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King Charles and Camilla took 4-day trip to Bengaluru to recharge at this luxury wellness retreat
King Charles and Camilla paid a quiet visit to a luxury wellness retreat in Bengaluru earlier this month. Here is all you need to know about Soukya.
King Charles and Camilla paid a quiet visit to a luxury wellness retreat in Bengaluru earlier this month, spending four days there to recharge and rejuvenate after their visit to Samoa. The British royals skipped public appearances during their ultra-secretive visit to the health centre called Soukya, which sits inside a sprawling 30-acre farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
This is not the first time that King Charles and Camilla have patronised the retreat - they have been known to visit it at least eight times in the last decade alone. According to the Times of India, this was the 75-year-old King Charles’s first overseas visit since being diagnosed with cancer. He has spoken about his inclination towards eastern healing treatments in the past as well.
What is Soukya?
Soukya Health and Wellness Centre is a holistic wellness retreat located in Bengaluru. This residential facility offers rejuvenative treatments following an integrative and holistic approach. This means that instead of treating just specific conditions or symptoms, an individual is treated as a whole.
What systems of medicine does Soukya follow?
Soukya’s backbone is treatment programmes centred around Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, and Yoga. Complementary therapies at the wellness centre include Acupuncture, Reflexology, Acupressure and several kinds of massages.
Soukya says that its treatments can help restore the body’s natural balance with its combination of modern medical advances and ancient medical techniques.
What are the treatments and health packages that Soukya offers?
According to its website, Soukya offers wellness packages that address stress management, rejuvenation and detoxification, anti-ageing, destress, Panchakarma etc.
Each programme is tailored to a guest’s specific needs. Guests who arrive at the wellness centre first go to a consultation with the in-house doctor which can last as long as 90 minutes. It is only after this consultation that an “appropriate and suitable treatment programme” is designed.
Are there any lesser-known or controversial treatments offered at Soukya?
A Financial Times article from 2018 notes how Soukya is a serious place that shuns the many trappings of luxury that other spas patronised by the ultra-rich offer. Some of the more divisive detox treatments it offers include enemas, forced vomiting and leech therapy.
These detox procedures are provided as part of larger wellness packages like Panchakarma - five-fold purification therapy aims at correcting the imbalance of the doshas, Vata, Pitta, Kapha.
Who founded Soukya?
The health centre was founded by Dr Issac Mathai and his wife in 2011. Dr Mathai has been a holistic physician to Charles for more than a decade and was also invited to his coronation.
Where do guests stay at Soukya?
Soukya is nestled on a 30-acre certified organic farm in Bengaluru’s Whitefield. It has 25 spacious rooms with attached gardens. Other facilities include a yoga hall, a walking track, library, swimming pool, indoor games, cycling etc.
HT.com has reached out to Soukya for more information and will update this copy on receiving a response.
