My Nirvana Experience

New Year 2010: Jatinder Reehal

Jatinder Reehal, one of our Members, was invited to attend the Nirvana Spa in Sindlesham, nr Wokingham to see how their facilities and treatments could be beneficial for people living with RA. She and her sister, Polly, spent a day there in August and this is Jatinder’s account of the day.

My sister and I were so excited to have the ‘day off’. We both have RA. I have had it for 10 years now and she has just been diagnosed. We woke up early, left the children at home with their dads and for the first time in a very long time went off to relax for the day! The day was already planned out for us for the main part.  Once we arrived, we were made very welcome and went into the changing area to get changed. The whole ambience of the spa from the minute you set foot in the door was just perfect. It had such a relaxed atmosphere.

Our first visit was to the hydrotherapy pool. WOW! I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a huge pool sized Jacuzzi. The most fantastic part was it had jets at all different positions around the pool so for someone with RA it was just perfect. I had different painful areas to my sister and we both found jets at the perfect angle to help our most painful joints. There’s one in the floor for your feet, in the sides for your back, higher up for your shoulders and so on. The warm water in the pool also helped and it felt like the stress around the joints was being relieved.

We left this pool and moved on into the salt water floatation. This was just amazing. I feel with RA there are some days, especially when you have bad days, that your joints are so flared and they just make your hands and feet so ‘heavy’. This pool made you feel so light and weightless, for the first time in years I didn’t have heavy hands and feet. It felt great. The salt just held you so well that you felt totally relaxed. It feels like there is no strain on any part of your body. When you have RA all over your body it’s very difficult to achieve such a feeling. I was so relaxed I fell asleep and had to be woken up!

Time for lunch and even that was spectacular. I’ve never seen such a huge salad bar. It was so filling. In fact the selection of food and drinks throughout the day was more than satisfactory.
 
We moved onto the heated lounges after lunch and they were just tranquil.  We nodded off and relaxed some more. This was followed by a massage in the salt water pool which was also a great treatment. The salt held you up and as the warm water relaxed you, the therapist worked on gently massaging all the painful areas. It was so nice we didn’t want to get out! We followed this with a sauna, monsoon shower and a relaxing facial not forgetting our afternoon tea and an amazing array of cakes!

The atmosphere throughout the spa was just so peaceful and relaxing there was so much to do and so little time! The main motive was achieved. It allowed you to take your mind off of your aches and pains for a few hours and that just meant the world to us.

Thank you so much for such a wonderful experience from both of us. We will be sure to visit you again very soon!