About Mariko

Ayurvedic Practitioner

trained through the B.A.M.S. Degree Program in India

(My Gift to YOU. Click here to download: 7 Ayurvedic Tips to Boost Your Metabolism!)

Performer and Choreographer of YogaDance™

Click here to watch the show

Yoga is far more than a workout. It’s nothing short of an inner revolution. It’s a profound perspective that allows you to be your most vibrant, effective, authentic self.

Yoga is far more than a workout. It’s nothing short of an inner revolution. It’s a profound perspective that allows you to be your most vibrant, effective, authentic self.

As long as you’re in a body we’re in the business of figuring out what our purpose for being here is, and how to translate that into an AWESOME life. Are we not?

We’re all in this massive, Noah’s arc-like boat together to make it somehow, and I believe Yoga was given to us as a scientific (as well as artistic) path to not only make it, but THRIVE while making it.

We’re all in this massive, Noah’s arc-like boat together to make it somehow, and I believe Yoga was given to us as a scientific (as well as artistic) path to not only make it, but THRIVE while making it.

I’m so thrilled you’re here, dear Kindred Spirit!
You and I have much in common.

Here’s the thing.

As Prince sang in his sexy voice way back in the 80’s, (and I’m not ashamed to say I’m such a product of the 80’s!)

“We’re here to get through this thing called Life.”

In my late twenties, as I was transitioning from life as a professional ballet and contemporary dancer to becoming a full-time Yoga instructor, for some reason, (I guess it’s in the Divine Plan!) I started to attract almost exclusively clients who were terminally ill.

Watching my clients suffer through cancer, Parkinsons, and M.S. ignited a fire within me. I felt I had to do something to better serve these people. It led me on a quest. A long, winding journey of exploring alternative modalities that could help me help my clients.

I studied pre-medical courses at NYU, Chinese medicine in an acupuncture school, energy healing & shiatsu from a Master, but when I found Ayurveda, I knew I had found what I was searching for – a time-tested system of healing that integrates seamlessly with Yoga.

I have many flaws, (too many to list here!) but one thing I’ve always been is a SEEKER OF AUTHENTIC KNOWLEDGE. I wanted to experience Ayurveda in its own context, in the land that had given us Yoga.

So I dropped everything and made my first trip to India in my adult life in 1999. (My parents had brought me to India when I as 9 months old and lived there for a whole year– I know, it was the crazy 70’s!)

I’ve been returning to “the Motherland of Yoga” almost every year since, and along the way, I’ve been incredibly blessed to spend private time with contemporary Masters such as Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Sri Karunamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ammachi, Sri Dayananda Saraswati, and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

No doubt, I owe everything I am today to these Great Beings who have blessed my path.

Then in 2003, after a hilariously tortuous route through the Indian bureaucracy  I landed a full fellowship grant to study Ayurveda full-time in the 5 ½ year B.A.M.S. (Translation: Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree program at Gujarat Ayurved University, one of the top Ayurvedic universities in India.

Studying and living in India was an amazing experience. (You can read my article about it here)I learned Sanskrit, Hindi, and a smattering of Gujarati so I can converse with my patients at the free Ayurvedic Hospitals in North and South India.

Seeing people from every imaginable social and economic strata during my internship days at the Ayurvedic hospitals, I realized something:

We human beings really all do want the same thing.

In one form or another, we’re seeking our HIGHEST EXPRESSION.

Creating Health is just the beginning.

Having a great body is not an end unto itself.

And Yoga is not a fitness trend.

It’s our LIFELINE to make it to the other side. Not just make it, but THRIVE in the process!

Thank you for being here, and thank you for being YOU!

Together, we can make it: Live a life of meaning. Make a contribution.

We can get through this thing called Life – together.

Blessings & Gratitude,

Mariko

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