Starter Kit. Idea 104 of 500. Cluster 5
Hot stone therapy using local granite
The mechanism, from the book
Ayurveda is a system of medicine the world already recognises and seeks out. The demand is there; what Sri Lanka needs is more of its own names, known and asked for abroad.
The first step
Collect smooth granite stones from a place where taking them is allowed, and have a stonemason shape and polish a full set. Take the set to the spa managers at three hotels near you and offer a free demonstration treatment on a member of staff. Ask each what they would pay for a finished set with the stone's origin printed on the box. One order confirms it.
- Who pays first
- A hotel spa manager who wants a treatment with a local story, and a set of stones they can name when guests ask.
- What leaves today
- Local granite is quarried as rough building stone; shaped, finished and named, the same rock becomes a spa product with the island's story on it.
Ask first
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask what hygiene standard a treatment room needs.
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what licence a spa offering treatments needs.
Check before you spend
That therapists are trained in hot-stone safety, that the stones are legally sourced, and what insurance covers burns.
Find out these three numbers
- What will guests pay for a hot-stone treatment here?
- Where can smooth granite be legally sourced?
- How many treatments a day can one therapist safely give?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.