Meet Pooja Thawani, Spring 2021 AHC Cohort
Class: Spring 2021
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
IG: @poojathawani
What’s your prakriti? Pitta-Vata
What are your signature gunas?
Sharp, mobile, dry, cold and hot (really depends on the season), light, penetrating, tendency for heaviness in the mind.
How would you describe your Ayurveda Dharma?
The last two years have been really about understanding the mind piece better. I'm in the midst of creating an eating disorder recovery program incorporating principles of Ayurveda, Qi Gong and Yoga, based on my own journey of healing a 15-year long eating disorder, and through working with people who are having a disconnect with their bodies & their relationship with food. With Qi Gong, I have found that I am able to redirect the energies in the body to where it's needed, instead of having the prana scattered all over the place.
One of my goals is to help people connect back to their bodies in order to access the mind, facilitating them to move forward with a sense of mental clarity instead of being fixated on what's wrong or what I "should" or should not do.
I am currently teaching private yoga classes with a focus on the lymphatic and digestive systems, incorporating movements and flows that work with the meridian channels of the body.
What interests or work do you pursue outside of Ayurveda?
I like working with plants/herbs and essential oils. I have found that we can use these things to reconnect to our senses. Creating those tiny pauses in our day to make an herbal tea or smelling/using an essential oil blend can be another way to connect with the body and turn inward.
I love to cook and experiment with recipes - part of the journey of healing my relationship with food was to work directly with the food I was putting in my body and have fun with it, instead of just labeling it as "good" or "bad". My son and I have also been loving coloring Yantras, and we will often do this after dinner
What’s your favorite dinacharya these days?
Definitely tongue scraping and a foot massage before bed.
What is your tidbit of advice or mantra that you’d share with a student of Ayurveda?
Take pauses often - it doesn't have to be a long, grandeur thing - even just taking 1-2 minute pauses throughout the day can have such a profound impact on how we feel at the end of the day.
Also allowing what we are feeling/experiencing to be just that - without needing to quickly get rid of it or make it "better". Sometimes the allowing and accepting can be what our bodies & minds need to transform the experience, instead of more herbs to take, or more practices/things to do.
What’s your personal strategy to strive for balance in the Winter this year (and why?)
Laying off the heating spices - I can tend go overboard with my cumin, ginger and black pepper, so playing around & switching things up - using more coriander, mint, fennel and the occasional sprinkle of rose petals to soothe the heart.
In my own movement practice, I love incorporating more twists and side body stretches/extension to access the liver and gall bladder channels. Not only can it feel so freeing in the body, but it also helps to relieve some heat and irritation that can build up during the hotter months, and as a result, reduce anger, irritation and any other symptoms associated with excess Pitta.
A 20-minute yoga nidra session after lunch can also be so soothing to the fire and restoring to the nervous system. This is one of my favorites: