Lineage

My path as a healer has been touched by many great teachers. Guru is translated as “heavy” or “she/he who dispels darkness”. In sitting with my teachers, this heavy quality has allowed me to settle into myself, in order to receive the knowledge of liberation, of truth, of ultimate consciousness and healing.

  • The first woman in her family to lead her 2,000 year old spiritual lineage, Shunya inspires people to live in their authenticity and sovereignty through her writings and her teachings. Born and raised in Ayodhya, India, she now lives in California where she has created beautiful community through the sharing of her lineage. Her teachings reinterpret and re-contextualize ancient teachings and divine feminine dharma for modern times. She is president of The Awakened Self Foundation in California and author of Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom, Roar Like a Goddess, and Sovereign Self.

    How I Found Shunyaji

    In 2016 I asked the universe to help me find a teacher of Ayurveda. Just a couple months later I found myself sitting in Satsang at the feet of Shunyaji, completely immersed in her teachings of Vedanta and Ayurveda. She seemed to be speaking directly to my soul at every teaching. The wisdom that poured out of her gave me a strong anchor to begin to root my then ungrounded mind into an ancient truth that would begin to unfold a profound healing within me. Her recipes nourished me and helped me to heal from the inside out from a long term, lingering, eating disorder which had taken over my life and created an invisible barrier to achieving my aspirations.

    When she offered a year long Ayurveda Self Healing course, I signed up immediately.

“Goddess is not invisible but visible, in front of you all the time as this world: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the lovely, and all facets of this world become divine from this perspective.”

- Roar Like A Goddess, Acharya Shunyaji

  • A native of Pune, India, Dr. Lad served for three years as Medical Director of the Ayurveda Hospital in Pune, India. He was Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Pune University College of Ayurvedic Medicine for 15 years.

    He holds a Bachelor’s of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAM&S) degree from the University of Pune and a Master’s of Ayurvedic Science (MASc) degree from Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya. Vasant Lad’s academic and practical training includes the study of Allopathy (Western medicine) and surgery as well as traditional Ayurveda.

    Beginning in 1979, he has traveled throughout the United States sharing his knowledge of Ayurveda. In 1984 he came to Albuquerque as Director, principal instructor, and founder of The Ayurvedic Institute. The author of numerous books, Vasant Lad is respected throughout the world for his knowledge of Ayurveda.

    How I found Dr. Ladji

    Having experienced such profound healing through Ayurveda, I knew I wanted to continue to study it in depth and was seeking an in-person program where I could immerse myself fully. I was recommended to check out Dr. Lad’s school in New Mexico. In 2021, the day my paternal grandfather transitioned out of his body, a series of events transpired that pushed me to begin my journey to New Mexico.

    Four years later I graduated as an Ayurvedic Doctor with the blessing of my teacher, Dr. Ladji. The community that has found me and grown around me through my studies with the Ayurvedic Institute has been unparalleled and held me in my journey of study and self growth, preparing me to receive the wisdom of Ayurvidya and share it with the world. I am eternally grateful for the humble nature of my teacher, Dr. Lad, and his example to see the good and the divine in every soul he encounters.

“Āyurveda is a science (objective truth), a philosophy (subjective truth) and an art of medicine. It assays the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual components of life - encompassing a complete definition of life. What emerges from this definition is the understanding that life expresses in these numerous modes and its influences upon us will affect all aspects of life.

Āyurveda holds that a mental trauma, for example, will have emotional, physical and spiritual implications.

Each aspect of life both effects and reflects changes in the other modes of existence.”

- Secrets of the Pulse, Vasant D. Lad, MASc