WHAT TYPE(S) OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE OR WELLNESS HAVE YOU STUDIED AND WHAT DO YOU SPECIALIZE IN?

I primarily teach Kundalini Yoga & Meditation and Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga (a special kind of pregnancy yoga inspired by Kundalini, founded by Gurmukh Khalsa), and am a Reiki Practitioner. Once upon a time, I taught Kids & Family Yoga at Zen Yoga Garage (Bucktown) – but more recently I’ve been supporting women and families preparing to conceive, labor, process loss, heal postpartum and individuals working with their monthly cycles. I also work with educators and artists to use meditation as a tool to regulate their nervous systems and feel good in their bodies.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU. WHAT’S YOUR BACKSTORY, AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO HOLISTIC WELLNESS?

I started my career as a Special Education teacher and it was my role to support high school students to recognize their strengths, learning preferences, and articulate their learning needs to their classroom teachers. I lived in India for several years supporting new teachers to do the same in a sense – to self reflect, strengthen their strengths, and recognize how to use their gifts to serve their classroom and community’s needs. I’m addicted to learning and often used my vacation time to take a yoga teacher training (kids, vinyasa, kundalini, reiki, prenatal, yoga nidra, etc). Like many practitioners, each modality in your toolbox has a backstory.

For my work with women and mamas, I started seeing baby bumps everywhere (sometimes up to 10 during my lunch break alone). This inspired me to study with Gurmukh Khalsa and become certified as a Khalsa Way Prenatal teacher. I love holding space for women and mothers so much! I now support Khasla Way and other teacher trainings around the world. Having worked with children for so long, I value mothers as their child’s first teacher and their love as foundational for their child’s whole life. My own mother became Reiki certified in the 1990s – long before people really understood it.

I was raised in a household that engaged in self reflection, sharing, and was curious about spirituality. I see the many paths available in the wellness world as tools to quiet self-doubt so you can have a deeper relationship with YOU – your intuition and really engage in self study and self care. We move to be still. In stillness, answers and insights come. I feel like life is just one big opportunity to get a Ph.D in understanding yourself. The modalities and settings have evolved for me but I continue to find myself supporting folks through the process of self-reflection to fall in love with the way their brains work or bodies function and make choices to meet their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs.

WHAT’S YOUR PREFERRED STYLE OF WORK?

I host group classes and workshops; design courses and workshop series; work 1:1 to support individuals with their Kundalini Meditation practice; and offer weekly donation based drop-in classes for folks to taste-test Kundalini. I am working on a few self-publishing workbook projects aligned to previous workshops. Most of my offerings are online at the moment while I travel in Spring 2023.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF IN YOUR WORK?

It’s such a privilege to witness tender transitions and meaningful thresholds of people’s lives. I get to witness the transformation of women becoming mothers, partners growing closer through birth/loss/parenting, or even individuals deepening their relationships with their parents.

Often times individuals who move through a yoga teacher training are also moving through a pivotal transition in their lives – ending relationships, changing career paths, or making another radical change.

Supporting folks during these milestones reminds me just how capable we all are of navigating through big change with grace. It’s exciting to have a front row seat in how the modality of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation quickly reminds people of their power, purpose, and just to enjoy the roller coaster that is their lives.

WHERE DO YOU GET MOST OF YOUR HEALTH INFO FROM (OUTSIDE OF YOUR TRADITIONAL STUDY). ARE THERE ANY PODCASTS YOU LOVE, BOOKS YOU’D RECOMMEND, OR NEWSLETTERS YOU ENJOY GETTING?

My apartment is wallpapered with bookshelves. I love books! A few that are inspiring me recently:

• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
• Numerology by Remington Donovan
• Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjane Hugo Wurlitzer
• Creatrix by Lucy Pearce
• The Hidden Messages of Water by Masaru Emoto
• Change Your Words Change Your World by Andrea Gardner, and on and on and on.

Favorite Artists:

• Rising Appalachia
• Beautiful Chorus
• Jai-Jagdeesh
• Snatam Kaur
• Toni Jones

WHERE DO YOU MEET MOST OF YOUR CLIENTS?

I meet most of my clients via word of mouth and via referrals from friends all around the world. The community at Sat Nam Yoga Chicago is my local yoga family.

IF YOU COULD GIVE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO A NEW HOLISTIC PRACTITIONER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

A simple reminder: You already have all the answers inside you. When things feel foggy, I ask myself “What gives me energy?” and “Who gives me energy?” Notice your body’s cues when something feels like a “yes” and something feels like a “no.” We’re entering a whole new world of wellness and someone else’s way of showing up for their community may not be your way of showing up for your community. So, just get to know your way of being you really well and focus on creating instead of comparison. No one else in the world has the same vibrational frequency of your voice. The same is true for your offerings. No one else in the world is offering something with the same vibe. So, let’s cheer each other on and get really good at being ourselves fully and out loud. We need you to be YOU.

WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU?

You can find me on Instagram @eb_heartwork, my events are updated via my website, and special courses / content is available on teachable.

I host a podcast called Heartbeat where I talk to artists about their unique creative processes and am a newly self-published children’s book author. I genuinely love e-mail, so feel free to reach out at eb.heartwork@gmail.com. Thanks!