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| Sunday, 13 July 2003 |
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'Soukya' means well being Holistic spa in Bangalore draws celebrities by Roshin Varghese in Bangalore
Very few people can claim to be on chatting terms with British royalty, Hollywood stars, international singers, religious heads and politicians. But that is Dr. Issac Mathai, internationally renowned homoeopath and director of one of Asia's first holistic centres. To him, both the rich and famous and the unknown are merely patients and his job to heal. Working from Soukya, his eco-friendly holistic health spa on the outskirts of Bangalore city he has created a new age approach to healing. By a skilful integration of different kinds of alternate medicine he has attracted many to his way of thinking. The latest to gravitate towards Dr. Mathai is none other than pop singer, Madonna who sent her friend to check out Soukya. But their demands to upgrade the already swanky accommodation was met by a stony refusal from the doctor. Madonna already has a Bangalore connection as her yoga guru cum instructor is from the state. Completely ignorant about the world of modern rock and pop music, he treated Tina Turner, oblivious to her fame, until his friends asked him to get her autograph which she personally arrived to hand over to him. After attending one of her concerts in France he frankly told her, "Tina I can't take your music, my ears were completely gone," but he admits that she was magical on stage. Reluctant to talk about his celebrity patients, his code of ethics permits him to disclose only the identity of those who have publicly acknowledged him. So he merely says that the 'extended British royal family are my patients.' It was at a dinner party with the extended royal family that he met Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew.
A reluctant Sarah Ferguson got her pulse diagnose by Dr. Mathai who was able to predict her condition. Mathai has learnt Chinese pulse diagnosis from the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Nanjing, China). Since then she has become a firm follower of the holistic way of life and came to Bangalore for a three-week combination of ayurvedic massages and homoeopathic remedies." Over here you learn about different traditional systems of treatment, different ways of helping a person to wholeness and harmony of body, mind and spirit," was Sarah Ferguson's comment. In January this year, Soukya hosted an international holistic summit to discuss alternate medicines prevalent in the world today, ranging from Australian aboriginal methods, to aura fields to Tibetan medicine to ayurveda. Among those who attended was Deepak Chopra, the man who has introduced the ayurvedic way of life in California and is seen as the new age guru in America. Although Prince Charles the founder of the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Medicine and friend of Dr. Mathai's did not make it to India, his representatives were there. The Dalai Lama's congratulatory note to encourage the Tibetan way of treating patients also shows the range of people who believe in what Soukya represents. Mathai has come a long way from the provincial town that he grew up in Kerala. With a Syrian Christian priest for a father and a homoeopathic doctor for a mother, nobody saw fame coming his way. As a young boy he spent a lot of time helping his mother dispensing medicines. He went on to study homoeopathy in Kerala and then for his postgraduate to England. Although Hanemman, who founded the medical system was German, he chose England simply because he could speak English. Not that it helped him always. With his heavy Kerala accent not many of the patients could understand him when he started working at Hale Clinic, in London which is Europe's first and biggest holistic clinic. Although young and technically inexperienced his knowledge gained from his mother's knee gave him "an upper hand" within a short period of time he got popular with his patients, partly because of his experience and partly because he was willing to give each person as much time as they wanted, and his accent was forgotten. As he says only the 'fed up cases came to me,' or those who were fed up with the allopathic treatment and had no future form of treatment. More recently it was former Beatle, George Harrison, who came to him. But his health had deteriorated to such a state that no medicine could help. Today although he is based in Bangalore he treats his patients all over the world by monthly email updates and dispatch of medicines. Every three months he travels to London, Dubai and New York to meet his patients in these centres.
Among the Indians, he is a favourite doctor of danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, India. Today publisher, Arun Puri and family, politician Ramakrishna Hegde, Karnataka chief minister S.M. Krishna, film star Rajni Kanth, pop singer Rageshwari and others.Those who check into Soukya which has its origins in the Sanskrit word meaning "well being" are given an integrated healing process depending on their state of health. So it really is a combination of homoeopathy, ayurveda, Siddha and unani branches of medicine. Also there are a host of complementary therapies like acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, Bach flower remedies, yoga and meditation.To complement his healing skills is his wife Suja Mathai, an Mphil in food and nutrition, who energetically runs the holistic clinic's 30-acre fruit orchard and organic vegetable farm, complete with residential cottages, swimming pool and walking track. Apart from the high profile work, Dr. Mathai has been running two charitable clinics for the last few years where consultation and medicine are free. His philosophy of 'Those who can afford should pay and if you are generating an income train more doctors to help the people.' To him a patient is merely a patient and his role to heal, a gift he has inherited from his mother. |
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