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HomePoliticsMotivational speaker today, trauma healer tomorrow—Nimisha Verma knows the art of reinvention

Motivational speaker today, trauma healer tomorrow—Nimisha Verma knows the art of reinvention

Hours after 26-year-old Nimisha Verma, a self-proclaimed ‘metaphysical anatomy practitioner,’ announced a rich women’s retreat on Instagram last month, the backlash was swift and vicious. The three-day retreat, priced at Rs 40,000, claimed to “tap into one’s most abundant self and heal the money trauma.” Hashtag ‘Scamisha’ started popping up on platforms like Reddit.

But Verma is no stranger to controversy. On her Instagram handle, which has more than one lakh followers, she describes herself as a coach who “helps people step into their power.” Over the last seven years, from 2015 to 2022, she has reinvented herself every couple of months, predicting and cashing in on internet trends with the accuracy of a seer.

First, she was a model, then a ‘nomadic artist,’ letter-writer, motivational speaker and trauma healer. She has also claimed to have founded an NGO, and for a while she hosted ‘meets and greets’ and ‘sharing circles.’ Now, she is a celebrity and holistic intuitive coach who helps clients ‘manifest money.’

She has an intuitive pulse on social media trends, and manifests them into profitable businesses with the ease of an MBA degree holder. “Always remember that this is an investment in yourself and not an expense,” she encourages potential clients.

By pitching herself as a holistic healer, Verma claims she has the authority to cover a wide range of new-age trauma. She is a womb trauma healer, money trauma healer, and also offers advice on menstruation pain. She throws in key catchphrases like ‘inner child growth’ for good measure.

“If you are scared of being rich or you have trauma with money or you are broke at the end of the month, this retreat is for you,” said Verma in a promotional video. Over the next few days, she kept revealing more details of the retreat. There would be a Cacao ceremony. People will dance around the fire for releasing rituals. Altar-making workshops and scheduled time to lounge by the pool were some of the promised activities.

“I promise if you wanna be rich, you just need to learn how to make reasonable investments.” said one Instagram influencer in response to the onslaught of promotion.

After the online outrage, Verma deleted her post but soon she announced another similar retreat for March 2023. She had raised the price by Rs 10,000.

The lack of a professional degree does not deter her. “I don’t have a psychology degree but many people that attend my courses do,” she quoted an American spiritual influencer Teal Swan in one Instagram post. She controls the narrative with updates like these.

The business model

Verma is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs who have built their empires by embracing a new identity every year.

Her competition is a young army of holistic healers from all over the world like Lindsey Lockett who offers a nervous system workshop, inspirational speaker and esoteric astrologer Heidi Rose Robbins, and manifestation goddess, Lacy Phillip.

Verma’s courses do not come cheap. Under the ‘Reclaim Your Power’ course offered on her website, she charges $600. Incidentally, the online learning platform Udemy offers a ‘Beginner’s guide to healing your womb trauma’ for free.

In 2021, she offered a three-hour masterclass on ‘releasing money trauma’ for Rs 3,500 or $50. One Reddit user tagged the promotional clip, calling Verma “a highly problematic being.”

She conveys a sense of urgency about her workshops by announcing that only one or two slots are available. Most of the sessions are held on Zoom. Less expensive pre-recorded sessions are also available. The standard rate for a recorded ‘money mindset’ session is Rs 1,111.

Her announcements give the impression that her sessions are in demand, says a former client from Delhi who thought Verma would help her ‘reclaim her power.’

The influencer ecosystem fuels Verma’s various personas.

“The links on her website immediately take you to the payment section without giving enough information. There is no refund either, once you have booked,” said the former client, who was disappointed by her experience. Sometimes clients are directed to WhatsApp for a chat. “And there too, a pre-recorded voice note is sent instead of delving into the details,” she added.

But for every disgruntled client, there is always a new follower looking to improve their lot in life.


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Reinvention of a digital identity 

There was a time when Jaipur-based Nimisha Verma worked as a call centre employee and sold paintings, at least according to her story told on the popular ‘Humans of Bombay’ Facebook page. But they were stepping stones toward a richer future. She saved enough money to leave home at the age of 19, she claimed in the post.

“I rejected the Indian education system and my parents were not very impressed. College education is conventional and patriarchal. So, I left home,” she told ThePrint in a 2020 interview.

At the time, she was writing letters for a fee. “People are so lonely and no one writes to them. I want to change that. But I also need to survive, so there is no shame in charging for writing letters,” she had said.

In 2015, fresh out of school, she said she was a model. By 2016, she became a member of the growing artists’ community on Instagram. They were photographers, singers and unconventional careerists who wrote poetry and sang songs. Soon, Verma established an NGO called ‘home for artists’. By 2017, she had morphed into a motivational speaker and even gave a TED talk on embracing vulnerability.

The following year, she jumped onto the mental health bandwagon. Clients paid to be part of her ‘inner sharing’ circles, where they shared their personal journeys or sat in silence. Verma called this ‘heart and soul’ education and would host such workshops in cafes and restaurants.

From there she moved on to exerting her influence by holding ‘meets and greets,’ cashing in on people’s desire to expand their network. In one of her avatars, she presented herself as ‘Noor’ and adopted a future daughter called June.

She also experimented with love, and held retreats to explore the ‘divine existence of the sacred bond with oneself and one’s significant other.’ This was followed by womb sessions for women who experience menstruation pain, birth trauma and so on. She called it the ‘womb revolution.’

But by 2021 Verma became a ‘metaphysician’, and in 2022, a celebrity coach and healer of money and other traumas. She has also started talking about manifestation, which has become all the rage over the last few months.

Eagle-eyed critics are quick to highlight the discrepancies in her videos. “How can she become a money trauma healer in 2022 when in a 2017 Ted Talk, she herself said that she was terrible at business,” asked one Reddit user.


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A digital one stop centre

Her Instagram account is a one-stop store for people looking to overcome postpartum depression and toxic relationships, or those seeking to ‘grow’ every single day while searching for their cosmic lovers.

Sakshi Tyagi, founder of Delhi-based digital marketing agency, The Socio Story, is not surprised by Verma’s grand promises. It’s quite common in the influencer driven culture, she says.

“This market is based on a lot of plagiarism. You will find a lot of content taken from professional therapists with little tweaks to make it more relatable and personalised,” Tyagi said.

She recalled how a fashion blogger started offering individual therapy sessions for people suffering from mental health issues. For Rs 1,500, the session guaranteed ‘positive vibes.’ But the subsequent backlash was so fierce that she immediately pulled back.

“A lot of influencers plan a whole campaign based on their one or two therapy sessions with professionals. Since they are armed with so many followers who trust them, they start using anything or everyone,” said Tyagi.

For Verma, everything, including poverty, is a state of the mind. “Say- I am rich. I am rich. Rich, Rich,” she exhorts viewers.

(Edited by Ratan Priya)

Source: The Print

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