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| The Wholistic Health Alliance Opens Its House To A Very Receptive Audience |
Kavita Chhibber
10/22/2014
Smoothies, spicy Ayurvedic tea, healing crystals, Homeopathic and Ayurvedic samples, take home goody bags! And that was just one of the highlights of The Wholistic Health Alliance’s inaugural Open House at Burlington Public library on 19th October 2014.
Over 150 people took the time to come from far and wide, in spite of several competing events happening simultaneously in the city. Founded by Dr. Pratbha Shah, a leading Ayurveda expert in the New England area, WHA was created to build bridges between mainstream and holistic healing modalities, with the intent to also empower the community to be heathier through education and engagement. The audience was a mix of diverse cultures and professions. Attendees swarmed all the tables and many questions were posed at the Executive Committee members Dr Pratibha Shah, representing Ayurveda, Sonal Khakhar a nutrition expert, Jhuma Biswas an engineer turned Homeopath and I, a journalist practicing and teaching energy medicine.
Sonal shared with the audience how she recalls never being sick as a child when everyone else around her was catching something or the other. The secret weapon she said was the healing foods used by her mother to keep their immune system strong. Sonal was very happy with the response. “There was a very keen interest in diet and incorporating healthy food habits in daily lives among the people who visited my table. Several people felt that they could not relate to the diets suggested by the local dietitians mainly because of the difference in our cultural and eating habits. A lot of people inquired if we could have some healthy cooking workshops.’
For Jhuma Biswas, an engineer, the turning point came when her own daughter fell sick as an infant. Instead of drastic measures being suggested by mainstream doctors, she opted for a Homeopathic alternative suggested by her father. The positive outcome of that resulted in Jhuma becoming a Homeopathy practitioner herself. “I loved the fact that many of the people at the Open House came back to pick my brain, because then you know that they are looking for real answers. That is a sign of an aware society and people owning and advocating for their own health and wellnessâ€.
The crowd was as intrigued by a table full of crystals, as they were on reading a testimonial about a paranoid schizophrenic man whose entire family consisted of Ivy league medical graduates, being treated and benefitting by energy medicine; and that the healer was actually a skeptical investigative journalist-one who now swears by energy medicine and teaches it as well. The table was also being manned by Rama Anupindi a radiologist and Mieko Hayamabetten a nurse practitioner; both in mainstream medicine and both also energy healers.
I have been teaching energy medicine to, and doing energy work on a wide gamut of professionals. For me personally it was especially heartening to see how 15 percent of the top hospitals in the country now offer some form of energy medicine to their patients and the large number of men among the audience.
Dr.Pratibha Shah who is very well known in the New England community and has spread the message of Ayurveda both locally and nationally and has been invited to the White House, says while people picked up samples and wanted to know where to find the best Ayurvedic medicine among other things, it was especially gratifying that they all wanted to be a part of WHA. “With only the General Membership open right now, we had to ask our Holistic Practitioner colleagues to be patient, as we work out the logistics for the Professional Membership, which is likely to be launched before the year ends.†Pratibha was also very happy to see people stopping by at each table and having a one on one chat with the experts. “
There was a segment with live testimonials from people who had experienced the modalities and benefited from them. It comprised of Deborah Mugherini, who was Dr. Pratibha Shah’s patient and came to her with Crohn’s disease, 45 food allergies and was also a bulimic. Today her food allergies are down to six and she is so inspired that she has started a natural foods business herself.
Janice Doyle, a Pediatric ICU nurse for the past 35 years, came down with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2012, and used a combination of western medicine and Homeopathy to get back on her feet. “I have been able to wean myself off of $4,000 worth of medications, and my hope would be to find a group of practitioners to team up with to provide an integrative approach, help this health care system and the people in this country to become healthy again.â€
Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, one of the sponsors at WHA was represented by its CTO, Vijay Bhatt who attended the Open House along with his wife Trupti. Bhatt, said,†I am totally bought into the whole notion of preventive wellness and CAM based practices. Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare through its "Eastern Harmony" program is also starting to support such practices. I see a lot more coming in that direction soon within the whole healthcare industry.
Wholistic Health Alliance is a much needed organization in MA to educate and create awareness in the value that CAM based practices provide. I was very happy to see four people come together with different modalities to form an alliance for the improvement of health and wellness using alternative practices. Each person presented their modality and showcased an individual who had improved their health through such practices. Overall the format was good. However more marketing and advertising is needed for reaching out to the communities. Hopefully we can work together in making that happenâ€.
Physician Dr. Manju Sheth has been a trailblazer in many ways and was the first to support the WHA by inviting many holistic practitioners at the very successful Health expo, she co organized with INE this past April, in spite of a barrage of naysayers who questioned the inclusion of complementary modalities.
Dr. Sheth also gave WHA a platform, to interact with the 1200 plus attendees at the same event and took time off from her very hectic schedule to attend the Open House. “I like the concept of ‘Whole†in the Wholistic Health Alliance. It makes me feel that we are not just treating a patient, but we are all working together to help in the process if healing. My congratulations and best wishes to the groupâ€.
For the WHA founder, Dr. Pratibha Shah, the event was “a great beginning, and it is very encouraging to have people extend help and support to take this initiative forward. We are all enthused to engage in our next stepsâ€.
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