Treatment room at the retreat | Photo Credit: Alex Teuscher

After finishing a small portion of mixed fruit puree in under three minutes, I wait for breakfast. As it turns out, that was breakfast. A cup of piping hot herbal tea marks the end of the first meal of the day. Tightly wrapping my bath robe around me, and ignoring my growling stomach I head to the wellness bay of Chenot Palace Gabala, Azerbaijan.

Launched in 2016, this luxury wellness retreat has made it its mission to detox guests while providing them with relaxation. “We recharge your batteries and send you back into the real world, “ says George Gaitonos, chief operating and scientific officer, Chenot group. Chenot Palace follows Henri Chenot’s (a pioneer in the preventive healthcare space, and founder of the Chenot group) philosophy and methods that were designed nearly five decades ago. He combined western and traditional Chinese medicine. His method aims to reset the physiology of the body through treatment and diet.

Neurac treatment | Photo Credit: Alex Teuscher

”Mr Chenot believed in prevention rather than cure. He wanted people to live longer and lead healthier lives. He started talking about this in the 1970s. Here, at Chenot, we are not focussing on disease but on prevention. We treat health, not disease,” says Gaitonos, who joined the group in 2013 as research and innovation manager and then inherited the legacy of the late Chenot, who passed away in 2020.

After the first Chenot Palace in Gabala, the second one opened in Weggis, Switzerland. Expansion plans are on, with a target of five Chenot Palaces by 2030. The properties look similar, like Swiss chalets. There are tailor-made programmes for three-nights, seven-nights, and 14-nights.

My three-day active detox Henri Chenot Programme includes a combination of treatments and a diet that includes just 850 calories a day. My day starts with a medical consultation with Dr Rauf Iskandarli. He discusses my medical history, and draws up a therapy plan.

My set of consultations also includes a bioenergetic check up, an aesthetic angle, where we discuss facials and other related therapies. I begin with biophotomodulation, which is said to stimulate seratonin, along with the small intestine and enzymes according to the therapist. For 10 minutes, I sit on a chair with a helmet-like object suspended above my head while magenta lights blink in quick succession.

Cupping | Photo Credit: Alex Teuscher

Next I am whisked into a pristine room with a full-size bathtub fitted with paraphernalia that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. I soak myself in the comfortably warm bath as jets of water target different areas of my body while the colour of the lights change at regular intervals. Twenty-minutes later, the hydro aromatherapy session ends and I am hoisted up by my therapist, who wraps me in a cosy towel and escorts me for phyto-mud treatment.

Phyto-mud treatment | Photo Credit: Sofia Demidenko

A combination of warm and cold mud (made using clay and algae from France and Italy) is slathered on me before I am wrapped like a burrito in two layers of cotton and biodegradable sheets and made to lie on a vibrating waterbed that lulls me to sleep. Hydro jet therapy follows, where I am hosed down with a strong jet of water to remove the mud. The ordeal lasts 20-minutes, post which I feel squeaky clean. And finally, I walk in for what I had been waiting for since morning — a massage. This is the Chenot energetic massage which also incorporates cupping therapy.

The cryotherapy chamber at Chenot Palace Gabala | Photo Credit: Andre Jabali

Cryotherapy in progress

Other treatments here include cryotherapy (a room where temperatures are set between -10 to -120 degrees Celsius), hydro-aromatherapy, phyto-mud treatment, whole body biophotomodulation (a combination of red and near infra-red light that is said to relieve pain, relax muscles and joints and helps with blood circulation). I also do a postural spine and muscle assessment where the therapist puts me on Neurac (neuromuscular activation) treatment after evaluation. This involves a number of red strings that work as a pulley and hoist me up in the air, making me feel like Superman.

There is a charm to not having to make any decisions at all here. The only thing I am expected to do is carry my consultation book around and stick to the diet chalked out for me.

850 calorie meal

Lunch is a beautifully-plated, three-course affair. Artichoke with sundried tomato pesto and spinach fettucine with tomato. All delicious, except the fettucine needs salt. But then, at Chenot Palace, they add minimal salt — one gram per head, per day. (During my stay here, I admit, I dream about butter chicken more than once!)

Dinner is spicy tofu and vegetables wrapped in rice paper, minestrone soup, and roasted vegetables. Delicious!

Biophotomodulation | Photo Credit: Andre Jabali

The menu has no sugar and no meat, and portions are small to keep to the 850 calorie mark. “Through this we are trying to activate mechanisms within the body to detoxify. When you give the body small amount of calories, the body activates its repair mechanism which helps the body clean damaged cells, also called autophagy,” explains Gaitonos.

The heated indoor pool

The property houses an indoor and an outdoor pool, a bar that serves a mindboggling variety of tea (in the absence of whisky, Romeo and Juliet tea came to be my favourite elixir here), a gym with anti-gravity, and vacuum treadmills, a hammam, an altitude training room, 72 rooms and three extravagant villas, each facing the outdoor pool, Nohur lake and mountains that stand like sentinels. Low clouds glide past as a gentle sun peeks from between them. It is chilly outside, the air is fresh and the sounds of Nature serenade you. No wonder Gabala is called the Caucasian Switzerland.

The outdoor pool with a view of Nohur Lake | Photo Credit: Sofia Demidenko

By that evening, the hunger pangs become more bearable and I feel more zen. At the end of three days, I notice a marked difference for the better in my digestion.

On the day of checkout, as I finish the fruit puree, I feel a tinge of emotion; I may just miss the experience. With a vow to replicate this diet at least once a year, I leave the protective cocoon of Chenot Palace Gabala. And once out, I unfurl a list of places to eat at in Azerbaijan, before flying home.

Prices start at ₹1,73,704 per head for a three-day programme. Room tariff starts at ₹32,288 per night. Prices are subject to change shortly.

The writer was in Azerbaijan at the invitation of Chenot Palace Gabala.

The Turkish hammam | Photo Credit: AndreJabali

Neurac treatment in progress | Photo Credit: AndreJabali

The phyto-mud is made using clay and algae from France and Italy | Photo Credit: GG ARCHARD