King Charles pays private visit to Bengaluru for wellness treatment

BENGALURU: Britain's King Charles paid a private visit to Bengaluru for wellness treatment at a sprawling integrative medical facility here, sources said on Wednesday.

Accompanied by Queen Camilla, he stayed at the holistic health centre, known for rejuvenative treatment, including yoga and meditation sessions and therapies, near Whitefield here, an official said.

This was not the King's first visit to the 'SOUKYA', International Holistic Centre at Samethanahalli. He celebrated his 71st birthday here in 2019. It is run by Dr Issac Mathai, who is among the few individuals from India invited to attend his coronation as the UK's King on May 6 last year.

"The couple underwent therapeutic yoga, enjoyed a strictly vegetarian diet with eggs. They underwent rejuvenative treatment, which also included meditation and therapies," an official at the facility said. "The King received wellness treatment, including Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Naturopathy."

It was like a typical day for them just like for any other guest who visits the facility.

"Their day began with morning therapeutic yoga which is taught by a specialised doctor knowing the medical condition or any health issue if any. This was usually a one-on-one session. After breakfast, then treatment started which was followed by lunch," he said.

Food was prepared from fresh organic produce from the farm at the campus and the evenings were more about meditation, he said. "That's how his days were here. This is done for every guest. The only difference is with each person's medical condition or their health issue, we fine tune it accordingly," the official told PTI.

During the three-day stay, they also took a tour of the organic farming and medicinal garden, visited a cow shed, engaged in eco-friendly practices and walked on the grasses -- felt connected to nature as the campus is home to butterflies, dragon files, frogs and wild rabbits.

The couple left the city this morning, the official said.

According to him, the King planted a Jacaranda sapling at a centrally located spot of the 30-acre campus during his visit.

Giving details about the treatment offered at the facility, the official said, "As per our holistic philosophy, we take care of the person as a whole with mind, body, spirit and integration of different systems of medicines that is very unique. It's an integration of Indian traditional practices like Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, therapeutic yoga, and acupuncture with western allopathy medicines as per their medical condition.

"We have a philosophy of holistic wholesomeness. King Charles has been involved with that since the last 30-40 years and he was the patron of the British Association for Holistic Medicine and Healthcare," he said.

"He (Charles) is the patron of the faculty of Homeopathy. So, he is actively involved in it and he believes in it. All these organic gardening and medical gardening, preservation, water harvesting system, solar panels, biogas plant all fascinate him," the official said.

Charles visited the organic farming area which has different varieties of fresh vegetables, coconut, and medicinal garden which has thousands of medicinal plants. "All vegetables, egg and coconut water he (King Charles) had, everything was from the farm," he said.

Charles has been a vocal supporter of Ayurveda over the years.

He joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his UK visit in April 2018 at the Science Museum in London for the launch of a new Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence, aimed at creating a first-of-its-kind global network for evidence-based research on yoga and Ayurveda.