Prameet Kotak’s Journey To Becoming A Wellness Coach and His Tips for Better Living15 min

Prameet is a Wellness Coach, Consultant, Mentor, guide and overall a lovely human being. He has worked with diverse people across various demographics, physicality’s, in different phases of life and with varying health conditions. His expertise lies in his holistic tips for better living and simplifying life processes.

For me, personally, I’ve been seeking wellness myself for years, and I’ve always said that, ‘For the world to heal, we need to heal as individuals’.

I’ve also been of the belief that fitness and wellness are holistic. Each discipline teaches you something different, but it’s hard to combine them all because you’re rarely exposed to them at the same time.

Over the past few days I’ve spent time with Prameet doing a 10 day private retreat. What I’ve enjoyed in this time together is the diversity of what we’ve been focusing on – the mindfulness, the breathing, the stretching, the strength, the flexibility, and the agility. It makes you realise the many aspects that we ignore or don’t pay enough attention to.

So, we finally got down to this interview to understand what he does, and the impact of his private offerings.

Why do you do what you do?

You’ve pretty much summarised my mission. It’s primarily to empower my clients to live life to their fullest. I give them what they are looking for.

I believe there is a certain level of consciousness. People have woken up now and have realised that opening a magazine that tells you how you should look, feel, eat, think, sleep etc. is not the way.

What is the wellness philosophy you live by?

Eating well. Sleeping Well. Moving Well.

These are your fundamentals. There is NO shortcut to that. It’s something I always tell my clients. Everyone wants a shortcut.

How did your wellness journey begin?

I started out by hiring good professionals during my stint with playing soccer for college since the selection and routine was challenging. I had also moved from a small town to the big city (Mumbai) and my habits weren’t exactly the best.

What happened though was I did find a gap between what the personal trainer, and what the physiotherapist did. The gap was that sometimes they didn’t want to work alongside each other. I’ve always wondered why they wouldn’t work towards the same goal for that individual and say ‘ok listen this is what needs to be done’.

I was looking for a shortcut. 🙂  to try and enhance my performance. What happened was the opposite – I overtrained and finally couldn’t play anymore.

And that inspired me to move away from the family business and Law that I was simultaneously pursuing to more of a wellness perspective.

How did you transition into this field?

I began a Reiki course my sister gifted me.

I remember a while later, I was at a friend’s place and I noticed a tree that was dying. So I decided to practice the Reiki I learnt and after a couple of days  she called me up to say ‘the tree is coming back to life’.

That was  a ‘Wow’ moment for me.

So I asked my parents if I could borrow money and I backpacked to Dharamshala (Tibet in exile). And that’s when I really found that this is want – I want to empower people. I was 17 back then.

Between this experience and Karate which I did for a long time, I was really intrigued by my Sensei’s knowledge of the human body  and how it works  with the traditional  and modern sciences combined. 

To pursue this more I went to Australia to do Sports Management and re-qualified myself as a personal trainer. I studied 3 years of massage which allowed me to work alongside physiotherapists in the sports area.

I then started my own business, which led me to work with a wide range of clients – post surgery therapy, post pregnancy healing through physio and massage and breathing, as well as International athletes with alignment and movement patterns delivering great results.

When I look back it seems like life has come a full circle and I keep coming back to when you eat well, sleep well, move well that enhances your belief system and eventually all that you do.

When and what made you begin your practice in India?

I came back in 2007 to India, the idea was to set up my business and head back to Australia. But when I came back I found that there was such a big gap in the industry. All people did was listen to their trainer, and all the trainers followed only one thing – do weights, eat your eggs, eat your sweet potato – it’s one size fits all whether you are a woman, 80 year old man, they only knew one way!

Australia taught me that body building was a sport you can’t make everyone do it. There are limitations, you’ll have to be a trained athlete, and the injury rates are high. But what you can do, is take them through different things: functional movement patterns, weight training, strength training, movement patterns like Yoga that combines the 7 movements of the spine.

I’ve always been passionate about this holistic way of building muscle and when I sensed this gap I was interested in bridging it. In fact if you’ve heard of Paul Chek, you’ll know he’s a big name in holistic training. He’s done a lot of work in Movement patterns combined with weights – I drew a lot of inspiration from him.

So I reached out to a few leaders and a friend who had a PR agency with the one aim of introducing ‘common sense practices’ into the Indian Industry. So first we introduced BOOT CAMP – the first ever in India championed by Yasmin Karachiwala, Rakesh Udiyaar and me. I think this was the first time we changed mindsets, getting people out of their gyms to train on the beach, on the roads etc. eliminating the ‘egg-potato-weights’ mindset. It was now about holistic wellness.

We also started a movement  called ‘Slum Personal Trainer’  to empower people who had the talent, but weren’t well-to-do and couldn’t speak fluent English. We helped people move from earning 10,000 Indian Rupees to 50,000 Indian Rupees a month by taking them through a 44 hour course on posture, professional ethics, movement etc. 

We as humans can grow with each other and that is what inspires me today.

You always talk about yoga, meditation and conversation. What is the reason conversation is a vital part of your health and wellness process?

There’s a lot of experts with a lot of information out there, but the problem is it’s all generic. And the problem with generic information is, you get generic results.

I always have a very thorough assessment with my clients, with specific questions, because most of the time they themselves don’t realise certain things. For instance, I’ve asked a client ‘have you had any injuries before’ and they say ‘no’ but then when I ask ‘have you had any surgeries’ they say ‘yes’.

So it’s very important to have this conversation with them because the other person gets to ‘speak’ and you get to ‘listen’. It brings out the layers that are hidden and it is an important part of bringing out care to my client.

My favourite quote is by James Clear -‘We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems’, What according to you are the systems that are failing us?

I think we need to take responsibility and own our sh*&t – This is the product of my choices’ but I can also make the right choice to change. Make the right choices that will compound. And NO shortcuts.

The industry is changing, more people are moving towards organic food, lifestyle, living etc.  In 2021, we are living in magical times. I can sense it – when there’s fear, there’s chaos and with chaos comes change.

So take the responsibility for your choices, take charge – of your body, mind and spirit – it’s survival of the fittest.

I think if we empower ourselves person by person, group by group, community by community then we’ll be able to outgrow the system.

If there is someone who is willing to make the choice to get healthier give me 3 changes food-wise, movement-wise and mind-wise that they can start immediately?

Ok so let’s go back to Eat Well, Move well and Sleep well. All these recommendations are based on wellness and well-being, not fat loss and calorie burning.

Eat Well:

Make sure you eat –

• Slowly mindfully and with passion and kindness and chew your food
• Before sunset, by 5:00pm would be ideal
• Portion-wise (2 handfuls of food) 

Move Well:

• Do 90 minutes of yoga everyday, if you can’t do anything else. Yoga, meditation and breathing. Yoga is anti-aging, helps you recover faster and gives your brain what no other sport can do and helps keep your body supple. It slows you down and you’re now in tune with cosmic energy and you get super fast downloads – you’re what athletes call ‘being in the zone’, so you’re not thinking you’re just doing

I’d suggest classical yoga combined with contemporary yoga just to balance it out. You can get in touch with a yoga therapist , should you have an injury just to make sure you do it the right way.

• Walk
• Play a sport and add the gym with functional training to suit your body and requirement

Sleep well:

• Get 8 hours of sleep
• The best sleep is between 8pm and 4am. You’re now best in tune with the cosmic energy.  It’s also the best time your organs heal
• Journal – Turn off your devices by 7pm, give yourself an hour to journal in your diary, be thankful, let go and intend for the next day

How would you incorporate the ‘social aspect’, of life? Do you let go for a night once in a while?

My life plan is a balanced plan. I’ve discounted my schedule by  20- 30% and I’m at peace with that. About the conflict, I’ve realised you will always be in conflict, there will always be choices, but when you make the choice for you, the conflict automatically goes away.

So if I make the choice to go out, I plan the next day accordingly. I also make sure I exercise for the day before I head out. Sometimes even a simple 1 hour yoga session, with meditation, asking to invite the right energy while out changes the night and the experience.

The key is to find your balance, by understanding yourself through experience, through time. We can be the masters of our own bodies. Get to know YOU, and then you have to own what you do.

How late is too late to start?

Never. 

What tips would you give someone who wants to lose weight?

• To lose weight : Stop waiting, start doing. 
• Avoid all things synthetic : We live in a toxic environment. The weight we are putting on isn’t just calories. It comes down to portion size and also more importantly understanding all things toxic, the syntheticity of the air, the water, food, and other things we use –  soaps and detergents, cosmetics etc.  
• Fresh is good : When you eat food, you eat it for energy not for calories. Fresh food gives fresh energy. Avoid leftovers. Food must be eaten within 2 hours of cooking. Never reheat food. 
• Sustainable living : Grow your own vegetables if possible

Make the right choices. Make smart choices.

So it’s good to know that collective consciousness is evolving in 2021. My purpose is to offer tools that empower people so that they can live a healthier life  that is in balance, sustainable and happy. Remember – Eat well. Move well and Sleep well!

What are your offerings?

I offer face to face as well as digital/ online offerings. I also conduct private retreats, group sessions and 1 on 1 sessions to corporates and individuals on wellness. (Wellness is the sum total of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing)

What would give you most joy in a client’s success?

What would give me joy is if my clients at some point adapted being sustainable towards Mother Earth.

I smile, knowing that I too must take responsibility for my actions towards myself and the world, and that helping both heal, starts with me.

There’s always so much more to chat about, but we proceed to dinner at a reasonably early time.

You can learn more about Prameet and his work on:

Website: http://www.prameetkotak.com

Instagram: @prameetkotak_official

KANIKA BATRA

Chief Storyteller | Founder Stepping into Better

I’m Kanika. Think of me as your companion on your journey to being better, your guide on the side, with the goal to help you know yourself, grow yourself and love yourself more deeply!