Can’t sleep? This retreat has a dreamy solution

Sleep and I are incompatible bedfellows. For more than 30 years – since my daughter was a newborn, in fact – I sleep in fitful two-hour cycles, waking numerous times throughout the night and finding it difficult to fall back asleep. So when I hear about a wellness program in Sri Lanka designed to address sleep disorders, my interest is naturally piqued.

Sleep tourism, it turns out, is a growing trend – a holiday should leave you refreshed and invigorated, after all. And for many people, getting decent shut-eye has become a priority during their travels, seeking out places and programs that can provide tools for improved sleep on their return home.

Santani Wellness: unwind with minimal distractions.

Some hotels now actively promote themselves as places to get a restful slumber: luxe Swedish mattress company Hastens has opened its own Sleep Spa hotel in Portugal, for instance; while New York City’s Park Hyatt has launched five restorative sleep suites featuring AI-powered beds to ensure optimal comfort throughout the night.

At Santani Wellness – Sri Lanka’s first dedicated wellness resort, tucked into the mist-swathed hills above Kandy on a former tea plantation – the popular sleep program is just one of several retreats on offer, including recovery from emotional or physical trauma, detox, weight-loss and management of menopause. Encompassing ayurvedic principles and a holistic approach to rejuvenation – from specially prepared gourmet meals to architecture designed for minimal distraction – Santani offers a personal approach to rebalancing, its programs addressing not just symptoms, but the cause of the problem.

A modern pandemic

According to Santani’s founder, Vickum Nawagamuwage, the world is in the midst of a mental health pandemic, with anxiety and stress – symptoms that often manifest in insomnia – a prevalent part of modern-day life.

“I started to question why this is an issue today when in my father’s generation, it wasn’t – there has to have been a change. I figured out that the root cause is an evolutionary gap, and our solution should be how to help people adapt fast,” Vickum says.

In the past, he says, our survival was about fight or flight – those who were physically fit had the greatest advantages, with our mental capacities limited to “should I run this way or that?” to escape danger.
But all that has changed – the mind now has a greater role to play and the physical body doesn’t have to work as hard to survive.
In the past 30 years, the information overload of the digital age has meant our brains are unable to process the amount of information we’re bombarded with, resulting in unprecedented stress.

De-stress with yoga, meditation and dips in the jungle-flanked pool.

“What we are doing at Santani is helping you to adapt, and adapt faster. And how you adapt faster is by being your fittest self – not just physically, you have to feed the mind, actively and consciously. It’s just not a concept at all in this world, even scientists today don’t recognise that stress is evolutionary.”

Fortunately (for me at least), that does not mean throwing away devices – you can’t fight evolution, Vickum says, and we have to keep moving with the times.

And while my habit of watching Netflix in bed may not be encouraged, I’m not banned from this activity during my stay at Santani – there’s even Wi-Fi in the rooms as a nod to the “new normal”.

The prognosis

What I must sacrifice during my seven-day stay (and beyond, if I really want results) is alcohol and coffee – the latter the more difficult to relinquish. After a consultation with Santani’s resident ayurvedic doctor, Dr Sachini, it is determined that my body type, or dosha, is a vatha/pitha combination – an air and space elemental composition which, when out of whack, is prone to suffer from anxiety and sleep disturbances. And with a tendency to never give in to full relaxation, I really do not require any artificial stimulants.

To further address my sleep issues, Dr Sachini draws up a seven-day program, timetabled with activities, meals and treatments designed to nourish and relax both body and soul. It’s a mixture of the blissful – daily pampering in the spa, guided nature walks, group yoga sessions and personal yoga nidra and meditation sessions to calm my mind – and the not-so-great; a physical purge on day-six, to detox and reset my body and chakras.

The tri-level spa includes an open-air thermal salt soak pool.

This I was not expecting – and certainly not looking forward to. But as Vickum explains, detoxing is designed to bring the body back into balance, reducing toxins to give my body the best possible chance at regenerative sleep.

To prepare for my physical cleanse, I also am asked to consume a teaspoon of ghee each morning on an empty stomach – possibly the worst start to the day I can imagine, with the yellow clarified butter loathsome in both taste and texture.

But I’m committed to the process; and after enduring the ghee torture, I feel like things can only improve.

Five sun salutations into the morning hatha yoga session, however, and I’m starting to question whether this wellness lark is all it’s cracked up to be. Yoga teacher Rahul Kochutharavadakkethil is certainly a hard taskmaster, with his 90-minute morning sessions getting the heart pumping and limbs suitably stretched.

Daily pampering in the spa.

Relax, relax…

Throughout my stay, Rahul also leads me on private yoga nidra sessions, his melodic voice guiding my body into a deep state of conscious awareness sleep. Lying prone, the aim is to shut down my nervous system, allowing my body to rest and gain the benefits of a deep sleep while fully awake. Despite the distraction of chattering macaques scampering through the trees outside, I arise from each half-hour session in a state of bliss, my mind clear of static and my batteries fully charged.

For 90 minutes each day, I am also scrubbed, marinated and pummelled during a selection of ayurvedic spa treatments tailored to relax and nourish my body. Warm oil pours rhythmically in a continuous stream over my third eye in shiro dhara, a treatment known to have a curative effect on insomnia and stress; while I also drip with oil after a full body choorna swedana massage, followed by the application of a herbal powder effective in reducing toxins.

Fall asleep to the sounds of the jungle.

With my hair in a constant state of unkempt oiliness after my treatments, it’s reassuring that meal times at Santani are informal and relaxed – some guests even rock up to the dining room in their bathrobes. Following the ayurvedic concept of Rasa Haya, or six tastes, the personalised fine-dining menus created by the Santani culinary team are masterful, with traditional Sri Lankan offerings – including the breakfast favourite, hoppers – offered alongside Western cuisine using produce straight from the resort’s organic garden.

The dining room itself is also a work of art, floor-to-ceiling windows providing free-flowing ventilation as well as a spectacular 360-degree view of the jungle-clad Knuckles Range and tea plantations clinging to hillsides. Santani’s structures – from the cave-like guest pods that focus the gaze on the distant scenery, to the tri-level bunker-like spa with its open treatment rooms – is sleek and minimalist, designed to embrace the landscape with few distractions. The hillside location that captures the breeze means there’s no need for air-conditioning; while the lack of adornment – no artworks or soft furnishings, for instance – means the architecture itself is the star of the show.

Architecture blends in, rather than competes, with the lush surrounds.

Enveloped by the sounds of the Sri Lankan jungle, sleep should come easy in such an aesthetically inviting environment; but still, I struggle, my two-hourly cycle seemingly cemented into my DNA. Yet somehow, whether due to the exercise, the environment, the great food, the pampering or even the purge (which I won’t bore you with the details of), my week at Santani has left me refreshed, invigorated and bursting with energy. I’ve lost 1.5 kilos without trying and my blood pressure is down… who needs eight hours sleep when you feel this good?

What I have achieved, I believe, is balance; while the tools I take home to improve my sleep are tangible. My sleep patterns may be a work in progress – but Santani has set me on track to a possible dream.

THE DETAILS

Stay
Santani’s Wellness Packages start from $US483 ($765) a night, inclusive of accommodation, customised meals, daily spa treatments, group yoga and nature walks. The Sleep Package is for a minimum of five nights, with best results achieved over 10 days. Guests can also book in as “leisure” guests from $US374, including accommodation, meals, yoga and walks, with spa treatments extra. See santani.com

Fly
SriLankan Airlines flies direct from Sydney (twice a week) and Melbourne (daily) to Colombo. From Colombo, it’s a 4.5-hour drive to Santani, via Kandy. Helicopter transfers are also available. See srilankan.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Santani and SriLankan Airlines.