What to expect
Everything worth knowing before your first visit.
What a session actually involves, how you are likely to feel afterwards, what we will and will not promise you, and where our work stops and a doctor's begins. Two minutes, and nothing on the day will be a surprise.
Version 2.0
Where we fit
Nirmalkaya is a preventive wellness centre. We work in naturopathy, physiotherapy, therapeutic yoga, manual therapy, hydrotherapy, mud therapy, controlled heat and clinical nutrition, and each is delivered by someone qualified in that discipline.
We are not a hospital or an emergency service, we do not diagnose disease, and we do not change anybody's prescription. That is a deliberate boundary rather than a limitation we are apologising for — knowing where our work stops is what makes it safe to trust with the part that is ours.
Where you need a doctor, we will tell you plainly and help you get to one.
Being straight about results
We will give you an honest read on what we think will help, and we will not sell you a promise. No therapy here is a cure, and we make no claim that a programme will resolve a medical condition or produce a particular change in your body.
Individual response genuinely varies. Two people of the same age with the same complaint, given the same programme, often report different outcomes. If a session leaves you feeling much the same, that is within the ordinary range and not a sign anything was done badly.
What we do commit to is a proper assessment, a plan we can justify, and telling you if we do not think we are the right answer.
What we need to know about you
This work is physical, and its safety rests almost entirely on what you tell us. Before your first session, and whenever something changes, please tell us about:
- Any diagnosed condition — particularly heart, blood pressure, circulation, kidney, liver, thyroid or nervous system
- Diabetes, and whether sensation in your feet is affected
- All medication, including blood thinners and steroids
- Pregnancy, or the possibility of it
- Recent surgery, fracture or injury, and any implanted device such as a pacemaker
- Skin conditions, open wounds, infections, and any reaction you have had to oils, herbs or heat
- Epilepsy, fainting, or a history of falls
Why we keep asking
We will ask again at your first visit, and periodically after that. It is not paperwork. A therapy that would have been adjusted, shortened or skipped altogether gets delivered as normal if nobody knows the reason to change it — so where something has not been shared with us, we cannot account for it, and cannot be responsible for what follows from not knowing.
What happens in the room
So that none of it is a surprise on the day:
- Hands-on work on skin, muscle and joints, including firm pressure where deep tissue work is indicated
- Partial disrobing, with draping throughout, for anything needing access to the back, limbs or abdomen
- Warm oils and herbal preparations, mud, steam, and water at contrasting temperatures
- Wet floors in the hydrotherapy area
- A practitioner of a particular gender — tell reception beforehand if you would prefer otherwise and we will arrange it where staffing allows
Afterwards, this is normal
These are expected, usually settle within a day or two, and are not signs that something went wrong:
- Muscle soreness for a day or two after deep tissue or physiotherapy work
- Feeling briefly lightheaded after steam, sauna or heat
- Warmth, redness or slight bruising over the area treated
- Tiredness, or an unusually deep sleep, the same evening
- Needing the bathroom more often after hydrotherapy or abdominal work
- Feeling a little emotional after long relaxation work — this is common and nothing to be embarrassed by
The less common things
Occasionally, and even with correct technique, physical therapy can produce bruising or a muscle strain, an irritant or allergic reaction to an oil or preparation, a burn from heat or steam, a slip on a wet surface, a fall during supervised movement, or a short flare of an existing complaint before it settles.
These are inherent to hands-on work rather than evidence of a mistake, and booking means accepting that. Where something does happen because we fell short, that is ours to own and put right — see below.
You can stop at any moment
Say so and the session stops. No reason needed, no explanation expected. Tell your therapist if pressure is too firm, if the heat is too much, or if you would rather be covered differently — that is not an interruption, it is how the session is meant to work.
Fees, and when we refund
What you pay for is a practitioner's time, skill and full attention, and a therapy conducted properly. That is what we can honestly sell; a guaranteed sensation or a guaranteed outcome is not.
So a session that was delivered as described is not refunded because of how it felt or what it achieved. If it was not delivered as described — the wrong therapy, someone unqualified, or conduct below the standard we publish — tell us and we will refund it without an argument. Whether the service was properly provided is a fair thing to hold us to. Whether it felt worth it is a judgement only you can make, and not one we can underwrite.
Sessions you have paid for and not yet taken are separate, and refundable under the terms on our terms page.
The few things we will not accept
Almost nobody reads this and finds it relevant to them. It is here because our staff are entitled to know where the line is, and because it is only fair to state it before you book rather than after. We may decline or stop service, then and in future, where somebody:
- Attends intoxicated, or otherwise unable to consent safely
- Is abusive, threatening or discriminatory towards staff or other patients
- Behaves sexually towards a member of staff, in word or action
- Repeatedly withholds health information after being asked
- Refuses to pay for a service delivered as described
If we do have to refuse
We record the phone number, the date and the reason, and that record applies at every Nirmalkaya centre rather than only the one where it happened. A therapist should not have to walk into the same situation twice with no warning.
You can ask what is held about you and ask us to review it. The privacy policy explains how, and a decision can be reversed.
Your records
What you tell us, what we find and what we deliver goes into a clinical record. It exists to treat you well and keep you safe. It is not sold, and it goes nowhere outside the centre except where the law requires it or where you ask us to share it with your doctor. The privacy policy covers how long we keep it and how to get a copy or a correction.
If something is not right
Tell the centre manager, in person or on 7696661169, as soon as you can. We would far rather hear it from you on the day than read about it later. Every complaint is recorded and answered, and where we were at fault we will say so and make it good.
Also worth a look
Two more short pages.
Cancellation, notice periods, and refunds on sessions you have not yet taken.
What we record, how long we keep it, and how to ask for a copy or a correction.
Anything here you would like explained before you book? Call the centre. 7696661169. We would rather answer it now than have you wondering on the day.