A story from Asghar…

I remember in medical school being surprised to learn of so many harms that medications, surgeries and radiation can cause even though they are often helpful. This intensified my curiosity about the most powerful, and often safer, solutions for long-term health and eventually led me to Harvard Medical School, where I completed my fellowship in Integrative Medicine in 2010, and had many additional educational, research and clinical opportunities. One key principle of clinical research I came to love was “informed consent”, which I feel is an appropriate approach for people to own their lifestyle choices. I was blessed to meet my partner in this shared vision, Stuart Apony, who introduced me to Jennifer Holton, and together we launched iW in September 2021. I continue to gain experience in hospital medicine and medical education, where I also love raising awareness of how we can learn to take charge of our health and wellbeing. I’ve applied this mindset of striving to integrate science & scripture-based practices (love of all people, religions & non-religious perspectives, AKA the Baha’i Faith) to my personal life, and am so grateful for my family, friends and countless patients who have walked alongside me in this endeavor to optimize health within the context of an embracing community. I hope you enjoy learning about what we do!

A story from Stuart…

After spending over 30 years working in the Human Service field, developing and integrating a model for working with people, I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Asghar Naqvi. I had been talking to people about my ideas, including many doctors and other health professionals. Meeting Asghar changed everything, as he was the first person I met who said “let’s make this happen!” and led the way to manifesting our mission: Empowering people to take charge and own their Health and wellbeing. He too saw the shortcomings of the current healthcare system and together we developed integrative Wellbeing.

We both agreed that the current system has its place as a necessary safety net for those people who are not willing or able to take charge of their health and wellbeing. The way people are treated through compartmentalization — that is, treating the parts of ourselves to address the challenges people face — works from a disease model. I thought it made sense to give people the opportunity, information, resources and tools that would allow them to choose to be responsible for their health challenges. Health is also something that we typically think is in our bodies. Although that is an important place, it also exists in our thoughts, emotions, and the way we relate to all the different aspects of our lives, including our finances, spiritual practices, environment, the food and beverages we consume, the people and even pets that are part of our family and friends, as well as the things we do for work (careers and other vocational expressions). All these elements come together inside of “community”. I, like Asghar, have a foundation in my belief that we are all connected and part of one big family. Building community so we can experience that interconnected nature is key to what integrative Wellbeing is all about.