Founder, The Ancient Way
Can you share a bit about your personal journey and what led you to become a spiritual teacher, author, and founder in the wellness industry?
I feel incredibly grateful for the past 13 years I spent delving into the Vedic spiritual traditions of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedanta’s universal spirituality. My studies have been deeply rooted in oral lineages, which have provided me with the most authentic transmissions of this ancient wisdom from India.
Along this journey, I began writing as a way to share what I have benefitted from learning and applying to my own life.
In writing articles for online publications, I got approached by Storey Publishing, an imprint of the Hachette Group, to write my first book as an introductory guide to Ayurveda.
On my journey, I have been captivated by the wisdom of ancient Indian goddesses, who have outlined a complete nine-step path to soul liberation. They have become the subject of my second book, The Way of the Goddess, which was released in 2022 with Penguin Random House.
Writing books and starting my own spiritual wellness business are my ways of sharing with others what I have learned that has changed my own life, out of gratitude for all that I have received.
What inspired the creation of The Ancient Way, and how does it aim to support individuals on their spiritual journey?
My own studies and feeling that there needed to be a platform dedicated to the genuine practice of ancient wisdom teachings, for your own evolution (and not just a certificate) inspired the creation of The Ancient Way.
As I continue to do my best to share and spread what I have been fortunate to learn, as an instrument of this knowledge, I feel it is simultaneously necessary to keep deepening my own spiritual practices, to continue to lead and teach with integrity and humility.
I felt called to create this platform for others who seek to do the same to receive support, resources and community on their journeys, especially for those in the public eye, as the pressures of being in the spotlight can often become an impediment to spiritual growth.
The three key elements of The Ancient Way are spiritual community, spiritual practice, and selfless service. These are ancient values central to many spiritual lineages that emphasize connecting with your inner self through associating with others who are on a spiritual path (this includes spending time reading spiritual books and listening to lectures), doing regular spiritual practices that unfold your inner self, and giving back to the five entities of life that give us so much, including spiritual teachers, ancestors, humanity, nature, and divinity.
When we are in relationship with the people, teachings, and practices that connect us to the eternal core of who we are as embodied spiritual beings, this has a way of naturally unveiling our true, divine nature.
Can you tell us more about the Spiritual Warrior Certification, Ayurveda Wellness Ambassador Program, and Circle of Life Community that are offered by The Ancient Way?
The Spiritual Warrior Certification is designed to support you to write your hero’s journey of healing trauma, so you can powerfully digest your life’s experiences and thereby lead, teach, and serve others with integrity.
The Ayurveda Wellness Ambassador Program supports you, step-by-step, in living an Ayurvedic lifestyle, in harmony with the rhythms of nature, so you can manifest radiant wellbeing and rejuvenation at all levels.
The Circle of Life Community is an emerging writer’s community that will bring together established and emerging authors and those interested in writing to deepen their own healing process. The Community will offer a safe space, resources and support for those who seek spiritual growth to deepen their own journeys while fostering meaningful collaborations with accomplished fellow spiritual authors, entrepreneurs and influencers.
You've been featured in prestigious publications like Forbes, Allure, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Spirituality & Health, and MindBodyGreen. How did these opportunities come about, and how have they contributed to your journey?
After three and half years of deeply studying Ayurveda, I was recommended by one of my teachers to start contributing articles to various media sites online, to introduce readers to this holistic way of living. I started by pitching and then contributing articles to Elephant Journal, Everyday Ayurveda, and then eventually MindBodyGreen.
Since then, an editor from Storey Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, found one of my articles and requested me to write an introductory Ayurveda book, which became my first book, The Ayurveda Way. After writing The Ayurveda Way, my publisher sent me on an all-expenses-paid tour to promote the book.
My cousin also shared The Ayurveda Way book with the eldest brother of Rebecca Parekh, founder of THE WELL, which led to a beautiful friendship with Rebecca and the opportunity to serve as Director (and now Advisor) of Ayurveda for THE WELL. Being in this position attracted interview opportunities with editors from Forbes, Allure, Vogue, and Cosmopolitan.
Spirituality & Health Magazine published an excerpt from The Ayurveda Way, and later invited me to contribute regular articles for them.
The success of The Ayurveda Way also opened the door for me to receive my second publishing contract from Penguin Random House, which I’m so grateful for. Most recently, the legendary Deepak Chopra interviewed me about this second book.
And now my journey, that began by writing articles online, has come full circle, to be able to support other aspiring and existing authors to birth and promote their own books.
Your books, “The Ayurveda Way" and “The Way of the Goddess," have received international acclaim. Can you share some key insights from these books and how they connect with your teachings?
The Ayurveda Way and The Way of the Goddess books contain a lot of the teachings I was blessed to learn and practice for many years while studying in oral lineage based traditions that stem back to ancient India.
Key insights from The Ayurveda Way include: the importance of adopting daily and seasonal routines to live in harmony with nature, food as medicine, caring for your mental health, and adopting spiritual practices for overall wellbeing. The Ayurveda Way book accompanies our Ayurveda Wellness Ambassador Program.
Key insights from The Way of the Goddess include the idea that you have the power to be the hero of your own spiritual journey by asking yourself powerful questions to author your own life’s script. The Way of the Goddess takes you on a journey to discover the 9 mythological avatars of the warrior mother goddess Durga, and to unlock 9 superpowers within each of your 9 chakras: the powers of stability, creativity, transformation, love, voice, intuition, truth, rejuvenation, and intention. The Way of the Goddess book accompanies our Spiritual Warrior Certification and Circle of Life Writer’s Community.
What has been your experience teaching at such renowned institutions, and how do you tailor your teachings for diverse audiences?
My experience teaching at various renowned institutions has been an amazing one. I feel so grateful to have been able to help introduce Ayurveda to many people who have never heard of it before. When I had the opportunity to introduce staff members at Stanford Medicine and California Probation Departments to Ayurveda through practices from what later became my first book, The Ayurveda Way, they self-reported a 47% reduction in aches and pains, 46% better sleep, and 85% said they felt much more able to manage daily stressors.
I tailor my teachings for diverse audiences by first asking their staff training directors what the most important pains and needs are of the community, so that we can create a meaningful customized experience that deeply addresses these.
As the founder of SoulWisdom Press & PR, how do you integrate spiritual wisdom into the realm of public relations?
At SoulWisdom Press & PR, our focus is on amplifying the messages of spiritual teachers and leaders who possess and value humility, empathy and integrity. We pre-screen those we support to ask them what spiritual integrity, in particular, means to them, and how they practice it, so that we can ensure that our powerful promotional resources are offered to those whose values align with ours.
One of the core offerings of our company will soon be our Circle of Life Writer’s Community, to further support spiritual authors, entrepreneurs and influencers to have a safe community to dialogue on their experiences and receive much-needed support and resources to deepen their own journeys.
What motivated you to venture into conscious PR, and how does it align with your broader vision?
On June 3rd, 2023, my beloved speech and drama teacher, Mrs. Trish Sanders, passed away. Her death inspired me to deeply reflect on the many powerful seeds she planted in my life, which have now blossomed into my own spiritual wellness, my organization, and the books I have written.
One of the most important things Mrs. Sanders did for me, and so many other young women in Toledo, Ohio, where I grew up, was to empower us to find and use our voices. An hour after she left her body, I spoke into a healing circle the intention to support more people to find and use their voices in service of the eternal victory of light over darkness.
Then, 2 weeks later, I received a call from someone named Michael, with an opportunity to create my own publishing and PR firm, to empower more voices of healing and genuine spirituality in the world.
This aligns deeply with my broader vision of creating a safe space for spiritual leaders to grow and deepen into their own journeys as a response to the trauma I faced on my own journey with some of my spiritual teachers, who tried to exploit me and suppress my voice.
Can you share some challenges you've faced on your journey, and what lessons have you learned that could benefit aspiring founders and spiritual practitioners?
In deeply studying Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta philosophy in one of the oral lineages I learned from, I overcame all kinds of seemingly insurmountable challenges, like eating disorders, relationship abuse, and domestic violence.
But the greatest challenges in my life actually came from the same teachers who claimed they were empowering me to become a teacher in my own right, but then sought to control me to serve their own ends instead. I learned a lot about what kind of teacher I don’t want to be from this, and about the liberating and transformative power of practicing spiritual wellness teachings more than preaching them.
I had, at one point, supported the creation of publications by the same teachers who later tried to legally stop the publication of my book, The Way of the Goddess, by claiming that they possessed a copyright on all the ancient wisdom teachings of India.
I, therefore, feel it is karmically healing to support genuine spiritual leaders to not only spread their work, but deepen their living of their own teachings in community. As I can see, through the eyes of compassion, how isolated my own teachers felt, and how that contributed to their darkness overcoming their own inner light when it came to how they treated me and other students.
I believe that we all have the power to be the change we wish to see, and to author the unfolding of our own life’s script as the screenwriter, director, and main character of our own journey.
Overcoming these challenges has strengthened my conviction in my own internal spiritual power and the eternal victory of light to triumph over darkness. It has also reinforced for me that the only way to truly teach, lead and serve others is by our own personal example of awakened consciousness, which gets reflected in how we care for ourselves and all living beings.
How have you seen your work impact individuals and communities, and are there any transformative stories or experiences that stand out?
In addition to the experiences of the Stanford Medicine and California Probation Department staff members I shared earlier, I have loved watching my own students transform before my eyes. It has been very satisfying to see how my students approach the act of parenting in a more loving and conscious way by learning to reparent their own inner child.
I have had the honor of witnessing one of my parent students be a light and solid and grounded like a tree for his child who went through a long battle with suicide attempts.
I loved seeing another parent student of mine prepare for childbirth and then go deep into rewriting her intergenerational scripts of maternal lineage trauma, so she could become a more conscious and loving parent to her daughter, and give her an emotionally safer upbringing. It was beautiful to see her heal her relationship with her mother in that process as well.
It’s also been joyful to witness one of my parent students lead by example for her 5 children, so that they can get inspired by her commitment to her wellbeing to take care of their own wellness as they grow up.
I also loved watching one of my students start to love himself more deeply than ever before as part of his healing process from being married to a narcissistic spouse. So he can choose a future partner with a lot more self-love and discernment.
The stories can go on and on. I am so grateful to be able to bear witness to these transformations in my community.
What's your vision for the future of wellness, spirituality, and conscious PR, and how do you see your role evolving in this landscape?
My vision for the future of wellness, spirituality and conscious PR is that we will have more spiritual teachers who lead and serve with integrity through role modeling more than preaching. I envision a future for this realm that upholds higher standards of spiritual integrity for teachers.
I see my role evolving in this landscape as one that helps create those higher standards of spiritual integrity for teachers, and at the same time, provides a safe space and process for spiritual teachers to grow and deepen their roots, so that they feel safe and empowered to lead by example.
This can all come about by my own commitment to be radically and wholly true to myself and to the values of spiritual integrity, empathy, humility, and perseverance, never taking anything for granted and questioning everything in my own life.
We're thrilled to offer a special opportunity to our Leaveli community with an upcoming webinar that you’ll be hosting: "Expanding Your Brand Authority through Media Visibility." As we delve into this topic, what guidance can you share for brands and individuals looking to amplify their presence in the media landscape?
I would, first, encourage brands and individuals looking to amplify their presence in the media landscape to do so by finding the courage to be authentic, and to offer insightful vulnerability, wherein they can openly share how they grew from their challenges and mistakes. This fosters a deeper level of trust with those who can benefit from what you have to offer.
In an era when so many spiritual leaders cannot actually be trusted, this is really important to stand out in the crowd and develop the all-important ‘know, like trust’ factor that ultimately leads to business success.
Secondly, let’s never, ever underestimate the power of storytelling to draw people closer to us and our message, brand, products, etc. Facts and figures are helpful to a point in developing trust, but sharing our stories is what really connects at a deeper level that influences buying decisions, which are often emotion-driven.
Thirdly, never be afraid to share your expertise generously with the public, as this is how people will be able to get to know you and what you have to offer them, which will lead them to trust and go to you and invest in your deeper offerings.
