Taking Ayurveda to Switzerland

March 17, 2007

(Ayushveda.com) - The name of Sunil Seneviratne holds great currency in the Ayurvedic world today. He is the Managing Director of the hotel Ayurveda Walauwa, Beruwala, Sri Lanka. This Ceylon Hotel School graduate is making pioneering efforts in taking Ayurveda to the European society through his Sri Lanka based company, Sri Budhasa. His plan is to make the common European aware of the rich benefits of Ayurveda through a system of treatment and rehabilitation.

Today, Mr. Seneviratne owns and runs Ayurveda Walauwa at Beruwala, a one-of-its-kind Ayurvedic hotel, which is also the first of such hotels in Sri Lanka. Along with the Ayurveda Walauwa, Mr. Seneviratne also owns the Hotel Paradise at Bentota. Both these hotels cater largely to European tourists seeking Ayurvedic treatments for their ailments.

Ayurveda Walauwa is widely appreciated by its clients for the state-of-the-art facilities it provides for treatment on Ayurvedic lines. The director of this establishment, Professor M. S. Cooray Vidyashekhara, has a team of Ayurvedic doctors who have been professing the therapy for decades. Despite their vast knowledge about Ayurveda, these doctors are very congenial and amicable when welcoming their foreign guests. The guests are made to feel at home even among the strictest traditional settings that the holistic science of Ayurveda demands.

Along with these endeavors, his company, Sri Budhasa, has released and maintains an Ayurvedic brochure; which is also the first brochure of its kind.

Mr. Seneviratne has made Switzerland his point of focus. His attention has always been focused on making Ayurveda popular in the beautiful Mediterranean country of Switzerland, and then to expand it throughout Europe. He began sending invitations to several travel agents conducting tours in Europe as far back as in 1990. It wasn’t an easy effort. He was met with heavy skepticism at the outset. But within six years, he gained a steady base of clients. His clients are generally Europeans who have been made aware of Ayurvedic treatment methods, and who wish to come down all the way to Sri Lanka to avail of the benefits.

Mr. Seneviratne is married to Dr. Rita Albiez, a doctor from Switzerland, who has great expertise in treatment by acupuncture. Dr. Albiez has also acquired great knowledge of Ayurveda from her husband and his organizations. Both of them are together changing the face of medicine and therapy in Europe. They have made it their mission to make Ayurveda as much as home in Europe as it is in India and Sri Lanka.