Peter Navratil

Peter Navratil
Founder - HealthWellnessNavigator

At a very young age I was introduced to an alternative to the Western way of thinking. A doctor had just prescribed Valium to me, at the age of seven, to relieve stress headaches I was getting at school.

My mother was instinctively uneasy with the doctor’s advice, so she looked for an alternative. She did so by getting the whole family to attend yoga classes. Not the norm for anyone living on Sydney’s North Shore in 1970.

This aroused a unique awareness in me that has consistently resonated throughout my life.

After finishing school I took my father’s advice not to follow him into architecture but to study construction and project management.

After a difficult first year, unsettled by my parents divorce, I breezed through University and landed a good job in my final year.

I found I applied myself easily to work by observing others and quickly adapting. I also had a knack of seeing things that others did not. My efforts were quickly rewarded by my employers.

After only two years I was moved out of the relatively mundane and mechanical aspects of construction, to the more creative and entrepreneurial Property Development side of the industry.

In the next phase of my corporate career I succeeded at many different roles and naturally applied the same “can do”, creative, entrepreneurial attitude with ease.

In early 1991 my wife to be and I and arrived in Indonesia to visit friends for two weeks. I was offered two jobs at the airport and we end up staying 6 fruitful years in Jakarta.

We returned back to Sydney to start a family in early 1997, I joined the same friend who we originally visited in Jakarta to establish a successful Property Consultancy and Development Funds Management business.

While in Jakarta I suffered a bout of typhoid, afterwards I developed a sensitive stomach. It gradually got worse as I was more and more caught up in the stresses of corporate life. My behavior also became reactive and obsessive, lacking natural harmony and balance.

While the seeds of my eventual salvation were sown early, I would endure years of stress and disharmony before I was able to evolve, allowing space for positive change.

My health became patchy as the years of minimal sleep and constant stress depressed my immune system. I kept getting minor illnesses, even though I exercised regularly, had a healthy diet and never drank alcohol.

By the year 2002 the mental and physical cracks that were accumulating were well and truly starting to affect my everyday life. Coping with a growing business and a young family were at times a struggle but I thought I had the will power and competitive edge to overcome all.

My stomach issues started to escalate and visits to my doctor and specialists revealed nothing. When I complained about my persistent symptoms I was branded a hypochondriac.

By chance I stumbled onto a nutritionist who suggest I get some tests done in the US. The tests revealed the antibiotics I had taken to treat the typhoid 10 years earlier had disrupted my gut flora. I had also picked up some unfriendly amoebas. With the nutritionist’s help I was able to greatly improve my intestinal ailments.

I also reconnect with yoga and found time to study the Yoga Sutras, an enlightening distraction.

Then came my life changing moment.

I found myself holding my 2 year old daughter’s cold, limp body in my arms, having retrieved her from the bottom of our swimming pool. My mind had been on auto pilot, I had foolishly multi-tasked to distraction. I was grimly confronted with a parent’s worst nightmare.

I knew what to do. I did not fail when the end result really counted.

My daughter recovered fully and as I held her tight I heard a determined voice inside me say. “ You’ve been given a second chance so make it count”

Soon after I was introduced to variously gifted teachers. I explored meditation. I made time and delved into gaining a deeper awareness of the whole mind body connection. I took interest in researching various Eastern Philosophies.

Profound changes followed as my understanding and self awareness rose. With daily meditation my immune system, mental state and general well-being improved. Simultaneously my perspective and understanding of prosperity and success also changed.

Instinctively I knew I had to make more changes. I was torn between staying in a career I was very good at, or to change but to do what ?

Eventually I got the courage to discuss change with my business partner and friend. It was very tough, akin to breaking up for no apparent reason. Initially he tried to talk me out of leaving the business. Finally we agreed, I’d be phased out of the business and embark on a new yet unknown path.

I’ve always had an intuitive connection for counseling friends, colleagues and clients on personal or health issues. From a young age I was good at making observations and listening, I was in touch with limbic queues.

No doubt my life long awareness and interest in Health and Wellbeing was seeded by my first yoga teacher some 40 year earlier.

Initially I embarked on trying my hand as a Life Coach. I also taught meditation along with doing the occasional property consultancy project for friends.

My life coaching venture, MindBodyChange, was a success but it came with the frustration that my effective reach was limited to one on one consultations or to small group meditation classes.

It quickly became evident I had to venture out into the world via the WWW.

So after three years of investigation and research everything became much clearer. My initial motivating force had manifested into the HealthWellnessNavigator (HWN) concept.

HWN, a personalized interactive web based experience that assists individuals optimize and maintain their Health and Wellness. It’s based around 6 interconnecting core factors, the HWN matrix. Users are encouraged to find out their HWN Score to help guide and benchmark change.

HWN’s aim is to empower each independent individual to make better informed day to day lifestyle choices to foster sustainable improvements in Health and Wellness outcomes throughout their life. While genetics does play a role, 70-80% of Health and Wellness issues are avoidable or largely reversible with different lifestyle choices.

Today at 52 year of age, with a little wisdom and awareness I am happier, healthier and fitter than ever and I enjoy a rich family life.

My immediate focus is to collaborate with likeminded individuals and organizations to make HWN the ultimate universally accessible ‘Self Help’ tool perpetuated by its stand alone commercial viability.