I’ve always been curious as a child. I always wanted to know people and myself deeply. However, there weren’t many opportunities in my life where I could do so. I felt different because we all are different in our ways. But I felt we needed spaces where our differences wouldn’t matter as much. However, what would matter would be how happy we wanted to feel and how true we could be to ourselves. In my desire to know myself deeply I became a therapist.

Showing up for my work in itself is the most exciting and fulfilling part. I rarely feel drained or tired by my work :)

The only feeling I want all my clients to take back with them is the safety to be themselves. If they feel like they can open up to me about their problems, half of my job is done.

I would say best decision ever! Choosing to work on yourself takes a lot of courage.

I can only explain this through one of the thoughts I had about what strengthens a client-therapist relationship. And it is:

“The capacity of the client to hear the hard truth and still love the therapist enough to come back to them”

My only hope is that I can build a relationship so strong with my clients that they can know in their bones that I am 100% committing to helping them achieve the self and life they want.

My biggest learning from my clients is how to be brave.

Brave in a way to look at the self, brave in a way to ask for help, brave in a way to find resources and brave in a way which keeps them going.

My commitment to my own authenticity helps me appreciate the ways through which my clients own their authenticity. I believe this to be my greatest strength as it helps me lead the client to a place where their authenticity lies. I also believe that I ask great questions to evoke the insight the client is looking for!

There are several things I love: I generally enjoy doing things outdoor. For example, I love to spend time with my dogs in the colony. In addition to this I particularly like soaking the winter sun while the dogs nap around me. Also, I utmost enjoy walks with good music or an interesting podcast.

My approach in therapy is depth focused and insight oriented. I incorporate parts work as well as somatic tools while working with clients. I focus on bringing awareness to the body-mind connection to process difficult emotions. The space I offer is queer-friendly, sex and body positive, anti-caste oppressive and non-capitalistic.

What ALL of this means is:

1. We spend time understanding what your deeper concern is. This can reveal to us where your issues might come from eg. past experiences, school, family, community, different identities etc.
2. Once we find out what is really happening with you, we try to resolve the difficult emotions that may be associated with your experience eg. shame, guilt, grief, anger.
3. While resolving, you will also understand what it means for you now to know all of this. How does ‘the knowing’ change the present?
4. We decide the way forward: How do you plan to support yourself going forward? What beliefs are not working for you? How will you connect to your authentic self to live an aligned life?

To understand my approach more, I want to share two mottos I have as a therapist:

1. Curiosity over judgement: Approaching everything with curiosity and trying to let go of any judgment we have towards our own self.
2. Wholeness not perfection: Embracing every part of ourself (‘good’ and ‘bad’) makes us whole. Running after perfection can keep us stuck.

My truest answer would be that I actively consume a lot of queer media. I read, engage and learn from the direct experiences of people in the community. I place more importance in the lived experiences of queer people. This means, any attempt at making my practice safe and affirmative comes from the narratives and feedback of queer people. I learn from my clients what safe means for them and work together to build it. Exploration of queer identity, shedding of internalized conditioning and celebration of queerness follows thereafter :)