Bharti Vyas took mineral therapy, ayurveda, magneto therapy, added a dash of home-grown philosophy and voila! all of London — from Cherie Blair to Cher, is asking for her beauty recipes
Her clients list reads like a virtual who’s who. She’s the saviour. The woman whom the rich and famous have come to believe and trust. In the past 15 odd years she has treated over 30,000 people in the UK with a virtual 100% success rate. Astutely combining Eastern philosophies with Western influences Bharti Vyas, who runs a holistic and therapy centre in the heart of London, has been the most sought after therapist in her field with her exceptional and innovative approach to health and beauty. Almost all the leading women magazines from Harpers and Collins to Marie Claire have gone ga-ga over this Gujarati woman’s revolutionary treatments.
Bharti Vyas of course tends to play it down. “I don’t know what this fuss is all about. Everyone is treated equally. Cherie (Blair) has been coming here for the past 10 years when she was a nobody. She is such a down-to-earth person. Even Tony (Blair) I have known for so long,” says Bharti, looking unfazed. Some of her clients like Ralph Fiennes, star of the latest Hollywood blockbuster The Avengers consider her treatments “excellent for relaxation and physical and mental health.” Cher and Belinda Carlisle are regulars at the clinic and so is Sir David Frost. “I have known David (Frost) such a long time. Even (Lord) Swaraj Paul comes here with his family. I have known all these people long before they got their titles. They all may be celebrities but so far they are normal clients whose stress levels are somewhat higher.”
And to her credit they seem to leave all their inhibitions behind “They don’t behave like celebrities when they come here. Ralph (Fiennes) comes and sits in my reception room for hours, I run into him, no problem. I didn’t even know I was treating Cher till she went back and gave fantastic endorsements in newspapers. Ramola Bachchan comes here she’s nobody but the best in the business,” she adds.
Her clients appreciate her down-to-earthness and she’s quick to answer those who think she’s a charlatan. “I can back whatever I say with proper scientific literature. I’m not afraid of critics. They have no influence on me I’m a rationalist who know my treatment’s no gimmick. Besides they bring no money or business so why worry?” she chuckles. She’s equally confident that her type of business will rule the future. “Therapists have become the new doctors in expansion and health issues beauty specialists.”
Her accent is still distinctly Indian. But amazingly her success hasn’t brought with it any superciliousness. Her treatments are tailor-made for every individual. “As no two people are the same.” She insists on a brief history of their lives, their eating habits, their health, in order to understand the complete lifestyle of the client before she starts her treatment “We ought to get the whole picture in order to create a programme for them,” says Bharti. It is perhaps this holistic approach which makes her unique. “I look at it from every angle. Take a facial. It has got a lot to do with your skin which is the largest organ in the body. It has the largest number of nerve endings, largest number of lymph vessels, largest number of pressure points. They all have to be in harmony.
“Thus it’s not just cleansing we look at in a facial, we look at the root of the problem” she elucidates. “If you want to make it to the clinic there’s a free helpine set up to assist you. “We believe that once you belong to us you are never alone.”
Kenyan-born Bharti came to London in the early 60’s in order to “give a better life to my children.” Arriving in the UK she first started a delicatessen business which was a roaring success. But in her mid-30’s, Bharti fell seriously ill after an ectopic pregnancy. “I nearly died!” says Bharti. After her recovery she enrolled herself at a beauty school near Baker street. She says somewhat defensively, “I realised in this country it is very important to look good all the time and also the fact that I had two young daughters. It was important to groom them well. And not experiment with the wrong things.” After graduating from there she was offered a job at Debenhams — a leading departmental store where she worked for 4 years before she moved to manage four leading beauty salons in the West End.
But misfortune struck again. On one of her business trips to Israel she suffered a serious accident and doctors had to amputate her leg. “I must admit that for the first time in my life I was depressed” states Bharti. But she soon realised that she had to be fit again so that she once again defied the odds. “The doctors were wrong, my strength was my belief and determination that pulled me through” she states. She took a year off work and around this time decided to start something on her own. And 20 years later her clinic, now on 151 Baker Street, has become a landmark in London.
Her strength perhaps lies in her extensive knowledge of alternative therapy for which she has her eastern roots to thank. She has combined Indian mineral therapy, aromatherapy, magneto therapy, mud therapy and are used in various therapies.
“I used mud as a client about the clinic and someone asked me. There was this blind person to whom every top gynaecologist had written off giving birth and he used these women in order to give birth and I realised that the minerals from the mud had its own medicinal value which were soothing the anxious woman’s nerve ends who then relaxes and thus gives birth easily” states Bharti with conviction.
During one of her frequent visits to Mumbai she learnt Magnet therapy at Dr Goel’s clinic in Khar, she also believes in the cures of Ayurveda. “We have to educate our clients on all these medicines but it has always had a tremendous effect,” she states.
She may be well into her fifties, a grandmother of a four but there is a crackle of energy about the lady, despite a walking disability because of the accident. In February this year she launched her own therapy products, a range of beauty and skin care items which are now available in leading departmental stores in the UK. She contributes regularly to Asian newspapers and leading women’s magazines, has made innumerable television appearances sharing her knowledge in beauty therapy. Besides her lectures. The Aroma Polo Cruise liner where she gives her lectures. “I am never tired, you can ask my daughters,” she says candidly. Her two daughters are, of course, a play a vital role in the clinic.
She’s on the verge of releasing her second book after the success of her first, Bharti Vyas Wisdom which was released last year and was well received in U.K. and abroad. “I was surprised and thrilled at the response it received in India” says Bharti, confessing her love of the land of her origin. “I’m proud to be Indian. There’s so much to learn from because of illiteracy, everything is put down to religion” she says. She’s even purchased a permanent house in Mumbai now together with her wish to come there more often and not just may be, share her beauty secrets with the country which, inturn contributed in so many ways to her success.
— KEVIN REGO