Today, we’d like to introduce you to Shonali Banerjee.
Hi Shonali, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Yoga was the medicine I leaned into when I hit the confusing shift away from acting after having moved to NYC in 1998. I was 500-hour certified in NYC in 2002 with Yogiraj Alan Finger’s ISHTA yoga teacher training program after living through 9/11 and then hospitalized due to a serious bicycle accident.
At this time I was also an herbal apprentice with herbalist Robin Rose Bennet in the Wise Woman Tradition. Further, I was singing medicine songs from around the world with Circle of Soul, a group of earth-honoring soul-seekers actively exploring songs & chants from a multitude of traditions.
I moved to Paris, France, in 2004 and lived there for almost 5 years. I spread my wings in so many ways, especially as a yoga teacher jumping right into private practice, teaching yoga to the abundant international community. I studied with the illustrious TKV Desikachar in India & Europe, focusing on therapeutics & women’s health. I studied briefly in Chartres, France, where I walked the Chartres Labyrinth in a sacred ceremony under the guidance of Lauren Artress & The Wisdom University.
In 2010, I relocated to Atlanta, GA, with my husband and 2 small children. I was welcomed into Atlanta’s Sacred Music Community, making my first appearance singing at the Chantlanta Sacred Music Festival in 2012. I was certified as a Yoga Therapist through the Pranakriya School in 2013. I’ve taught at yoga studios and festivals throughout Atlanta weaving into the wellness community over these past 14 years.
In 2018, I built a gorgeous home office to see clients in the East Lake neighborhood of Atlanta. It’s a sacred space where I share the wisdom of Yoga Therapy with anyone seeking healing, embodiment & support using the tools of yoga: breath, movement, meditation, and song. Healing happens here.
In 2021 I was certified as a Death Doula through the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship with Narinder Bazen. The seed for this work was planted in 2013 when my husband’s grandmother passed peacefully Thanksgiving week. I sang to her that week and knew I was meant to sing to people at the end of their lives. The pandemic made it clear to me that Death Care was in dire need of more advocates. I now offer End-of-life care practices & I sing regularly at the bedside of the dying both individually and as a volunteer with Voices of Love, the Atlanta chapter of the Threshold Choir.
In 2022, I released a debut album of sacred music, Open to Receive, which can be found wherever you stream music. I hope to release a second album in 2025.
I live with my husband, our 2 teens & our awesome dog Ace Bandit. My life’s work: teaching the wisdom of yoga practices, soothing frayed nerves with songs & imparting daily the importance of rest, respect & compassion. I love gardening and guiding sacred celebrations of all kinds, honoring birthdays, weddings, career changes & more.
One step at a time. One breath at a time. I walk the labyrinth of life.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a road with twists and turns. I’m ultimately grateful for the struggles. Each struggle has led directly to growth and necessary change.
My voice teachers in college told me my voice wasn’t good enough for Broadway. This feedback devastated me at the time, but without that devastation, I may not have connected so profoundly with healing mantras & medicine songs. I developed a new relationship with my voice as an expression of my soul. I sing now, everyday, in honor of the all the forces that unify and touch our hearts, and as a bridge towards connection with our collective humanity.
Without the horror of 9/11 and my bicycle accident in 2002, I may not have stepped so firmly into yoga as a healing path.
One of the greatest challenges I faced was after the birth of my second child. I experienced postpartum depression. It was so disorienting and like nothing I’d ever experienced. I learned how important it is to have a supportive community. I learned the importance of medication. I saw a wonderful therapist for a year and emerged from that scary time with a deeper understanding and compassion for mental illness. I am still processing this wisdom & I share this experience in hopes of lifting the heavy weight of shame people carry.
The pandemic catapulted me and so many others into direct relationship with Death. These contemplations are giving rise to my newest work.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
I am the sole proprietor of Wise Ma Wellness, LLC. I guide accessible, adaptable therapeutic yoga with a focus on nervous system regulation through breath, appropriate movement, dynamic meditation, visualization, chanting, and song. I endeavor to heal the WHOLE person, not just addressing symptoms. Practices are individually curated to reorient and steady the nervous system so people feel grounded again, connected again to their personal agency where they are able to pivot towards the actions that will serve them best even as they’re being swept up in a life-altering time of life.
I purport rest, gentleness, and care. Kindness, respect & compassion are central. Through song, mantra, and poetry, I remind people that they are connected to their humanity & to the world around them. I sing to every student which, in my 20 years of experience, is uniquely disarming. People soften and become less guarded. This opens them uniquely to paths of relief and healing. I have been holding safe, reverent space for this type of healing for over 20 years.
I am further bringing this Yoga Therapy approach to End-of-Life Care for patients, their families, and caregivers. This approach brings people together to have authentic, real, life-changing moments at a most critical time of life.
The intimacy of this work supports the Ceremony work I love to co-create with folks. I help people create meaningful, memorable, heartfelt ceremonies every day. Choosing to celebrate, honor, & remember aspects of life, even seemingly mundane aspects, creates conscious powerful shift. Birthdays, job transitions, relationships, relocations to name just a few.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is when a moment of life has been embraced and honored!
Pricing:
- Yoga Therapy 1-hour sessions start at $150 (2024 pricing); package rates are available for ongoing care. Sessions are in person at my home office in East Lake or on Zoom.
- End-of-life care 1-hour sessions start at $150 (2024 pricing); package rates are available for ongoing care. Sessions are in person at my home office in East Lake or on Zoom.
- Check-Ins with Tenderness: 45-minute sessions by phone or Zoom start at $100. We determine the intentionality of the call, and then I guide breathing, visualization, affirmation & mantra. I offer a sacred song to close our time together.
- Celebrations and Custom Ceremony start at $225.
- Corporate programming starts at $325.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wisemawellness.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/wisemawellness/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/shonaliyoga/ - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/@wisemawellness1865/ - SoundCloud: https://
soundcloud.com/wisemawellness - Other: https://
shonalibanerjee.bandcamp.com/ album/open-to-receive
Image Credits
Michelle Hettmann
Hope Mullett
Rose Bowman
Beri Irving
Annmarie Van
Wetering DV Photovideo
Elicia Miller Jill Stanley
