Wholistic Health Alliance organized the ‘Transformation Stories Night’ on May 18^th. The event showcased powerful and inspiring stories of three people from the community, who went through a critical health issue, and who turned it around, transforming their lives completely, with entirely holistic or Integrative solutions. Here are excerpts from their stories, along with their brief bios.

Speaker #1: Pankaj Shah, a regular engineer from Lucknow in northern India, lived his life a certain way for 51 years, always living on the edge. Never exercised, loved eating, overeating was a norm, leading to consistent weight gain throughout his life. At 220 Lbs for a 5’ 7” person, he was clinically obese most of his adult life. Around September 2016, he was diagnosed with coronary heart disease and was given two stents in his heart arteries – one 98% blocked another 90%. This was Oct 4^th.
That day something happened that transformed his life. He woke up from his slumber and spoke to himself. He literally reformatted his mind and it was as if a switch went on. He became a new person overnight. Step by step he re-configured his lifestyle and discovered a person inside himself that he never knew existed.

On Oct 5^th he announced to himself and the world around him that on Feb 14th, Valentine’s Day he will stand on a scale and measure 170 Lbs. or less. And he did it!! He lost 40 pounds in 19 weeks, and continues his journey. He has just been featured in the Harvard Gazette illustrating his life transformation.

Pankaj shared how he single minded pursued self-set goals to transform his life and health completely, despite lifelong challenges.

Speaker #2: Poonam Ahluwalia was India New England's Woman of the Year in 2013 for her tireless work since 1997 to successfully place youth employment on the global agenda. She is the President of Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (YES).  YES programs are active in 55 countries.  In the US her team launched an innovative market access initiative Youth Trade that certifies products of young entrepreneurs and helps place them in retail outlets such as Whole Foods Market and Nordstrom.  She is one of the founding members of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Youth Unemployment.

Poonam was diagnosed with breast cancer and her journey began to heal herself without toxic conventional treatments.  She navigated her way through the maze of mostly alternative treatments during the last four and a half years. She forged ahead with hope and determination despite a grave prognosis, realizing during her journey realized that her cancer was not just a physical tumor - but rather a symptom of a diseased life of stress, overwork, and a need to please. She worked relentlessly to heal her mind, body and soul to get to the place she is today. 

Speaker #3: Lisa Benson is a sculptor and writer based in the Boston area. She works on large scale sculpture commissions, sculpture reproductions, and restoration at Skylight Studios and Giust Gallery in Woburn, MA. Projects have included the Donor Memorial at the New England Organ Bank, the restoration of the Athena sculpture for the Providence Athenaeum and a memorial for the Beth Israel Nurses Alumni Association. Her writing projects have included work for WGBH Craving Boston, Migraine.com, non-profits and private clients. She is now writing an online interactive model called “You Decide Project” which is a fundraiser for migraine research.

Throughout her childhood and early adulthood Lisa often experienced headaches, fatigue, and periods of generally not feeling well. In her late 20s she was diagnosed with migraine, and her migraine attacks became daily and severe. She spent many days unable to function or only half-functioning. Even when she was feeling well, she had many limitations. For example, she was unable to go outside in the sun without risking a severe migraine attack, and wore sunglasses even at night. Through a combination of conventional and holistic medicine, including Ayurveda, she went from chronic migraine back to episodic migraine. She now has very few migraine days and enjoys lots of time outdoors.

Lisa shared how she went from being on quarterly Botox, experiencing non-functional to semi-functional days and a high sensitivity to light (mostly wore dark glasses) and sound, to being fully functional, episodic migraine only, NO BOTOX and most importantly – dark glasses free today.

State Senator Jamie Eldridge was the Chief Guest for the evening. Sen. Eldridge is known for his leadership on progressive issues, and independence on behalf of his constituents. He was intrigued and fascinated with the stories of transformation, and expressed a genuine interest in learning more about holistic health and wellness solutions.

Besides the Speakers, the event also offered fun healthy activities which included Bolly X dancing by Swasti Bhargava, Tai Chi by John Saia, and Meditation by Dr Balachunder of Isha Foundation. Holistic healthy food was provided by Holi Restaurant of Bedford, MA and Freshly Balanced, based out of Reading, MA, in keeping with the philosophy of WHA encouraging and endorsing heathy food and lifestyle.

The event was live streamed via Facebook and has received more than 1400 views already. The hall was filled to capacity and RSVPs had to be closed a week prior to the event. Based on the feedbacks, calls and emails which continue to still pour in to WHA as well as to the speakers, it seems the event touched a chord with the community and was highly successful in the goal for which the event was organized. WHA plans to organize this night at least once a year moving forward.

Here are a few comments among the many we have received from different States in the US as well as from India, thanks to the live streaming:

Meenakshi Kulshreshtha (MA): Thanks for sharing this video Pratibha. Really helpful for people like us who couldn't make it due to kid’s commitments. It was inspiring to hear all the stories. Pankaj - way to go buddy, we are so proud of you. Poonam, I have had a huge respect for you ever since I learnt about you and your work when you became the Woman of the Year. Since then the more I learn about your journey the more inspired I become. I have endless amount of respect for you. Thanks for sharing your story <3. Lisa I have heard your story from Pratibha and glad to know things are better with you. Cheers to you all!! So well said - we have to let go of the life we planned, so embrace the life that is waiting for us. Great work here Pratibha.

Aneesha karody (MA): Thanks for going live Pratibha !! So glad I can watch!!! 

Jabeen Ahmad (NH): Good to hear Pankaj's amazing journey in his own words. Very inspiring indeed! Best wishes for a healthy n happy life.

 Jyothi Prasad (India): Pratibha and Pankaj great.  Really inspired

WHA would like to thank the Council for Aging, Bedford for offering their premises for the event and Saheli, an organization dedicated to helping DV victims, for their consistent support to WHA. WHA acknowledges the support of many individuals such as but not restricted to, Bandana Sharma (BOD WHA), Suraja Menon Roychowdhury, Wendy Aronson (COA), Puran Dang (Adviser, WHA), John Saia, Zelda Jiang, Neil Shah and Ilina Shah, for help and support in many ways.

The ideal approach in any illness is to cherry pick the best solutions, whether it be western medicine or traditional/alternate solutions, as necessitated by the specifics of the illness, severity, patient condition age etc. Wholistic Health Alliance is committed to promoting client-centric health centered wellness solutions that produce the best health outcomes.

To learn more about WHA and to stay connected, check out our website (www.wholistichealthalliance.org), follow us on Twitter (@WhaGroup),“like” our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WholisticHealthAlliance/) to stay updated on our activities, and/or contact us via email (wholistichealthalliance.group@gmail.com). 

|