Nikhil Kapur is an Ironman Tri-athlete and is the Co-Founder Director of Atmantan Wellness Centre, which is a one of its kind centre offering result oriented health programs based on the philosophy of Integrated Wellness. The centre is spread over 42 acres of lush valley and sits atop a crystal hill that overlooks the pristine Mulshi Lake.
Atmantan went live on World Health Day, 7th April 2016 and is an extension of Nikhil as a fitness enthusiast who has made healthy living his business in life. Another passion is his sense of environmental responsibility, which he has made an essential part of the resort both in philosophy and actual; various inspiring green measures have been implemented at the resort in the unique engineering systems and otherwise too. ATMANTAN’s vision is to transform the lifestyle of its guests so that they live healthier and happier lives. Nikhil is hence passionate about continually bringing in an evidence based approach to wellness at Atmantan and believes in a collaborative approach to achieve this goal.
Mr Nikhil is also nurturing his new venture, Atmantan Naturals, which is first of its kind Health Tech venture in India where healers guide individuals to bridge their nutritional gaps with the help of pure and natural herbal supplements. Nikhil is foraying into more Health Tech ventures to build a complete wellness eco-system.
1. Can you give us a brief on yoga and its importance in the hospitality industry?
Sustainable yoga practice has so much relevance in the hospitality industry nowadays. Wellness concepts, vegetarian diet, satwik living etc is on the rise and so it is evident in the hospitality industry. There is also growth of yoga retreats these days. Yoga helps to promote creativity and a positive attitude among staff and guests within the hospitality sector. Looking at the wellness travellers, a major percentage are falling under the secondary wellness travellers where they are making use of their leisure travel time for the purpose of indulging in some parallel wellness related activities such yoga, breathing, meditation, mindfulness etc. This has been a growing trend where we have seen a huge initiative from many of the business hotels also to introduce some elements of yoga and wellness within their operations – as simple as keeping a yoga mats as part of the room amenities to promoting meditative music in the lounge or even offering regular yoga and meditation classes open to all the guests.
2. Can you tell us a little bit more about Yoga and its popularity among young people, as well as its benefits for the body, mind, and overall mental health?
Yoga being a mind body medicine gives so much emphasise on the physical, mental, emotional and psychological upbringing of a person. Among the youth, it has been practiced more for the physical benefit and less for mental outcome. However, the various protocols being followed in the practice of yoga directly or indirectly address the psychological dimension of an individual. The practice of yoga also starts from the foundational aspect of an individual such as his thinking, behaviour and attitude. The postures and physical practices addresses the physical tensions one carries as a result of deep rooted emotional issues.
3. What do you think about the integration of yoga into workplaces in the hospitality sector?
The hospitality business is one of the largest employment industry in the world providing its workers with a wide range of skilled job roles. The industry covers restaurants, hotels, cruises, airlines, and travel and food industries. It needs a lot of soft skills such as creativity, conflict management, interpersonal skills, communication, mindfulness, creative thinking, anger management, listening skills and good motor and sensory skills etc. Yoga plays an unquestionable role in promoting all the soft skills of the person and improve on the creative thinking and agility of the body.
4. What is your take on “Yoga and wellness retreats” and their demand in the current hospitality industry?
The scientific evidences that yoga and meditation practices promote mindfulness and also help to address emotional health of individuals who are looking for their overall wellness. Yoga retreats focuses on helping the clients to improve their flexibility, improve their personal body mind fitness and to help reconnect their body and mind. Various yoga styles have been employed in this such as Ashtanga yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha yoga, Aerial yoga, Props yoga, Yogic Kriyas, Pranayama, Meditation and breath awareness practices, chanting and many more. As part of yoga retreats, experts also focuses on therapeutic yoga practices to manage many of the lifestyle illnesses such as high blood pressure, stress, sleep disorders, hormonal issues, diabetes, obesity, joint disorders, musculoskeletal injuries etc.
6. Can you give us some details about Atmantan Wellness Centre and their insights?
97 rooms, 40 therapy rooms, multi-purpose halls for yoga, pilate, movement classes, gym, kitchen garden etc.
For business highlights –
1) Av length of stay – 11 nights (pre covid – 6.3)
2) Faster acquisition of new clients even though existing are regular now – around 75% new clients
3) Clients from all over india. North and east india is contributing 22% to business (this was around 10% pre covid).
The Industry outlook Is positive. We see more announcements in the hospitality space and this will help in opening up the market better. There will be different offerings and will span from spa-experiences to nature experiences to wellness clinics on the other end like Atmantan.
We are also looking for growth via this route of being operators of wellness properties.
7. How has Atmantan successfully transformed all guests and relieved them of their lifestyle issues while enhancing their way of being holistically?
Atmantan has been created with the vision to treat life- style related diseases (non-communicable diseases). Over the past 6 years, we have treated over 20,000 people with the top ailments being:
1) Hypothyroid
2) Irritable Bowel Syndrome
3) Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease
4) Migraine
5) Gut related disorders
6) Auto-Immune conditions – RA, Hashimoto’s thyroid and others
7) Morbid Obesity
Many a times, stress and other unresolved emotions/trauma’s result in chronic inflammation in the body which then manifests as a disease. We have programs that help with emotional healing as our unresolved emotions/anxiety is the root cause of our physical ailments.
We are a NABH centre and have the highest clinical standards in administering our programs. Our guests come well prepared for their program. Prior to admission, they undergo a medical screening which ensures that we have understood their objective and are able to accept their case. In a few cases like last stage cancer, renal failure etc, we decline the admission.
We practice philosophy of integrated wellness. Each body and mind is different. And we work with many sciences and modalities to heal the individuals.
