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County the place to develop spiritually, says monk

Kate Justicein Kings Caple
News imageBBC A bald man sits on a white lounger wearing dark red religious robes. He is in a garden and is wearing sunglasses.BBC
Venerable Dhammaloka, a Sri Lankan senior Buddhist monk, says Herefordshire has the right "state of balance"

Herefordshire is the place in the UK for "people who want to spiritually develop themselves", a monk says.

Venerable Dhammaloka, a senior Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, says he can "feel" the county has the right "state of balance".

For a person "to be happy", he said: "They need the right environment and this environment, the nature, the air, everything in Hereford allows that."

It comes after Dhammaloka, who had never visited Herefordshire before, selected the West Midlands region as the place for his mentee, Ishara De Silva, to set up her wellness centre.

Plantation Villa was originally founded in Sri Lanka by De Silva but in 2022, the site in Kings Caple, Herefordshire, was founded following Dhammaloka's advice.

Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine and healing from South Asia that has been developed over thousands of years.

News imageA Sri Lankan woman sits on the grass in a garden next to a white lounger. She has black hair and gold jewellery and is wearing a dark lilac silk shirt.
Ishara De Silva started Plantation Villa in Sri Lanka and now has a second wellness centre in Herefordshire

De Silva admitted she too had never visited Herefordshire, despite living in the UK for 19 years.

"I had studied and worked in London, but when we talked about helping people in the UK, [Dhammaloka] chose Hereford," she said.

"He said that it was a place that was the best for developing a person's mind.

"Historically, people who worked on their physical and mental health and even the old and ancient medicine in England - all of that happened around Herefordshire."

News imageA group of people are lying on the grass in a semi-circle. At the centre, a woman with long curly brown hair and wearing an olive tunic, kneels on a cushion in front of several white bowls of vafrying sizes.
De Silva was told that Herefordshire was "the best for developing a person's mind"

Those who use the centre can experience ayurvedic retreats, yoga and sound healing.

Laura Leverington, who works at the centre after discovering her love for Ayurveda, teaches yoga and also leads the sound healing workshops.

"It's a practice for deep relaxation for both the body and the mind," she said.

"Science has proved and is continuing to prove that sound can be used as a stress release and help with meditation.

"We learn how to slow the mind down and how to switch the mind off through sound."

Leverington said that for her, Ayurveda was "how to live a happy life".

"It really focusses more on balancing the body, through eating the right foods, all the way through to how we wake up in the morning," she explained.

News imageA woman with long brown curly hair, wears olive coloured robes. She is sitting cross legged on grass in front of several tress and is creating music from several white bowls in front of her of varying sizes.
Leverington has credited Ayurveda as a way to "live a happy life"

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