What’s the fuss about European Ayurveda®?

We all love exotic ingredients and flavours, but they can be a digestive challenge. Ayurveda teaches that we should aspire to eat food that has been grown in – and on – the soil on which we were raised too. The body absorbs and processes locally-grown food more easily and at a faster rate. Furthermore, many of our local herbs can replace traditional Ayurvedic healing herbs.

Thanks to the Lindhof European Ayurveda farm, the Sonnhof has an ideal source of regional, organic, healing foods that suit Western digestive systems. Their 11 hectares provide nature’s treasures grown using traditional methods of cultivation. From vegetables, fruit and herbs to beef, chicken, goose, eggs and honey, all produce is used in the Sonnhof’s European Ayurveda Signature cuisine to make wholesome and delicious Ayurvedic dishes better suited to European digestive systems than the Indian originals.

Regional, organic and prepared with the utmost care: this also applies to the remedies and oils used in European Ayurveda® massages and treatments. Plants and herbs with which our body is familiar work much faster and are more effective. This is why the European Ayurveda® Resort Sonnhof’s recipes for oils, teas and herb and spice mixes have been developed by the resort’s own physicians. Using only the highest quality ingredients and tailored to suit specific constitutional types and treatments, they are carefully produced, packed and bottled by selected pharmacists and partners.

Change starts in the mind. Accordingly, Yoga, Mind Detox coaching and meditation are essential pillars of European Ayurveda®. These practices and methods offset the mental overload and health issues caused by our fast-paced, modern lifestyle. Learning to let go is central to Mind Detox coaching and coach Elisabeth Mauracher believes a fulfilled, successful life is predicated on the ability to let go of the things that hold us back: e.g. blame, negativity and unhelpful beliefs. ‘There is a moment when the client is freed from years or even decades of negative beliefs, and that’s when their life changes.’ Liberating the mind and learning greater mindfulness are supported by distinctive forms of Yoga developed at the European Ayurveda® Resort Sonnhof. ‘Pranayama and being in the here and now in Yoga practice give us balance and clear the mind – things to which we Europeans tend to pay too little attention.

Over long periods, the emotional toxicity of negative feelings turns into physical toxins. That’s why European Ayurveda® includes spiritual practices, guided meditations and special Yoga programmes such as Vata-Pitta-Kapha Yoga to balance the Doshas.’

Ayurveda PLUS at the European Ayurveda Resort Sonnhof adds Western medicine, TCM and kinesiology to Ayurvedic practice. The Ayurveda PLUS treatments were developed by conventional GP and naturopath Dr Alaettin Sinop. Drawing on different schools of healing, he combines them into effective treatment methods exclusive to the European Ayurveda® Resort Sonnhof and specially devised to target western lifestyle ailments. Ayurveda PLUS Intensive is particularly effective for back and joint problems.

Long-distance travel plays havoc with the body, potentially neutralising all the positive effects of a stay at an Ayurveda retreat. To activate our self-healing powers and achieve positive change in ourselves we require steady and consistent inner balance. Alpine-based European Ayurveda® is closer in more than just physical terms.

The Mauracher family have joined forces with leading Shamanic coach and acting star Gabrielle Scharnitzky. The result is a brand new retreat. Coming to the European Ayurveda® Resort Sonnhof for the first time in 2019, Gabrielle Scharnitzky’s ‘Happy – No Matter What’ Shamanic Healing Retreat paves the way for self-reflection, mindfulness, inner peace, gratitude and happiness. She applies Native American wisdom to allow her clients’ receptivity to metaphysical realities unfold before helping them to recognise and name their mental, spiritual and emotional energy blocks to release pressure, old traumas and belief systems.