💕❤Meet Your Coach - Mita  ❤💕

THE JOURNEY OF AN EMPOWERED EMPATH

Just recently in September of 2022, through the grace of the universe, I came across the revolutionary teachings of the renowned trauma healing/addiction-recovery/child development expert and founder of the Compassionate Inquiry Psychotherapeutic Method: Dr. Gabor Mate. I flew to Vancouver in March of 2023 to attend the workshop: "The Story That Your Illness Tells" Workshop that he led with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona. The weekend workshop helped me uncover trapped emotions within myself, excavate deep-rooted limiting beliefs I had, and gave me tools on how to compassionately process life's triggers. I had the opportunity to directly engage with Dr. Gabor Maté in a 1:1 dialogue process and also witnessed his modeling of Compassionate Inquiry with workshop participants. I pro-actively dialogued with Dr. Maté by asking him specific questions related to trauma healing and empathy during the large group Q&A sessions and in a private 1:1 setting. My deep passion for empowering myself out of my own emotional wounds sparked my interest in moving deeper into the Compassionate Inquiry teachings of Gabor. The transformative workshop experience inspired me to apply for his year-long graduate level 240-hour psychotherapeutic professional online training course for healers who want to learn this Compassionate Inquiry (CI) Method and apply in their own work with clients. In April of this year, I was honored to have been accepted into this pioneering program of Compassionate Inquiry Practitioners. It has been through this process of Compassionate Inquiry that I have deeply enriched my coaching practice where I cultivate emotional safety, a sacred space for emotional attunement, and explore and excavate deep-rooted limiting beliefs within my clients. I bring curiosity and compassion to the addictions and defense mechanisms that clients have, and also uncover the repressed emotional memories of childhood trauma which allow for clients to release their trapped emotions and liberate themselves from deeply held emotional burdens that they embodied within their physical bodies and minds. 

Fundamental to my Trauma-Informed Empathy Coaching process is that it is rooted in and influenced by these transformative teachings of compassion and self-inquiry. What has been such a blessing during my training in learning to practice Compassionate Inquiry (CI) with my clients, is that I'm simultaneously learning to offer myself compassion, to become curious about my own reactions, feelings, and have begun to inquiry into and unearth my own deep-rooted limiting beliefs. Engaging in this CI process within myself has allowed me to release the emotions behind my core wounds and reframe my own self-concept to that of an empowered and empathic woman who knows her worth and embodies love instead of seeking it. 

In my current training, I have been learning how to cultivate presence and be with what is, bring attention to body signals within clients and myself, sharpen my perception of what is not being revealed overtly, and enable clients to access emotional states through body awareness. I have also been creating and maintaining a safe sacred space between clients and myself. I have been learning how to guide clients to facilitate expression of what has remained unexpressed. I have been encouraging clients to stay in the present moment experience and check-in with their inner reality, thoughts, feelings, body sensations, so that they can learn how to attune to themselves in ways they may not have ever experienced before. I have been fostering the space and developing the skills necessary to detect and uncover early traumatic events of childhood and unconscious feeling states through the Compassionate Inquiry process. I have been co-creating a safe space for my clients where we can engage in a questioning process, inquire into, notice, become aware of, and unravel core limiting beliefs, and guide clients to reframe their own self-concept. Finally, I'm engaged in an ongoing process of embodying the qualities of patience, respect, and client empowerment in the therapeutic process as I continue to sharpen my skills in this psychotherapeutic healing approach. 

It is the spirit of Compassionate Inquiry through a trauma-informed lens that is central to my coaching process of empowering empaths. Although I may draw upon my other areas of expertise including: empowered communication skills through the use of Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication, and self-awareness practices including meditation and a spiritual perspective toward life, my trauma-informed empathy coaching practice is best characerized as one that activates compassionate inquiry within the client so that he or she may live an empowered life. 

A CAREER IN SERVICE

The theme of empowering others has been one that I have carried throughout my life in the professional context as well. In my professional life as a lawyer, a lobbyist, a domestic violence advocate, a leader, and a role model who empowers and inspires women, I have held many titles all of which carried the spirit of service and empowerment. I hold a B.A. from Tufts University in Massachusetts where I graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors in both English and Spanish. I have a Juris Doctor Law degree from American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. 

I have practiced as a Criminal Defense Trial Attorney who represented low-income children and adults of diverse backgrounds on their criminal court cases in Boston, Massachusetts. I have served as both a Leader and Manager as a Team Lead Project Attorney who led a large-scale antitrust litigation project and co-managed a team of over one hundred lawyers in Massachusetts. I have worked as a lobbyist in the water policy field advocating for clean, safe drinking water for the nearly 2 million residents of Santa Clara County. In that role, I created landmark environmental justice policies to ensure that economically and historically disenfranchised communities of color in Santa Clara County would receive adequate flood protection. I have protected, defended, advocated for the legal rights of, and have empowered female survivors of domestic violence in the South Asian immigrant community as a California State Certified Domestic Violence Advocate.

I have served in the role of a leader and teacher for youth, a mediator, a yoga teacher, and can speak three languages. In 2020, I became a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance (RYT-200). I am also a Certified Mediator in Conflict Resolution and have trained in the Non-Violent Communication Skills technique created by the renowned psychologist and conflict resolution mediator, Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. Moreover, I have worked as a literacy teacher for children with learning disabilities, can speak Spanish and Hindi, have taught Spanish to slum children in India, and have served as a youth leader and teacher of the Gandhian principles of nonviolence for teen youth.

As an activist and leader, I have carried my sense of purpose not only by advocating with my voice but also by advocating through my words. I am a published author, poet, and writer. In addition to publishing three poetry books that captured my reflections on empathy, heartfelt emotions, and spirituality, I also write about causes that I believe in and compel me to take action. I have had the courage to stand up for what is right and what is just. In fact, in 2020, I most wrote an Op-Ed Article titled, "Brown and Proud: We Are Amabassadors of Our Culture" which focused on "the Necessity of Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness Toward South Asian Americans." This article was published and featured on the front page of a premiere South Asian American Newspaper Publication called, "India-West," which is a popular newspaper for South Asians living in North America. I wrote the article to inspire and awaken South Asian Americans (as well as others in America) to speak up and educate others to combat racial and ethnic injustice. 

AN OPEN HEART

Speaking of justice and awakening, neither of those could occur without our hearts compelling us to act towards those respective missions. It all begin with the heart. When it comes to my own heart, I am fundamentally a highly senstive empath who feels deeply for others. I am an incredibly introspective woman who enjoys solitude, treasures inner stillness, and has a deep sensitivity towards babies and animals. I am among the small minority of this world's population, that are called, "Empaths," or "Highly Sensitive People." Furthermore, as an Indian-American woman, growing up on both the East and West coasts of America, and living a bi-cultural life of East and West as a South Asian American, I am uniquely positioned to empathize with and understand people of diverse backgrounds. I truly can connect with people of all ages, socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds. Along with the wisdom I bring as an empath and as a bicultural woman of color, I also bring with me the global perspective on life that we are ultimately one human family. Furthermore, I love to travel and have had the blessing and fortune to experience this firsthand! In fact, I have traveled all over the world from India, to Greece, to Turkey, to Italy, to Spain, England, Holland, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and Costa Rica. To me, being able to see, feel, and connect with another fellow human and to my natural surroundings no matter where I am in the world, is fundamental not only to life but to love and that is the perhaps the most fundamental purpose of why you and I are here.

A SPIRITUAL BEING

When considering the fundamental purpose of life and what it means to be human, I have always believed that we are spiritual beings expressing the one universal consciousness in our own unique form. I therefore bring a spiritual dimension to life that permeates all that I do. Ever since I was 5 years old, I had questions about life and death, and what was the meaning of all that we do here? I found my emotional life on Earth difficult as a child because I did not understand why people behaved the way they did - with so much anger, fear, competition, comparison, division, and aggression. To me, I just felt I was much like a baby on the inside: just wanting to be, play, smile, be accepted, and loved. I felt deeply hurt by others and felt so intensely for others that I felt I were them. Being vulnerable and feeling for others is a natural extension of who I am. With that emotional struggle, I also seemed to inherently be curious about life. Philosophizing about metaphysics, the nature of the human mind, energy, our programming, our conditioning, connecting with the spiritual realm, and exploring the mystery of life, all seemed to come naturally to me. I had these persistent longings, these existential questions about dying, and I also struggled with why we live with fear and conflict and authority structures that never bring us love?

It was in my late twenties in law school, that I started consciously exploring the ancient traditions of eastern wisdom, spirituality, yoga, and breathwork, and came upon the psychologically revolutionary teachings of the eastern philosopher: Jiddu Krishnamurti. It was primarily his work that deeply magnetized my being where I truly felt that this man was speaking, saying, and feeling what I was feeling. It was a profound energetic resonance that altered my life. He was pointing out that human beings did not have to live in a constant state of fear, anxiety, struggle, tension, and conflict. Human beings could live differently. They could actually live in freedom. Just knowing that was pivotal for me. As I deepened my inner journey, I began to read the great sages whose wisdom began to illuminate the west: Alan Watts, Nisargadatta Maharaj, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Osho, Ram Dass, wise Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hahn, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and Eckhart Tolle. 

Soon after, I embarked on my first ten-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat, and around that time I also met and received a hug and blessing from Amma ji, the "hugging saint" from Southern India. I joined a weekly meditation group, jumpstarted my own Krishnamurti self-inquiry dialogue group in Boston (that still is active today), and I even took a sabbatical from my profession as a lawyer to delve deeper into self-inquiry and self-understanding by living and working as a year-long residential student at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America in Ojai, in Southern California. I have also visited and participated in dialogues on the most pressing questions of the human condition such as fear, death, and love while visiting the Krishnamurti Foundations and Schools in England, India, and the U.S. 

During my sabbatical period in Ojai at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America (KFA), I had the space and opportunity to observe myself, my patterns, my feelings, and my reactions in a setting that allowed for such an intensely deep exploration inward. It was here that I also enjoyed deeply enriching and mind-altering conversations with like-minded people, led and facilitated dialogues that fostered a co-active discovery of the human experience, and spoke on profound topics in community settings about the experience of the human condition. It was through Krishnamurti's teachings that I learned that in order to live differently and to be free, we must de-condition our minds from our programming, and discover life for ourselves through self-observation, and not from any outside agency or external authority.

My passion for the spiritual path of self-discovery has expanded deeply over the last decade. I have actively participated in yoga retreats, bhakti yoga workshops, self-awareness dialogues, women's retreats, nonduality workshops, pranayama workshops (such as the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Program). I have deepened my practice of meditation, mantra chanting, mindfulness, and continued to attend meditation retreats. I have studied Hatha Yoga at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Grass Valley, California and have also been trained in Bhakti Yoga at the 1440 Multiversity Center in Scotts Valley, California. I have gone through personal periods of extended silence, and have traveled far and locally to experience holy places whether it was the Golden Temple in Punjab or the naturally beautiful and sacred hot springs of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur and in Calistoga, California. Moreover, in January of 2020, I became a certified professional yoga teacher (RYT-200) after undergoing an intensive 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification Program through Mark Stephens Yoga in Santa Cruz, California. Throughout all of the spiritual adventures within and the various metaphysical quests on which I have embarked, I approached all of them with the spirit of seeking self-understanding and transformation of my inner life.  

Furthermore, throughout my own spiritual journey, I have had the honor and privilege of shaking hands and meeting some of the greatest living and wise luminaries of our time with whom I deeply resonate.  I have shaken hands with the world renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle who wrote the quintessential book, "The Power of Now" and continues to teach us all to be consciously present in the moment. Of course as I had mentioned earlier, my wildest dream came true when I was granted the experience of having an enriching inquiry-based dialogue on healing trauma with the esteemed trauma healing/addiction expert/bestselling author, Dr. Gabor Mate. I had an inspiring discussion on activism with the spiritual activist, Course in Miracles expert, public speaker, and Former 2020 Presidential Candidate: Marianne Williamson. I have had loving conversations and shared hugs with the self-love, Near Death Experience (NDE) Expert, spiritual teacher, Anita Moorjani, and have spoken to and received first-hand wisdom from the healing Buddhist Teacher, Jack Kornfield. I  even have had the fortune of developing authentic personal friendships with influential leaders in the Krishnamurti community who personally knew the great spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, throughout his life. I cherish these moments of my life as blessings that came to me from a divine space of oneness and serendipity.

Whether I traveled near or far, or whether I met awakened spiritual beings or not, or whether I was surrounded by self-aware people who were reflective and looked within themselves for life's answers or whether I was not, my spiritual journey was with me all along. It was that place that dwelled internally within me no matter where I went, that I feel is eternal and indestructible no matter where our lives take us. By examining the interior world of my feelings, my patterns, my thoughts, my emotions, my energy, my heart, and my soul, I see that I hold this light within me knowing that life could be lived differently as Krishnamurti says. I carry this spirit of questioning wherever I am in my life. I question life, my patterns, the thinking patterns of others, and the way we live. To be a light to oneself, we start from within and we observe and examine our lives from there. Life is not what we think it to be nor is it what someone else tells us it is. Let's discover what it is together as two friends.

A CREATIVE ARTIST

Closely linked to spirituality that engenders the spirit of our lives, is creativity which creates it. Hence, I also bring with me a creative understanding of life and the joy of expressing it through various art foms. I am a skilled writer and poet, and enjoy sharing my poetry in video form and at open mic nights. I am also a trained dancer who performs with a focus on Hip/Hop and Jazz dance styles. I have been a model that has appeared in bridal and haute couture fashion shows, regional magazines, and newspapers in California. I have also been featured in commercial print advertisements for notable multinational companies such as Hewlett Packard/Snapfish, Chevron, and VM-Ware. I have acted as a "Featured Extra" in a 20th Century Fox Major Motion Picture Film, called "What's Your Number?" I have also served as a television host for a local Indian American television channel, called "Desi-USA" that was based in Fremont, California and covered South Asian cultural events in Silicon Valley. In addition to these creative hobbies, I enjoy long walks in nature preserves, sipping cups of coffee over deep conversations, and public speaking from the heart in safe circles of sharing and connection.

A LIFE FRIEND

What I have shared here is more than a resume of my life. Rather it is a piece of my heart and as Marianne Williamson herself says in her spiritual teachings, "when one has the purity of heart and sense of purpose, then one is in a place that no worldly credential could ever know."  Hence, what I hope to have conveyed to you, is just that: a personal touch of empathy, empowerment, and vulnerability that I bring to you so you genuinely know that I am here (just as you are) to be a light to myself and make a difference in the world. My wish is for you to also see that within yourself so that you may live with love in your heart and freedom in your life too. I hope we can take this journey together as friends. Come join me. Let's Go!