Inside Six Senses Vana, a Newly Revived Ayurvedic Retreat in the Foothills of the Himalayas

And while the resort doesn’t make a song and dance of its sustainability credentials, its efforts on that front are genuinely impressive. As the resort’s manager points out over a lunch of grilled fish and stir-fried local vegetables, sustainability was embedded in the ethos of Vana from the very beginning, long before it became a priority for the world’s biggest hotel groups. Rainwater is collected and recycled to irrigate the property’s 21 acres, while solar panels supply heating during the cooler months. No foodstuffs are air freighted in, and nearly everything—from cheese, to bread, to miso, to kombucha, to butter—is made in-house from local ingredients. Even those linen pajamas are upcycled into dhurrie carpets after they’ve had enough wear and tear, while the in-house bottling plant ensures the entire resort is a plastic-free zone.

Yet where Six Senses Vana shines brightest is in the treatments, which are not only world-class, but set the very standard of world-class. Not long after my arrival, a few sheets were slipped under my door. First, a timetable of the head-spinning array of activities on offer each day, including breath work, meditation sessions, and—a particular favorite—raga therapy, which essentially involved lying on the ground as a sitar was gently strummed, and most days led to a mid-afternoon doze. In the evenings, there were film screenings at an outdoor cinema, or scheduled talks from visiting practitioners and experts on ancient Indian spiritual practices. At an additional cost, there were also a handful of excursions on offer, including the spectacular Arti ceremony held on the river in nearby Rishikesh—it was here that the Beatles infamously spent a period in the late ’60s at an ashram and embraced Transcendental Meditation—or simply hikes to nearby monasteries and nature reserves. Personally, I chose to remain mostly on site, and although I didn’t make quite as much use of the state-of-the-art gym and expansive outdoor pool to swim laps in the morning as I’d initially planned (to be fair, it was the height of monsoon season), I began every morning with 7 a.m. yoga before a hearty breakfast of masala dosa, and that felt good enough to me.