As a kid, I was exposed to yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda from my family and frequent trips to India. When I was in elementary school, my brother became really sick, to the point where he could not get out of bed for a few months, due to extreme fatigue and weakness. Despite going to some of the best doctors in our area, no one could help him. My parents then turned to Ayurveda, and it was through an an Ayurvedic lifestyle regimen that my brother quickly improved to his normal self, to the astonishment of his conventional doctors. This left quite an impression in my mind at such a young age.

Years later, I decided to become a physical therapist because I wanted to help people. I went on to work at some of New York City’s leading hospitals, such as Beth Israel, Lennox Hill, and St. Luke’s Roosevelt. However, I had always believed in a mind-body approach to healing, so during my physical therapy studies I also experimented with different styles of yoga, finally pursuing formal yoga training and certification in 2004. Since then I have completed numerous workshops and certifications in yoga, including Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater, PT, PhD, and Core Vinyasa training with Srivatsa Ramaswami.

Meditation is something I was drawn to because it helped me with my anxiety. As a kid, I would accompany my parents to various talks on meditation and spirituality.  I also grew up going to an ashram, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. I had my “mantra diksha” as a teenager by the late Swami Dayananda Saraswati, where I was given a lifelong mantra to meditate regularly upon. It is also a commitment to a spiritual life. Later, I participated in various meditation trainings, such as Isha, Art of Living, and Vipassana. I am a certified teacher of meditation and mindfulness through School of Positive Transformation.

The jump to study nutrition came many years later, after dealing with my son’s gluten and GI issues. I realized how much nutrition impacts our health. I wanted to know more as a mother and a clinician that worked with people with chronic health conditions. And so, I enlisted in a 2 year holistic nutrition program to add to my knowledge base, and The Wellness Transformation was born!

The desire to study clinical hypnosis resulted from son’s anxiety, as well as another avenue to target his chronic GI issues. I had tried various methods to help him to reduce his anxiety. Hypnosis was a life saver!  I trained through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, which is specifically for health care professionals.

Throughout the different phases of my life as a college student, wife, working, mother, and entrepreneur, I have seen how easy it can be to fall off balance and fall prey to this hectic pace of life. I have had to evolve and modify the things I did to fit in to my schedule and still take care of myself. With this understanding, I want to be a support and a source of empowerment for others, no matter where they are in their journey.