"This is my 4th stay at Devaaya and love coming here every year. Earlier I used to come for 2 weeks, now I come for 3 weeks. This is like staying in one quite corner of the world that lets me spend time with myself, while I tend to my body, mind and soul." Says a middle-aged woman who lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom as we chat over lunch overlooking the swimming pool and Mandovi backwaters. We are at the Devaaya Ayurveda & Nature Cure Centre at Divar Island in Goa.
The lady was wearing a blue green batik cotton gown that adds the extra ease to her body language and her face is glowing as she prepares to go for her next therapy session. Organic vegetarian food does not excite the tongue too much but it’s so easy on the stomach that does not feel an iota fuller than it should.
I walk around the 5-acre campus that has water all around. Divar is a river island, surrounded by water on all sides and this property additionally has a layer of backwaters around it, especially if you visit it during monsoons. To me it seemed like a re-creation of a Goan village with its multi-colored houses that are never away from water and its open spaces that touch the waters. Each room overlooks the fields or backwaters.
A therapy center stands on top of a small mound where the resident visitors are given Ayurveda and Naturopathy consultations. They undergo various therapies based on their problems or their inherent nature. A typical days starts with Yoga in the open of weather permits, followed by breakfast, treatments, lunch, therapies, meditation and some entertainment. I liked their focus on doing it the right way by not allowing walk in visitors or easy options like day packages. They insist on a minimum stay of 7 days and 2 weeks is recommended duration as it is what the visitors need to see an impact. Most of their clientele is European women who come here to de-stress and de-toxify, but I was told many Indians have started joining the bandwagon.
Therapy huts too overlook the greenery and a Kriya center has been aesthetically built around the trunk of an old tree. We could spot so many flowers and butterflies in the campus. Incidentally lot of artwork in the gardens was covered to protect it from the rain.
This place is so much of a quintessential quaint Goa and yet the anti-thesis of what is perceived to be Goa – as you get to eat only vegetarian food and no alcohol or smoking is permitted.
Check it out when you are in a mood to detox and spend some time with yourself in an idyllic location.
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