Relax - Good gut feel

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[Above: Relax outdoors while at the Mayr Health Spa at Carinthia Austria.]

Mayr Health Spa
Golfstrasse 2, A-9082 Maria Worth-Dellach, Carinthia Austria
Tel: +43 42 73 25 11 0
www.mayrandmore.at

AS prescribed by Franz Xaver Mayr, the road to wellness leads to Worthersee, a picturesque lake in Carinthia, the alpine region in southern Austria defined by mountain views, pine-forested landscapes, secluded lakefront estates and cool, crisp, fresh air. It features the type of pristine environment that inspires people to play golf, take nature walks and go biking and horse-riding in the summer or skiing in the winter. It's the kind of place that is conducive to hearty appetites.

If your destination happens to be the Mayr Health Spa, however, be sure to check your appetite at the door. A lot of people pay good (but not exorbitant) money to stay at this low-key, minimum-fuss medical spa perched on a slope beside Worthersee (or Lake Worth), one of 44 lakes in the area. Apart from a healthy bank balance and a desire to feel good about themselves, guests at Mayr are likely to find themselves thinking about food - or a distinct lack of it. Put another way, you're a world away from Club Med and those all-you-can-eat buffets.

A chef preparing gourmet quality food at Mayr Health Spa.

The F.X. Mayr health regime, which is named for a doctor of internal medicine who was born in the 19th century and who died 45 years ago, is based on one overriding, relatively basic theory. Dr Mayr determined that the way to a man's health is through his stomach - or more precisely, his digestive system. He believed that we are essentially what we eat, and because we subject our systems to so much abuse through inherently unhealthy diets, the intestines are at the root of all our ills. As a consequence, the Mayr Cure involves purging the intestines of all those nasty toxins that have accumulated over time, particularly in those of us who can't resist second helpings of that Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham.

'As a young man, Mayr studied medicine, he had to massage the bellies of rich people,' says Frank Bolvari, medical director of the Mayr & More programme. 'He developed his own style of physical investigation, which found that if we eat badly, we have bad digestion.'

He adds: 'If you have any health issues, we are your Sherlock Holmes - we investigate, recommend a diet, guide you. It's like going to a Zen monastery or a small hospital - if you want to work on your health, this is the Mother house, the original treatment.'

The 70-room Mayr Health Spa is an alpine-style lodge built in the 1930s by an
English gentleman.

After an initial diagnosis where they might be introduced to phrases like 'instability of intestinal surroundings' and 'pathogenic bacteria', guests are assigned a treatment schedule and a meal programme designed to suit each individual. If there's such a thing as gourmet quality yogurt, spelt bread, calorie-free spreads, steamed, boiled and pureed vegetables, the kitchen team at the spa - led by a chef, who in a previous life worked in a high-end restaurant - produces it. Raw food, and any food after 6pm are discouraged.

Naturally, nobody goes to the spa for the food. Repeat guests (and there are many who make it an annual pilgrimage) go to Mayr, prepared to consume less food and more water. After a day or two to adjust, the headaches and hunger pangs will recede, to be replaced by a sense that something positive is happening to their bodies. By the end of a typical two-week stay, most people will be in a quietly euphoric state, tempered only by the knowledge that they are about to re-enter a world full of temptation.

The three-step treatment at Mayr involves withholding food to protect the system, cleansing the intestines through a variety of therapies including liver compresses, abdominal massages, detox baths and everyone's favourite - colonic irrigation - and finally, learning how to eat healthily and chew to facilitate proper digestion.

By combining traditional wellness techniques and spa treatments with special high-tech therapies such Blutlaser - injecting a low-intensity laser beam into the bloodstream to give the body an energy boost - the Mayr Cure is both Old School and New Wave. Dr Bolvari stresses that while the primary objective is not to shed those excess kilos, weight loss is merely a consequence of the treatment. 'The focus is on cure, not golf, but golf and weight loss are added side benefits,' he says.

A bedroom at Mayr Health Spa at Carinthia, Austria.

The Mayr Health Spa's 70-room alpine-style lodge was built in the 1930s by an English gentleman who understood the more obvious benefits of the region. Its lakeside location, beside a golf course and close to the borders with Italy and Slovenia, has long attracted travellers in search of peace and quiet (composer Gustav Mahler was a nearby resident). Many well-heeled admirers built or bought holiday villas on the southern shore of Lake Worth - Ferdinand Piech, the retired chairman of the Volkswagen group, owns a wooded estate just down the road from the spa.

At 22 kilometres long by four kilometres wide, the lake is the third largest in Carinthia, with crystalline waters that are pure enough to drink. Klagenfurt, the Carinthian capital, sits at one end of the lake, while towards the other end, the village of Velden is home to Schloss Velden, a grand hotel with a storied history and a more conventional high-end spa.

Despite its more proletarian origins, the Mayr Health Spa's reputation for quality care attracts guests from all over the world, including, according to Dr Bolvari, an Argentinian man who signed up for three weeks, but ended up staying for two months. 'I see the difference,' he says. 'When they leave, they look completely relaxed, well-rested and happy.'

A lifestyle change involving food deprivation, a disciplined exercise regimen and daily doses of herbal tea and Epsom salts may not be all that appealing, but the tangible rewards - a lighter, leaner frame, a more energetic body with fewer allergies and of course, a digestive system to die for - make it seem worthwhile. All it requires is some intestinal fortitude.

btnews@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Business Times.

Good gut feel

By Geoffrey Eu, The Business Times | Wed, Jan 20 2010

The Mayr Health Spa beside Lake Worth is a sanctuary that revitalises one's mind, body and digestive system.