Health and wellness is not the rocket science that people make it out to be and is all about the basics, feels Milind Soman. He chatted with us ahead of his Transformation Series 2020, a series of webinars that he’ll be hosting, a joint initiative by Idence BDS (an experiential events agency) and Milind’s (Speaking Minds) that kicks off on June 30.

Transformation Series 2020 looks interesting...

It is quite exciting for me, yes, because I have never done a webinar before and I don’t think I have even been part of a webinar. I am going to be hosting this one. When Idence BDS came to me... they said they wanted to do a webinar around the whole coronavirus lockdown situation. There were lots of webinars out there that were B2B... business-to-business... economy... but there weren’t very many... not at that time... about how the individuals were going to adapt.... There are so many things that may or may not happen... every month there is a new speculation.... How will travel be? How will jobs be? Will there be a lot of work from home? How will companies be monitoring? Will you be taking your work home? Earlier we were told ‘don’t bring your work home’.... Now you are going to be working in the house. What would it take to adapt to any new situation... challenge? How do we think about things? How do we accept? How do we understand? If we have those tools with us, then it becomes easier for us to make the choices that you need to make, depending on the life that you want to lead....

There are so many misconceptions... there are so many terms that we use loosely... what is health and fitness? People use the word interchangeably, but they are completely different. We have a session on mental health, but now when we say mental health, people automatically think it means depression, but we are saying we are talking about health and not disease. Depression is a disease. When we talk about physical health, we are talking about how to maintain the health that you already have or to improve it. Disease is a separate subject altogether.

We are going to talk about simple, basic concepts that people need to understand so that he can think what needs to be done at an individual level. Every person’s needs are actually different. You have to understand how your mind and body works.

What does a vaccine actually do? If your immune system is not working, a vaccine cannot help you. It is there to trigger the immune system. A lot of people are saying how do we improve immunity... ‘oh, drink turmeric milk!’ Some people are selling pills....

It’s crazy...

Yes it is crazy. The immune system is a part of your body function. And, if everything is working well, your immune system will work well. Imagine when people ask this question mostly to a vegetarian... where do you get your protein? I ask them, where do you get your blood? You don’t drink blood, right?

It’s not as if you need to have protein if you want protein. Your body manufactures everything that it requires. If you eat a balanced diet, then your body will take what it needs. You have to exercise. At least a little bit... 20-30 minutes at home... can make a big difference. It is not complicated.

We have people from all over coming in and talking about different aspects. It is about awareness and just being able to make the choices based on correct information.

‘Transformation’ had to be the name...

It is about mental transformation. Information, knowledge and understanding will transform you... your life.

We are calling in people who have been through really challenging times in their lives and how did they cope with it mentally, physically, emotionally. Your mind is a part of the body. People still think the mind and body as two separate things.

The first one on June 30 is called Physical Fitness. It is also linked to the mind. There will be a bit of an overlap there. Even if we are talking about running and exercise, how does it affect the mind? When we talk about mental health, we’ll be talking about how can your understanding, focus and priorities be better.

We are looking for people from all over the world. The situation we are in today is a global situation. There is an emotional connect with everybody across the world.

You have a list of speakers already...

In the first session, we have Shayamal Vallabhjee who is a sports scientist. Then we have a girl from New Zealand... she is one of the most famous ultramarathon runners... Lisa Tamati... she has run the Gobi Desert and the Sahara desert. She will talk about endurance and what it means and how running has changed her life. Then we also have Rashesh Shah who is the CEO and MD of Edelweiss, a huge corporate in the finance sector, and he is also a runner.

Your Instagram is flooded with throwback pictures...

Yeah! Yeah! (Laughs) People also keep sending you photographs.

You have looked back at your journey through the memoir Made in India but have you had the chance to reflect further this lockdown?

Of course! This webinar actually comes from that. A lot of the things that I have learnt... it is not that I went to school... it’s life. During the lockdown, I realised how much I know about being patient, tolerant, accepting and to keep moving forward. We seem to be forgetting the basics... all these gadgets taking over our lives... science was meant to explore nature... scientists are still studying the immune system... we don’t know enough... our own bodies....

What’s growing in your vegetable garden?

Brinjal... gourd, tomatoes, chillies, cucumber... this is in Lonavala....

You wrote in your book that you have not used soap in the last 25 years! That has left us stumped! What more surprises are in your kitty?

(Laughs) What is the meaning of clean because even after 10 minutes of your bath, you are covered with bacteria!

Hope this (the webinar) goes well and then we’ll see what we want to do. Digital has become so important that the kind of things you can do and the opportunities keep exploding.