Home - Panchendriya Ayurveda

Courses and massage sessions
offered
across India

Prabhat Menon is the guiding spirit of Panchendriya. As a practitioner of Thai Yoga Massage, Chavutti Thirummal and Ayurvedic treatments, Prabhat has been innovating these treatments for greater effectiveness and consistency.

Prabhat Menon hails from Kerala in South India. A Physics graduate by education, his early employment took him to the Promotions department of McGraw-Hill, the publishing company. But all along he was nurturing a wish to devote himself to Yoga, Meditation and Therapeutic Massage techniques.

An encounter with Asokananda in 1989 led to intensive training in Thai Yoga Massage and Vipassana Meditation (Mahasi Sayadaw tradition). Asokananda, originally from Germany, had been in the East studying and teaching Vipassana Meditation and Thai Massage since 1978 – he was instrumental in setting up the Sunshine Network, a worldwide group of his students and associates. He was also the first one to write a training manual on Thai Yoga Massage in English. After taking up Thai Massage as a practicing profession, Prabhat studied Kerala Ayurvedic Treatments and Chavutti Thirummal under the guidance of Gurukkal K. V. Gopalakrishnan – former Gymnastics coach, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamilnadu, India and son of C. V. Narayanan Nair who was responsible for the revival of Kalarippayatt, the martial art of Kerala, India. He also learned Tai Chi Chuan from Chow Kam Thye – founder of Lotus Palm Massage School, Montreal, Canada and an ace in Tai Chi Chuan, Chinese massage, Kung Fu and Chi Gong. Vijaya Venkat, a prominent nutritionist in Mumbai, India, trained Prabhat in various aspects of nutrition.

Further, Prabhat made a close spiritual connection with the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON). He conducts regular workshops at ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village, a 70 acre sustainable farm community and retreat spread over a scenic landscape on the foothills of Sahyadri mountains, 108 km North of Mumbai, India. The focus at Govardhan Eco Village is learning how to live in harmony with the environment developing a ‘spiritual ecology’ that can bring about positive changes within ourselves and how we interact with the planet.

To arrange a closer contact with the public and increase interest in these life based activities, Prabhat published a book on the Art and Practice of Kerala Bare Foot Massage technique – ONE ROPE, TWO FEET AND HEALING OILS (DK Books, Thailand, 1999). He is also the only one who has made a comprehensive video documentary of bone setting and bandaging techniques in Kalarippayatt.

Prabhat conducts camps and seminars on Massage and better living while continuing his practice in Mumbai and other parts of India.

Other Activities:

Very passionate about environment – promoting recycling, rain/waste water management, organic farming, biodiversity and permaculture.

Collecting ancient Indian palm leaf manuscripts and decoding them with experts.