was actually scared that I will have a heart attack or something like that on a plane. The destiny kicked in - on the flight from Istanbul to Srilanka I was actually sitting next to Srilanka’s Minster for health and there were 15 doctors surrounding me, coming for a conference in Zurich.

Siddhalepa resort was recommended by Zen Zone and the whole experience was great. Everything started with a doctor check-up, that lasted 2 hours. They prescribed me a diet, a few pills and explained my daily ritual for next 10 days: yoga in the morning, breakfast, doctor consultation, 2-3 hours of therapies (massage, bath, sth else), lunch, rest, meditation, dinner, sleep.

The whole experience was hard core. It was not vacations, it was hard work. Eating fresh and healthy food was great but after 5 days of brown rice I was going crazy. Beginning with massage was nice, but then came the shirodhara. They were pouring oil on my forehead to calm my head, that was still full of thought and ideas. It felt like the weight of my thought moved to my body - i literally did nothing the whole day, since it felt like my legs and arms have 1000 kilos. In the end, the weight went outside of my body. I felt light in my head for the first time in my life. No thoughts. Pure silence. It was new and amazing and i think people that meditate a lot experience this feeling. For someone that is thinking all the time, it was like a well-deserved vacations for the brain. And then, my body could start recovering as well. I could not do anything on yoga the first days and on the last day i did 10 sun salutations. Chest pain was gone and i slept like a baby again, 8 hours without waking up in the night.

The best question that my doctor asked me, was: “tell me about your lifestyle”. I found it weird, but the only word i saw there, was: BUSY. I finally realized how ridiculous my life was, I was running from one project to another, I never rested. I didn’t know how to rest, how to take it easy.

6 months later, I saw that I can attend Ayurveda course in Ljubljana and learn more about the philosophy, background and how to implement it in my life. Of course I applied!

What is Ayurveda in my own understanding: science about how to live a good life. The purpose is to discover, how to live the best life possible based on your way of thinking, working, living, your body etc. You can adapt the way you eat, the way you live, who is your partner, why do you have certain health problems - it is all coming together.

I will write more about Ayurveda, my main learnings and how I changed my life because of it once we finish the course. Until then … stay curious. Or simply Google it and learn everything about it.