VEDA WELLNESS
OUR TEAM: THE HEART OF VEDA
We as a team understand the importance of service.
Veda means “knowledge” and our goal is to integrate and enhance the world through education and life changing experiences.
THERESE SKOVGAARD POULSEN
FOUNDER - TEACHER
Her teachings foster the release from the defended and armoured self through integrated and multi-level work on the body, mind and spirit, and moves the individual towards an inward-looking and deeply meditative yoga practice what opens the heart and aligns it with the mind. In doing so, she strives to enable to people to unlock the natural healing powers that reside within, and to successfully navigate the outer world by attaining the deepest levels of human potential.
Therese is a Sanskrit Scholar from Columbia University in New York, where she also completed her medical training to become a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). Her love for yoga and her search for Sanskrit scholars took her to India 27 years ago where she trained to become a Senior Ashtangha Yoga Instructor, and a lay scholar of classical yoga texts and the epic poem, the Bhagavad Gita. She has completed numerous advanced studies with Krishnamacharya (widely considered as the “father of modern yoga” and one of the most influential yoga teachers of the 20th century), and his two senior student B.K.S. Iyengar, and Sri K. Patthabi Jois.
Therese also trained in Chinese medicine and acupuncture in Beijing, and has certifications in Swedish and Shiatsu massage. Therese’s experience in nutrition comes from the vast integration of her medical studies, and her practical experiences of juice fasting (up to 21 days at a time), and daily integration of healthy eating. Therese’s range of meditation experiences include Vipassana (silent meditations for up to three weeks), Gurdjieff’s work, the Enneagram through Helen Palmer, and A.H. Almaas the diamond heart work.
Therese also trained in Chinese medicine and acupuncture in Beijing, and has certifications in Swedish and Shiatsu massage. Therese’s experience in nutrition comes from the vast integration of her medical studies, and her practical experiences of juice fasting (up to 21 days at a time), and daily integration of healthy eating. Therese’s range of meditation experiences include Vipassana (silent meditations for up to three weeks), Gurdjieff’s work, the Enneagram through Helen Palmer, and A.H. Almaas the diamond heart work.
She has been based in Bali for the past fourteen years running the Breath of Hope Foundation (“BOH”). BOH is a non-profit, educational organisation running preventative, yoga-focused programs in schools and orphanages in disaster-affected communities across Asia. Therese has led numerous yoga workshops and retreats as well as "train the trainers" programs globally. She also runs the Satyagraha Ashram, another non-profit educational organisation, based upon the science of yoga.
Additionally to support fundraising for BOH during her time in Bali, she was inspired to create a living form of the lessons she has learnt from various disciplines in the shape of a three storey traditional Balinese wantilan (house) that is built on sacred land. Among other things, the villa’s structure epitomises perfect scientific and geometric principles that inherently exist within our human bodies, and when enforced creates free flow of energy. Here the Human Architecture design is built.
More about Therese: Originally from Denmark / England Therese’s journey began in New York as a pre-med student who was also studying Sanskrit at Columbia University. While she found Western science engaging, she felt it to be detached from the individual as a whole. So she turned her attention to Eastern medicine, which brought her to yoga and India, 27 years ago. She also continued studying bodywork, and the healing arts, completing an acupuncture degree with advanced study and clinical internships in China. She then became a Swedish and Shiatsu massage therapist and a doula – a birth counselor and midwife, building a holistic practice assisting women and their families prepare emotionally and physically before, during, and after childbirth. From these multiple areas of specialisation and her first-hand experience with integrative practice and therapy, Therese was beginning to synthesize her unique blend of insights in health and healing into the concepts of harmony and balance in body, mind and spirit.
A lifelong athlete, a competitive skier, equestrian and runner, she found a profound sense of inner strength in yoga that transcended mere exercise. Yoga for her creates a sense of openness and mastery, a centered awareness of body and mind in the world, creating inward and outward balance. Her passion for sport gradually ceded into a deep yoga practice that complemented her vocation as a healer. In the science of yoga, Therese was able to integrate her medical background with her spiritual quest and her desire to work hands-on with people and the beauty of the human architecture.
DR. SUJATHA KEKADA
CO-CREATOR - AYURVEDA - NUTRITION
Dr. Sujatha Kekada is the Head Ayurvedic Physician of Veda Wellness Retreats. She is a certified Ayurvedic doctor (B.A.M.S), who completed her degree in Karnataka, India. Before coming to Bali in 2004, Dr. Kekada worked as an Ayurvedic Doctor in one of the most respected and successful clinic in Kerala, South India. She has also practiced as an Ayurvedic Consultant in Europe and at COMO Shambhala Estate, one of the top Health Retreats in Asia.
Dr. Kekada’s deep knowledge of Ayurveda combined with her warm, intuitive and caring attitude has facilitated deep healing for many people. Applying not only Ayurveda but also Theta Healing in her approach, she is able to successfully address and assist with emotional aspects of healing as well. As a mother of two, Dr. Kekada can offer important advice for pre- and post natal care including appropriate medicines and treatments.
Dr. Sujatha would like to thank all those who have helped her to grow and develop her skills, in particular her parents, Dr. PMS Raveendranath (India) and Cokorda Gede Rai (Bali).