The importance of daily routines for health is great.
It ranges from morning cleansing and grooming rituals to breathing and exercise training, mindful eating and responsible work to contemplative exercises for mental balance.
Nevertheless, it is important to step out of these habits temporarily, to pause, remove old burdens, set new targeted stimuli and thus train our ability to adapt to change.
The retreat from everyday life - modern Retreat is a tradition that is thousands of years old, especially in Asia. Retreats are primarily used for inner contemplation and the associated spiritual practice. However, they are also excellent for health purposes.
Cures are intensive measures over a limited period of time under professional supervision: inpatient, outpatient and residential care.
The combination of physical and mental measures has a profoundly transformative effect and should become part of our annual planning.
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Get out of the hamster wheel!
Time out has never been as important in the history of mankind as it is today. Why? Because we have never had to process, understand and integrate so much stimuli and information at such a high speed as we do today. We rush through everyday life and its endless tasks without questioning them.
Many of us are overwhelmed by this on a daily basis - with possible consequences such as exhaustion, anxiety, inner restlessness, tension, irritability and a drop in performance through to psychosomatic illnesses.
Partnerships and social relationships often suffer from the constant stress. Regular time-outs can help us to prevent these unpleasant or even pathological developments, to become aware of our feelings and needs again and to realign ourselves physically and mentally.
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Cures are not a luxury product!
I have been working in the spa business since 1997 - initially for 12 years as head of inpatient Ayurveda centres and since then as a supervisor of outpatient formats and home cures through my private practice.
A common prejudice that I come across time and again is: „Unfortunately, I can't afford that“. This is based on the idea that cures always have to be carried out in an exclusive spa clinic - with daily rates of 300 to 500 euros. This is a fallacy!
Of course, intensive cures such as Ayurvedic Panchakarma are of great benefit and require a corresponding investment due to the high number of staff involved, which unfortunately is not reimbursed by health insurance companies. But it can also be much simpler and still be effective.
Cures can also be completed at home and, if necessary, supplemented by outpatient treatments. This cure format has one major advantage: active behaviour during the time out makes it much easier to integrate healthy routines into everyday life after the cure.
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Cures according to an individual plan
Professional therapeutic support is crucial to the success of your cure. After a thorough diagnosis, a personalised plan is drawn up for you and this is reviewed and adjusted regularly, ideally even daily, throughout the duration of the cure - in the same way as a traditional „ward round“ in an inpatient spa facility.
I generally recommend thinking in terms of three cure phases:
- Pre-cure | 1-4 weeks preparation with dietary and lifestyle adjustments and the intake of herbal supplements
- Main cure | Actual time out from everyday life with daily plans that include physical and mental practices
- Post-cure | Stabilisation of the acquired balance and integration of new habits into everyday life
The concrete Course contents depend on the desired Short keels from.
Examples include cleansing (detox) of accumulated residues, weight and metabolism correction, skin health, digestive regulation, immune modulation, strengthening of the heart and circulation, relief from respiratory problems and much more.
Our health is influenced by constitutional dispositions and acquired conditions. This is why generalised „fasting cures“ are not equally suitable for everyone. And in the case of vital exhaustion, detox can have a worsening effect if no differential diagnosis has been carried out in advance. Only exhaustion caused by an accumulation of excess (fullness) is indicated for cleansing cures.
The Cure duration can vary individually. In order to achieve a lasting effect, I recommend at least one week of treatment. An outpatient cure should only last longer than four weeks in exceptional cases. My basic recommendation: rather more often and shorter than rarely long.
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Eight benefits of regular cures
In 28 years of spa experience, I have been able to recognise eight key effects of regular spa treatments:
- With distance from everyday life and without new distractions, we only realise how we really feel.
- Based on this perception, we recognise where there is a need for health action.
- Now we can consciously decide what we want to change in the future and how.
- Every cure begins with the removal of old burdens - be it through silence, abstinence from food or medical elimination procedures.
- Each treatment serves to sustainably regenerate and strengthen the body so that it is protected against new challenges.
- As part of a commitment, we can undertake to prioritise more important matters over seemingly urgent ones in future.
- Cures help us to better organise our own lives.
- Successful spa programmes create the desire for regular repetition.
Spring is one of the best seasons for all cleansing, detoxifying treatments.
What are you waiting for?
