BY: PHOOWADON DUANGMEE

How often does your spa treatment begin with a quiz? You ask the right questions and you can get some revealing answers - about both body and soul. I start off my spa weekend in a queue at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi's Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre. The quiz completed, I surrender to the Indian ayurvedic doctor and wait for her verdict.

"You're a pitta - a fire type," concludes Sunita Shekhar Mahamuni.

"Fire-dominated people are naturally active, fast and very focused. But apparently you have too much of the fire element in your body. This imbalance could cause you problems, like fitful breath and forgetfulness."

Does too much fire in my body make me too hot? This is clearly going take more than just an oil massage.

A few years back, when they were planning this state-of-the-art hotel, the architects came back from Mandalay Palace in northern Burma with sketches of the royal abode.

And that's what they built - a model of the Burmese king's residence in a cluster of golden-teak buildings that greet visitors with a seven-tier spa lobby. The seven tiers, I am told, symbolise heaven - or hedonism, to be precise.

Guests will tell you that the award-winning Dheva Spa is a destination unto itself, with no less than 18 treatment rooms. But it's really ayurveda - the ancient Hindu healthcare system - on which its strength is established.

In a 30-minute consultation, Dr Mahamuni covers 5,000 years of healthy Indian history. The human body, I learn, is composed of three bodily elements, or doshas - there is vata (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (water). To live healthily, these have to be in balance, and that's done through exercise and detoxification.

I do work out sometimes, in vain against a swelling belly and a hectic work routine, and detoxification is likely to be defeated by my intake of alcohol and nicotine.

But fitful breathing, back pain and stiff muscles are the challenges of the moment, and so my holistic retreat begins, with an hour-long private yoga session.

There is pain in the twisting and stretching, but meanwhile you gain a clearer mind and sense of balance.

Next is abhyanga - Sanskrit for "hot-oil massage".

"Luxurious" seems an overused word these days, but the facilities at Dheva Spa are truly that. My tranquil, private treatment room is adorned with Thai silk, polished teak, marble tiles and authentic Lanna antiques.

The therapist rubs my hands, then arms with warm sesame oil, long strokes along the muscles and small circular kneads at the joints.

"Abhyanga improves your circulation and purges the toxins," says the 20-something masseuse, halting my descent into sleep.

Modern soaps and pleasant toiletries, say the devotees of ayurveda, do more harm than good with their synthetic ingredients. Abhyanga, offering herbal oil and warm touch instead, is the ideal alternative.

Dr Mahamuni has custom-designed four more treatments for me, each to be enjoyed leisurely and in turn in this beautiful place.

The Dhara Dhevi, which spreads over 60 acres, could be the ultimate hideaway, long cobblestone paths, spacious lawns circled by towering rain trees, clusters of Lanna-style buildings.

The path leaps across a small bridge from the parking lot and leads to the gleaming white staircase of the reception building, which is festooned with gilded spires and wooden gables.

Strolling into the Dhara Dhevi is like slipping into some ancient town from a fable. It's earned raves for its architecture marvels, including 69 old-style Siamese villas nestled around the picturesque rice paddies.

Recently 54 suites with spacious balconies and gingerbread facades were added to the Colonial wing.

Between treatments, I pop into the Jum Sri Library and borrow a collection of CDs of classic blues, or head to Le Grand Lanna restaurant. Using natural, fresh ingredients, the chef prepares meals to match your dosha.

"You shouldn't eat cooked and raw food together, like steak with salad," says Dr Mahamuni. She also recommends filling half your stomach with food and a quarter with water and leaving the rest empty to help with digestion.

Back to the therapists. Kathi basti is an oil massage that speaks directly to my lower-back pain. Then comes shirodhara, a signature treatment in ayuravedic medicine.

The therapist keeps pouring warm oil over my forehead - she means to fix my mind! If you're like me, forgetting your ATM pin number and your mother-in-law's birthday, this treatment is a must. It's made for absent-mindedness.

In the final treatment I learn to breathe through one nostril, then the other. You close the right nostril, inhale through the left, hold your breath for a moment and exhale through the left. After 10 breaths I start over with the right nostril closed. Then I try inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other.

"This is part of breath control, or pranayama," says the yoga master. "The deep breathing increases the oxygen that nourishes your brain. It clears your mind and calms the body."

I had checked into the Dhara Dhevi with stiff muscles, back pain - and wrinkles. After three days, the stiffness and aches were gone and my skin was smooth and lustrous.

I will never be 25 again - not even close - but I feel like I am.