With love from wellness entrepreneur and author Pooja Khanna, The Art of Becoming Whole is her new-age, simplified guide to self-mastery over personal and spiritual growth. Here’s more on the author in colloquy with GlobalSpa.
She’s a Wellness Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Life Coach, and now an Author. Bearer of many hats, Pooja Khanna was formerly a strategy executive with her career spanning 13 years in companies like American Express, Microsoft, Pepsi, and IBM.
Pooja has always been a lover of meditation, nature, art, and travel. An avid believer in transforming your life through deep inner work, her book The Art of Becoming Whole delves into tuning into your higher self to become the best, complete version of yourself
In conversation with GlobalSpa, here’s the author unveiling more on her first book…
1.) Starting off, how did the idea come about? What urged you to write a book on becoming whole?
The Art of Becoming Whole is a collection of all my personal and spiritual learnings to help people grow, evolve, expand and heal. I have been seeking spiritual guidance for over 5 years now and I have gone through an arduous personal journey to transform myself. Through this book, I wanted to share insights about how our subconscious mind is programmed to create unnecessary stress and conflict in our life, understand the root cause of our emotions, and to help people move from self-sabotage to self-mastery just like I did. I had to unlearn a lot of my old ways of thinking, feeling and being in order to become whole and I hope this book can help others do the same.
2.) The book touches on various topics across personal development and spirituality. What do you think is the right time or age group for someone to indulge with these feelings of betterment?
The journey of inner transformation is a deeply personal experience. Whenever you are ready to grow and look at your reactions more closely, that is the right time for you to begin this journey. And such moments might come in waves in your life, there may not be a specific starting point. I receive messages from people who are 20 years old as well as those who are 75 years old on how they are benefitting from The Art of Becoming Whole, so age is not as relevant as your attitude is towards inner change. We all have an inner compass that tells us when we are ready to shed our old layers.
3.) Tell us a bit about your initiative for the underprivileged kids in Vrindavan.
I am a spokesperson or supporter for Food for Life Vrindavan school for the past 12 years. They educate 1500 street kids and give them free books, uniforms, meals and medicines. I did a fundraiser for them in New York and got all my family and friends to support the cause. All the royalties from my book will go towards supporting the education of these kids. I cannot think of a better use of the royalties of a book focused on spiritual wellness.
4.) Begin to Heal is a platform bringing people holistic wellness and healing. Tell us more about it. How close is this project to your heart?
Begin to Heal is a platform in New York that connects people to hundreds of wellness practitioners and healers. I just made an exit and sold my company to the world’s largest health and nutrition school in September 2020.
I am very passionate about holistic medicine, so this project was very close to my heart. Prior to being a wellness entrepreneur, I was in strategy with Fortune 100 Companies for 13 years and quit that corporate career to start my own wellness company. I have spoken on panels, podcasts and radio shows actively about the benefits of holistic medicine.
5.) You’re an avid believer in working inwards and evolving, so personally, how do you like to work on yourself and grow as an individual?
I am constantly working on evolving and improving myself – it’s my favorite thing to do actually, as weird or as funny as that sounds. I read spiritual or philosophical books each month and I take a session every month with my spiritual coach from Core Healing India. I spend two hours each morning to meditate, do my affirmations, my aura cleansing and chant as part of my Buddhist practice. I also write in my gratitude journal every night to remind myself of all the wonderful things that happened during the day. All of these things help me to stay balanced and centered and remind me that I am the architect for my own happiness.
6.) As a wellness practitioner and author, what’s your biggest goal or message you wish to send out through your work
I’d like to say three things:
- Your inner state dictates your outer life, not the other way around. Everyone around you is your mirror, your own projection showing you what you need to change in yourself. When you learned to love and accept yourself fully, you will learn to love and accept others just the way that they are too.
- Your mission is not to find someone else to validate you or complete you. It is for you to learn to love and validate yourself. Stop seeking approval from others and reclaim your own power.
- If you are struggling with mental health issues like depression, anxiety or anger, then seek emotional or spiritual guidance or maybe read this book. Leaning into your flaws makes you stronger in the longer run. You have to be weak first in order to be stronger later. Accept and honor your vulnerabilities. Be human, be weak, fail, seek help, then rise again. This is the dance of life.
7.) Lastly, any advice for your readers seeking help through or interested in your book?
If you really want to know what matters in the end – take advice from the dying. We regret the deeper stuff; not living our personal truths, not being honest about who we are and not spending enough time with those we love. In the end, peace and contentment are the only true yardsticks of happiness in our life. Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of what you have. True and lasting joy comes when you realize what you have is enough.
Buy The Art of Becoming Whole here: https://www.amazon.in/dp/9389995299/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_9VPQFbN6WEEFP
