Have you ever been to a place that made you genuinely slow down? Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary did this for me over the weekend. While eating breakfast—or was it dinner?—I became aware that the scene of me eating this food and having this experience was solitary. A scene and feeling I am familiar with, as I have become more and more distant from my family since graduating from college. And the mountain on the left side of the property kept reminding me of the mountain from my childhood, from when I lived in our farmhouse.
I arrived at the “Sanctuary,” as Louk Lennaerts, the founder, likes to call it, around noon on a Sunday. As I entered the property, a staff member hurried to usher me in. “Mr. Louk’s guest,” she announced, and I was for the rest of my stay. I had ginger tea, and Mr. Louk had sparkling water. We sat at a corner seat next to their tea bar. Yes, a tea bar. I had been to tea bars abroad, but experiencing it here, in Bhutan, at home, was special. Mr. Louk asked me how I was, and I didn’t say much in return. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make the trip since I wasn’t feeling well. But it was work, I had told him. We spoke for about an hour before we headed to lunch by crossing the imaginary line to the restaurant. I almost had dinner at the tea bar! Treacherous to even think that.
Lunch was a four-course meal, and Mr. Louk was humble enough to feign anxieties about the food, one of the topics during our talk. We started with pumpkin soup with scrumptious cheese sticks, a garden salad, freshly made pasta with Bolognese and mushroom cream sauce on the side, and crème brûlée for dessert, which Mr. Louk skipped. As lunch progressed, I felt energized, and it was at the end of lunch that I decided that today would be the day I stayed at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary. During lunch, our view overlooked Euthak Goenpa, a medieval temple that holds an annual festival—a festival I once attended as a kid.
Traditional Medicine and Wellness at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary
I was then in my room with a balcony, one of the six rooms. One of the things I was looking forward to was the heated bathroom floors. Floor heating is still rare in Bhutan, and not many hotels here have such facilities. The room was nicely divided and “simple,” as Mr. Louk put it when he spoke about the construction stage of the property. On the table, there was a book, The Restful Mind, by the Buddhist Rinpoche/teacher Gyalwa Dokhampa, who resides in the same vicinity. All guests receive a copy of the book. I rested for a bit before I took a bath—I couldn’t resist the bathtub! Around 4:00, I made my way to the coveted wellness center, located two floors below my room. When I entered the hall, the wellness team was just about wrapping up their meeting with Mr. Louk.
At the center, Dr. Kelzang, a traditional medicinal doctor, checked my pulse and began diagnosing me. I was bloated and was therefore advised to consume certain foods less, like sikam, a Bhutanese delicacy. The doctor also advised me to consume food at a warm temperature. According to him, my body was out of balance. One of the things I could do to improve that was to increase the heat aspect of my body. It amused me to discover that my pulse was wind—a step below fire/flame. At the end of the consultation, I was free to avail myself of a wellness session, which included various massages (herbal compression, hot oil compression, moxibustion, and Ku Nye massages—full body, neck, feet, and back), as well as hot-stone baths and potent herbal teas. Before the massage, I took a brief but worthwhile yoga class. By this point, I was feeling quite mellow, and it gave me great pleasure to talk to my sister on the phone as I rested by the warm pool area. I headed to my room, tempted to take another bath, but I waited until after dinner.
For dinner, while a six-course meal was available, I skipped hors d’oeuvres and dessert (I was already following the doctor’s orders). For my main meal, I had lamb with vegetables. This was my first time trying lamb, and it wasn’t bad at all. Since the portions were small, I asked the server out of curiosity whether we were allowed to ask for a second serving, and she said yes.
They have an open kitchen, so I thanked the chefs before heading to my room for my last bath.
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