A story of freshness

ANANTA RIPA AJMERA

Founder, CEO, Ayurveda Practitioner, Yoga Instructor

Ananta Ripa Ajmera is author of the award-winning book "The Ayurveda Way: 108 Practices from the World’s Oldest Healing System for Better Sleep, Less Stress, Optimal Digestion, and More" (Storey Publishing, 2017). She serves as Director of Ayurveda at THE WELL, a modern wellness club that brings together master doctors and healers for a more balanced you. Ananta has taught Ayurveda and Yoga trainings at IBM, Stanford School of Medicine’s Health Improvement Program, California Department of Public Health, across California Probation Departments, ABC News, New York Insight Meditation Society, NYU, SFSU and more. She has spoken at the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), Columbia Business School, UC Zellerback Hall, the invite-only Social Innovation Summit for Fortune 500 executives, government leaders, and top social entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley's Health Technology Forum at Stanford University.​

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MARIA BLUM

Spiritual Mind and Body Counselor, Educator, Writer

Maria is an experienced crisis counselor and for the last 30 years has drawn upon her diverse healing modalities to train medical doctors in the art of holistic healing. Maria has trained in wide breadth of complementary medicine practices, including Spiritual and Ancestral plant medicine, Curanderismo, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Ayurveda, Vedic psychology and Reiki. She is also a certified Kundalini Yoga and Meditation instructor and a Pre and Postnatal Yoga instructor. Maria is trained in the healing and harmonious building principles of Baubiologie and Vaastu Shastra, and has designed the interiorss for elementary and high schools, businesses and residences. She is currently working on the design for a sacred retreat center.

MITCH HALL (PhD)

Holistic Wellness Educator, Yoga Instructor, Scholar

Mitch Hall (PhD) draws upon over 40 years of experience, education and advocacy work for human rights, peace, and the environment. He has decades of experience with Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, contemporary somatic modalities, and meditation. He is a member of two scholarly associations, the Task Force on Indigenous Psychology and the Nonkilling Psychology Research Committee and has coauthored book chapters in these fields. Dr. Hall's publications have included reviews, papers on peace psychology, nonviolence, holistic health and wellness, children’s rights, booklets, a coauthored book, edited books (psychology, health, spirituality, poetry), translations, and more. The Indian Board of Alternative Medicines, in Kolkata, honored Mitch with a PhD (h.c.) in Alternative Medicines.  His master’s degree in Sociology is from the University of Chicago, and his bachelor’s in Religion is from Columbia University. He has been a speaker in peace psychology symposiums and annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, and presented at the 12th International Conference on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma. 

ESTHER RODRIGUEZ-BROWN

Holistic and Energy Healer

Esther Rodriguez Brown is a Holistic Healer with over 20 years of experience working with survivors of all kinds of trauma. Her MA in Psychology with emphasis in trauma give her the knowledge to understand body, mind, and behavioral responses to traumatic events from our past that can affect us during our daily life. Her education in the holistic and energy healing arts along with her innate intuition provide her with a unique approach to unlock your full potential to heal. She is a Reiki practitioner, sound healer, Ayurvedic Health counselor, Yoga and meditation teacher, and energy healer. Esther is a fearless advocate and activist of self-love and self-care.

RUBY

"The techniques are simple. They really work. It’s amazing. Very simple, but the results are good. I was surprised. Eating the warm foods. Adding the ghee, not a lot for me. Not combining the wrong foods together really works. I didn’t realize how much that affected my digestion or that it was even an issue until I started taking this class. 

Oiling the head, ears, and feet. That really helps with sleep. You go into such a nice, deep sleep, but when you wake up, you don’t feel groggy or out of it or tired. You just really feel refreshed.

The waking up early was a process. I was doing it every 15 minutes and can see how it makes a difference, and how when you sleep past 6am, you’re sluggish and don’t have a lot of energy. And just all the stuff with elimination, not eating the salads. Everything like that helps. 

Thank you for all your help. The way you guys talked, your voice was so soothing. It really made us feel comfortable and at ease and we loved how you brought in all the different types of foods. It’s amazing. Really, really simple things, but they really work. It’s natural medicine. The class information, cooking demos, and recipes were great."

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SAM

"Best course ever. Loved all the ancient healing concepts and principles that were presented for my modern life. This course will not only help me in my daily life, but in my work life. I loved that this was a very interactive course. The instructors were awesome, so knowledgeable, peaceful, calming and helpful."

LIZ

"Amazing in-depth information presented. Ananta for sure was a master in her teachings and provided so many resources that I will use in the future. The course had excellent information and tools I can apply in everyday life."

OLGA

“The first day, I was rushing, so I felt a little anxiety. Just listening to your voice was so soothing that it really calmed me down. I really liked that. That was the first thing. I’ve been trying the warm water in the morning and I must say it does help with elimination. Within 15 minutes, I feel like I have to use the restroom, so I’ve been doing that every day and it’s really working.

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I’m one of those who have to eat every two or three hours and I’ve noticed that I make my lunch the biggest meal of my day now. I’m not going to bed with a full stomach, feeling bloated and uncomfortable and unable to sleep. I think that’s really helped.

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I love the oiling. I even tried it with my children. Now they like it just for a massage, but they’re like this aches and pains. I use it and they love it and I had my husband try it and he said that it actually does work to help calm your body down, especially if you had a rough day at work. I really find that to be really effective.

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And not eating leftovers. I was a big queen of eating leftovers, like give me that and I’ll eat it for 2-3 days and I don’t really do that anymore. I think that’s really helped my stomach. I suffer from a lot of inflammation due to food allergies and since I cut down on that, it’s really, really helped."

GUADALUPE

“What I’ve been trying is waking up early in the morning. That’s really helpful because it helps me balance throughout the day. I don’t feel as stressed or rushed as I used to. It gives me more time to cook breakfast for my daughter and spend more time with her, so that’s helpful. The oiling I was doing after and now I do it before my shower. I can see the difference in my skin and the relaxation aspect of it. I think being in touch with your body and massaging it is really helpful. I like yoga, so I do some of the yoga practices before I go to sleep. Sometimes, when I wake up earlier, I do my yoga routine in the morning before I start my day, so that’s very relaxing and helpful. The sitting after eating - I’ve tried that and it’s helpful for elimination. I do the warm water and the warm food. I don’t eat leftovers. I enjoyed the class. I learned a lot. I have a curious mind and once you started explaining, I understood the process, so that was helpful. Thank you.”

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SHERRI

“I love this class. It was great. You’re very soothing and the way you taught the class was very relaxing, no pressure, and the hour went by so fast. But the more I learned in these classes, the more I want to know, so I hope it continues, because I would really love to come back. I loved the spiced milk recipe. It was delicious and I still make it. I learned a lot that is very contrary to what we’ve learned growing up in our western culture.

When you don’t mess with food, when you eat it naturally, it’s actually so much better for you. So that’s what we’re learning. There’s a lot we change in the western culture and we find out 20 years later that it’s not good for you. Thank you very much for the class. I loved it.

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The course was excellent and whetted my appetite to learn more! I wish this class was ongoing. The more I learned, the more I realized what I don’t know, and the more questions I had."

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KAVEY

“One of the things I really took away from the training was the exercise where you look at your hands and remind yourself that your energy, your power, everything is in your control. It really focuses the locus of control on you versus other people. If something bad happens, you can look at yourself like how can I control this? How can I make it better? You empower yourself if there was something bad. I thought that was so amazing. I do that every morning now. I wake up and sometimes my eyes are not even open, but I can see my hands, and I’m just empowering myself, and it really feels really good, so thank you.”

FRED

“I think the ability of the instructors to adjust the course really makes this a 10. I really like the way you adjust the course based on the feedback from students. The most valuable things I learned in this class were the buzzing bee and the ability to have more peace and balance in my life. Thank you for an excellent class. Your patience, smiles, and positive glows are contagious."

CRAIG

“I’ve got a lot to do and there’s a lot of detail. That gets me wound up sometimes. I put into practice the buzzing bee a number of times. It was really helpful to bring a sense of calm and focus into that with this. Our office is downtown, but I went outside one time there, where we we have a locked area where I felt safe closing my eyes and taking in some sunshine. While I was doing the buzzing bee, I thought about, ‘okay, clear your mind, think about what you have to do, one task at a time.’ It was like the world stood still for a little bit.

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I’ve been practicing the mantra about the hands. It has been a very good start to the day, to think, okay, I got a lot to do, but all it takes is one thought, and that one thought can lead to these great things. Turn those thoughts into action and you can reap a destiny. I really enjoyed that. Thank you for going above and beyond.  The samples your brought us are appreciated. Love the alternative ideas regarding diet, medicine, and meditation.”

DANETTE

“The most valuable things I have learned are a better/healthier way to eat and the benefits of many of the spices used in the preparation of the food. A really good class. A lot of information that is sometimes in conflict with the way and diet we have consumed for years.  However, when you know better you should try and do better!  Thank you.”

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