HealthyLyf: 2017

What led me to cut short my stay from 12 days to 7 days.

Introduction:

I'm someone who loves to be fit and usually I take care of what I eat. Still, I had stomach issues throughout 2016. Doctors call it acid reflux and I think it is naval displacement ( dharan, nabhi). I'm always fascinated by yoga and ayurved so I started researching for the best treatment. After a lot of research I decided to go for naturopathy treatment and started looking for the best naturopathy centre in India. I zeroed onto Jindal nature care institute bengaluru. I paid the fees online and they replied in 2 days with the available booking date which was 3 months away so I started looking for other options and then I came to know about Patanjali Yog gram in haridwar. I started looking for blogs and youtube videos but could not find anything useful. It is then I decided to write this blog.

Bookings - Do's and Don'ts

Patanjali Yog gram offer different room categories and I booked muniraj cottage for 12 days which cost me around 40K INR but after reaching there I realized that booking muniraj cottage is of no use.

1) 2 rooms , 1 living room with sofa & TV and 1 bedroom. You will never ever get time to use the sofa and TV as you would be busy through out the day.
2) Daily room cleaning. This happens anyways in all type of rooms
3) Cold/Hot drinking water delievered to your room as per your choice. You get this in all categories of rooms
4) Travel to treatment center, canteen and clinic on battery operated vehicle. This is what they advertise but reality is different and as you progress reading this, you will get to know why I wrote this.
5) Muniraj and Rajshree cottages are really far away from treatment center, clinic and canteen.
6) Meharishi cottage is the best because it is cheap, near to all the buildings and fully equiped.
7) If you do not need TV then Tapasavi cottage is your best bet

Journey - From best to worst and the mistake which I made

I booked my flight to India and asked my friend to book shatabadi express to haridwar. Stayed first night in delhi and next morning all excited I boarded my train to haridwar at 0645 (a friend on mine gave me an airtel 4G sim at railway station). Journey was relaxing and the food given was really good. Train reached haridwar with 1 hour delay (fog to be blamed for this).

Breakfast in Shatabadi:

On reaching haridwar I was confident that I would book ola (Indian version of UBER) and reach Yog gram. I booked the ride and it showed me around 100 Rupees for the trip. I called the driver and he asked for 1000 Rupees which was 10 times the amount shown by app. I told him that I would complain about him. I cancelled the ride and booked again. As soon as he picked the call he said
"hazaar rupya lagenge aur hamse zuban ladane ki zaroorat nhi hai, tum hume jaante nhi ho". ( I will charge 1000 rupees and do not mess with us, you do not know who we are)
Then I realized that both the drivers were sitting together as I could hear two voices. I wanted to complain right away but then I thought that I have come here for yoga and should ignore stupid incidents.

I looked for auto and he asked for 300 rupees. I boarded the auto and it took more than 1 hour to reach yog gram. I should call it a road made of pot holes, auto kept jumping through out the journey which resulted in naval displacement then I realized why OLA drivers were adamant for 1000 rupees ( still I feel that 1000 is too much and they should not accept the booking at first place). The driver was really nice as he gave free ride to children coming from school.

We reached Yog gram and I paid him 500 for his nice behaviour.

My mistake was to look for taxis. Best way is to hire taxi or auto till patanjali yog peeth and from there you get shuttle bus till yog gram. You will feel less jerks in bus as compared to taxi/auto.

Life in Yog gram starts.

I showed my identity at reception and they called a security guard to check my luggage. They usually check for tobacco and other eatables in your luggage as those are not allowed. Then I met this arrogant guy at reception ( forgot to ask his name). I asked him about next proceedings and he pointed towards the door and asked me to meet the doctor. There was no sign or whatso ever written to tell me that where the doctor is. I came back to reception and asked him to show the exact the place. He called someone and this guy took me to waiting area.

My first interaction at reception told me that this is a government styled place but the guy at waiting area soon made me change my perception. This guy was really nice and polite and we talked for sometime and it was already 4:30. I asked him why the doctor is still not here. He said it is the off season and there are not many patients so doctors usually come late. I finally met the doctor at 5PM. He wrote he diet plan,treatment plan for me and asked me to purchase some items required for treatment . I took the treatment plan to a shop where they charged me rupees 800 for towels, jal neti pots etc.

They sent me to my room in a small bus and my luggage was picked up by them.

I returned at 630PM for brefieing session where I was told about my routine and the guy showed us the different places where we would be expected the next morning.

Finally I got dinner at 8PM. Roti, sabzi and fruit.

Accommodation:

Day 2 Starts

4am - Wakeup
Went for Jal neti, anema (I hated it).

5 am - Juice (Kadha) was served in Canteen ( Video shot in evening)

6 am Yoga - Class was taken by Mohitji . A young male teacher who is there for service and does not take any salary. I enjoyed the class

7am - Doctor neeraj's Lecture followed by Hasya yoga ( Laughter yoga). It was fun

8am - Meeti patti on stomach and eyes , during this whole process a guy named shailender ji kept singing religious songs which kept us entertained

8:30 - Breakfast ( dry fruits and some sprouted wheat)

9am - Time for treatment - body massages, bath etc. I was impressed with the treatments but was turned off at the fact that they did not have proper measures to tackle cold weather. I felt cold during massage.

11 am- Got free and went to the room, took some rest

12:00 Lunch - Veggie soup and Fruit

12:30 - 2pm was rest time in my room. I started feeling lonely already

2PM- Meeti patti again in yoga hall. Met shailender ji and He is also there for service to man kind and does not charge any money. I told him about my naval displacement problem and he asked me to talk to him next morning during yoga class.

2:30 - back to treatments

5PM - Juice (kadha)

5:15 - havan ( yajna) performed daily by shailender ji

5:45 - Yoga class:

Yoga hall visit

7 PM - lecture by doctor Neeraj ( he talks pure science and what ever he tells is really nice)

8 PM - Dinner

9 PM - Juice ( kadha)

9:30PM - Back to the room and sleep

Day 3 and 4 were same as day 2 with lots of talks with shailender ji and Mohit ji about life , spirituality, life style , yoga etc.

These two guys are really positive and are fun to talk to. Meanwhile Shailender ji kept telling me asanas for naval displacement.

Day 4 and 5 were fast days for me , I got only saunf honey water 5 times a day. I told the doctor that I started to feel weak so he prescribed 10 munnakas (I think its dried grapes).

On day 5 I met doctor neeraj and told him that naval displacement isnt getting better so he sent me to holistic centre. The guy there treated me but I was sure that the problem wasn't cured and I knew the reason was fasting. It is said that people with naval displacement problem should not stay empty stomach for long.

Shailender ji singing

I talked to shailender ji and he pressed some accupressure points on my feet and It made me spit some 1 litre of sour liquid. I felt really light after that.

All these days doctor Neeraj's lectures in evening were really great and he would answer the questions asked by people.

Day 6 I broke the fast and took soup , fruit etc and decided to take rest and skipped all the treatments.

By night I felt weak and I had pain in elbows, knees and ankle then I knew it was because of all the body massages happened for 5 days and now my body was recovering.

Day 7 morning.
I had restless sleep and my body temprature was high. At 6am I called 555 number ( emergency number) and asked for thermo meter as I wanted to check my body temprature. The guy said I would need to come to reception to take it and he shamelessly suggested me to take it at the breakfast time. ( Now, I knew booking muniraj cottage does not come with extra privilege).

I slept for 2 hours, then I went to the reception and checked the temprature. It was normal and my body was still aching.

I came back to room and thought about checking out the next day as usually their treatment is for 7 days for most of the people.

I called the reception and asked them to provide the taxi driver's number which would drop me at railway station. Here's how the conversation went.

Me : Bhayia main muniraj cottage ( my room #) se bol raha hoon, mujhe taxi wale ka number chahiye . Kya aap de sakte hain ? ( Bro, Can you give me taxi driver's number)

He : Bhayia notice board pe laga hai aake dekh lo ( It is written on the notice board, go and check there)

Me : Notice board kahan par hai ? (Where is the notice board)

He : Reception mein ( in the reception)

Me : Aap kahan par hain ? ( and where are you)

He : Reception

Me : Bhayia, main theek feel nhi kr raha. Kya app itni help nhi kr skte? ( Bro, I'm not feeling well. Can't you help?)

He : Thik hai baad mein call kr lena ( alright, call back later)

Me : Main 10 minute mein call krta hoon ( I will call in 10 minutes)

He : (Really arrogant and rude tone) aadhe ghante mein call kr lena ( call in 30 minutes)

I was upset. Checked the train tickets to delhi ( it was available) started packing my bag and decided to leave right away. I was done packing in 15 minutes and then I received the call from someone else from reception and he gave me the Taxi driver's number.

I booked my taxi and called reception to send the bus to pick my luggage.

Discussed about the refund and manager told me that their policy is that they do not refund if anyone leaves before 7 days. I told him that it is 7th day and their usual treatment is 7 days. He said that they do not count the 1st day ( he failed to show any policy which showed that they do not count 1st day as treatment day). Finally the discussion was over and they promised to adjust my amount in next visit.

Final good bye.

I met the doctor and asked him to discharge me. He asked me about my health. I told him that naval displacement is not cured. He ignored it and asked about my cough instead. I said I'm all good ( I lied because I wanted him to sign the discharge form asap so that I could make a quick exit).

Taxi came at 3:30 PM. Boarded my train to delhi at 6:30 and on reaching delhi I had high fever, bad cough and really upset stomach.

Positives :

1) Yoga teachers are nice to talk to and would always be happy to answer all your queries
2) Doctor neeraj's lectures. He talks pure logic and wonderful to listen to.
3) Daily havan
4) No delay in any of the meals
5) All the staff members at treatment centre are really nice and friendly ( there guys are really fun to talk to)
5) Cleanliness
6) Fresh air
6) Opportunity to learn jal neti, kunjal and yog asanas
7) Yog Nidra session by Mohitji (really relaxing)
8) Rooms are cleaned everyday
9) Take airtel sim with you. It works like a charm

Negatives:
1) Some guys at reception are too cold infact rude
2) No proper measures taken to tackle cold weather at treatment centre ( they have heaters in massage rooms which are ineffective)
3) Remote area ( if you feel sick or something serious happens then it will take really long time to reach the hospital)

Tips :

1) Do not go alone . Take someone along with you and make sure he/she joins as patient because attendants do not get treatment and their food is arranged in different canteen.
This would take your attendant to boredom.
2) Go for Tapasvi or Maharishi room as distance to canteen, yog hall and treatment area is less
3) Take 4 towels ( 2 standard size towels for bath and 2 small ( 1 feet X 1.5 feet) towels)
4) Go in moderate weather avoid too cold or too hot weather
5) Go to yog peeth from railway station and take shuttle to Yog gram

Stay Happy ! Stay fit ! Stay blessed!

Some pics :