About Vijay & Nilima Bhat

Like with most people, Vijay’s cancer diagnosis too brought with it shock, despair and fear about the future. We were fortunate that we chose to approach it with some measure of positivity and hope.

Due to our openness to the wealth of information around us during our cancer journey, we went on to gain new insights and perspectives on how cancer can be transcended. We are convinced that illness in general, can serve to shake our deeply held assumptions, re-orient our lives towards wholeness and prod us to grow as human beings.

Our positive attitude & support from others helped us

On 21st Dec 2001, shortly after Vijay’s 40th birthday, he had surgery to remove two cancerous tumours from his colon. Instead of treating the cancer episode as a taboo or withdrawing into a shell, he chose to reach out to family and friends around the world (almost 500 of them) through email.

This correspondence became a regular feature, where he wrote in detail about his journey of recovery and asked for love and support. Vijay and I (Nilima) benefited enormously through the prayers and good wishes we received.

The pain and suffering of the cancer experience also became an opportunity to count our blessings, to be authentic about our feelings/emotions and in time, to frame a new positive vocabulary around cancer instead of simply believing in and being overwhelmed by the current limiting and somewhat defeatist mindset.

Choosing a holistic & integrated approach to healing

After surgery, we were given the choice of whether to take preventive chemotherapy or not. We decided against it, choosing instead to pursue a holistic approach: positive thinking, complementary therapies, a planned diet and exercise program and carefully chosen lifestyle changes.

In this process, our extensive research on holistic and integrated therapies from around the world led us to certain insights and perspectives about illness and healing, which can greatly benefit others and which we intend to share widely.

Now, we help others affected by cancer to heal

As cancer thrivers for 14 years, Vijay and I have developed a structured Cancer Coaching program to help people recovering from cancer and other serious illnesses. We also deliver intensive week-long retreats, group workshops and customised individual programs. Details are available on the site.

To sum up, we firmly believe that the world’s struggle with cancer is not due to a lack of resources or effort but because of certain limiting beliefs and assumptions that we collectively hold.

Through our book ‘My Cancer Is Me – The Journey From Illness To Wholeness‘ and our Coaching programs, we offer a fundamentally different perspective about transcending the traumatic cancer experience and turning it into an opportunity for personal growth.

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Vijay helps people (and organizations) who find themselves in transition and are challenged by the turbulence that inevitably accompanies it. He specialises in the areas of strategic consulting, leadership development, group training and individual coaching/ counselling. To these fields, he brings a holistic approach which combines his management wisdom, lived experience of dealing with cancer and psychological insight. Previously, he has served in various leadership positions, including Regional Strategy Director for Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific. He has a corporate experience of over 30 yrs in India and overseas. Vijay is also a Qualified NLP & Enneagram practitioner.

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Nilima is a facilitator of personal transformation. She helps individuals (and groups) in their quest for conscious evolution, expansion and healing. She does this through a process of self-understanding on many levels: physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual. As a certified yoga teacher, her central purpose is to first guide individuals to connect with their Deeper Self and then to live it with authenticity in all aspects of their lives. Nilima is the founder-director of SAMPURNAH: The Wholeness Practice. Sampurnah stands for Wholeness, as the only lasting resolution to life’s twin challenges of ‘illness’ and ‘emptiness.’

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