PORTOROZ: That a place called Portoroz (literally, pot of roses) existed somewhere on the map had always escaped my curious eyes. That the Slovenian port town which sits on the northern most part of the Adriatic Sea has been a popular health resort since the 13th century did not figure in my trivia list either?

But when a Finnair flight from Helsinki took me to the capital Ljubljana and I drove past hills trimmed with vineyards, stony villages and unending olive plantations into the small town and checked into the Grand Hotel Portoroz, I was in for a huge surprise.
A herbal surprise, actually. History would have you believe that the Benedictine monks used brine and sea water to cure rheumatism and obesity. Not for them sleek pills to be popped or scalpel to be sharpened. The natural healing tradition continued when the first spa was opened in Portoroz in 1885, its USP being mild Mediterranean climate, salt fields and the thermo-mineral water.
Add to it the mud from the salt pans of Secovlje that attracted thousands who trudged miles to get healed here. That I would stumble upon an Ayurveda centre in the Life Class Resort (www.lifeclass.net) was the last thing I had expected. Life Class Resorts that owns a string of classy hotels just a stone's throw from the sea is redefining healing. And it is in this redefinition that Ayurveda finds a relaxed place.
Walk into the Shakti Ayurveda Centre that can be accessed internally by the Grand Hotel and the first thing that catches your eye is its Indianness. On the tiled floor is the black canoe-shaped wooden vase replete with orange rose petals and twirled lucky bamboo. Not too far sits a brass Ganesha on a pedestal and a colossal Nataraj in black.
The lady at the reception is in a green-orange salwar-kameez and the masseurs in white. On the pale walls are mirrors and piped instrumental music wafts all around. That Ayurveda has caught on can be gauged from the countless tourists walking in and out of the Ayurveda rooms wearing signature Life-class white robes and paper slippers.

Explains Janez Jager, Marketing and Sale Manager, Life-Class Resorts and Spa, "Portoroz has lived its reputation as a healing centre for centuries and in our Spa as we wanted to incorporate the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda." To begin with, the Spa consulted with The School of Ayurveda in Italy and also Ayurveda practitioners from India.
By the time you read this, 20 trained masseurs from Kerala would have trooped down in the Spa to give the visitors the best Ayurveda experience. So that they could get the best masseurs the Spa signed an agreement with the Government of Kerala. At Life-Class, Ayurveda has not been tweaked; it is at its pristine best.
Here it all begins with an Ayurveda consultation to determine your energy forces (doshas) and all treatments are tailored around whether you are vatta, pitta or kapha. At the Shakti Ayurveda Centre you can take your pick from various massages: neerabhyanga (Ayurveda lymph drainage), varmabhyanga (massage of entry points).pinda swadena (massage with rice and herb) or even an anti-cellulite massage.

But there is more to the Centre than the massage; you can go for a holistic program for mind, body and face. The options are limitless: Kapha body programme, shirodhara for deep relaxation and tranquility, kayaseka (oil bath of whole body), herbal faces peeling. Once you are done with the beauty regimen you can slip into a herbal bath or go for steam bath or sauna.
The treatments can last between 20 and 80 minutes and the charges from 15 and 96 Euros. As I lay on the brown bed and a trained therapist swathed me in herbal oil and massaged away all acquired urban malice I could feel tonnes of tiredness vanishing in a jiffy.
After the massage as I sipped herbal tea that was poured from a shiny brass pot, the lamp flickered, the Shiva smiled, I felt perky and knew that next time when grime piles on my body and soul, I would know where to go. To Life-Class Spa at Portoroz! Where else?