Nimisha's story

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, based at the famous Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, were one of the community organisations to be awarded a grant from the Brent Health Matters Community Grant Fund in 2024/25.

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha is a volunteer-driven fellowship that pit forward a proposal to run a wellness programme to strengthen the habits of participants around food, consistency, mindset and stress management.

Nimisha Patel, 45, joined the 12-week programme, building on the wellness journey she had already been embracing.

A major focus for Nimisha was nutrition. With a mix of Indian and Western/Italian meals in her household, she tended to eat a lot of carbs and had low protein intake. On top of that, she didn’t eat onion, garlic or eggs, so everything needed to be homemade.

“The programme gave us so many practical ways to increase protein and make meal prep easier,” she said. “I learned simple strategies and recipes that fit my dietary needs and lifestyle, and I can implement them every day.”

Each week the programme offered sessions led by experts from within the local community, covering nutrition, exercise, stress management, sleep and emotional wellbeing.

“They made the knowledge so easy to understand that I could take it home and implement it straight away,” Nimisha explained. “The physio sessions were particularly useful, showing us how to strengthen specific muscle groups and support our bones. I could feel the difference in my energy, posture, and overall wellness week by week.”

A key part of the programme was emotional and psychological support. Psychologists worked on emotions, anger-management and self-awareness – topics that many participants weren’t taught at school and that aren’t often discussed in the Hindu community.

“It was eye-opening and very practical,” Nimisha reflects. “It helped me respond better to challenges, manage stress and reinforced the importance of pausing and resetting regularly. Attending every week became a non-negotiable part of looking after my health, especially given my family history of heart attack and cancer.”

The programme also produced measurable results. Nimisha noticed improvements in her biometrics over the 12 weeks, reinforcing how the practical guidance translated into real-world health benefits.

The impact extended beyond personal growth. Nimisha shared her experiences with her family and friends and encouraged three people to join the programme themselves, all of whom found it equally valuable.

“Everything I learned during the programme has been engraved into my daily life,” Nimisha said. “I now continue to implement the nutrition, exercise, mindset and stress management strategies every day, and they’ve become part of how I live — not just a temporary change.”

Rooted in her own journey of intentional living, Nimisha continues to empower others through Mindfulness Craft – guiding professionals and communities to manage stress, reconnect with calm, and cultivating wellbeing through creative, emotionally intelligent practices. She uses quilling in her workshops as a hands-on tool for mindfulness, allowing participants to pause from daily life and reconnect with themselves.

“This programme gave me tools, strategies and community support that made a real difference,” Nimisha explained. “It reinforced habits I had already started, helped me improve my food choices, exercise and stress management, and gave me insights into my emotions that I hadn’t explored before. It’s a programme I would recommend to anyone who wants to take practical steps toward holistic wellness.”