Ayurveda and Panchakarma Training in Mexico
Villa Ananda Ayurvedic Retreat sits like a jewel on the beach, twenty minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. The retreat is a recent flower from the branch of Ayurveda, growing now in the west, through the lineage of Light Miller and Bryan Miller. Villa Ananda Ayurvedic Retreat opened in April, 2007, and is the dream, now a sparkling reality, of Mindy Reser, the center’s owner acharya.
Villa Ananda Ayurvedic Spa and Retreat Center
I arrived in Villa Ananda on opening day, along with Light, Bryan and a gaggle of Ayurvedic students who descended into Puerto Vallarta to learn Panchakarma. Light and Bryan had spoken to me two weeks prior and invited me to the intensive workshop, which magically occurred during my vacation from my corporate IT job.
Panchakarma Students with Light and Bryan Miller
Panchakarma training began with several days of purvakarma, the preparatory cleansing which consists of modifying one’s diet to reduce grains, dairy, and all mental distractions. We began our workshop as Ayurvedic students and would conclude it as practitioners – by giving each other a three-day panchakarma!
I was in good health before I embarked for Villa Ananda, meaning that I did not have any serious disease or condition – however, I was incredibly run down from almost two years of non-stop computer work at my job and for volunteer projects that I worked on every evening. My eyes were dry and sore from overuse, I was exhausted and wondered whether I could even walk some days. Though I had been detoxing regularly for several years, using herbs and colonics, and I kept a strict vegetarian diet with no alcohol, the intensity of my life had depleted my resources. I knew that I needed to cleanse and most of all – regenerate.
It had been several years since I had two days of Kayakalpa with Light and Bryan, and I knew this workshop/retreat would lift me into a whole new world. How true that was! Today I am a certified Ayurvedic Clinical Consultant with over 400 hours of Panchakarma training under my belt – or should I say, under my kurta.
The Training – Lectures and Demonstrations
During training, Light and Bryan gave spirited lectures on each of the main Panchakarma techniques. We were all involved in full-on demonstrations after lunch, with classmates receiving the bodywork, herbal preparations, etc. They elaborated on many additional treatments which, depending on the needs of the client, can be added into the mix.
What makes their Ayurvedic practice, and Panchakarma so unique and wonderful is that they encourage us to get our hands dirty, so to speak. Everything, including training is “for real.” The benefit is sacred and sure. We put our whole heart into every second, using the initial demonstrations to bond as a group and learn to work as a therapeutic team.
Light and Bryan also shared many unique teachings from their own perspective, including traditional and extra-traditional practices which they have integrated into their own practice of Ayurveda, to make it stronger and more adaptable for the west. And I don’t mean just watering things down or changing the languaging of “ancient” ideas. I am talking about adding in the psychological, emotional, and somatic elements that westerners require in order to make meaningful progress.
The thing that students of Ayurveda have to understand is that we in the west cannot just go out and start prescribing herbs and acting like Ayurvedic Physicians. 99% of us are not MD’s, and judging from what I have seen over the last two or three years – 75% or more of Ayurveda students in the US are not even licensed to touch. They will have to go to massage school after their Ayurvedic training to legally touch anyone in clinical practice.
But the sad fact is that in massage school, they simply do not teach you how to detoxify and regenerate human bodies, and that is what Ayurveda and Panchakarma is about.
In fact, at most massage schools, if you start talking about real therapy, you will be considered out of curriculum, and an eccentric freak. That’s plain and simple. Even if you take the NCBTMB certification – you will not find tough questions that deal with real-life therapy, with the exception of a few questions on pathology and simple contraindications. I scored high on all six sections of the NCBTMB (NCETMB) test – and I was more challenged by the California Driver License test to be honest.
If you cannot practice as a doctor, meaning you are not legally allowed to diagnose a disease or condition, or prescribe herbs, or treat any disease – what exactly is the practical use of knowing all the academic information Ayurveda contains? Well, there is some value – but if you are not taught how to get your hands dirty cleaning people’s toxins out – what therapeutic value is your knowledge, from an Ayurvedic perspective?
What is Panchakarma, Really?
The answer is: bliss. That’s pretty much the only way to sum it up. But unfortunately, there are a few things that need to be cleared out of the way before the bliss shows up.
First and foremost, Panchakarma is about the mind. This is something utterly missed in the current literature. The truth is that in India, people who grew up with traditional Indian village values, or those educated in traditional Indian high culture, possess a natural familiarity with the truths espoused by Indian religion, science, and art.
I am not idealizing here. I don’t pretend that all Indians act selflessly or whatever. I am saying that from the poorest to the richest strata of Indian civilization, simplicity, restraint, devotion, and self-surrender are known to be the effective virtues in any pursuit – just as we understand the ideals of independence, effort, and hard work.
The caveat about this point is that, the ability of the average Indian to access that inner sensibility coming from their rich spiritual heritage, has changed over the last forty years due to the amount of distraction by the materialistic capitalist lifestyle. However, for millions and millions of people in India, the connection with the traditional values remains in their hearts, even if it’s often out of reach.
So for us in the west, missing this essential prerequisite, we easily overlook the importance of stilling the mind, practicing self-restraint, verbal silence, and simplicity as a fundamental aspect of Panchakarma. During our training, Light and Bryan went over this point each day, reminding us to slow down, surrender, be moderate, and go within.
Flowers in the Villa Ananda gardens
The second critical aspect of Panchakarma that is overlooked is the relationship between emotion and disease. From a traditional Indian perspective, if the mind is balanced, there will be less toxic buildup of negative emotions. This is great in theory, and if one has truly understood it, this type of surrender absolutely brings you into union with the Divine. I have seen it exemplified beautifully in my Gurus.
But the difference between real surrender and acceptance, and socialized suppression of emotion is night and day. Unfortunately most people choose suppression and repression instead of surrender and acceptance. So we have to provide Ayurvedic Therapeutic Release for the majority of our clients. This is called Tarpana.
Tarpana as a form of therapeutic release was developed and integrated into the Ayurvedic practice of Dr. Bryan and Light Miller and has proven over the last two or three decades to become a critical technique in their repertoire.
Throughout our training, we practiced Tarpana, which utilizes a unique guided meditation and two types of pranayama to engage the therapeutic release of toxic emotion from the mind, from the emotional body, and from bodily tissue. This western approach to mind-body therapy brings to traditional Panchakarma skills an essential and powerful ingredient, and we have to thank Bryan and Light for their pioneering work in Tarpana (Ayurvedic Therapeutic Release) through the strength and wisdom of their great compassion.
Another aspect of life that has been understood to a far greater degree in traditional India than in the contemporary west is the transcendent dimension of healing, including aspects of belief and faith, the right use of mind, psychic development, and spirituality.
While there is absolutely no room in Panchakarma for proselytizing, preaching, converting or any type of spiritual coercion – the truth is that Ayurveda is a sacred science and spiritual wisdom and connection is critical throughout every aspect of practice. The practitioner must not only have a spiritually elevated heart and mind, but must (and I mean “must”) have a deep energetic spiritual connection to the five elements, all the herbal spirits, the core energy of prakriti and purusha, the pranas, the sun, the moon, the seasons, the planets, and whatever god, or gods and goddesses are meaningful to that person. Without this spiritual connection the sacred art of Ayurveda becomes a mere science.
The AUM beach sculpture at Villa Ananda Ayurvedic Spa
Panchakarma is in fact, working upon the divine creative life energies of a client, and in fact, dealing specifically with helping them navigate the stormy waters of karma. Just as an individual releases a toxic lifestyle karma when they begin doing asana practice, when a client undergoes Panchakarma, the toxic lifestyle karma is alleviated, and the influence of their higher destiny is engaged and expressed. When Panchakarma is done in consonance with the sun and moon, the seasons, and natural elements (five elements), and includes their Tarpana, they will no doubt be in greater harmony with the world, the life force, and the Divine.
Getting Our Hands Dirty
After four 10 hour days of lectures and demonstrations, we began to practice in groups. Half the class became the clients and half became practitioners. The day started with yoga at 7 am, followed by an herbal tea, breakfast, fresh vegetable juice, and then our first treatment of the day, usually the two-person tandem Ayurvedic massage, or Abhyanga, which included nasya treatment as well. The Abhyanga was followed by Swedhana, the steam bath, and then a Colema to cleanse the large intestine. After showering we would receive or give full Shirodhara treatment.
Within that treatment framework, Light and Bryan directed us to add different additional therapies, like Lepa to cleanse the kidneys, bodywraps to reduce Kapha and stimulate rasa dhatu circulation, netra basti, Tarpana, gall bladder flush, liver flush, and Vamanam.
Ayurvedic treatment room with a view!
I was in the first group of “clients” so I was able to relax and get lost in the beautiful views from the treatment rooms in Villa Ananda, drink in the wonderful sunsets on the beach, do yoga on the expansive patio, and meditate in the Kuti Hut. After a day of treatments we ate a sumptuous lunch of immune soup – a vegetable soup with blended ashwagandha and astragalus that I thought was out of this world. We poured in Braggs and ghee and had more tea. That was pretty much it. Some people had Kitchari as well.
The Kuti Hut – for deep meditation during Panchakarma
After three days of this amazing Panchakarma experience, those who received became those who served – and I went from having the deepest cleansing and rejuvenating experience of my life – to having my hands full for ten hours, running around making the juice, the teas, mixing herbs, preparing oils, massaging and steaming and cleaning, happy in my little Ayurvedic heaven.
The After Effects
When I returned to the US after twelve days at Villa Ananda with Light and Bryan, I looked about seven years younger. My eyes were sparkling clear. The bags under them had not entirely disappeared, but they were no longer dark. There were zero wrinkles on my face. My gray hair had all but disappeared entirely. I felt completely rejuvenated and realigned. I knew this journey was but the beginning. There was so much to integrate into my life.
So I immediately purchased a Colema board, because I knew that I wanted to continue to cleanse internally once a month. I also stocked up on all kinds of Ayurvedic herbs and built a small apothecary. Every Saturday for six months I prepared herbal concoctions to taste and test. I also pulled the juicers out of my cupboards and began making vegetable juices daily. I could not resist building a Shirodhara Yantra, which came out wonderfully, and which I used regularly to self-treat. I even experimented with making my own guggulu. Talk about an experience!
I always knew that Ayurveda is a way of life, but finally I knew enough to live that life.
Aum Dhanvantaraya Namah!