Celebrating power women

6 March 2015 10:20 am By Chathushika Wijeyasinghe and Shihara Maduwage

We celebrate the International Women’s Day on March 8th every year. This is a day to celebrate women who sacrificed their lives for the betterment of future women. In a world which still debates on whether the women’s place is in kitchen there are power women who came forward and showed the world what women are capable of.

Today our cover personalities, Imasha Kodithuwakku and Nilusha Kodithuwakku are two sisters who indeed come within the category of “power women”. Stepping beyond the conventional thinking they started up a business for people who are looking for a unique travel experience with rejuvenation and relaxation. The seed of the idea of the holistic travel experience conceived when both Imasha and Nilusha traveled to the Maldives where they had an amazing holiday along with yoga, spa treatments etc. With their beauty and brains together the sisters came up with Ayurva, converting conventional tourism into a novel concept.

Nilusha

She is content, happy and steady under any circumstance or any challenge. Nilusha Kodituwakku took the challenge of creating a redefined travelling experience initiating “Ayurva”. She is the Managing Director of the company. The idea of establishing a novel venture as Ayurva conceived in her mind after having experienced wellness of spa holidays and unconventional healing of the mind and the body. Adding her ten years of work experience as a General Manager in a reputed Japanese Company, Nilusha wishes to attract customers from all around the globe for a unique travel experience with Ayurva. Nilusha wants to inspire her customers to experience total rejuvenation with a relaxing experience and inner peace.

Imesha

Like her sister Nilusha, Imesha is a fine combination of both beauty and brains. Living by the motto “work hard until you don’t have to be introduced”, Imasha Kodituwakku is the Product Development/Sales Manager of Ayurva. For Imasha every day is a happy day and she makes sure that her customer needs are well looked after. She always finds travelling as a bliss and adores beaches, spa treatments and of course yoga. Putting all her passion and the ecstasy she gets from travelling, Imasha believes in providing wellness combined with luxury and comfort for Ayurva travelers. With her experience in banking and customer care she is contributing towards uplifting the “Ayurva” brand name while expanding their market. Indeed she is a great pillar of strength to Nilusha.

Ayruva Traveller: Ultimate holiday for the mind, body and soul

Wake up in the morning, rush to get ready, go to work, take care of the kids, go to sleep and wish there was more than 24 hours in a day… Sounds familiar? This is the hectic routine that most of us are accustomed to. With such a busy lifestyle, we are all guilty of forgetting to sit back, relax and enjoy a calm and serene holiday. We also forget that our emotional, spiritual and mental health is just as important as our physical wellbeing to lead a happy and enjoyable life. This is where Ayruva Traveller steps in. Ayurva Traveller, a wellness travel agent, believes in providing the ultimate holiday escape combined with emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing. spoke to Imesha Kodithuwakku , the Sales and Product Development Manager of Ayurva Traveller to find out more about what it has to offer. http://www.ayurvatraveller.com/  

Could you tell the readers a little bit about your company, Ayurva Traveller and what it does?

Ayurva! Depicts the meaning of Ayu (long life) + R (Relaxation) + Va (Vacation), a concept of luxury travel combined with a holistic approach towards wellbeing which results in the ultimate wellness retreat experience filled with relaxation and refinement. Ayurva Traveller is an online travel agent focused mainly on wellness travel. We are creating vacations which give priority to relaxation, rejuvenation and inspire our travellers to lead happy and healthy lives. Ayurva wellness holidays are ideal for those who wish to detach from their busy lives and focus on themselves, to find inner-peace with meditation, to find grace and energy with yoga, to be rejuvenated and revived with healing spa treatments and to immerse in endless luxuries. Ayurva Traveller was started in November last year with the inspiration of MD Nilusha Kodithuwakku who is the founder and creator of Ayurva philosophy and the vision. The Ayurva team is a group of individuals who share a common passion in wellness and travel. Our team of wellness consultants consists of industry experts who are dedicated in providing a luxurious holiday combined with a sensory experience for the mind, body and soul. With special guidance by the Managing Director and our valued consultants, our team is geared in making your wellness holiday experience a memorable one.

Meditative travelling is a unique concept in Sri Lanka. What inspired you to get into the field of meditative travelling and start Ayruva Traveller?

Our products are focused on “wellness”. Wellness travels means all travels associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing the personal well-being. This is a new healthier approach to travel. In our wellness packages, we include meditation sessions as it helps to “be present” and help you to connect with you inner mind. Most of the resorts we are working with introduce mediations session along with yoga practice. Global travel trends are changing and people are looking for relaxing and enjoying holidays while taking care of the body. Especially with the increasing stress levels at work, health issues and social changes, wellness holidays are becoming popular and a need. We want to cater to this segment, believing in positive holiday experiences. Sri Lanka has a lot to offer being a green destination and rich in spirituality. It is challenging to find properties that can cater to this segment yet in Sri Lanka. However, resorts and hotels are being very positive, supportive and working with us together to venture in to the wellness tourism business.

What are the different types of trips offered by your company?

Currently we provide packages to 3 exotic destinations: Maldives Sri Lanka and Bhutan. We work with selected luxury resorts in all destinations and offer wellness packages with inclusions such as: Detoxifying treatments at spa Rejuvenating treatments Yoga, meditation experiences Wellness guidelines Healing retreats We are working with healing retreats where our healing therapist Ms. Sukhwinder Kaur flies from Australia to each destination a few times during the year for wellness retreats which includes Colour / Crystal Therapy, Singing Bowl Therapy, Reiki, Journey Therapy etc

Are there any other services offered by Ayurva Traveller?

Apart from wellness packages, we offer wedding experiences (romantic getaways) for intimate wedding experiences in exotic destinations as well. We are introducing the wellness concept to Sri Lankan women as well. Wellness day packages ,wellness vouchers as gifts are something we feel is a good start to get Sri Lankan ladies to get themselves introduced to the growing wellness lifestyle. QWhat are the different benefits a customer can get from meditative travelling? A wellness holiday helps you to re-wire our brains to become less anxious, happier, more focused and more creative. This is called “mindfulness.” It also helps to reach serenity and calmness and will help to increase emotional stability and productivity. It also helps to de-stress yourself and relax and rejuvenate. Our ultimate motive is to see our clients leaving from their holiday as happier and healthier persons. This will be a start for a new healthier lifestyle.

What is unique about Ayurva Traveller?

We provide the opportunity for our travellers to embark on one of the best luxury hotels in Asia with wellness options to ensure that their wellness and wellbeing are best taken care of while they are holidaying with Ayurva Traveller. All the packages have been tailor- made for Ayurva Traveller. The Ayurva team has worked with each resort and carefully selected the package inclusions with the resort after experiencing them on their own. A traveller also has the option of tailor -making the packages according to their individual requirements. Each client will be assisted and given personal care to ensure that their wellness goals are achieved. We offer Detox holidays not only for physical detox but also for emotional detox by introducing healing retreats. Destinations we offer are emerging as exotic destinations and are new to the wellness destination bucket list. The wellness traveller can contact us to get their wellness experiences in new exotic destinations like Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Any future plans to expand?

We at Ayurva wish to get onto higher platforms within the Asian region, expanding our product portfolio to other exotic destinations.  Current packages are based on detox holidays and healing retreats as well as luxury spa holidays. Our next approach is to work with companies who would like to introduce workplace wellness programs to their employees. This could be done as incentives andweekend wellness getaways. Photographs by Nirmala Dhananjaya