A perfect start for 2019 - a Health and Wellness Meet-Up

As the year draws to a close each one of us every year make promises and resolutions to ourselves, some which we keep and some which we never get down to. So do I.  Mine being to start exercising. My one and only resolution that I lost somewhere along the line when my knees started troubling me. So when my friends, Dr. Bhavi Mody and Moushumi Pal, invited me to attend their first knowledge sharing and fun event of the year, "Your Health In Your Hands presents Wellness Meet-Up", I was happy to do so. A joint venture by Dr. Bhavi, Vrudhi and Moushumi Pal, Woodpecker Media was not just a meet and greet, but a well curated event organised to talk about something that's most important to each one of  us - our own health.  Topics that were presented by a number of eminent ladies were surprisingly all those that I have covered in my latest published book "Young and Sixty", that talks about my failings, sharing and life experiences to help inspire people to look within again, move forward and play a winning game on your own terms by taking control and living life in the Now!  The event organised on January 5th at Workbay, Bandra was hosted by Niddhi Puranik, the Fitness Ambassador, was indeed a perfect start for 2019. 

Learnings are always to be shared so here are some of the nuggets that I picked up from the speakers and am sure you will like me learn a lot from it too.

Dr.Bhavi Mody, Homeopath, Health Evangelist, Holistic Health Blogger, Speaker

§   When you talk about wellness, you as a centre,  need to feel good about yourself first. Lifestyle changes means go back to the basics. Move, sleep, workout and hydrate. Happiness is state of mind"

Dr Dimple Bhankharia, Dermatologist, Divine Skin Clinic on the secret to timeless beauty

§       Causes of ageing are smoking, prolonged exposure to the sun, stress, pollution, excess sugar and excess smoking.   Ageing happens 10 years earlier to a smoker.

§       As we age our skin begins to dry, get thinner, bruise easily, gets dull and loses its elasticity. 

Tips:

§          Vitamins A,C, E are good for skin

§          Think darker colour of fruits.. the lighter your skin will be..

§          Daily skin care routine important

§         Use a sunscreen every 3 hours with SPF >30 and definitely before moving out

§         Eye cream once you cross 35.

§         Exfoliate your skin. Exfoliating scrub once a week

§         Not just fruits, vegetables and nuts, add oil, green tea, flax seeds and dark chocolate to  your diet.

Dr Rashi Gupta, Dentist

§     Butterfly effect is an optical phenomenon seen in some sections of tooth roots but it is not only about mouth teeth and guns but  proper alignment of jaws also.  Jaws are important to be aligned properly for breathing and therefore attention must be paid to this even in children.  Yawning is important it supplies extra oxygen to the brain. Avoid free dental check-ups and take a proper check up occasionally.

Wellness talk by Dr Naavnidhi Wadhwa, Celebrity Life, Health and Business Coach

§     You need to be aware of your five senses for example we never use our senses especially when eating.. You need to be with food which is the source of our energy.  Mind learns only when you involve 5 senses. There is no stress when you use the five senses properly with mindfulness.  She conducted a unique meditation exercise unlike others where you are asked to blank out your mind first.  She explained that creating thought is work of the mind so we can't ask it to become blank (love this) .

Ms. Marrgalit on Bach Flower Remedies

§   Bach therapy focuses on outlook and personality of person to eradicate seven negative emotions using 38 flower essences that corresponds to a particular negative emotion. For example: White chestnut for persistent unwanted thoughts, Vine for my way or the highway, Beech helps develop tolerance

§      Bach Rescue Remedy combination of 5 flower essence brings you awareness and calms you down was recommended by her

§     These remedies however, cannot be bought off the shelf as the practitioner takes history of person and creates the essence suitably.

§       Up to 7 flowers can be combined to solve two or more specific emotions and situations.

Doodles and health session by Shambhavi Tarotforu, Award Winning Celebrity, Tarot Reader, Life Coach,Vaastu, Colour Therapist

§        An engaging activity and an ice breaker was conducted with the ladies which was fun. From the absent mind random designing on paper is doodles. Each one of us were given a piece of paper and pencil to doodle.  The paper colour and the pencil colour that we actually picked up also spoke volumes about us as per her.  Green being progression, Yellow  being positivity and healing, Orange being spiritually and so on.  On explaining the significance of doodling squares, rounds, etc. she explained when too many doodles are Squares or Circles close eyes and see what you see first. Be aware of what you draw or Doodles..it speaks volumes about you...example when we write names on paper, the way the alphabets are written shows how much attention you seek.

Neha Suradhkar talked about Self Love, Positive Body Image and Loving Yourself Unconditionally.

§        Looking good and feeling good both are important.

§       Do what you can do best with what you have.

§       Dressing up by understanding colours, styles and what works for you and your skin focusing on features that you can highlight

§        If you are on heavier side make sure your negatives are downplayed.

§       Don't put any conditions on yourself but accept yourself the way you are

Dr. Nikhil Shah, WinSoles on the benefits of the soles they create to align the body as per each individual requirement. Some facts he shared were walking for just routine work like market runs does not  count as walking. 15 minutes of concentrated walking is important. Checking right posture, foot alignment, whether flat footed or not, are you standing climbing and running in a proper surface are important for  walking correctly and foot balance.

Rashmi Bagri, Corporate Trainer, conducted an exercise to appreciate, experience and get to know the person sitting next to you. Each one was asked to draw the person and then list features that attracted you or those that you liked. A feel good exercise for participants.

Trupti Sawant  (Trups S Sawant) on Science of Forgiveness - Is it a Choice or a Compulsion today?

§       There are  11 major chakras or energy centre that starts from the sub conscious mind.

§       When a person does not troubled you anymore in thought dream or physically then it is true forgiveness.

§       Write Letter S on unruled paper in script style and say  that you forgive..

Riddhi Doshi Patel, Performance Skills Trainer, Behavioral Coach, Psychologist, Integrated Art Therapy Practitioner on accepting yourself.

§     Made all the ladies get up and loosen up with a bit of stretching exercises and an exercise using modality of dance moves. As she explained, nothing works if there is no connect between mind and body. She conducted an exercise to thank every part of the body by asking us to close our eyes and touch each part of your body in appreciation and thanks.

My take away was simple, that being, to look after my health, exercise and sleep well.  As for eating healthy, I am not the one who can lecture anyone on it for sure, but I do believe in eating in moderation and with a thought that at the end of the day, that I  do not want to be at the mercy of others on account of any ill health.

You too can learn more so join Dr. Bhavi Mody and Moushomi Pal in their endeavour to take you on the path of good health. Like their FB page:  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/vrudhihwc/?ref=search

And do pick up a copy of  my book that talks of this too ..........

India Links : Flipkart, Amazon.in,  Infibeam, Notionpress.com

International : Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk

AGE WITH HUMOUR

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

GUILT? …….    STRESS!!

INCOMPLETE BUCKET LIST?

MONEY WISE- MONEY FOOLISH

MEMORIES MAKEOVER

LET’S TALK #MENTAL HEALTH

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

WHEN PANIC ATTACKS !!

GEN-NEXT AND US !!!

  GETTING OFF THE GRUDGE TRAIN

WHY CAN’T I ENJOY MY MONEY?

THE GRANDPARENT GUILT TRAP

   DECONSTRUCTING  DEMENTIA

& ALZHEIMER‘S

BRAIN POWER…   SOUL MATTERS!

…….AND  MORE

Lit-O-fest, writing and me!!!

It all began with some out of the blue some random thoughts that began to flow in the middle of the night and from that day onwards a pen and pad always lay open on my bedside. The "filmy keeda" in me seemed to be wriggling its way onto paper and I began writing stories that had a touch of life and things that I had seen around me and on celluloid. I remember how it all started. I used to handle annual reports at the bank where I was working, collating data, coordinating shoots and actually proof reading the data for my colleagues something I did not need to but began to enjoy and love ensuring standardization in the data. This was probably the best time in my career. Those random thoughts seemed to be calling out to me and often during the lunch time I began to put down thoughts and mailed them off to myself and began fleshing them out at night...Writing has always been something I loved and even more surprising was the love for proof reading which somehow I became totally fascinated with ....  it was just something that I continue to do unconsciously for everything I read, sometimes to the dismay of my friends whose stuff I begin to correct.

Almost all my efforts  pointed me towards self publishing with exorbitant costs  to print, market and promote leaving me wondering what would I get out of the whole deal. Time flew as wrote and ran through a million options to get my stories out there.  No one seemed to want to publish short stories anymore and besides novels were being published dime a dozen.  I began to wonder how and what would make me so different from others.  Writing a novel was not for me definitely, as I cannot put it down until I know how it ends. It has to be short and sweet for me with a closure at the earliest. So that's why perhaps even a Saas-bahu serial on TV does not hold my attention sadly!  That did not stop me from writing as I shared my stories with friends, In fact to put it plainly forced them to read!!!...... and then Lit-O-Fest just happened to me like a rainbow on a rainy day.

My long journey of four years just melted into nothingness reading a mail acknowledging my manuscript submission to the festival that said " "Congratulations!  We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been finalized for the LIT-O-FEST 2016 Awards. Please do come on the 20th Feb to be a part of the LIT-O-FEST event and the award ceremony."   That was IT for me. Someone out there had thought my words were worthy to be read. That in itself was an achievement and to get to this day when I can a big thank you to Smita Parekh, Festival Director and her team at Lit-O-Fest for appreciating the writer in me. Yes, I won, I won in the "get published" section.  Whatever this holds for me in the future is just a big big dollop of icing and a culmination of a dream come true.

So let me share what Lit-O-Fest is.......Lit-O-Fest is a festival with a difference and a one of its kind initiative where publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors and what's more for free. It's a festival with a philanthropic perspective as this is an only platform where one-the-spot publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors. A friend Hariharan Iyer introduced me to this festival and  I submitted my manuscript in the short stories section a few months ago. 

The festival was held at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, on February 20- 21, 2016 and when I walked into the college premises on Day 1,  it was so heart-warming to be received by the students who escorted me to the multimedia room where an talk was already in session. As I sat there listening, I felt an immense sense of peace and happiness that comes with just being a part of something so laudable. Sailesh Lodha of Tarak Mehta fame brought a smile on our faces as he spoke on how we have lost our ability to laugh and finding laughter and humor in everything.  A session with Ram Jethmalaniji on money laundering in our country and its repercussions that followed was so eloquently put that I could not but marvel at this 93 year grand old gentleman. He actually refused to sit down but chose to stand and talk at the dais for over thirty minutes with such truth and passion. If this is not inspiring then for me nothing ever will.

The awards ceremony began with the Lit-O-Fest giving away the 'Living Legend’ award to legends Narendra Kohli, Kiran Nagarkar, Pankaj Dubey for Creative Leadership and Radhakrishnan Pillai in the education field. I had the privilege of being there to listen to them share their thoughts. Thereafter, I was called on stage to receive my award at the hands of Ram Jethmalani ji and what an euphoric feeling and honour indeed. Though knowing me, I did not let Shatrughan Sinha leave before expressing my disappointment to him. He was to give the awards away but was getting late and he very sweetly acknowledged me by saying he could not wait as he had another appointment. My bad luck.

I wish that I could have gone again on Day 2, but for another commitment.  It was not surprising to read that Day 2 saw sessions with Manoj Bajpayee and Shilpa Shukla, child abuse and  teenage tantrums with Kiran Manral, Harish Iyer and Sonali Shroff with the  event ith concluding with live band by Leslie Lewis.

We all live in a world of stress and competition and everyone is definitely impatient for sure and wanting things to happen overnight, including me,  but as the saying goes "there is a time and place for everything" .....and the time and place for me is definitely now....