Therapist, ashtangi, writer

The practice: Tara is the founder of Shamah | शम: a mind body spirit alignment practice. It was set up during the coronavirus pandemic, when she counseled over 60 people a month pro-bono for the duration of the lockdown. Shamah | शम: now has catered to over 800 clients across several countries including Japan, Australia, Canada, both coasts of the US, Germany, France, the UK, Dubai, Brazil apart from several cities in India. Her clients include psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, diplomats, scientists, start-up founders, industrialists, finance executives, corporate heads, mothers, working women, grandmothers, and young women and men at various stages of their lives. The concerns addressed include: depression, suicidal ideations, coping with terminal and difficult illness diagnoses, burn out, toxic work situations, relationship crises, unemployment-related stress, identity crises, divorce, grief, parenting, and major life milestones and changes. She works with long-term behavioral change, self awareness, and mental clarity rather than crisis management. Her oldest clients have been attending sessions with her for over five years. Her advisement methodology merges western counselling skills with Buddhist psychology and yoga. Hers is a secular practice that is LGBTQIA+, disability, caste, class and income handicap inclusive.

Education: Tara is a graduate of the Nalanda Diploma (III) in Buddhist Philosophy (which includes Buddhist Psychology) and is an ongoing student in the second year of the 5-year Nalanda Master’s Degree (II) in Buddhist Philosophy, both under the aegis of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Tibet House, New Delhi. She graduated in the Liberal Arts [English Literature, Indian Philosophy, Economics] at Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthi (BA, 1996). She holds a Master’s degree in English Literature (University of Mumbai, 1998), a PG Diploma in Mass Media and Communications (XIC, 1997), and a PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology (XICP, 2020), under the supervision of Ferzeen Faroodi and Sujata Abraham. She interned at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and St John the Baptist School, Thane. Tara gained a certificate in Applied Buddhist Psychology (Heal the Mind to Know the Mind, 2021) under Asha Pillai Balsara of WCCLF Pune. 

Bibliography: She is the author of seven books. Both, her fiction and non-fiction are designed to be tools of mind studies. Her poetry has been shortlisted for The Atlanta Review Poetry Prize 2024, the Bridport Prize, 2021, is part of the Converse Anthology 2022, edited by Sudeep Sen, and has featured in journals such as Tell Me Your Story and On Eating, edited by Sumana Roy and Kunal Ray. Her short fiction has featured in the Out of Print journal, edited by Indira Chandrasekhar, and has been long listed for the Commonwealth Prize 2017. Tara has worked in the Indian media for 24 years, writing for Hindustan Times, India Today, Mint Lounge among others. Along with Bob Thurman, Tara is co-founder of The Shunyata Project, an informal study group on the Buddhist influence in AI. She writes a periodic column for The Indian Express on the ways in which AI intersects with society, philosophy, and culture.

Personal practice: Tara is 48 years old. She has lived in Lagos, Nigeria; Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu; Thane, Maharashtra, and now lives in Mysuru, Karnataka. She is a Vipassana practitioner in the Syagyi U Ba Khin tradition of Shri S.N. Goenka and has worked under assistant teachers Amal Ghosh, Daniel Mayer, Nirmala Ganla & Parmita Sinha. She is a formal student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. She has been a regular practitioner of ashtanga yoga with the Sharath Jois Yoga Shala, Mysuru since June 2023. Tara holds an HSK1 certification in Mandarin, has completed level 2; and has a Intermediate B2 certification in French. She is a student of Sanskrit and Tibetan and speaks some Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and Tamil. She is a practitioner of Chinese and Tibetan calligraphy as well as the 易經, the Yi Ching and Tarot.