FILLS UP ON VEGGIES—Bill Lowry of Ventura learns how to cook healthful foods. STEPHANIE BERTHOLDO Acorn Newspapers Eight residents living in the greater Conejo Valley/Ventura County region are undergoing a “body, mind, spirit” transformation as a result of a contest sponsored by the California Health & Longevity Institute in Westlake Village.

The participants were chosen from more than 100 applicants to participate in the six-month “Project Transformation,” a personalized health program that touches on all aspects of healthy living.

The program, which began April 26 and is valued at $11,000 per person, is being facilitated by the institute’s experts in medicine, nutrition, fitness and life balance.

The winners come from all walks of life, and each has different goals and challenges.

Simi Valley resident Kristin Tignac, a 41-year-old stay-athome mother of four and a community activist, said her diagnosis of breast cancer in January served as a “wake-up call” for her to start paying better attention to her health.

Sophia Fischer, a 48-year-old writer and mother of four who lives in Oak Park, said she appreciates what the program has done for her.

The energy healing program was a surprise for Fischer.

After energy healer Barbara Savin explained the process, Fischer decided to give the New Age treatment a try.

The energy healing sessions require that the participant lie down on a table in a dark room and listen to relaxing music. Savin walks around the table and “feels” the energy coming from the person while at the same time transmitting her own energy.

“I felt things being pulled out of me,” Fischer said.

Like most of the participants, Bill Lowry, a geologist and business owner from Ventura, said it was tough to identify any one aspect of the program as the most impressive. At the Wellness Kitchen in April, Lowry and other members of the group learned how to cook a variety of healthy dishes.

Lowry, 42, now exercises several days a week and says the increased physical activity has helped him sleep soundly and handle stress more productively.

Kasi Beutel, 37, is a Santa Barbara police officer and single mother of three who lives in Newbury Park.

Beutel said her personal trainer has helped her gain strength, stamina and endurance for her job as a police officer. The exercise has also helped her reduce stress, a common problem in her line of work.

Moorpark resident Christy Routon is a single mother and part-time aesthetician.

“I had already gone through steps to be a better self on the inside,” Routon, 42, said. “I wanted my outside to match my inside.”

Changing habits like not getting enough sleep and not eating regularly scheduled meals—especially breakfast—proved to be hurdles that Routon finds she can master by employing the philosophy of kaizen , a Japanese term that means a journey of continuous improvement in all aspects of life. The philosophy also emphasizes the need to take small, steady steps toward all life goals.

Routon is focusing on creating a healthy lifestyle rather than just anticipating the end results.

As an aerospace and mechanical engineer, Dave Fugleberg of Westlake Village is skeptical when it comes to New Age philosophies like kaizen. Initially Fugleberg just wanted to lose weight, but the program has given him a new perspective on what true health means.

The kaizen philosophy has been helpful to Fugleberg, who wants to create a vision board as proposed by Savin. By placing pictures, phrases and other visual reminders of goals on a cork board, making small steady steps toward any goal will be easier, he said.

Jacqueline Amira-Slutsky is a 64-year-old writer and lecturer from Thousand Oaks. She, too, appreciates the program’s “roundness.”

“It is not only the exercise or the nutrition . . . but it is all of that and more,” Amira-Slutsky said. “It is the camaraderie that we all seem to feel when we see each other. It is the good feelings that we share at the others’ successes.”

Percy Vaz, a 62-year-old business owner and real estate executive from Westlake Village, said he aims to get his blood sugar under control. Having been diagnosed as prediabetic, Vaz said his “modest goal” is to bring his blood sugar below 100.

So far, Vaz has tried hypnotherapy to reaffirm his goals and said the life balance sessions and massage were time well spent at the center.

“The whole program is wellstructured,” Vaz said. “It’s more comprehensive than I thought it would be.”

For more information about the center, visit http://chli.com or call (818) 575-1114.