The healing arts
Ayurveda & Bodywork at Ulpotha
Ayurveda at Ulpotha is authentic and rooted in tradition. Together, Ayurveda and bodywork create a complete care experience that helps you feel lighter, clearer, and more connected to yourself and your Ayurvedic doshas.
★ 4.9 on Google & TripAdvisor · As featured in National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveller, The Telegraph & The Guardian · Treatments given by our visiting therapists and resident doctor.
The practice
Rooted in tradition
At Ulpotha, we offer an out-of-this-world authentic Ayurvedic experience. Surrounded by nature’s beauty and a sense of peace best described as ethereal, you have the perfect environment for truly holistic treatment aligned with your doshas. At Ulpotha, Ayurveda is woven into day-to-day life: the food, the jungle, the yoga, the silence, the digital detox, living like a local. Nature is the treatment. The village is the medicine.
A basic Ayurveda Panchakarma treatment lasts three weeks and requires a stay of at least 48 hours before treatment for those arriving from overseas. Our resident doctor (see below), Dr Srilal, is specialised in treating Arthritis, a condition that typically requires at least four weeks of Ayurveda treatment. If you would like to receive treatment for this, or other ailments, from digestion and sleep to emotional temperament and skin disorders, please inform Pri, who takes our bookings, so that she can discuss and/or pass on your details to Dr Srilal, who can suggest the ideal length of stay and treatment. Pri can be reached on WhatsApp or email (bookings@ulpotha.com). Please note that Ayurveda is available at an additional cost.
New to Ayurveda? Start with the three doshas, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, see the full treatments & Panchakarma, or read what an Ayurveda day looks like. And if Ayurveda is the reason you are coming to Ulpotha, there is a path made for that: arrive on a Sunday and start your reset on the Monday.
Coming for Ayurveda itself?
What you can expect
All our Ayurveda treatments, regardless of the personalised elements stemming from your consultation with Dr Srilal, contain preparatory and elimination therapies.
Preparatory therapies
These are the ones everyone likes and that Ayurveda is most known for: gentle massages, oil applications, steam baths, saunas, and herbal baths, according to your dosha.
Elimination therapies
These consist of what is more commonly known as Panchakarma or Panchakarma treatment, the five specialised elimination therapies: inhalation, purgation, emesis (vomiting), enemas, and bloodletting. In traditional village-based Ayurveda (as opposed to hospital-based Ayurveda), elimination therapies focus on inhalation and purgation. The latter three elimination therapies are not prescribed or performed in Ulpotha. They are also unnecessary given Ulpotha’s holistic approach.
Programmes & pricing
From three days to twenty-eight
Ayurveda Panchakarma treatments
The complete Panchakarma therapy, for those with four weeks or more.
- SamadhiyaProfound 21 days $1,500
- MokshayaRedemption 28 days $2,000
A taste of Ayurveda
If you don’t have four weeks for a full Panchakarma retreat, you can explore a shorter programme of Ayurvedic treatments during your wellness retreat at Ulpotha in a setting that truly supports holistic healing. The climate, the pace, the connection to nature: everything during your retreat at Ulpotha helps you settle, soften and receive the benefits of this time-honoured practice.
- SanthushtiHappiness 3 days $250
- AshinsanayaBenediction 5 days $375
- SanasumaSatisfaction 7 days $500
- NamskarayaSalutation 10 days $750
- AswesillaSolace 14 days $1,000
(The costs above are in addition to that of your stay; please select which treatment you would like on our booking form).
If an Ayurveda treatment is short in length, say less than the 7-day Sanasuma programme, you will only have time for preparatory treatments that may include inhalation as an elimination therapy.
If you have time for a longer Ayurveda treatment, then you can also undergo purgation. However, a consultation is essential to determine which elimination therapies you need according to your Ayurvedic dosha.
For Ayurveda treatments that are 10 days or less, you will receive treatments every day, each consisting of roughly one to two hours. Longer treatments will include rest days.
Please note that we recommend a 3-day treatment for a one-week yoga retreat and a 7-day treatment for a two-week retreat stay. If possible, we can extend these to a maximum of 5 days and 10 days, provided you are willing to compromise, if necessary, on your excursions, yoga sessions, and/or complimentary massages. It's best to discuss this with us when making your booking.
Our resident doctor
Dr Srilal Mudunkothge
Dr Srilal Mudunkothge, an acclaimed Ayurveda practitioner of this ancient, holistic medical art, is our resident doctor.
Dr Mudunkothge obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery and is registered as a general and specialist doctor with the Ayurvedic Medical Council of Sri Lanka. His specialisations are psychiatric ailments as well as arthritis. Therapeutic programmes for the treatment of Arthritis are available on request.
Apart from being a practicing Ayurveda doctor with over two decades of experience, he is a qualified allopathic pharmacist registered with the Sri Lanka Medical Council.
Free village clinic
Your Ayurveda treatment treats the village too
August 2005
Clinic established
65,750+
Visits, as of mid-2025
21,500+
Patients
An Ayurveda clinic was established in August 2005 to provide free Ayurvedic treatments to local villagers. The clinic is funded entirely by the revenue generated from guests’ treatments.
This initiative, which includes free Ayurveda medicines, harks back to the traditional way Ayurveda was dispensed, where patients rarely paid in cash for the care they received. Instead, they would make a symbolic offering of betel leaves to the Ayurveda doctor at the time of consultation and offer their services in kind.
As of mid-2025, the Ayurveda clinic had received over 65,750 visits from more than 21,500 patients.
Visiting therapists
Bodywork
In addition to Ayurvedic treatments, a visiting massage therapist is available on demand throughout your retreat. You can arrange massages directly with the therapist for an additional fee. The therapist is experienced and intuitive and covers a range of disciplines. You can see which therapists are available and read descriptions of their massage styles under each retreat. They use warm oils, gentle pressure, and slow, grounded movements to help your body unwind after long flights, deeper yoga sessions, or a day exploring the lake.
You take your treatment in a quiet, open-air space where you hear the soft rustle of leaves, the river and the sounds of village life drifting in the background. It feels simple and deeply calming.
Intuitive massage
with visiting therapist Boris Gonzalez
Kahuna massage
with visiting therapist Eva Thomas
Booking
Lighter, clearer, more connected
Select your treatment on the booking form. If you would like to talk it through first, Pri, who takes our bookings, can be reached on WhatsApp or at bookings@ulpotha.com.
Coming for Ayurveda itself? Begin with the Ayurveda retreat.