By Becky Nethery
When I signed up for Shakti School, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and how the trajectory of my life would transform.
Back in 2018, a good friend told me about Shakti School and I checked it out online. I had never heard of this southern woman with a beautiful drawl, but her book Happy, Healthy, Sexy, sounded pretty epic. “Ah, ya…I want more of that,” I remember thinking.
I’d read a little bit about Ayurveda, but I didn’t really get it. It seemed pretty confusing and like a lot of rules, which just piqued my inner rebel. I’d been on my own healing journey for many years and I had a lifelong love of all things spiritual, mystical and philosophical. So I signed up and got ready to learn. But little did I know that Shakti School would become a major turning point in my life.
At the time, I was in my 10th year working as a high school teacher in Canada, feeling deeply constrained by the role and wanting the freedom to truly be myself. I felt that what I was teaching teenagers didn’t truly serve them. Instead of teaching iambic pentameter or how to pass a standardized test, I wanted to help them explore their gifts, talents, and how they wanted to contribute to the world. I believed in education and learning but I was losing my faith in the system and feeling deeply frustrated by the constraints on how I could show up. I also had this deep inkling that I wanted more for my life. I was ready for the next adventure. I wanted to keep learning. I wanted true expression and connection. I was sick of hiding as this hollow version of myself. I wanted to be myself, all the time. Maybe you can relate?
From the very first call of Shakti School, I felt the energy of the divine. I can still recall this full- body presence as the group gathered and Katie initiated that year of Shakti School. For the first time in my life, someone was saying the things that I knew deep inside but had never had the words to express. The more I learned about honouring the feminine and respecting the beauty, magic and simplicity of life, the more I started to feel at home in myself. It was a mystical remembering of things that had been buried, but not lost.
Of everything that I learned throughout that year, the concept of radical responsibility took hold the strongest. Realizing that I had the power to create the life I wanted was a double edge sword. It was extremely freeing and yet equally terrifying. Instead of playing victim, I slowly started to realize that I could honour my experience and desires. I knew that I felt deeply unexpressed in my career and confined to showing up as a “robot” version of who I was every day as a teacher. And yet, it wasn’t quite the right time to leave.
As I continued studying, another life-changing concept that I was introduced to through Shakti School was the concept of embodiment. It sounds so obvious now, but it was an entirely new learning for me. I had always valued my intellect, being smart, solving problems and making plans. I thought these were my superpowers (when in fact they were deeply honed survival patterns and trauma responses).
When Katie would pause the intellectual learning in class to do an embodiment practice, I would feel deeply frustrated. I remember thinking “I’m not here to feel, I’m here to learn.” My reactions reflected the deep imbalance that values the thinking mind above all else, as reflected in education and society at large. This imbalance had been internalized. “Thinking will keep you safe, thinking will solve everything. Thinking is what matters the most.”
But through Shakti School, something radical started to happen. For the first time in my life, I started to connect and truly witness the wisdom that was present in my body. It was an entirely new experience and it changed my life forever. It was a portal into something that I knew deep inside but didn’t know how to articulate, let alone the community to express and explore with. The reality that I could access this inner wisdom at any time, just by bringing my simple awareness to my body was deeply transformational.
It was a reconnection to the pieces of me that I had ignored, abandoned and neglected, both consciously and unconsciously. Honouring the divine feminine and moving into my body and out of the realm of the thinking mind helped me to feel deeply grounded and present. I started to feel stronger and more powerful in my ability to trust myself. My body offered me this strength, courage, knowing and presence that I had never been able to access just with this floating brain, disconnected from my body. I felt these “other” parts of me start to come online and they had so much to offer me. I started to feel safe again, safe to be me.
Between these two concepts, radical responsibility and reconnecting with the wisdom of my body, I realized that something needed to change. I longed deeply for true expression and contribution where I could show up with all of my gifts. I wanted to contribute my zone of genius to helping end suffering on the planet and I deeply wanted to honour my creative expression. To put it bluntly, I wanted the freedom to be myself.
And it’s pretty amazing how life conspires to support our desires.
Through various circumstances, that September I bravely decided to take a year-long leave of absence from teaching. I didn’t have it all figured out, but I had the courage and the faith to make the jump.
I decided to take radical responsibility for my life. I opened my own copywriting business and started writing brand stories and website content for local entrepreneurs who were in the healing modalities or who were doing good in the world.
You see, I deeply believe that business can be a powerful conduit for change in the world. Honouring our creative expression and gifts has the power to deeply heal us, as many of us have abandoned our creative expression and gifts in exchange for doing what we think will keep us “safe.” Yet, this so-called safety is slowly killing us. At least that was my experience. Opening your own business can offer healing to yourself and to the collective. It’s the ultimate growth opportunity as you must first honour your gifts, talents and contributions and then bring them forward to help others.
Not everyone can do what you do. There is a creative contribution that wants to flow through you, it’s the thing that lights you up, it’s this creative prana, and it’s when you feel most alive. And the really cool thing is that people are looking for your gifts. And they will pay you for them if you want! (Although I also strongly believe that not all creativity should be commodified.)
The more I learned about business and connected with entrepreneurs, I started to realize that they were deeply engaged with life, they were connected, innovative, and passionate and they were expressing their creative energy and contributing to making the world a better place. They were my kind of people. And despite my imposter syndrome, they wanted to work with me!
Since opening my business, there have been many ups and downs as I continued to learn and grow. All of the areas of personal healing showed up in my business, inviting me to continue releasing what doesn't serve me and coming back to the wisdom of my body, being present in the moment and offering my gifts to the divine and the collective.
Over the past 2.5 years, I’ve helped 100+ heart-centred business owners clarify their brand message so they can make real connections, show up with confidence online and make more impact and money. I absolutely LOVE the clients that I work with. They are badass entrepreneurs who are using their gifts and talents to solve problems for people and help end suffering on the planet. But they often have no idea how to position themselves and tell their story in a way that truly resonates and helps them sell their services or programs.
They are gifted and talented changemakers, but they need help with their messaging as over-thinking, imposter syndrome, comparison and self-doubt often creep in.
It is my honour to witness my clients, truly see them in their greatness, and contribute my writing, gifts and intuition to craft their brand story in a way that sets their business up for success. They feel seen, heard, understood and clear, excited and confident to move forward with their business. I get to show up with all of my talents and I’m no longer operating as a “robot” version of who I once was as a teacher.
Shakti School gave me the foundation to make this leap of faith and take radical responsibility for my life. I can’t say that I would have done it on my own. Through the teachings of Ayurveda and the Shakti School, I continue to ground into and connect with the truth of who I am. Shakti School provides the fundamental health foundation that every woman needs to help nurture her true expression. And this is deeply healing.
I’m so thankful for Katie and the Shakti School staff and this epic community. It has been a safe place to explore who I am and how I can show up as the happiest, healthiest and sexiest version of myself.
I’m studying Level 2 this year and continue to be amazed by the practical teachings that help me regulate my nervous system and connect with the divine through the wisdom of my body. I truly believe that even if you don’t want to be an Ayurvedic Health Coach, studying Ayurveda with Shakti School has the power to transform your life in ways you might not expect. But that is the beauty and joy of this great unfolding called life.
If you need help with copywriting or telling your brand story, I’d love to connect with you. Check me out at beckynethery.com and follow me on Instagram. It would be my absolute pleasure to help you establish your brand, connect with your people and make more money in your business.
I also created a course called The Embodied Marketing Method where I teach entrepreneurs how to write for their business by first being grounded in the body. By combining embodiment techniques and copywriting skills, you can learn how to connect with your message and use your marketing as a form of leadership and service. If this sounds like something that could help your business or you’d like to learn more, check out this FREE GUIDE I created on how embodiment can revolutionize your marketing.
About Becky
Becky Nethery is a Copywriter and Brand Strategist who helps heart-centred business owners clarify their message, so they can show up with confidence, attract their ideal clients and sell with ease.
Writing high converting copy, Becky translates business ideas into clear and powerful brand stories that truly resonate and lead to an increase in profits. She is passionate about using business as a tool for change and loves supporting entrepreneurs who are bravely honouring their creative skills, solving real-world problems and making life better for their clients.
She is also the creator of The Embodied Marketing Method a program that teaches entrepreneurs how to use their marketing as an act of divine service. And she is also the co-host of the Entrepreneurial Inquiries Podcast which explores the intersection of business and being.
Connect with Becky today! Visit beckynethery.com or email [email protected]
Perhaps one of the most obvious factors to consider is your dominant dosha. (If you are unsure of what your dosha is, 
Whether you are still in your reproductive years or menopausal years, your hormonal cycle is extremely important to consider when it comes to exercise.
When you are planning your workouts within a busy schedule try to pay attention to what would best support your week. If you have a lot of errands and running around to do, a HIIT class might not actually benefit you. Think of ways to arrange your schedule to support the movement practices you know you want/need while also maintaining balance within a busy life.
"Hello beautiful souls! I’m Apoorva, and I’m from India. Ayurveda is part of my roots and has always resonated with me. In the last year. I considered studying it formally and, through a synchronistic occurrence, discovered the magic of Shakti school! I’m 29 years old and have worn multiple hats professionally- I’ve studied engineering, worked as a data scientist, done a course in teaching, worked as an educator, studied human development, and now work as a researcher. As a researcher, I’ve been reviewing the global socio-economic imbalances that COVID-19 has exacerbated. I’ve realised now is the perfect time for me to be studying Ayurveda because it is a map to understanding reality and a way for me to process these imbalances and understand my potential to transform lives around me, starting with myself. For me, this journey symbolises learning to digest my experiences, as well as our collective ancestral experiences, tuning into my inner voice and connecting with my true essence – my swastha. As Katie says- “What do I do next?” is one of the most spiritual questions on the planet! My goal is to combine my diverse experience to curate a loving space that unlocks self-expression and reignites our collective compassion through a focus on food, movement, emotional awareness, and spiritual enquiry, based on the holistic health philosophy of Ayurveda – It is my heart’s desire to be a transmitter of this knowledge- this vidhya. I’m so excited for everything ahead and eternally grateful to the powerful Shakti tribe for this life-transforming experience."
"My name is Ashley King. I am a wife and a mother of two beautiful children. Although I am not currently practicing, I am a licensed massage therapist and a Yoga Teacher. But right now I’m a coordinator for a kid’s club inside of a gym. I’m going with the flow and seeing where that is going to take me. I am happy to be able to bring what I learn from Shakti School to my team and the kids where I work. I believe I will be able to help them ground and guide them in expressing themselves better when maybe at home they don’t have that option. I have a genetic condition called Peutz-Jegher Syndrome. It is a rare condition and polyps can grow anywhere, but mainly show up in my small intestine. I had my first surgery at the age of 7 and I have had 4 major surgeries total. Unfortunately, I passed it on to my daughter. I have been on my healing journey for about 10 years trying to discover ways to live life to the fullest and to be around as long as I can for my kiddos. When I looked into Shakti School, I knew deep in my heart that this was the school for me. To help heal deep wounds within me, assist my daughter in her journey with this condition and to help heal my community. I am so very grateful for this opportunity and super excited to be here."
"I was born to a 3rd generation American mother and grew up around Los Angeles and I am the oldest of four children and the only one to graduate high school. I grew up surrounded by poverty, gang violence, drug abuse/addiction, incarceration and untreated mental illness. I suffer from a heart condition and several gastrointestinal conditions that interfere with my quality of life. The trauma I have experienced in my life has deeply influenced my inclination towards holistic healing and Eastern philosophies. I believe whole heartedly in the ability to rise from nothing and build yourself up to greatness and the ability to overcome all obstacles that the universe puts before us. I have lived in Alaska, California, New York and Kansas and enjoy traveling around the world. I work with PETA as a volunteer vegan mentor and I’m a certified life coach, RYT-200 and an inter-denominational reverend. I am beyond blessed to have received this scholarship to Shakti School level one! I plan to go back to college and obtain my degree in Psychology and eventually attend med school to become a psychiatrist. I want to integrate Ayurvedic medicine, life coaching techniques, Yoga, Meditation and Western medicine together to form a mind-body-spirit approach to psychiatric medicine and patient care. In the future I would love to be able to attend level two of Shakti School to deepen my understanding of feminine form medicine and to obtain my RYT-500 certification. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you all!"
"Hi, I’m Jazmine. I am a social worker and yoga teacher. I have been in the counselling field for 13+ years. In 2013, I began to experience workplace burnout which in turn led me to pursue yoga teacher training and other eastern-based approaches. This was when my healing journey began… not just for the burnout but for a medical condition I had developed in my youth. This shift also altered the way I helped to support my clients; whereby I started to incorporate both eastern and western traditions into my counselling approach. Through this journey to healing, there was an ongoing tendency to try and learn from authority figures how to heal myself. I was going into it with the mentality that I didn’t have the answers and that “experts” had the answers. What drew me to Shakti School was the strong emphasis of attuning to the inner healer - ultimately recognizing that the sacred answers to my own healing lie within. My life journey led me here, to the sacredness of Ayurveda. The teachings of Ayurveda have been the most nourishing and holistic approach to self-healing I’ve had the honour of being gifted with. It is the path to help support my own healing journey, and also a holistic lens that will help me best support my clients. I am deeply honoured to be a Shakti School Scholarship recipient. Much gratitude to the teachings, teachers, Shakti team, and the loving community I am now a part of."
"I’m 26 years old yoga teacher and feminine energy mentor from Poland. I finished law school and I was working in a law office, but I realized this is not my purpose. I changed my life completely and went after what my heart was calling… nutrition and yoga. I went to India for yoga teacher training and become interested in Ayurveda as well. It was 3 years ago and since then I’m teaching yoga. Currently I’m living in Thailand and I love to learn more about Ayurveda that’s of course why I very much wanted to join Shakti School! Since 2 and a half years I’m running my own business, which started as fitness and nutrition oriented, I made 4 healthy living ebooks! With time I developed my business as well. I become interested more in women’s health. I’m creator of courses for Polish women about yoga philosophy, spirituality and health, which I’m so blessed to teach! I would love more women to connect to their own natural cycle, feel less stressed, enjoyed life as it is, know how to individually and durably take care of their physical and mental health. I’m so pleased to be able to expand my knowledge in Shakti School and bringing the ancient knowledge into modern hearts, which as I long for connection with nature."
"I am sure many of you can relate, but 2020 was a rough year for me. My name is Kelsi, and I am a 33 year old mother of two in Cincinnati. I have been a yoga lover for a decade, and I began a mediation practice during quarantine to help manage stress. When my partner and I split in May, I knew that I needed something healthy to focus my energy on. I discovered Shakti School through following Katie on social media, and I found myself being repeatedly drawn to the idea of it. I am a registered nurse and I have always been most passionate about women’s health. Along with the huge responsibility of raising two young women in this modern world, I simply feel like this program is exactly where I need to be. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and integrate Ayurveda into my life and share it with the people around me. "
"Meet Kyanne, an entrepreneur, beauty & wellness consultant, ayurvedic bodywork practitioner and an unshakeable optimist dedicated to supporting you on your pathway to personal wellness & healing. Kyanne is currently enrolled in Shakti School but plans to use her training and education to develop a Panchakarma Retreat Center in Iowa. "
"I am Lauryn Mumbi from Nairobi, Kenya. I feel excited, loved, felt, known and the scholarship was a surprise and I say thank you to the higher power and to Shakti School. Sometimes we get to the right path after pain and that is why being fully present makes you notice every detail. My pain story made me aware of guides, the first being my experience. Ayurveda so far has been an eye opener on all aspects of my life, and I want to use it to heal myself and those around me. Nothing about my life is lucky but I have seen a lot of divine guidance. Through the few lessons so far I am getting to understand me better and also hear my inner guides, I am able to make decisions without asking others what they think and I would love this to be the experience of everyone I come across. I used to do yoga just as an exercise but from the sub dosha lesson I learnt the purpose and uses of some inversions and I had a lot of ‘Ahaa’ moments. Someday I will be an Ayurveda doctor this makes me excited."
"My name is Lori Satter, I am from Houston, Texas and have had the opportunity to live in many locations, but always find myself back in Texas. I found my way to Ayurveda about 12 years ago while immersed in the yoga world, studying all the branches of the Vedic Sciences, Yoga, Astrology and Ayurveda. In 2013, I left my husband and found my digestion suffering, I turned to Ayurveda to help me return to balance and since then I have strived to live in accordance with an Ayurvedic lifestyle. In 2019, I left my job and went back to school to become an Esthetician and knew then I would be an Ayurvedic Esthetician, merging the best of East and West to offer my clients holistic based experience. The skin is the largest organ in the body and what you digest both physically and emotionally or lack of digestion will show up in the skin. My aim upon graduating from Shakti School is to guide women to feel comfortable in their skin, helping them seek balance physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so that their true inner radiance shines."
"My name is Maja, I am originally from Poland but currently living in Denmark. I am deeply thankful to Shakti School for supporting me in pursuing this career and self-healing path thanks to the scholarship. The Ayurveda School has become a second home for me, where I charge batteries, deepen my compassion and discover new paths towards self-healing. All of which supports my deepest heart-desire to share this ancient knowledge with women in my home country and across Europe. I am deeply rooted in the sustainable way of living, including a conscious lifestyle and diet. I have been sharing this knowledge for some months now with wonderful women and men who want to do something good both for our planet and themselves. Additionally to lifestyle coaching, I guide moon meditations and organize online sessions where people from around Europe gather together to go inside and connect to their inner source of power. Ayurveda has given me a deep sense of peace and grounding, which I believe is highly needed nowadays. Nevertheless, this is just the beginning of my healing journey, which has already given me such strength to continue supporting others that I cannot wait to see how it all develops in the coming months!"
"My name is Monica Martinez. I live in Palmdale, CA, I’m a Mother of 2 and grandmother of 2. Holistic Healing modalities have been very important to me for a few years now because I’ve used them on my own healing journey and have seen results. I’m now 50 and have had a few female issues throughout the years. Doctors couldn’t find the problem, they kept saying it was nothing yet wanting to give me meds to experiment. My father who passed away last April due to kidney failure, I know could’ve been healed by Ayurveda treatments in India, however I couldn’t afford taking him due to the pandemic. Due to my father’s passing I became more interested in Ayurveda. I want my kids, grandkids, mom and sisters to really benefit from the knowledge I would have in Ayurveda, especially my mom whom all these years they’ve been telling she was dying of liver cancer, but she’s still here. At the moment she is fighting for her life, a wrong dosage of medication was given to her at the hospital caused so many health problems for her. I realized the hospital is not where she is going to find healing. I’m on a mission to learn all I can in this Ayurveda course to especially help my mom heal, my immediate family, myself and as many people as I can in this world."
"My spiritual journey started around 7 years ago, when I first tried yoga. It showed me the deeper meaning of the word “lifestyle", where you are not doing exercise only, but working on establishing your mind-body connection. In 2019 I had a trip to Nepal. Somewhere on the roof of Kathmandu during a yoga class with singing bowls, a revelation came to my mind “I want to do this myself”, to teach, connect & heal others. Fast forward to 2020, I found myself in Rishikesh, India, doing a yoga teacher training, meeting people & gurus, & obviously starting to pay attention to Ayurveda. I decided to slow down & spend time alone. Panchakarma, a well-known Ayurvedic detox program, seemed like an answer to my problems. I felt heavy, my digestion was slow, I had skin issues, constant fatigue & compulsive eating. The results were stunning. I literally felt my body cleansing inside & out. This changed my life, I finally felt the inner peace & harmony regained. Currently I teach a few yoga classes a week. And it became clear to me that modern people are looking for answers. On how to balance their lives, how to eat well, how to recover from stress & better manage their daily activities. My eagle eye vision is to offer that knowledge & advice on improving their lifestyle. Coz Mama Nature has it all for us. We just need to listen."
"My name is Palloma and I currently live in the Windy City-Chicago. First of all, I am humbled and so deeply grateful to be able to return to the teachings of Ayurveda. After dealing with so many detours and different cycles in my journey, I honor my intuition which led me to be here in this present moment connecting with Katie and all the Shakti School sisterhood where I feel loved and very welcomed. I grew up by the ocean in Brazil and since my childhood my connection with nature has always been special… I remember stopping and admiring the diversity and colors of many exotic flowers & plants…I would fall in love with the delicacy and strength of nature portrayed on its flora, over and over again… but it was during my yoga teacher training, after so many springs that I had the opportunity to learn more about the sister science of yoga. That’s when I felt a strong desire to go deeper into this beautiful science of life. My heart intention with my spiritual education is to embrace, understand, respect, live and share the beauties and sacred teachings of Mama Nature through Ayurveda/Yoga/Sacred Feminine focusing on bringing awareness, consciousness, wellness, love and light, especially to sisters in vulnerable situations by assisting them, reasserting their relationship within their wildish nature, allowing these women to overcome the pressure and struggles of today's patriarchal society, by finding the medicine through a path of self-love and self-worth where they can honor themselves in the purest and most truthful form: LOVE! Com muito amor~"
"I hail from India, the land of Ayurveda. So right from my childhood Ayurveda was part of my life unknowingly. Which is why I never valued it and took it for granted. I ate homecooked food during my growing up years and we rarely ate food from outside. I got married and shifted to Dubai. That is when I actually starting ignoring my health and began eating unhealthy junk food. The stress of work added to it. I had my two kids. Though I managed to give them healthy food, still I could not strictly follow a healthy regime. Although I would always avoid allopathic medications for myself and my kids and treat them with home remedies. It was 5 years back that I had severe knee pain and was diagnosed with RA. That is when I began treatment with an Ayurvedic practitioner. I decided to take my health seriously. However, I was not relieved of the pain completely. In spite of being on medications on an off, the flare ups were unbearable and I would go into depression during such flare ups. My practitioner never explained as to why I was having this pain or ways to reduce my stress or depression. While I was fine on days when there was no pain, on days I had my flare ups I would be shattered and lost. That is when I came upon Shakti School. Call it my intuition or my inner calling, I strongly felt this is my path to healing. Also, I could heal other women like me who could be going through a similar journey. I was honoured to receive the scholarship from Shakti school. Today as I go through the sessions, I become aware and enlightened. I respect and value my body a lot more than I did before. I have already noticed positive changes in my health by applying what I am learning in Shakti school. My wish is to pursue a career in Ayurveda by helping people to follow a path in wellness."
"My name is Sara Rollins, and I come from the beautiful mountains of West Virginia. I am truly a teacher at heart, and have a passion for ethical outdoor recreation, and holistic practices that support overall well-being. I am blessed to be studying Ayurveda with the Shakti School this year after waiting for the right time since the very first group. Through this course, I hope to continue to solidify practices in my own life that I love and believe in to keep my own cup full so I can support others in need, especially those in rural areas who really need these practices, but often don’t have access to them. I love the format of slow, one-0n-one work with people, and my goal is to combine my unique set of skills in music, yoga, outdoor recreation, and Ayurveda to support individuals as they work to achieve whatever they want out of life. I live in my van full-time with my love, Burt, and our precious Norwegian Elkhound Lola. He is a musician, and I work on a research team for a podcast in it’s preliminary stage about the Appalachian Trail; my primary work for the podcast is bringing to light the dark history in the United States regarding the treatment of the indigenous natives of this land. I’m also a graduate student through Prescott College working toward my Master’s in Outdoor Education and Leadership. My undergraduate degrees are in Music Performance and Music Education."
"I am Sara, a soul alchemist, a womb-wisdom keeper and an Earth ambassador. I am the scientist and the shaman, the academic and the witch. The bridge between the structured logic and the fiery creativity. For many years, I have lived in the beautiful land of my Mind, where I was privilege enough to nourish my studies, up to getting a PhD in the social sciences. I followed my passion all the way to Cape Town, my home away from home. To a passionate researcher in the field of social trust, cultural taboo and ethnic diversity, South Africa is simply the place to be. Living in an incredibly interesting, yet very tough reality required me to have a strong balance in my own life. Mens sana in corpore sano, they say. I have thus started to embark on a journey of radical self-love through embodiment practices. Conscious breathing, conscious dancing, herbalism and yoga all brought me a step closer to a fuller version of myself. To feel whole, though, I needed Ayurveda in my life. As I work more and more in the poorest and most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Cape Town, I see Ayurveda as a political practice, one of justice. I joined Shakti School to gain the knowledge and to access its teachers’ wisdom to be able to support and empower women (and their children) in taking deep care of themselves and their communities in a holistic and inexpensive way, in harmony with Nature and its cyclicality."
"After being diagnosed with Endometriosis in 2018, I knew that I wanted to help women navigate their health through finding the root cause of what they are going through. There is not a lot of information on Endometriosis and the cause, so trying to treat it makes it very difficult. I found through holistic practices and with the help of my medical team, that I have been able to successfully manage my symptoms. During the last year, I was thinking about going back to school to become an ear for those who feel they are not being heard in the medical field. However, I decided that I wanted to be more involved with women and their journeys and creating a process on how to heal not just their bodies but their souls. After completing the Ayurveda Wellness Coach - Level 1 program, I am looking forward to joining level 2 to extend my knowledge and then open a whole Mind, Body and Spirit sanctuary for all women looking to increase their Agni. After learning that Katie teaches the importance of integrating western and eastern practices together, I knew that this is the program I wanted to study. I am not 100% sure where this journey will take me, but I am very excited to be on it."
"My name is Sophia Parks, and for me it’s quite simple why I chose to study Ayurveda. I feel like much of the world has lost the art of true healing and continues to cover up health problems instead of understanding your whole being. I hope to share my knowledge with the BIPOC community and make the balance of health more accessible. I came to a more holistic form of healing because I have struggled with GI issues and skin imbalances and am working to bring my whole body into health so these issues will clear. I am passionate about yoga and Ayurveda and have been teaching yoga since 2019, you can see more about my classes on IG @sophia.sea.yoga. I am from Murrieta, CA and attend graduate school in infectious disease at UC, Riverside. This serves as a constant reminder that we are all struggling with dis-ease in one form or another. I am constantly in a male-dominant and male-thinking environment and have been craving feminine energy. As women we all have the power to be healers and it’s time for the world to recognize us in all our strength and power. My hope is that we rise up together to heal ourselves, each other and the world around us!"
"As far as I remember I have been feeling wounded inside and outside, throughout my 30 years of life I have suffered from scoliosis and eating disorders. Incessantly tried to fix my bones and my body that I despised; with great effort tried to seek everywhere the reason behind my restless spirit. Luckily, I was passionate enough to expand my inherent love for nature and follow my intuition that I finally realized the precious essence flowing through me was always within me. I could feel it like the delicious fragrance of blossoming flowers, like a wild ocean wave, like the rising of the sun... All inside and outside of me; the loving force of creation pervading all the universe and the miniverse within me. Shakti School has become a nest holding my restless spirit; a magnifying love glass for my senses through which I can look deeper, closer into my bones and my tiny cells yearning for attention. As I slowly and steadily drop the veil before me everything started to feel right. I feel so honored to be a part of this lineage of love that words are not enough to express my gratitude for this opportunity. It breaks my heart to see many women suffer from eating disorders and body hate and the fact that I will have the chance to bring forth the unique medicine growing inside me, fuels my passion in this journey. I would love to utilize these ancient and modern teachings of Ayurveda and Tantra that I am gradually integrating, for the amelioration of the women experiencing this suffering. I aim for weaving the practices with kind compassion so as to remind my beloved sisters of their inherent connection with the radiant essence within their being and help them to rebuild this lost connection with divine spirit."
