Learning self-care in style at Four Seasons Maldives Landaa Giravaaru
Kate O’Brien stays at Landaa Giraavaru to experience Ayurma ayurvedic spa retreat while her curious son is happily immersed in a conservation project
There is a special kind of magic at Ayurma, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru’s ayurvedic spa retreat. Just walking to the treatment areas along the soft sandy pathway, flanked by Tibetan prayer flags, the faint sound of a sacred primordial ‘Om’ emanating from hidden speakers, seems to recalibrate my internal vibration and draw me into ease.
My initial consultation is with Dr Nikhil Natayil, a qualified ayurvedic pharmacist, whose knowledge is mesmerising. After reading my pulse, he asks me some questions. Do I wake during the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep? Am I always on the go? I answer a resounding ‘yes’ to both.
In ayurveda, there are three doshas (or constitutional types) – vata, pitta and kapha. Knowing our dosha and specific imbalances helps dictate our unique prescription for health and vitality. Dr Natayil reaffirms what I already know about my dominant dosha – I have always-on vata energy, with a growing presence of pitta.
“Resting my bike in its stand, I wander along the flag-flanked trail and find a quiet space in the ayurvedic herb garden. The staff are always smiling, always ready to help and heal”
With my dosha analysed, it’s time for Dr Arun Tomson and his team of highly qualified doctors, naturopaths and therapists to tune into me and my mind. Drawing on the resort’s four pillars of Planetary Wellbeing, Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy and Wellness, they design bespoke therapeutic programmes for guests that combine chakra balancing massages with facials, yoga, breathwork, ayurvedic herbs and dosha-specific foods, all while inviting us to better care for ourselves and the world around us.
My first recommended treatment is Align with the Earth, and for two hours I succumb to a frankincense smoke treatment and the most magnificent abhyanga full body massage with therapists Phurpa and Tshering. As four healing hands work in perfect unison, with the faint sound of ‘Om’ a constant, I surrender to pleasure.
And of course, there’s shirodhara - the pinnacle of self-care for my vata dosha. My body feels so incredibly receptive to the slow dripping of the medicated oil onto the third eye in my forehead. My head immediately feels lighter and freer and as the treatment progresses, this sense of ease permeates my entire body – and nourishes my skin and hair too. It ends, as do all ayurvedic treatments, with a thumb-sized tincture of the pungent dasamoola, one of the most powerful medicines in the ayurvedic pharmacopeia. Although not pleasant, it turns out to be the panacea for my unsettled stomach.
For me and other guests (more than half return regularly), practising yoga as a therapy is the mantra here, with lively waterside sun salutations each morning. I have a private session with Dr Giri, comprising deep breathwork and a series of asana postures specifically chosen to massage my internal organs and enhance immunity. I am a hatha yoga teacher but am still captivated by Dr Giri’s vast knowledge of these age-old teachings, many of which were gleaned from years working in a yoga therapy teaching hospital in India.
I also try anti-gravity (upside-down) yoga on a hammock in the open pavilion with a group of young to middle-years women where we sway along to the effervescent chirping of the birds. It’s fun, although being a bit of a yoga purist, I find it a touch gimmicky. I prefer my morning practice looking over the freshly risen sun (the in-room mats are some of the best I have used).
I am here with my 15-year-old son Raif, who is on the resort’s Trainee Marine Biologist programme while I experience the nurturing heart of Ayurma. We’re staying in a super cosy, traditional Maldivian beach villa – there’s even a turtle nesting on the sand in front. Raif’s programme is designed to immerse curious teenagers in ground-breaking conservation and research initiatives, and it's a joy to see him greet each new day with excitement.
As each day melts into the next, we feel more at home on the island. Between treatments I swim, read, snorkel, walk to the retreat’s dazzling white sandbank and feast on delicious meals in one of four restaurants. But all the time, despite all this, Ayurma draws me in. Resting my bike in its stand, I wander along the flag-flanked trail and find a quiet space in the ayurvedic herb garden. The staff are always smiling, always ready to help and heal.
The Om Supti Night Spa Ritual is the icing on my self-care cake. Wearing the crisp white cotton kurta that was thoughtfully left on my bed, I am taken to a candlelit clearing in the banyan trees by my Bhutanese therapist, Phuntso, for the most heavenly full body massage, followed by a starlit soak in a frangipani and hibiscus bath.
On another evening, I witness Rahumathuge Vaguthu, an Earth Blessing ritual which celebrates the earth’s gifts through song and dance. It brings tears of gratitude to my eyes - infused with hope for a better tomorrow.
For Raif, the three days rate as the most unforgettable moments of his young life. For me, there are more tears on the day we depart. When our boat picks up speed from the jetty to our Male-bound seaplane, I cry again, this time with gratitude for everything that makes this island hideaway so incredibly special and spellbinding in a very spiritual and moreish way.