About:
Jennifer Kurdyla is an Ayurvedic Health Counselor, yoga teacher, and writer. She is the co-author of "Root & Nourish: An Herbal Cookbook for Women's Wellness" (Tiller Press), and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
We posed some random questions to Jennifer Kurdyla, to discover a little more about her:
🦔 What is your spirit animal? Â
Several years ago, I did a “shamanic journey” (I use air quotes because I am sure there are more traditional forms of this ritual than the one I participated in…) But, during the meditation, I was accompanied by a large porcupine, whose quills remained down while it strutted by my side along a dark, windy path—long, strong, smooth, clearly a protector. I’ve never seen it since then, in dreams or other meditations, but I hold onto that image tenaciously (like a porcupine, perhaps?) and remember it when I feel lost or alone on the path.Â
🇨🇷 Where is the best destination you’ve been?
I had a transformative trip to Costa Rica several years ago for a yoga retreat. It was deeply healing—literally, as I fell ill the night before I left and more or less had to recover in the beautiful rainforest canopy where we were staying.Â
Practicing yoga in the foggy dawn, and watching the cloud layer descend in the afternoons, sometimes with a downpour or just a drop in temperatures, climbing unmarked mountain trails, feasting on papaya… it was magical.Â
đź©° If you had chosen another path in life, what might you be doing now?
I’d be a Broadway dancer, or a ballerina—or a little of both.
đź“š Which books do you recommend to others?
-“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
-”Lolita” by Vladimir NabokovÂ
-”Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte
-”Franny and Zooey” by J.D. SalingerÂ
❤️ What are three self-care practices you have adopted to treat yourself well?
Abhyanga (self-massage with oil); daily walks in nature; starting my day with a drink that feels nourishing and warming (sometimes chai, sometimes coffee, sometimes a mix of nettles and tulsi; always cooked water with lemon).
