“Insight brings clarity, which reveals the thread of cause-condition-effect in our lives. This brings awareness that allows us to declutter and reduce the disharmony between our mind, body, spirit. The sum of this is inner work and the instruments of it are therapy, meditation, and body work. Each of these lend each other structure and depth. Therapy cannot force fit you into an alien system of thought and action, but has to meet you where you are. In this path of least resistance, we find our flow.”
— Gayatri
Gayatri is an author & therapist
Gayatri’s latest title is Oh, So Emo! a charming tale of Amit, Neela, Susie, Moin and Frenny, who are guided through their emotions by the Master firebird Sku. It is a combination of fiction and non-fiction, as well as Western and Buddhist psychology. It has a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, (Hachette India, December, 2023). Her debut novel Ela’s Unfinished Business, was a psychological thriller based on Gestalt psychology, (Harper Collins India, July, 2023). Devi & The Battle of Meghadhanush is a mental health tool for children (age 11+), that uses the navarasas to help them emotionally self-regulate (Om Books, December 2022). Anitya: How to Make the Most of Change and Transform Your Life is a combination of Buddhist and western psychology on coping with change (Hachette India, September 2021). Sit Your Self Down, a novice’s journey to the heart of vipassana is an account of a ten-day vipassana meditation course (Hachette, September 2020), Who Me, Poor? documents the keeping up with appearances that Indian youth are prey to (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Indigenous is a series of essays on great Indian practices or discoveries, (Juggernaut, 2016). Her poetry was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, 2021, and is part of the Converse Anthology 2022, and has featured in journals such as Tell Me Your Story and On Eating. Her short fiction and essays have featured in the Out of Print journal.
Gayatri is a graduate of the Nalanda Diploma (III) in Buddhist Philosophy (which includes Buddhist Psychology) and is an ongoing student of the 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 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. Gayatri gained a certificate in Applied Buddhist Psychology (Heal the Mind to Know the Mind, 2021) under Asha Pillai Balsara of WCCLF Pune. She is also a student of Sanskrit, Tibetan and Mandarin, and calligraphy. She speaks some Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Tamil and French.
Gayatri writes a mental health column ‘The Healing Space’ for MoneyControl.com. She has worked in the Indian media for 22 years, writing for Hindustan Times, India Today, Mint Lounge et al. She’s lived in Lagos, Nigeria; Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu; Thane, Maharashtra, and lives in Mysuru, Karnataka.
She is 47 years old and is the founder of Shamah | शम: a mind body spirit alignment practice. She is an ongoing Vipassana practitioner in the Syagyi U Ba Khin tradition of Shri S.N. Goenka and has worked under assistant teachers Amal Ghosh, Daniel Mayer and Nirmala Ganla. She is a student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. She is also an ongoing practitioner of ashtanga yoga in Mysuru under the tutelage of the Sharath Jois Yoga Shala.
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.