Women who travel for wellness

Women dealing with mid-career and mid-life decisions are turning to healing programmes tailored by women

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Last week, Bengaluru-based interior designer Meenakshi Ramanujam spent four days at a wellness retreat after a friend sent her an Instagram story about it. What made it particularly unusual was that the retreat, Suki Suki, was in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya, and it was conceptualised entirely by three women and designed solely for the needs of women.

To describe Ramanujam's life as the design head of a large firm as "hectic" is an understatement. "Every (wellness retreat) I had attended before had been for mixed groups. Women have their own emotional and physical needs, and I found it interesting that a retreat was recognising that," she says of Suki Suki, which had six resident and eight day participants.

Claiming to be the first women's wellness retreat in the North-East, Suki Suki was started in October by nutrition coach and health consultant Habari Warjri, yoga and sound therapist Priyanjali Das and experience curator Teiskhem Lynrah. It is conceptualised around three pillars nutrition, mindset and environment. The three founders felt it was apt to have a women's retreat, which they describe as a "niche service", in a state that has been home to matrilineal indigenous communities for centuries. Moreover, with each of them navigating different phases of womanhood-Das, a single woman; Lynrah, a new mother who has experienced postpartum challenges; and Warjri, a mother of two grown children-they hope to bring unique perspectives and expertise to the table.