I write this with a smile on my face as I think back on the past 10 days that I spent with health and wellness coach, Prameet Kotak. It’s been a fun, enlightening journey with a lot of knowledge gained on health, wellness and better living.
I’m not un-initiated when it comes to health retreats. I’ve been to Thailand twice – once for a Health Retreat where the focus was on no food, and once to a fitness camp where the focus was on massive movement. Yes, in the former, we didn’t eat anything for 10 whole days, and in the latter, we worked out more in those 10 days than perhaps our bodies could handle. I can definitely say if I had to pick, I preferred the second one more. There’s something about movement that gets my heart going!
In February 2021, was the first time that I had the opportunity to partake in a Retreat that was done on our homeground. I was already on my postpartum weight loss and rehab journey, was excited to enjoy the 10 days, and my intention was to learn how to fish rather than be served the catch of the day. I’m grateful for all I learnt and loved, and this article is my learnings from the experience.
It is believed that the Universe brings people into your life when you most need them. Some guide you, some direct you, some help shape you. Some leave you better off than when they found you.
It was certainly fortuitous the way our paths crossed with Prameet, and random unconnected situations and chance meetings put us in the line of each other’s paths.
The 4 of us, including my 66 year old Dad (who had just jumped on the bandwagon), had already shifted the primary focus of our lives onto health and wellness. Our focus was that we could live better lives. We were on a mission to drop the pounds and other baggage that didn’t serve us.
We had short term rented a Villa on the outskirts of the city to be able to enjoy the space with broad beautiful walking roads, and a gym and pool that would facilitate this transformation for us.
A random bump in between Prameet and my Dad at a tiny grocery store in Lonavala at Ambey Valley City, got them chatting about all things life. One thing led to another, and within two weeks, Prameet was now in Bangalore, and in our lives to help us live better.
There’s a backstory to this story – my Grandfather used to be Prameet’s Homeopathy Doctor when he was a kid, and his Mom and my Grandma were great friends. I guess there’s always been a transfer of energy and healing between our families, and our paths crossed when the timing was right.
With 25 years of experience in the field, and exposure to both modern fitness techniques as well as Ancient Indian healing systems of Yoga and Ayurveda, Prameet brings a holistic approach to health, wellness and holistic living. I’ll let you hear his story from him – Read more about his career and health and wellness journey here.
Through his retreat, he would spend 10 days with us on our homeground (encouraging the family to join in), observe the way we live, and slowly set a sample of how to make small changes that add up. The focus is on how to live better.
And in living better, health improves and the weight eventually does come off. It’s beautiful how he amalgamates the goals of the people nearest and dearest to the focus person (in this case my Dad) so as to enable and empower the family unit to change as a whole, thereby facilitating the process.
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The 10 days with him flew by! In the midst of all the cackling laughter, vibrant workouts, quick cooking sessions and healing conversations, there was also a lot of learning. I started off as just a keen observer, eager to learn and feed off his experience, and I ended with a deep respect and gratitude for this person, who was now a friend.
I take with me from this experience that there are no shortcuts in life, and anything worth the work takes work and discipline.
Prameet’s philosophy is very simple (though not very easy to follow, and takes some getting used to) – Eat Well. Move Well. Sleep Well.
Below is my takeaway from this experience on health and wellness.
EAT WELL
1.THE TIME – This is probably the most important focus point and one that my sister would bonk me on the head for cause I always made fun of her stringent dinner times. “Chillout” was my constant advice to her to be more relaxed about when she ate her dinner, but the truth is, I stand corrected.
Eat before sunset – while this seems impossible, I learnt that with time, it gets easier. As someone who has always looked forward to dinner as the main meal of the day, this has been a bit hard to incorporate. But I’ve noticed that following this even 2 – 3 times a week makes a huge difference. And the benefits outweigh the blocks. On day 8, we were sneaky with my stubborn Father who refused to accept that he actually could eat dinner at 5:30. We faked a ‘snack’ at 5:30 pm which eventually filled him up so much that he skipped dinner. Mission accomplished.
Personally, I’m still working on the execution of this, but I’ve embraced its importance!
2.THE FOCUS – Eat mindfully and with thanks. As a family, we were raised giving grace and saying thanks to the hands that cooked the food. Growing up gets in the way of grace sometimes, and Prameet helped revive our old habits of saying grace before every meal. Thank God, thank the Universe, thank anything you believe in for the food that’s on the table, and the nourishment it’s going to give you. Food has energy, and so do you, and so does gratitude. It’s powerful to pray 🙂 This also helped me assess what was on my plate mindfully before eating it.
3.THE SOURCE – Watch where your food comes from! It’s more about where your food is coming from, than about the type of food you’re eating. I’ve been tuning into this philosophy for a while now, and was able to take it further with him. For example, fresh Milk from a local farm, sourced from a happy cow could be good for you, while ‘white liquid’ as he would call it, from a packet manufactured in a factory certainly isn’t the best for us. Same with things like wheat – it’s not the wheat that’s bad, it’s our current sources of genetically modified wheat that’s terrible for us. Local vendors over big supermarkets. I’m learning to ask myself – where has this come from, and how long did it have to travel to get to me?
Also, reheating and nuking or zapping food is terrible (as you already know) and the attempt should be to eat fresh food, within 2 hours of it being cooked – hold your horses microwave gen – ‘quickness’ isn’t always good for you, and good things take time 🙂 I’m working on this one as well. Slow and steady.
MOVE WELL
‘If movement be the food of love, play on’ … I’m sure Shakespeare would agree that as music is to the soul, movement is to the body. There’s no skimming the fact that moving more helps me love myself more. Endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin – a cocktail of heady hormones – best used to help that smile in the mirror, reach your eyes.
Nearly 7 months postpartum (after a c section delivery), my body was half still healing from the trauma, and half beginning to finally feel my core again. By day 6 of the retreat, I was leaps and bounds ahead of where I was when we started, and my workouts with Prameet restored the muscle memory that I had ignored as a ‘cautious’ and healing new mom.
- YOGA – Yoga, as Prameet would say to me, would be the one to pick if I had to pick just one. Breathwork, postures and stretches are a great foundation of one’s movement practise. It’s interesting how the slowness of moving on a mat increases speed and performance elsewhere. It was rejuvenating starting the day on an empty stomach with pranayam (breathwork) and yoga. It prepared both my body and mind for the day to come, detoxed my insides of stale air, and warmed me up for more movement. I was sleepy when I stepped on the mat, and awake when I got off of it.
2. WALKING –
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” – John Muir.
I can tell you this – I’ve often started a walk with confusion and come home from it with clarity. A quick walk before Yoga, a walk after dinner, and a walk anytime during the day, during these 10 days, and I could see my Dad enjoying it, as his pace got quicker, breathing got easier, and his steps were lighter.
3. FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS – Working out with Prameet in the gym, made other daily functions easier. Picking things up, getting up from off the floor, bending, moving, mending etc. My Dad who wasn’t able to chest press 16 kgs on day 1, was pressing 32 kgs by day 8. The endorphin high was wonderful for all of us. We would jump in the water post the gym for relays, laps, and fun.
However, his routines are fun, quick and flexible enough to be done sans gym and pool too.
Our days with Prameet took us one step closer to building our flexibility, our strength and our endurance. And ofcourse, some self love and discipline!
Watching my Dad who once thought it was tedious to fetch himself a glass of water, and who used to do Yoga in a chair, become someone who now pushed and pulled heavy weights, did Yoga on the floor mat, and walked eagerly to a workout with a jump in his step, I knew that Prameet had made him fall in love with the ability to move his body.
Prameet has not so secret plans of making my Dad a Body Builder and getting him to eat before the sun sets, and my Dad has not so secret plans of making Prameet party till the sun comes out. They both met in the middle 🙂
These 10 days reminded me of a time when I used to dance and live in workout clothes all day – when the focus was from bottom upwards – body, heart, and mind.
And now, for some pillow talk!
SLEEP WELL
A good night’s rest can solve all problems. We know this, we’ve experienced this, but we don’t often follow this. Sleep plays a vital role in one’s health.
Prameet and I talked about how some of his life’s most brilliant phases of health and success were aligned to him waking up at 4 am and he believes that the best time to sleep is between 8 pm and 4 am.
We know that a majority of the world’s biggest success stories swear by their routine of waking up at 4 am. Or 5 am (refer to the 5 am club!)
There was a time in my life that I used to sneak into bed at 5 am, and now my baby girl Keonna gets me into bed by 9 pm!
As a new mom, with a baby who wakes up through the night for food and cuddles, I can swear that a lack of sleep not only makes one crazy but also contributes to a whole lot of other not so fun stuff – weight gain, anxiety, poor performance, brain fog, bloating, and the list goes on. In other words your health gets thrown out the window.
Prameet’s Practice – Turning devices off, doing some breathing or journaling and perhaps listening to an audio meditation, all to help with setting your body up for sound sleep.
A typical night during the retreat was a walk and fun interesting conversation, followed by cuddles with Keonna, a night time feed, and falling asleep looking forward to the magic that the next day would bring.
Post what has been a tough year for the world, I do concur with Prameet, that we are in fact living in magical times. This begins with first recognising the magic that lies within us, and also taking care of ourselves.
As someone who has always been interested in the workings of humans and what pushes us forward or pulls someone back, this experience was quite like an acid trip (I can only assume ;)), and the acid was watching different personalities embrace better living. No shortcuts, no pills, no heavy restrictions. Just living better, one step at a time, with love and kindness.
Yes, we all did lose some weight, but the impact was far deeper than the drop on the scale.
I also learnt that less is more – less ingredients, less masalas (condiments), is more flavour and more healing. Less pushing, more power. Less punishment, more pleasure. Less harshness, more love.
Prameet is in many ways like me. Less a sage on the stage, and more a guide on the side. A friendly nudge in the right direction and well guided advice on how to live better, live healthier, and be kinder to yourself and the environment.
He’s coming back in 3 weeks for round two, and I’m excited to see what we do with our schedules in the meantime, and to incorporate everything I’ve learned from him.
I’m grateful and feel so blessed that our lives intertwined and we all got to experience the meeting of our minds, the bending of our bodies, and healing of our hearts together.
I hope you feel a sprinkle of the magic dust, and incorporate some of the pointers mentioned above with patience and love in knowing that it takes time to undo a lifetime of living a certain way. The journey, after all, is about stepping into better.
If you have any questions or thoughts, pen it down in the comments, and to get in touch with Prameet, here are his handles –
Website : https://prameetkotak.com
Instagram : @prameetkotak_official
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/prameetskotak
You can also read about Prameet’s Journey to Becoming a Health and Wellness Coach
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!
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