Nature is my best friend.

Namaskar. Welcome to my site and thank you for looking around. I hope you received some benefit from the teachings here. As the Yogis of the Himalayas say, Light Thine Own Lamp!

My name is Khushi (she/her). It means happiness. And I try to live my namesake every day that I am alive. I was born with a very large birthmark at the bottom of my left foot. According to Vedic Astrology that is indicativ eof a person that will travel and explore extensively (it came true!). In a very short time I have had many varied experiences, which have allowed me to go deeper into the teachings of impermanence of all things. With practice (abhyasa) and faith (shraddha), anything is possible.

The Yoga I teach is rooted in the ancient classical hatha tradition. When I teach, I feel the wisdom moving through me in an intuitive way, and I can truly say that it is not me that is teaching, but the lineage of the yogis themselves. I feel blessed that nature has gifted me with the ability to share wisdom. My teaching style is rooted in the classical yoga sutras, hatha yoga, tantra & Ayurveda. My background in Vipassana meditation makes me a unique teacher, combining both the teachings of the Buddha and those of Patanjali. My teaching speciality is a combination of subtle body energetics & alignment, and focus on the higher limbs of Yoga. As a trainer, I mentor teachers to bring classical and traditional understanding in the modern contexts of Yoga by truly becoming practitioners of the art of Yoga.

I live in a very rural ashram in the Uttarakhand Himalayas outside of the effects of tourism. I have been here for 12 years, and raise my daughter with my partner mohan who was raised here and deeper in the himalayas. The ashram itself is not a spiritual ashram – it started off as a social justice ashram to support women and children by a communist swami from kerala. It soon grew to become the largest NGO in uttarakhand…now in the hands of different leadership, it is in decline and disrepair other than our mindful community of teachers who run a holistic school focused on meditation, music and nature called APV School. i do feel it the ashram will flourish again.

I was raised in kullu himachal for the early years of my life (my ancestral land) then we shifted to NYC and eventually new haven area of connecticut where i return every year and have met so many of you.

The Himalayan Institute and the tantric tradition of sri vidya is my baseline and initiation, where i lived 2 years of my early 20s. It was groundbreaking experience. Even tho i do not return there physically my dreams and practice are often visited by my teachers and gurus. it gives me faith in the unseen.
I did some training in philadelphia at temple university getting my masters in social work and one in public health, for trauma recovery in children in families. I have a dual Masters in Social Work (Trauma and Stress) and in Public Health. When I was in Philadelphia, I provided yoga and meditation to incarcerated individuals, children and families with traumatic stress, those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, etc. through my organization Finding Freedom Within. I soon left that work for a fellowship in india because i felt ineffective and uninspired creatively. The return to the himalayas marked my desire to follow in the footsteps of the himalayan mystics. 
 
My daughter himadri came to me as a boon and surprise at the end of a very important training I ran called transmission, grounding me to earth again. and taking me for a ride. many sleepless nights and helping me to develop more patience and fortitude and joy. I feel like the universe gifted me with its own transmission thru my womb. While I never imagined or really desired to be a mother, now I am one to a brilliant soul who stuns me daily.
 
So now i continue on a journey different from what i anticipated!

I have taught all over the world, including Germany, Switzerland, India, Nepal, US, England, Guatemala etc., conducting retreats, trainings and workshops. 

Mohan and I run a mindful eco-tourism business (Simply Himalaya) which takes people into the Himalayas on pilgrimage – this is probably one of my favorite activities that I do as it has such a deep and sustained impact on participants. A large part of my teaching focus is training future teachers, and I am involved with about 4 YTTs a year.

I received my Tantric Sri Vidya Yoga training and initiation at the Himalayan Institute with Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, and also completed advanced Vinyasa Krama teachers training with Srivatsa Ramaswami, the longest standing student (over 40 years) of the great Sri Krishnamacharya. I have done many ayurvedic and advanced level trainings since, and my training hours must be in the 1000s by now. God knows what my teaching hours are – one day I will calculate and get back to you!

My Mentors, Teachers, Guides: Mother Nature, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, The Buddha, Anandamayi Ma, Green Tara, Yogis & Yoginis of the Himalayan Tradition, Goenkaji, Srivatsa Ramaswami, Joseph Campbell, T. Krishnamacharya, Sajana Godar, Anand Dwivedi.

My Podcast