Interview with Vickum Nawagamuwage, Founder & CEO of Santani

Visionary founder of Santani Wellness Resort & Spa in Sri Lanka, Vickum Nawagamuwage has, in just a few years, established his establishment as one of the world’s benchmarks in wellness. A former strategic consultant, he drew on his own experience of stress to devise a unique concept focused on mental clarity and lasting balance between body and mind.
We interviewed him to understand the genesis of Santani, its profoundly innovative philosophy, and to discover how this vision will now be extended to other destinations around the world.

Pascal Languillon (PL): Vickum, let me start with a big question. Why did you create Santani ?

Vickum Nawagamuwage (VN): Pascal, you’re right to the point! For me, it all started with my own background. I was working in the US in strategic consulting, always on the move – airport lounges, client offices, with no real base. I was under constant stress. To deal with this, I started going to wellness centers in the U.S., then later to Southeast Asia and India.

These places were good for me, but only temporarily. Two weeks after returning to “real life”, I was back at the same point. I said to myself: this can’t be it. Wellness shouldn’t be a fleeting interlude, but a way of life that lasts. It was this realization that gave birth to Santani.

Pascal and Vickum at the Destination Deluxe Awards 2025.

PL: That’s fascinating. So for you, stress isn’t really the problem, but rather a symptom?

VN: Exactly. Stress isn’t an illness in itself, it’s the consequence of something deeper. We get stressed when we can’t do what we’re supposed to do – whether it’s a major event like the loss of a loved one, or something more mundane like a difficult boss. But these are one-off situations. What intrigued me was that stress is now universal, and everyone suffers from it.

I realized that the cause was not these isolated events, but an evolutionary shift. For millennia, survival meant being physically capable of hunting or protecting oneself. But over the last 7,000 years, and especially over the last 30 years, our survival has relied more on our cognitive abilities. Money gives us access to food and protection, and that money comes from our mental, not physical, performance. Yet most wellness approaches continue to focus solely on the body – walking, going to the gym, eating a balanced diet. But there is no “gym” for the mind. That’s the discrepancy.

PL: And do you think the Internet has further amplified this gap?

VN: Absolutely. In just 25 years, the amount of data our brains have to process has exploded by more than 1,800%. But our brains haven’t evolved one iota. Evolution takes generations. In the meantime, we have to adapt our behavior to cope.

This is where Santani comes in. The idea is not to mask the symptoms of stress, but to help people adapt by building both physical and mental fitness for the modern world.

PL: How does Santani put this philosophy into practice?

VN: We’re redefining “fitness”. Today, being fit no longer means running fast or lifting weights. It means being healthy and disease-free. Our first priority is detoxification, because as we age, our purifying organs – liver, kidneys and lungs – become less efficient. Toxins accumulate and lead to degenerative diseases. By helping the body to rid itself of these wastes more thoroughly, we act on the root causes.

Then comes the mind. And here, the effort must be ten times greater, because it’s the one bearing the heaviest load today. We use mindfulness – yoga, meditation, pranayama, breathing – to clear the mind of its daily “clutter” and expand its capacities.

Even Santani’s architecture plays a role. Most wellness resorts enclose their guests in buildings filled with distractions. Santani, on the other hand, was designed to give space and silence to the mind. Minimalism here is not aesthetic, it’s therapeutic.

PL: So it’s as much about mental clarity as physical health?

VN: Exactly. And when body and mind are balanced, this can lead to a form of “spiritual fitness” – a union with nature and the universe. In fact, that’s the very meaning of the word “yoga”: union. But even without going that far, achieving good physical and mental health is already an immense transformation for living better every day.

PL: Looking to the future, how will this vision play out in your new projects?

VN: The need is universal. Stress and imbalance affect everyone. Having revolutionized wellness in Sri Lanka, Santani has no intention of stopping there. Over the next two to three years, new projects will be launched in Morocco, Oman and Saudi Arabia. These future sanctuaries are echoes of the original concept, while blending harmoniously into their surroundings.

Each address will adopt the codes of local architecture, drawing on the know-how and traditions specific to each region. Gastronomy will also be rooted in local products and flavors, in keeping with the health principles dear to Santani. But at the heart of each place, we’ll find this unchanging thread: a minimalist spirit, designed to offer a rare mental clarity and a space where body and mind can finally regenerate.