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If its vacation time and you are thinking of doing some activity with kids then  make a vision board with your kids?  A vision board is a collage of pictures, words, affirmations and goals.

Creating a vision board is considered better than making resolutions as when you are creating  it is going deep into your heart !While creating it you make a list of things to do and things not to do.This helps in motivating yourself to follow your dream board. Vision board for whole family will be fun activity which will involve every family member. The board becomes a positive reminder of things like:
What do I want to learn this year? ,What makes me smile? ,What is a “crazy” fun thing I would like to do? ,What can I do to make someone else happy?
How would I like to spend time with family and friends? How can I stay peaceful?What are healthy things I can do?
Don’t you think we tend to forget these important goals of our life while running our daily errands.If every family member jots downs the key issues he wants to improve in his life and starts working upon it then it will definitely contribute towards creation of a happy family.
You can get some glue sticks, scissors, poster board, or any stiff paper or paper plates, markers,  glitter, stickers, and pictures—lots of them. Use magazines or surf the Internet.

Writing  affirmations like:-“I live joyfully each day.” “I am grateful for all the blessings of my life.” on your key board can be good reminders to make these affirmation reality of life.
Sort through your pictures and begin to arrange them. You can cover up words, add words or do whatever feels creative and positive to you. The vision boards become powerful messengers working on different levels of your mind and being. It can be fun to recognize what you and the kids are experiencing and accomplishing through the months.

So don’t wait for right time , just do it!

Tags: affirmations, dreamboard, visionboard

Holistic wellness-The Ayurvedic way

Dynamic, Aggressive and Highly spirited-three words describe Shailu Suresh in a nutshell who established Om Vedic Heritage Centre in Singapore (OVHC), a traditional wellness center to spread the message of Ayurveda, health and wellness. Shailu was in list of 15 finalists for SICCI-DBS Singapore entrepreneur award2011 and this nomination speaks a lot about her hard work and passion for her entrepreneurial set up. Womenlines is proud to share her success secrets, dreams and her visions with its readers! 

Om Vedic Heritage Centre is a unique medical spa and is a hybrid between a medical clinic and a day spa that operates under the supervision of a certified Ayurvedic physician.  OVHC also offers other holistic services such as Yoga, Meditation, Astrological consultations and more. It is recognized as the first authentic Ayurvedic center in Singapore to be accredited by Case Trust [the accreditation arm of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE)], for Spa & Wellness Accreditation for good business practices since October 2010.

Mother of 2 girls (18 and 14) Shailu considers her center as her 3^rd baby  which is 1 yr. and 5 months old now, hence needs all her attention at this stage! Shailja  held  senior management, administrative and teaching roles at various Singapore Government and Statutory Boards such as A*STAR, NYP, NUHS for almost 13 years in Singapore, in 2009 she quit her role as the Assistant Director from the National Medical Research Council, MOH, to pursue her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Even though she is a qualified postgraduate in Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering, she wants to be known as an  ‘Ayurvedic Lifestyle Practitioner’. The reason being her upbringing in a holistic environment with a family of Pioneers in Ayurveda. Shailu shares “A strong belief, drive and passion of wanting to spread Nature’s wealth in the form of our own 5000-6000 year old Indian Vedic Traditions, I started the first One-stop traditional Wellness Centre in Singapore, in 2010 to spread the message of Ayurveda, Health & Wellness.”  Currently she still works part-time at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, helping manage a Government funded research project on Dengue and lectures part-time at MDIS.

OVHC in technical collaboration with the Ayurvedic Trust, Coimbatore, India, brings to Singapore the Pioneers in Ayurveda – The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore, India)). AVP which was established in 1943 is one of India’s premier multi-faceted institutions in Ayurvedic medicines, teaching, therapy, research and related areas. AVP today has a network of over 1000 agencies, 50 branches across India and more than 25 treatment centres and hospitals in different parts of India and abroad. In a short period of time OVHC has been successful in establishing its credibility among its visitors and has also been featured by Tabla and Channel News Asia. OVHC’s clients and customers come from all walks of life, many races and nationalities with only about 50% of its customers beings Indians. OVHC has been successful in managing many chronic diseases. To name a few- Sinusitis in kids and the old alike, skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis , chronic pain management in chronic pain cases.

Talking about the challenges Shailu  comments “Challenges and failures have always excited me and they actually help me strategise and become more creative.”Challenges for Shailu started right from finding an appropriate location for a holistic wellness set-up with close proximity to the Indian cultural belt in Singapore (Little India), with a heritage appearance. This business falls under Singapore’s Spa Service Sector and thus acquiring a Massage Establishment License from Singapore Police Force (SPF), Case Trust Accreditation from Case Trust were her next big challenges. Employing staff (ayurevdic physician and therapists) with required skills after getting across the many hurdles she faced from the Ministry of Manpower and SPF, WERE and ARE still her biggest challenges in this business.

Shailu is big hearted in giving credit to her supporters in her entrepreneurial journey. She says “Fortune of being born into a family that spreads the message of Indian Culture and Heritage, my passion, drive, support from my family, good service oriented staff, 7 decades of reputation from the family business in Ayurveda back in India, a good network built up over 14 years of having stayed in Singapore and a great country (Singapore) are some of the many reasons to get us to where we are today.” Family support is a big support for any women entrepreneur and Shailu considers herself very lucky to have such a supportive family, specially to her husband who provides IT support for her business too.

Any entrepreneurial setup grows well if is backed up by a big vision which aims to provide a strong basement to the set up.  OVHC is also backed up by a big vision by Shailu “To see ourselves Leading the Wellness Revolution” in Singapore, by innovatively coupling our ancient and rich Indian traditions, heritage and culture with modern day people-oriented practices and technology  and set foot on other shores in the region (SE ASIA) with confidence. I intend to diversify further and offer services in the areas of Ayurvedic Education, Ayurvedic/Healthy Diet/Food, and an in-patient facility either in Malaysia or Singapore.”

Shailu believes strongly in giving back to the society and also being a global citizen. Hence, organizes the Charity Drive twice annually where she collects toys, stationery, winter clothing etc. for the poor in India and sends collection to GOONJ, an NGO in India founded by Mr. Anshu Gupta (based in Delhi).For the go green campaign what she loves to promote is ‘recycle used cooking oil’, and Om Vedic Heritage center is one of the collection centers for alpha biofuels.

It’s just not only about having vision for her business set up ,Shailu’s next big project in the pipeline, is to launch a “Heritage Library” with books on topics ranging from theology (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism etc.) and complementary and alternative medicine (ayurveda, homeopathy, reiki etc). She has an excellent collection of about 1000 books already, donated to her by a Singaporean Chinese couple who spent about 20 years learning Indian Philosophy and Vedic Literature and various other complementary sciences and philosophies.

Om Vedic Heritage Centre

Shailu is an extrovert by nature and loves making friends. She considers TV as an idiot box in the true sense and loves spending her time reading books. Ardent fan of Carnatic music and old Hindi Songs Shailu loves spending quality time with her family. Shailu’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is “If you have a DREAM (that’s been haunting you for years) and a strong desire to make it a REALITY, ACT on it, not fearing the possibility of the obstacles that might arise enroute!”……and of course, if you need a mentor, do feel free to approach other successful entrepreneurs and I am ready to help too.”

Womenlines wishes best of luck to Shailu for her future endeavours!

Visit http://www.omvedicheritage.com.sg to know more about Om Vedic Heritage Centre or email at om@omvedicheritage.com.sg.

Tags: ayurvedic, Health, om vedic heritage centre, SICCI-DBS Singapore entrepreneur award2011, singapore

It matters to me!

At times I find being a woman is not an easy job and definitely not to mention to be an Ideal women. I wonder where those ideal women resides who perform all roles of being a wife, a mother, an employee, a daughter and a DIL, sister, friend and so many not to mention , with perfection. Will really love to meet one if she really exists in today’s  complex world!

World in which we are living today is though a blessing for today’s women. I am not talking about women liberation , or equal right distribution for women in our society. I want to focus on the multitudes of spheres in one life where women has to focus and work upon. As technology is making our life easy we are having other constraints to manage our life in an orderly fashion. In whole world around women issues start from the talk about being financially independent, she studies hard, builds a space for herself in society and gets married and becomes responsible for the welfare of the new family she has entered.Then starts her life managing herself, her office, her husband, her family and going forward kids come in picture.

Its matter of justifying all roles together.As an ideal women she should be a great cook who can prepare awesome lunch boxes, dinner and snacks for the family. As an employee she should be giving her best performance in office, prepare all reports timely, prepare excellent presentations and above all reply to all her mails…..wink wink:)! As a DIL  she should be taking care of her in laws, respect them , follow all family rituals, fasts, attend all function and entertain all guests with perfection. As a mother she should be always playful, ready for arguments, should always listen to her kid  and spend quality time with him.Then as a friend she should spend take out time for her friend, go for outings, shopping, movie time, invite for dinners, and much more. And mind you all roles have to be delivered in 24 hrs duration.

Hey , I forgot to mention role of being herself. As an individual she should be spending time with herself, take care of her health, body, exercise, eat healthy food, watch her favourite shows and movie, meditate, go to spas and lots more.

Is this job easy?I wonder!

But I enjoy being women.There is so much to do. Let’s not focus on ideal clause for being a women then you wont be under stress and enjoy your womanhood more. Its all about time management which we learn slowly by practise. Its also about taking one step at a time and multitasking those steps together. Balancing can only be achieved with a calmer mind so every women on this earth should exercise and meditate to discover herself. Think of at least 15 mins my time in whole day schedule where u do something for just your own happiness and I think it can do wonders in any women life.

I strongly believe that any family’s happiness lies in the happiness if the lady of the house. If she is not happy, unwell, frustrated then side effects start appearing on whole family. If we love our family then we have to take care of ourselves and start trying to find ways  to make ourselves happy.

So cheer up my fellow women, don’t stress yourself to be an ideal women. Have a vision for yourself and multitask allyour roles with perfection!

Tags: family, husband, kid, mother, women

As it is said by famous Harvard College Professor and experimental psychologist, Steven Pinker- “Babies are born with the instinct to speak; the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don’t need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.” Very True! Reading Ability at an early age is a precious gift given to kids by their parents which can change their world for ever. Through books we get knowledge and knowledge is power .

Books always help us in enriching our mind and enjoying life fully. Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, who was known for his Cognitive Development theories, says that a little child knows more than he can verbalize. And in his Cognitive Development studies, Piaget discovered that by the age of one and half years old, a child develops what he refers to as mental representation which is “the ability to hold an image in their mind for a period beyond the immediate experience.” During this phase, especially between the ages of one and three, kids make big leaps in vocabulary, letters, shapes, and colors. Reading to toddlers at this age is imperative. When a toddler hears a new word, he may not understand it but he may absorb some meaning from the context which will deepen his understanding of the word the next time it’s used. Parents should focus on active reading with their kids. There are various stories in books which provide great lessons to kids like proper behaviour, and thus help in building their character. If we help our kids in becoming a good reader then it will help them in long run. First five years are critical in any kid’s life and in that period the active reading atmosphere which we provide him in home is going to help them to be a better reader. There are certain ways through which parents can make reading a fun activity for kids- Read them aloud-Kids will always enjoy listening to their parents. This reading time will be quality bonding time with their kids while they are looking into parent’s eyes when listening to stories and it will also help kids developing listening skills. Once they start enjoying story time with parents then learning to read will be as easy to them as how walking and talking is. Use the cover up: For many kids, the words on the page run and blur together, to overcome this problem parents can use a three by five index card to cover everything except the sentence that your child is reading. When they finish a line, they move the card down and repeat the process Add emotions to your reading- Enjoyment is must in the process of reading, it helps a lot when we make an effort to create a spirit of joy and fun, adventure and wonder, while we read with our children If as a parent we involve our self in our kid’s reading process then our kids can grow into adults who love reading and also respect the value of printed words. As our kids will be growing upto teenage then it will be difficult to inculcate reading interest in them so don’t let the time go from your hand and have fun in story time reading sessions. As per saying by Charles W. Eliot- “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~” Let’s strive to make our kids a better reader for their better future.

Tags: babies, Books, fun activities for kids, harvard college, kids reading habit

Shalini Kapoor is the Founder and Director of Little Artists, an art studio in, Singapore, which celebrates Art through children – to imbue their lives with colour, form, texture and composition. When Shalini established Little Artists, it was the confluence of two major passions-Art and Teaching children. She has special ability to train children in Art. She coordinates the entire art program, monitors the development /progress of all children and trains the staff at the studio. It is an entrepreneurial journey of 14 years which expanded without any marketing and advertisements channels but just on word of mouth publicity. At some point Shalini found it very challenging to manage the studio herself and then she started hiring teachers. Today there are 25 teachers working under her  both on full time and on freelancing basis. These teachers are professionally qualified in the field of arts and are trained specially as per requirement of the studio.A down to earth personality, Shalini finds enjoyment in every activity she gets involved, even she considers cooking as an art which has to be delivered with creativity.Womenlines is proud to share about Shalini’s journey in the field of arts with its readers-

1)Tell us a bit about yourself

I am an art educator and an entrepreneur, heading art studios which provide specialized art education to children (age 2 1/2 to 17) and adults. We provide full range of curriculum, at every age and stage, which is tailored to their abilities and aptitude, grow their skills, eventually train them enough to be able to succeed in school and later lead them to Art Colleges globally.I am a graduate of Sophia Institute Mumbai, specializing in Design and Art. Before embarking upon teaching, I was a full time fashion and textile designer for various buying houses, with clients like Gap, Banana Republic, Billabong, Levis, Pier 1 etc. I then took a career break to pursue my passion in fine arts and later specialized in traditional Indian art. Art has always been my passion, since childhood.I loved my career as a designer as it brought its own daily dose of excitement. However, when I came to Singapore, instead of taking up a similar job here,  I felt the need to do something that comes naturally to me and is fulfilling. I love children and had a natural ability to teach and understand them. Once I started, there was no stopping. The studio grew not because I had planned it that way but because of the response and support from keen parents. Little Artists is the outcome of parents’ appreciation and a faith in my teaching philosophy.

2.When did you start your company? Where? And what motivated you to start it?

I arrived in Singapore in 1996, as an expat wife, accompanying my husband in his career move.I started the studio in 1997. I felt there was a need in Singapore, for a good quality art education for children. When I saw how children were taught in different art classes, I could see something was missing.Another thing that got me involved in teaching is my love for children. They get along with me very well and I love their company. It is one of those non observable bonds that exist between me and children.I have always derived happiness from seeing a child develop and feel confident.I believe in everyone getting chances, so I do not give up on people or children. I know that if I have class full of kids, I would want them ALL to be successful. I believe in finding unique solution to each and every student’s problem. With all the chances I was given as a kid, I should give all of my students as many chances as they need to achieve their potential. We have had many special needs kids who had no hope in academics but were interested to learn art. With many years of learning now they have become capable enough to aspire to pursue art as their career choice. This is absolutely satisfying and motivating for me

3.Any challenges that you had to face in the initial days?

I never looked at my work as a business, but as a mission.  I consciously resisted the pressure to grow the studio at a rapid speed, in spite of high demand  at all times. We always took only those many students whom we can give full time and attention. My greatest challenge was that the demand of the program was always superseding the studio capacity. Many times parents would get upset after waiting for too long. I didn’t want to take students and don’t do my best as I carry a moral and professional responsibility.I had to also make sure that the staff working with me is also as committed and maintains the same quality of teaching.It was hard to find such people. Overall I have been fortunate to have worked with wonderful people who aligned themselves well to the ethos of the studio. Another challenging period was during the SARS epidemic and economic down turns, but we stuck to our values, did not retrench any staff, but used that period to enhance their skills.

4.How do you balance your personal and professional life?

I belong to a very close knit family and am very close to my parents. Therefore I would like my children to have the same feeling for me.  I believe in clear allocation of time for my personal and professional life.I have two kids 10 and 4. I spend daily quality time with my children, play with them ,help them with their homework’s or be present in their school  and social activity as much as possible. On the days I am not working I take them out or plan a day where they have a different kind of learning with fun. I love to paint with my sons or go to the beach cycling. I like to talk to them and listen to their day to day happenings.I believe in having a balance in life. It is very important to set your priorities, be organized and be disciplined. Nobody can be 100 % perfect every day, but I try my best to fill up my day meaningfully.

5.What would you suggest to other aspiring women, who want to venture out on their own?

I would say be passionate about what you want to do and dedicate yourself to your work. Have a strong belief in what you do If you are good the rest will happen by itself.

6.Is there any person who has mentored /supported /inspired you

My husband Sanjeev has been my greatest source of support and inspiration He has always guided me to look at the big picture and not to let small problems deter me from my path. Being himself from Business Management School (IIMB), he has mentored me very closely in many aspects of my work. I do think that I would not have reached this far without him. He has been my true friend, mentor and guide and I dedicate my work to him.

My other source of inspiration comes from my mother who has always encouraged me to be independent and my dad, who is a homeopathic physician of national fame in India. He is a very hardworking and a positive man. He is 79 and still working. He loves his work and finds joy in curing cases which were declared incurable. He has taught me to find joy in what I do. According to him your work should be your greatest source of relaxation, and then you don’t need so many holidays!!

7.What do you have in the pipeline for your company?

I would want all children who are part of Little Artists to be successful and find their path in the field of visual art. I want the studio to be always a place of quality learning, for those who are seeking for real knowledge.Till we continue to meet the above two fundamentals, the studio can   grow and shape up organically to its potential.

A believer of quote “Painting is an extension of man’s means of communication, As such,it’s pure,difficult, and wonderful.”Shalini believes in giving back to society. She has done a lot of  work with SAMH (Singapore Association of mental health) as a visiting art therapist and has received rewards and recognition  for her services . She has  also contributed to  SCARF (Schizophrenia  Research foundation). Womenlines wishes best of luck to Shalini for her future!

Visit http://little-artists.com/index.php to know about Shalini’s venture.

Tags: art, artists, children, colours, GAP, shalini kapoor, singapore