Pulled, pummeled and prodded.

The girl sat, almost naked, on a hard plank of wood on the floor, in a tiny bare room in a town in Southern India. She had no idea what was about to happen to her, but all she could think of was her mother's word before she left home.... "Just be careful not to get yourself into any dangerous situations."

OK - so I'm using a bit of literary license to spice up the story, but yes, the girl is me, and I was sitting in that room, and my Mom did say those words! 

The real story is that last Tuesday I went for an Ayurveda massage to help loosen up some of my back muscles. (Ayurveda is the ancient medical system of India, which encompasses the healing of body, mind and spirit through diet, lifestyle and rejuvenation. More of that in another posting). 

A friend here had recommended her massage guy, Madhu, which ironically means sweet and honey. You'll see the irony later. "Oooh Madhu works wonders, my yoga postures have been so much more open since I started going to him," she promised. And, "He's the 14th generation of Ayurveda practitioners in his family," followed the credentials. Well what was I waiting for? I made the call, booked the time and waited eagerly. Before going she did give me one small piece of advice: be prepared for anything to happen. I should have asked her more.

Madhu operates his "body healing" in the lower floor of his house, in 3 very sparse rooms. In the Ayurvedic tradition, the masseur uses a wooden "bed" rather than the comfy massage tables with a hole and nice tissues for our face,  and soft padding that most of us westerners are used to. At Madhu's this "plank" was laid directly on the floor "best way to properly use strength" he explained. Apparently this piece of wood was carved 800 years ago and has been used for massages ever since by Madhu's family. "Many thousands of bodies have lain there before you," he said proudly. I wasn't sure I needed to know that.

Bed of torture

But then all small talk was over. It was off with my clothes (almost all), on with oil, and on with the show. What followed in the next 40 minutes I can only describe as part ritual, part wrestling, part yoga, part stretching, part massage, part ballet. I was this oily slug-like thing, sliding around a varnished wooden surface, one minute in a yogic cobra position with my shoulders being peeled back from my chest, the next with my legs folded up behind me, like a Swiss army knife, as Erik would say.

At one point , I felt my right toe touch the ground on the floor behind my head, even though the rest of my body was  lying flat. "How did that get there?" I remember thinking. "Good, you are getting better," I heard Madhu say, "am I?" I responded, somewhere on the edge of that pleasure-pain threshold.  This was turning into an unexpected work-out. But it was clear that here was a person who knows bodies, muscles, tendons and pressure points so well, and knew exactly how to work them to release locked-in tensions.

I will spare you some of the other "interesting" details, and skip to the closing part. After letting me rest for a few minutes to prepare for fomentation (???) Madhu came back in to the room with a small gas burner. It had a metal plate on top which they use for making rotis in India, and in his hand a small cloth bag knotted at the top. "Are you going to heat up water in the bag?" I asked puzzled. "No, the bag is full of herbs for detoxing," he explained. Then the bag was heated on the plate, smelt like burnt rosemary or something, and rubbed all over my body to release toxins. That part was sooooo good after the wrestling match!

Not as glamorous as raw chicken!

And then it was all over. I lay there, less glamorous than a piece of meat that has been pounded and seasoned on a hard, kitchen surface before being cooked. Every muscle was buzzing, every sinew was twitching, and I couldn't help but ask myself whether my back muscles would actually feel looser once I eventually managed to stand up.

The next day, I felt every part of the massage. The day after that, I had a massage to get over the massage, but this time from the lovely Despina, a fellow yoga student here, with wonderful massaging hands and feet - and a comfy massage bed. And today, I had one of the best yoga sessions ever. So something worked!!

Coorg - Or - What is your Mojo Plantation?

"Why you not here Monday?" It was more of a demand than a question from our yoga teacher, Saraswati, when we decided to miss class on a Monday a few weeks ago to add an extra day to a Moon Day (no yoga on full moon and new moon) and take off for the hills for the weekend. "Holiday?" Erik tried guiltily, but she wasn't impressed. And since we don't have the courage to argue with a 72 year old, strong-as-an-ox Indian lady (yes that's our yoga teacher) we have decided to stay in town this full moon day. Which gives me time to write about the last trip.

Can you spot the coffee, pepper, bananas, mangos?

Eager for fresh air, greenery and some quiet space to go walking, we went to the Coorg (or Kodagu) region a few weeks ago. It was everything we'd expected: beautiful scenery, gently rolling hills, covered with lush green deep rain forest, layers of vegetation hosting the brightest birds and the prettiest butterflies.

A punk-rocking coolwoodpecker

Kingfisher - the bird, not the beer this time

Picking pepper

The region is known for its food plantations. Out walking with our guide Ravi we saw more groceries than at Tesco's/Fairway/ICA (chose as applicable depending on your country), except the groceries were there growingfresh rather than wrapped in plastic. Coffee, tea, mango, papaya, bananas, pineapple, oranges, lemons, spices galore, vanilla, cardamom, pepper and more.

Bananas never looked so pretty

Growing pepper

We decided to stay at the Raiforest Resort, home to the organic Mojo Plantation - and this proved to be the highlight of the trip. With it's logo "Don't panic, it's organic" the resort is primarily an ecological plantation of 25 acres, with a couple of cottages and tents for guests and a simple but pretty common eating/socialising area.

In the lovely Mojo plantation

The Indian couple that run this plantation are utterly passionate about what they are doing. They quit their careers as molecular biology lab researchers 18 years ago, moved South, bought this coffee plantation, and set out to convert it into an organically-run sustainable plantation. Appalled by the over use of pesticides in Indian farming, they were determined not to use any on their own land, and poured their energy into making their sustainable farm a reality.

All guests are welcome at the Rainforest Resort

Drawing on their scientific experience, and that of their friends, they spent years experimenting and testing to identify which plants help others grow, or which plant attracts a particular kind of pest or predator so that the desired crop can be pest-free and grow without the need for artificial chemicals, and so on. Since they were relying on the help of friends to work it all out, they needed to house the friends while they stayed, and that is how the cottages were built, and the resort began. 18 years later it's a flourishing coffee, vanilla and cardamom plantation, which also grows enough other crops to feed its guests mostly organic, and delicious, food.

Permanent watch-guard on our cottage porch

We learnt all this on our first evening during a two- hour plantation tour given by Sujata one of the owners who also fascinated us with the healing properties of many of the plants around.

Learning about sustainable farming

I swear, I could never have imagined being so excited about the molecular cell workings of this or that plant, but Sujata spoke with such enthusiasm and passion about her work, that Erik and I came away almost wanting to start our own sustainable coffee plantation in the hills! 

How can this not be calming?

Sujata and her husband gave an aura of contentment and were such an inspiration. They transformed their lives to be able to build something that they so strongly believed in - even though it took them totally out of their comfort and knowledge zones. Not only that, but they are clearly very keen to share what they've learnt (through the eco-tourism and programmes with schools and universities) so that others can also benefit and make a difference. And they are very happy - at least from what we could see.

Erik and I couldn't help but come away wondering what our own life's "Mojo Plantation" will end up being.

Sunset over the hills of the Western Ghats