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I recently left my job at Disney in Burbank, California, where I sold commercial ads on Disney Channel (for kids). I worked there for seven years and ended up growing out of the job, wanting more out of life, so I decided to save money and take some time off to travel (celebrating my 40th birthday), with Kerala and Ayurveda being a top destination and priority for the trip.

I first learned about Ayurveda by reading a simple introduction book on the topic called “Perfect Health” by Deepak Chopra when I was a college student more than seventeen years ago.
It left an impression on me, during that time I was also seeing an acupuncturist from whom I had seen great results. I was able to decrease my slow thyroid medication prescription by half the dosage after just four visits with my acupuncturist. I suppose the idea of “natural medicine” intuitively spoke to me. My grandmother gave us children simple natural remedies for sore throat andstomach ache as we grew up and it seemed so much easier (and empowering) to look in the kitchen cabinets for honey/lemon and salt instead of going to pharmacy for sore throat medicine.

I studied communications in school, but always took an interest in herbs, eating from the earth and natural healing. Years later I was going through a difficult divorce from a lovely man who suffered from drug and alcohol addiction. During that time I decided to take a retreat course at the Chopra Center (Deepak Chopra PhD and Spiritual Author including “Perfect Health”). While I was there someone very influential encouraged me to pay attention to the field of Ayurveda, they could tell, by discussing with me about my passions, that it was something I could receive benefit from, as well as it might be a good career path to consider as Westerners are becoming more interested in Eastern philosophy, spirituality and natural healing. That day I went to the bookstore and purchased a book on Ayurveda by Vasant Lad. As chance would have it, later that week I saw a flyer hanging up at a natural health food store that Vasant Lad would be speaking in my city of Los Angeles the very next weekend! It was a clear sign from the universe; I did not hesitate and signed up that day. The weekend course was on Ayurveda Basics and Lifestyle, perfect wisdom for my new ears. I was so inspired that I went home and searched for courses in Ayurveda, and the next month I was enrolled with 25 other students in a wonderful 200- hour “Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor” program through Kerala Ayurveda Academy. At the time, the course Director was Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar. He was the most amazing, wise, humorous professor I ever sat in a classroom with. I could not wait to attend his classes. In the first class itself he taught us the Gayatri mantra. During each class a light bulb went off in my head and in my heart. I felt so “enlightened” after each class, so inspired by this ancient healing system that I knew it empowers the patient. The group of students in the class bonded together while learning this wisdom and these new ancient philosophies. We became like family, and I got three best friends in Los Angeles I met during my studies.

I, meanwhile, learned about a trip to India hosted by Mas Vidal, of Dancing Shiva Yoga and Ayurveda that would include a retreat in Rishikesh with Dr. David Frawley, an American Hindu and author of more than 30 books on the topics of Vedic studies, including Ayurveda, as well as one week of rasayana treatment at AyurvedaGram in Bangalore. So I went to India and came back an almost new person. There really are no words to describe the joy I felt during and after that first trip to India. I felt transformed from the inside out, from the spiritual wisdom gained on the banks of the Ganges, as well as the rejuvenation of seven beautiful days of Ayurveda.

stomach ache as we grew up and it seemed so much easier (and empowering) to look in the kitchen cabinets for honey/lemon and salt instead of going to pharmacy for sore throat medicine.
I studied communications in school, but always took an interest in herbs, eating from the earth and natural healing. Years later I was going through a difficult divorce from a lovely man who suffered from drug and alcohol addiction. During that time I decided to take a retreat course at the Chopra Center (Deepak Chopra PhD and Spiritual Author including “Perfect Health”). While I was there someone very influential encouraged me to pay attention to the field of Ayurveda, they could tell, by discussing with me about my passions, that it was something I could receive benefit from, as well as it might be a good career path to consider as Westerners are becoming more interested in Eastern philosophy, spirituality and natural healing. That day I went to the bookstore and purchased a book on Ayurveda by Vasant Lad. As chance would have it, later that week I saw a flyer hanging up at a natural health food store that Vasant Lad would be speaking in my city of Los Angeles the very next weekend! It was a clear sign from the universe; I did not hesitate and signed up that day. The weekend course was on Ayurveda Basics and Lifestyle, perfect wisdom for my new ears. I was so inspired that I went home and searched for courses in Ayurveda, and the next month I was enrolled with 25 other students in a wonderful 200- hour “Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor” program through Kerala Ayurveda Academy. At the time, the course Director was Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar. He was the most amazing, wise, humorous professor I ever sat in a classroom with. I could not wait to attend his classes. In the first class itself he taught us the Gayatri mantra. During each class a light bulb went off in my head and in my heart. I felt so “enlightened” after each class, so inspired by this ancient healing system that I knew it empowers the patient. The group of students in the class bonded together while learning this wisdom and these new ancient philosophies. We became like family, and I got three best friends in Los Angeles I met during my studies.

I, meanwhile, learned about a trip to India hosted by Mas Vidal, of Dancing Shiva Yoga and Ayurveda that would include a retreat in Rishikesh with Dr. David Frawley, an American Hindu and author of more than 30 books on the topics of Vedic studies, including Ayurveda, as well as one week of rasayana treatment at AyurvedaGram in Bangalore. So I went to India and came back an almost new person. There really are no words to describe the joy I felt during and after that first trip to India. I felt transformed from the inside out, from the spiritual wisdom gained on the banks of the Ganges, as well as the rejuvenation of seven beautiful days of Ayurveda.

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