LANCASTER - There was a time - it may have started with the '60s and the flower children - when everyone would head West to look for peace, calm, meditation, holistic health practices ... even massage. California was open to all these mind-expanding options while our own state laughed at anything labeled "alternative."
Perhaps it was the yoga explosion that opened our minds to options beyond a visit to the doctor in pursuit of good health. Whatever changed the way of thinking here, it has evolved, and to see the results, we took a trip into the heartland of our own state recently and discovered "Spiritual Massachusetts."
People from all over the country are flocking to the Maharishi Vedic Health Center, a medical spa offering authentic Ayurvedic treatments for prevention and rejuvenation and relief from chronic disorders. Set in the middle of bucolic middle-of-the-state farmland in a gracious turn-of-the-century former private mansion, the MVHC's principles are based on the 5,000-year-old Indian approach to health, the oldest system of natural medicine in the world.
Nor does it hurt the center's reputation that such celebrities as Calvin Klein, Cindy Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor have made the trek into the hinterlands of the Bay State to seek the Ayervedic way to good health.
"Ayurvedic" means "knowledge of life," and is a method of maintaining good health, rather than fixing it after it is broken as Western medicine does. An ayurvedic lifestyle encompasses a vegetarian diet, herbal oil massage, skin treatments and Transcendental Meditation. While we were skeptical that resident Indian medic Vaidya Pramod Srivastara knew what he was talking about when he told us to eat less cheese and yogurt (based on what he found after taking our pulse), we began to believe in the program after talking with Dr. Steele Belok, a nephrologist and internist at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge and clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard University Medical School.
Going from physical health to spiritual refuge, we made our way to Barre. The 31-year-old Insight Meditation Society retreat center, set in an old stately mansion, and adjoining forest refuge in a farmhouse on the same 200-acre secluded wooded property, operate meditation retreats rooted in the Theravada Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration and wisdom. You can stay for any length of time, from a weekend to a year, and take courses in insight (vipassana) and/or loving kindness (metta) meditations, alternating between periods of sitting and walking meditation.
Perhaps it was the yoga explosion that opened our minds to options beyond a visit to the doctor in pursuit of good health. Whatever changed the way of thinking here, it has evolved, and to see the results, we took a trip into the heartland of our own state recently and discovered "Spiritual Massachusetts."
People from all over the country are flocking to the Maharishi Vedic Health Center, a medical spa offering authentic Ayurvedic treatments for prevention and rejuvenation and relief from chronic disorders. Set in the middle of bucolic middle-of-the-state farmland in a gracious turn-of-the-century former private mansion, the MVHC's principles are based on the 5,000-year-old Indian approach to health, the oldest system of natural medicine in the world.
Nor does it hurt the center's reputation that such celebrities as Calvin Klein, Cindy Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor have made the trek into the hinterlands of the Bay State to seek the Ayervedic way to good health.
"Ayurvedic" means "knowledge of life," and is a method of maintaining good health, rather than fixing it after it is broken as Western medicine does. An ayurvedic lifestyle encompasses a vegetarian diet, herbal oil massage, skin treatments and Transcendental Meditation. While we were skeptical that resident Indian medic Vaidya Pramod Srivastara knew what he was talking about when he told us to eat less cheese and yogurt (based on what he found after taking our pulse), we began to believe in the program after talking with Dr. Steele Belok, a nephrologist and internist at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge and clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard University Medical School.
Going from physical health to spiritual refuge, we made our way to Barre. The 31-year-old Insight Meditation Society retreat center, set in an old stately mansion, and adjoining forest refuge in a farmhouse on the same 200-acre secluded wooded property, operate meditation retreats rooted in the Theravada Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration and wisdom. You can stay for any length of time, from a weekend to a year, and take courses in insight (vipassana) and/or loving kindness (metta) meditations, alternating between periods of sitting and walking meditation.
A half mile from the IMS retreat center, also located in the wooded rural central Massachusetts countryside, is the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a nonprofit educational organization affiliated with the IMS. Its mission is the study of all schools of Buddhism; some of the more interesting courses offered for fall include "Investigating the Nature of Fear," "Essentials of Buddhist Psychology," and "Does A Dog Have a Buddha Nature?"
We are always skeptical when talking with witches, wiccans and hypnotists about past-life regression, tarot readings and crystal healing, but if you're inclined that way, you can find all of that at Earth Spirits, an herbal apothecary and holistic center that sells delightful flower essences nevertheless. And Night Hawk, a 13th generation medicine man of Cree, Northern Seneca and Lakota heritage, who is a water pourer for sweat lodges in the area, shared some interesting blessing songs for us while we were at Earth Spirits.
In Needham, we discovered a new day spa - Lotus Mind + Body Spa - that emphasizes the connection between mind, body and spirit through rituals from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Catherine Harris, founder of Lotus, is a native of the Philippines. She dreamed of creating a spa that used regimens from around the world, promoting wellness in addition to beauty. Therapies include ayurvedic yogic bodywork therapy, which is a series of intense stretches done on a flower-petaled floor mat and an acupuncture face-lift.
To complete our spiritual journey we moved on to the Cambridge Zen Center for the night. Knowing that we were going to experience the 5 a.m. practice of bowing and chanting with its residents, we went to bed early, and didn't sleep all night. We couldn't figure out why, on a beautiful quiet summer night on one of the most peaceful, tree-lined streets of Cambridge, we lay awake until 5 a.m., until we talked with a resident the next morning. "You felt the vibes here," she explained. "It's very common that they would keep you awake."
What kept us awake after 5, however, was the bowing session that residents do every morning of the week before the sun comes up. It begins with a series of fast bows, from a full standing position to down on the knees with the nose pressed to the floor and back up again - exactly 108 times. It took a week before we could go up or down stairs without feeling the pain in our shocked thigh muscles. Meeting the "urban bodhisattvas," or those who practice Kwan Um Zen, was a fascinating experience, however, and we're ashamed to say that after living for nearly 40 years in the area, this was the first time we had heard about the Zen Center, which invites visitors to stay overnight, share a meal, hear an occasional lecture, learn more about the practice of meditation, and experience yet another completely foreign, enlightening and spiritual way of life in our home state.
IF YOU GO:
Maharishi Vedic Health Center
From $15 for one meal to $1195 per day for comprehensive in-residence program
679 George Hill Road
Lancaster MA 01523
877-890-8600
www.lancasterhealth.com
Insight Meditation Society
1230 Pleasant St.
Barre MA 01005
www.dharma.org
$55 to $80 per day; scholarship funds for those who cannot afford a retreats
Retreat Center 978-355-4378
rc@dharma.org
Forest Refuge 978-355-2063
fr@dharma.org
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
149 Lockwood Road
Barre MA 01005
978-355-2347
www.dharma.org/bcbs
Courses, from one to five days and from $75 to $950
$35 for an overnight stay before or after a course
bcbs@dharma.org
Earth Spirits
407 Main Street (Rt. 20)
Sturbridge, MA 0156
508-347-1180
www.EarthSpirits-Herbals.com
Lotus Mind + Body Spa
1183 Highland Avenue
Needham, MA 02492
781-864-6550
www.lotusmb.com/home.asp
Cambridge Zen Center
199 Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-576-3229
www.cambridgezen.com
