Namaste Santhosh,

You are so right about the misconception of massage in relation to panchakarma. It is a 2 week week process at best, depending on the dosha being treated. It is not only in the west that this ancient system is misnderstood. In Kerala everyone has jumped on the bandwagon often without the training or talent, and some herbal dealers I know there are laughing all the way to the bank! I won't even get into the wanna be yoga gurus. The BAMS liscenced doctors can be quite pedantic, though I did meet a few who were true doctors and healers, Best wishes, Jody Swift

Your right Santosh and thank god Ayurvedic massage has become the "fashion" here in the West.

I do not care that people are advertising Ayurvedic massage here in the US when they really practice Swedish massage with smelly oils.

You advertise a website that is offering Ayurvedic massage and PK to westerners in India. Your prices are quoted in US dollars. Thats great, but why would anyone go there who has never heard of Ayurvedic massage or panchakarma? They will go because some trendy spa introduced them to Ayurveda and piqued their interest and challenged them to find a more "authentic" experience.

The misuse of the term Ayurveda is destiny and Ayurveda will never grow in this country until it gets past this inevitability. Once the love affair ends and Ayurveda is no longer the fashion; the fakes will gets jobs in investment banking or move on to Balinese massage or Unani medicine or whatever, leaving behind a dedicated group of practitioners who will carry Western Ayurveda into a new paradigm-which should be more to your liking.

Right now in California a group of Ayurvedic practitioners and schools are trying to get state licensure for the practice of Ayurveda. Evolution is slow but constant; hang on and enjoy the ride.

Santosh, you mentioned that "In ayurveda, massage is a part of Panchakarma therapy", but that is not always the case, there are many references to massage in the classic ayurvedic scriptures that are not in reference to Pancha karma, they simply say, "vata should have internal and external oleation, and vata should have massage of the body etc..and I think that there is plenty of benefit to be gained from getting massage from different types of (qualified) practitioners, regardless if they call it ayurveda or not.