Kochi: Packing your bags and going away on a vacation can be fun. But how about celebrating life and rejuvenating your mind and body while at vacation?

“Healthacation is more than just about driving uphill, feeling the moist air and getting back; it actually heals your mind and body,” says Dr Anish Kurias, Chairman of the Earth Group of Hospitals who has coined the word healthacation to celebrate life with all its goodness.

According to Dr Kurias, “Chronic stress takes a toll on us, our body gets prone to infection and even injury; our vital functions are affected. We are more likely to fall ill when we are tired and stressed out, our arteries go for a toss, and we are even prone to accidents.”

A fifth generation Ayurvedic doctor, he created a getaway at Illikkal Kallu near Kottayam, which takes you back to nature and helps you take a break from stress. Splashing in the rain, going on off-road trips, cycling uphill and down into the valleys, eating sumptuous, healthy food are some of the activities that make this place unique.

A gold medallist from Aswini Ayurveda Medical College, Davangere, Dr Kurias learnt about indigenous Ayurvedic medicines at a very young age from his grandfather. “At the age of thirteen a patient was referred to me,” says Dr Kurias, an expert in pulse diagnosis.

In 2002, the doctor gifted the world the patented Visharasayana, a secret traditional practice developed by his great-grandfather during the 1880s, which helps to completely expel toxins from our body in a single day.

There are even proper ways of drinking water, according to the doctor. “It’s ideal to drink 50 ml of water in fixed intervals of 15 minutes till you sleep to maintain a proper balance of water in your body.” Dr Kurias, who has trained around 700 students in Ayurvedic medicine, has clinics in Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi and Jammu where he visits once every month.