Life has been kind to me in many ways and I am grateful for it. That doesn’t mean I don’t get to shoulder my portion of stress but almost always it never felt overwhelming. However, there are somedays, or should I say phases when it seems like stress is finally catching up with me. And I am going through one of those phases now. So, when I got to know about #SantaniStoryChallenge2025, (and you can take part too) it felt like a sign. Santani has two resorts in Sri Lanka one in Kandy and the other one in Bentota.
I dived into it with great fervor. Why did it happen?
The Backstory: To explain, I will give you a short backstory. My daughter started playing tennis when she was nine, she is 18 now. Any kind of weather, we would be at the tennis courts, 40 degree plus, we were there, 4 degree, we were still there. I was mostly a spectator but I passed time by walking a lot and doing my social media and investments. At the best of the times, it was anything but easy. However, Chhavi went on to achieve top 100 rank both in under 16 (58) and under 18 (64) in India. I am super proud. But things never stay the same!
The Injury: However, in May of 2025 she picked up a bad lower back injury. In sports, such stuff happens. Only we think it will not happen to us! Suddenly we were not spending time around tennis courts anymore. We had to figure out what else she could pick up. And like a champion she settled on animation. I was happy to see that she really liked it. However, for almost 8 long years tennis was our life and suddenly it wasn’t. It was a shock! Now I am trying to think again and again, thanks to Santani, “It’s OK, it’s life” but I guess it will take more time to sink in.
Picking up a Tennis Racket at 53: I was an athlete in my younger days. Her coaches suggested why don’t I play a little to keep fit. And from there on it started to dawn on me, bit by bit, how fragile I felt! As Santani suggests, wellness is a composite of physical health, mental health and spiritual health. I now had a roadmap to access mine! And here is how it looks!
Physical Health: When I started playing with some regularity again at the age of 53 my physical health came as a rude shock to me! Don’t get me wrong, I can average 20K steps in Japan for 10 days but throw me on a tennis court for an hour and I was beat, like thoroughly beat. It was due to the infinite patience of my coaches that I slowly felt less beat, not in great shape but less beat. And it was any day better than completely beat!
Playing a Tournament- Are you Kidding Me? Then came a tennis tournament, International Tennis Federation’s Master Tour or ITF MT 100. I took part both in singles and mixed doubles. I had to play in 40+ category as there were insufficient entries in 50+. In singles I lost in three hard fought sets. In mixed doubles we made it to the finals. That was an absolute thrill. But after the tournament, I got down with eye flue, and I felt deader than dead. This was a rude awakening. I always thought it was my mental health that needed care. And here I was, feeling elated but shattered. I was strongly questioning my physical health, and it was difficult to decide which was the worse!
Mental Health: What do I say about my mental health? Mr. Vickum Nawagamuwage founder of Santani identifies “an “evolutionary mismatch” between our ancient biological design and the relentless pace of contemporary life!” You can listen to the full talk from the video above!
We all have felt a bit of the same, without being able to articulate it so clearly. Of course, I use my brain much more than my physical abilities, I always have but without being aware of its importance!
This quote made me pause. A lot of what I feel can be certainly attributed to this constant information overload, we being constantly on social media and our brains limited capacity to process that volume of information. Add to it the shocks of the normal life, and the burden starts to feel unbearable. And I am no exception!
I have made a small adjustment to tackle the issue of mindless scrolling. I started to crochet with yarn, that way I can keep away from phone easily. And on some days, it really feels like a lifeline!
Spiritual Health: If the physical health and the mental health are out of sync, will the spiritual health stay in place? I have my sincere doubts. I am lucky because I have a strong connection with plants and they keep me grounded. If fact I have crammed so many plants in our limited space that there is simply no more area left for any bigger ones!
Another thought from the Santani philosophy that resonated with me is- who are we if we do not exist in connection with others? For now my mind boggles when I think about this. This is too big a question for me in my current state of my mind, but I am aware and I will get back to it.
Why did #SantaniStoryChalleneg2025 Resonated with Me: The #SantaniStory touched me because I was already asking questions about my wellbeing. So, when the opportunity came along to delve in this, I was sincere about it! So where does this leave me overall? I will say in a better place. I am more aware of my challenges and those around me. I am fascinated by the philosophy of Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, the architecture of silence, of rasa hasa cuisine playing a central role in our wellbeing, of the tri-level spa and panchakarma for which Santani stands. But one day if I get a chance to meet them, I would ask them how is it ever possible to keep doing it in my everyday life?
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