An Emotional Wellness Retreat at Ananda in the Himalayas
This luxury wellness retreat in India integrates emotional healing into every guest’s journey. Four days of hypnotherapy, meditation, and Ayurvedic practices reminded me that silencing my inner critic is a lifelong pursuit.
I am sitting cross-legged beneath a brilliant blue fresco in the yoga pavilion of Ananda in the Himalayas, trying to chant om. It’s not my first go-round with this ancient practice, but I’m struggling to feel at home in the circle of veteran retreat guests. My voice sounds small and tight, probably because my inner critic screams so loud. I know the solution: Open my throat. Chant from my belly. Let the om vibrate my bones. Yet, self-consciousness holds me back. It’s such a silly thing to be defeated by. Frustrated, I lapse into silence.
A day later, I’m back beneath the peacock-colored ceiling. Morning yoga has ended, my muscles are trembling, and the instructor invites the group to chant om. I take a deep breath, then hear my voice in the mix—“ah-OH-mm”—as my lips and chest vibrate. Relief and a tiny seed of confidence bloom in me.
This is the first in a series of tiny breakthroughs in my week. It’s my second visit to Ananda in the Himalayas, the award-winning wellness retreat in northern India. I’ve come on a four-day retreat to experience the property’s emotional healing therapies. I arrived at Ananda on edge. I wasn’t burned out, but my mind and spirit felt stretched thin. There was the pandemic, of course. But in the last two years, I had also lost a parent to a horrible disease, sold most of my possessions, and moved across the world. Life was full of beauty and growth, but it had been a while since I’d felt centered. I hoped that the experts at Ananda might help me learn to be less critical, more content. Shaking off the tension in my chest long enough to chant om felt like a start.
Setting the Intention
My retreat at Ananda began as all stays do, with a visit to the doctor. Senior Ayurvedic physician Sreelal Sankar took my pulse and asked a multitude of questions about my daily routines, from physical exercise to bowel movements. I answered diligently while nudging the conversation back toward my goal: emotional wellness. He reminded me that in Ayurveda, all imbalance, physical or emotional, is connected. Then gave me the verdict: My pitta, or “inner fire,” had grown too dominant. I needed to spend a few days learning to be still.
As Dr. Sankar outlined my upcoming schedule, I realized that an emotional wellness retreat might not be as breezy as planned. Enjoying an aromatherapy massage is one thing, but mindfulness? Learning to sit quietly with myself—to cool the inner fire— sounded like a worthy goal. I wanted to be up for it.
Emotional Healing at Ananda
Emotional healing is not a standalone program at Ananda. The property offers over a dozen all-inclusive programs lasting between five and 21 nights. Each one, from Stress Management to Sleep Enhancement, includes at least one emotional healing session. The mind-body connection is not hypothetical at Ananda—it is a core facet of every stay.
My personalized treatment plan included hypnotherapy, a meditation lesson, and Ayurvedic treatments intended to calm the body and mind. While I firmly believe in the interplay between emotional and physical health, I approach alternative healing with some trepidation. Call it too much pitta, but I’m the sort to choose talk therapy over hypnotherapy, a brisk walk over stillness. I had my work cut out for me.
“My pitta, or ‘inner fire,’ had grown too dominant. I needed to spend a few days learning to be still.”
— Leandra Beabout
Hypnotherapy: Shedding Negative Thoughts
I first met Dr. Roma Singh on a pre-retreat consultation over Zoom. Wrapped in a cozy shawl and smiling warmly, she didn’t look like the clinical hypnotherapist and past life regressionist I’d imagine. Had I expected someone more aloof? Someone peering into my eyes to guess at my darkest secrets? I don’t know. But Dr. Roma was a delight.
“I have to tell you that I’m a bit of a skeptic,” I said. “But I’m still curious about hypnosis.”
“Oh, you’ll love it,” she insisted. “It’ll be good fun!”
On my first evening at Ananda, Dr. Roma joined me for supper. I was struck again by her warmth and sharp wit as conversation flitted from past lives to archangels, both of which she discussed as though proven fact. It was one of the most woo-woo conversations I’ve ever had, but it was also, as Dr. Roma puts it, good fun.
The next day, she led me upstairs to her office, furnished with two chairs and a raised bed. “It’s not like the movies,” she assured. “You are completely in control.”
Before the session, she described hypnosis as a state of deep relaxation. In that calm, trance-like state between waking and sleeping, we become more receptive to change—and more able to tap into subconscious thoughts and beliefs. According to Dr. Roma, this is also prime time for accessing my past selves and inner child. She believes that emotional health, influenced by past lives, current relationships, and belief patterns, is the force behind physical health. That includes illness. According to the American Psychological Association, chronic stress can indeed impede the immune system, leading to conditions such as depression, chronic fatigue, and obesity.
I had three sessions with Dr. Roma. Despite my skepticism, she successfully guided me into vivid visualizations designed to help shed negative thoughts and attachments. In one, I was led along a path toward a brilliant bonfire. She guided me to imagine stepping into it and imagining the crackle and heat as specific negative beliefs I have about myself curled and burned away.
Hypnosis was gentler than I expected it to be. When a visualization did not resonate, or I felt myself resisting, I spoke up, and Dr. Roma seamlessly changed the scene. Researchers have studied hypnosis for a variety of physical conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome and asthma. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, results are promising but not always conclusive. As expected, hypnosis seems to work best for those who are open to it. So whether I return to hypnotherapy or not, I can’t deny that it could bring transformative clarity to those open to it.
Meditation: Learning to Sit Quietly with Myself
I strode into my morning meditation lesson determined to get it right. As a chronic overthinker, I know quieting my mind is not a strength. But if there’s any place perfect for mastering the art of meditation, it’s Ananda, right? Maybe.
“Hello, namaste,” said meditation teacher Reema Saikia as she welcomed me to the floor of a small, window-lit room. She invited me to get into a comfortable seated position before describing the philosophy and practice of meditation. Focus on the breath, she advised. Breathwork helps us remain in the present. And focused presence helps us realize that our thoughts and feelings are transitory. They will pass. There is no need to get too attached.
Maybe not everyone gets carried away by thoughts and feelings like I do. But in that moment, simply watching my thoughts and emotions instead of feeling the need to act on them seemed like a revelation. What would the world be like if we could watch our thought trains drift on by instead of climbing aboard each time?
We began the meditation. I closed my eyes and tried to focus only on the flow of breath as I followed her voice.
“Be the watcher,” she soothed as tension began creeping into my neck.
Be the watcher. This is not a new concept in meditation. But Reema’s simple instructions during a session in which my shoulders ached and fingers itched to move gently shifted something inside me. I have tried to carry this mindfulness with me in the months since.
Reema was a firm yet patient teacher that day. I am no student of meditation. But in the stillness, I grew motivated to try. Hypnotherapy helped lift the weight of negativity. Perhaps slowing down to watch my thoughts instead of attaching myself to each one could tame my inner critic and help me feel more centered moving forward.
My takeaway: A wellness retreat at Ananda in the Himalayas offers no magic cures, but it is a safe space to reset, recharge, and gather resources for continued transformation and improvement. If a guest arrives at the gates crumpling from stress or anxiety, or desperately seeking sleep or detox, they are met with a team of helpers: Emotional healers like Dr. Roma, but also Ayurvedic doctors, yoga and meditation gurus, Reiki masters, and massage therapists. Mind, body, spirit. They are all connected here.