"I have that zest for life now" – How Indu reclaimed herself on 5-hour commutes

Indu remembers exactly what life felt like before everything changed. "I work. I travel very far, which doesn't leave me much time to look after myself, my well-being," she recalls. "Life in general is stressful."

The 49-year-old customs officer from the UK was spending 5 hours a day travelling to and from work. Born in the UK but schooled in Chandigarh, India, with family based in Punjab, Indu was juggling a demanding management role, raising a 15-year-old son, and trying to manage multiple health conditions.

The list was daunting: hypertension for 10 years requiring two medications, pre-diabetes looming on the horizon, borderline high cholesterol, and at 88 kilograms on a 4'11" frame, weight that had been accumulating for 2-3 years.

The physical pain was constant. Her right shoulder ached, radiating pain up into her neck with such stiffness that she couldn't turn her head properly to the right. Driving—essential for her work—had become difficult and painful. Her left knee screamed at a 7 out of 10 every time she climbed stairs.

"I had no energy," Indu admits. "I was finding things hard to do. I was eating whatever was available, whatever I was cooking for my family."

She'd tried yoga and Zumba after the pandemic, but only lasted 2-3 months before stopping. Life was too demanding.

She was surviving, not living.

Within weeks, something remarkable began to happen. Indu, who'd had no energy and found things hard to do, started noticing shifts.

The woman who'd been panting whilst climbing stairs discovered she could climb them faster—without the breathlessness. The knee pain that had been a constant 7 out of 10? Gone. Completely eliminated. Zero out of 10.

The shoulder pain radiating to her neck reduced significantly. Driving became easier. By August, even the neck pain episodes had stopped.

But perhaps the most profound change was in how Indu thought about food and her body.

"I've changed the way I think since I've joined Nirva," she reflects. "I'm very mindful of what I'm putting in my body. And the bonus is that I've actually lost eight to nine kilos."

The blood test she'd had done—6 months after being warned about cholesterol—came back clear.

"I found a program accidentally," Indu explains. What started as an accidental discovery became what she calls "probably one of the best things I've ever done."

"Firstly, it's the interaction, the one-to-one, the wonderful health coaches, the community sessions that they hold, the one-to-one yoga sessions that I do as well," Indu shares warmly.

For a woman who woke at 3:30 am on working days just to manage her commute, the flexibility was essential. She could schedule sessions at 6:30 am, 7:00 am, or 7:30 am—whatever worked with her demanding schedule.

Her health coaches looked at everything: the hypertension, the pre-diabetes warning, the cholesterol concerns, the shoulder and knee pain, the weight gain, the exhaustion. They understood she wasn't just looking for a diet plan—she was looking for a way to reclaim her well-being.

For the first time in years, Indu felt seen and supported.

"I have that zest for life now which I was looking for, but I just didn't know how to find," Indu says, her voice full of discovery and joy.

A woman who'd been surviving—managing health conditions, enduring pain, travelling 5 hours daily, finding things hard to do—had found her zest for life again. "This is the only thing in my life that I have kept and sustained," Indu emphasises. "Probably is one of the best things I've ever done."

"This is the only thing in my life that I have kept and sustained," Indu says with conviction. "Probably is one of the best things I've ever done." Coming from a woman who'd tried yoga and Zumba before but couldn't sustain them, this statement is profound. Indu knows what it's like to have no time for yourself. She knows what it means to travel 5 hours daily, to wake at 3:30 am, to manage multiple health conditions whilst working full-time and raising a teenager.

She knows the frustration of being in pain—shoulder pain that makes driving difficult, knee pain that makes every stair a challenge, neck stiffness that restricts your movement. She knows what it's like to have no energy, to find things hard to do, to eat whatever's convenient because you have no bandwidth left for self-care. But she also knows what it's like to come out the other side.

"I have that zest for life now which I was looking for, but I just didn't know how to find," she reflects. That's the transformation. From surviving to thriving. From exhausted to energised. From mindless eating to mindful nourishment. From managing pain to living freely. "I've changed the way I think since I've joined Nirva," she explains. And that change in thinking changed everything.