Pratima Raichur

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TL: When did you become interested in Ayurvedic medicine?
PR: I became interested in Ayurvedic medicine as a teenager, at age thirteen. Our next door neighbor was an elderly Ayurvedic doctor and by chance, I was sought out to be his assistant. I knew already informally, about Ayurvedic traditions, mostly from my mother who taught me the daily rituals of maintaining physical health and spiritual balance. At that age, I was more interested in learning how to be pretty, as any young girl would be, than learning the doctor’s strange formulas and being his scribe. Little did I know, he was sharing with me the scientific basis of what would become my life’s work, Ayurvedic Skincare, creating balance, harmony and beauty from the inside and out.

TL: How does your spiritual beliefs play a role in the everyday workings of your business?
PR: I don’t separate my spiritual life and work– to me there is no distinction. My life is a whole: my spirit has a purpose and my body follows it. In my daily routine, I rise early, I practice meditation, I recite my prayers, tend to the needs of my body and work for my spirits’ purpose. “Beauty” is my line of work, I try to bring happiness to each person that seeks my guidance through my knowledge and understanding of Ayurveda . I teach my clients that beauty is an external manifestation of what is happening on the inside. By creating peace within ourselves, by understanding the impacts of emotions, food and lifestyle, we can create better conditions to manifest outward radiance. When the spirit, mind and body disconnect from the whole, it creates stress. In addition to recommending products, I recommend for people to take time to find out what their purpose is and how to fulfill it. That is perhaps the most important aspect of attaining “absolute beauty”.

TL: What are the most important Ayurvedic principles that you try to communicate to others in your practice?
PR: The science of Ayurveda says each individual is unique. One of the most important principles is to know one’s individual constitution and live according to this knowledge. It is also essential to find out the emotional or behavioral sources that may be the cause of imbalances. Often, ‘undigested’ emotions and undigested food are major reasons for the manifestation of disease. In Ayurveda, food is the best medicine. How you nourish yourself, with diet and with your thoughts, make up who you are. Another important principle of Ayurveda is the focus on breath, or Prana. In Ayurveda it is believed that each of us is born with a predetermined number of breaths, which can not be changed, this is your path. How one breathes and takes in oxygen can be the difference between health and disease. Good pranayama practice is not only extremely healthy for you, but it also helps to increase awareness in your life.

TL: You are a mother, grandmother and were the wife of a successful physician. What made you decide to pursue a career specially in a generation with a traditional outlook on women’s role in society?
PR: Every one’s life has a purpose. One aspect of my life’s purpose is my family, the other aspect, my work. In our society, our responsibilities are multiple, first we must fulfill our responsibilities to our family, then our friends and finally we can follow our civic, national and global duties. Each person is responsible for fulfilling all these duties as the whole world bears the weight of each individual.

Luckily, my husband and family were supportive of my work. And now, as my children have grown and my husband has passed, fullfilling my second duty, work, is most important now.

TL: What were your goals when you first started your business? What are your goals now as you celebrate your 70th Birthday and 32 years of practicing Ayurveda?
PR: My goals haven’t changed since I started the business in 1977. I set out to help people back then, as I still do today. Of course today the business is done on a bigger scale, in a nicer atmosphere and with more staff and support. Back then, Ayurveda was not as understood, it has taken a long time to make it accepted as a legitimate medicine. My goals today, are to reach a wider audience so that more people can learn and benefit from the principles of Ayurvedic healing and practice.

TL: In 2004, you changed dramatically the identity of your brand, creating a beautiful environment for your spa in Soho and developing new products and new packaging. How has this transformation from a small business to a “brand” remained consistent to your identity and your philosophy?
PR: At that time (2004), I was faced with two choices in my life, to retire or to continue in my work. I chose the second, because I felt that I could contribute a lot to society by the wisdom of my experience. Life teaches and I am a constant learner. I wanted to expand so I could reach more people and share the wisdom of Ayurveda. It was also important to me to show people that it is possible to grow as a business, while following the laws of nature. And even though we grew, we never changed our principles; we made sure to preserve the quality, purity, and integrity of our products. We created our new spa, new packaging and branding from the ideologies that were already there – we’ve always believed in providing the consumer with completely natural, chemical and preservative free products in line with their constitution. Ayurveda has always said and I believe that everything we put on our bodies, should be pure enough to eat. That is our philosophy.

TL: You are still consulting and seeing clients everyday, in person, via the phone… What motivates you to go to work everyday?
PR: My motivation comes from every person who says, “You made a change in my life”. I feel a euphoria, like my life is in the right direction. Every morning I wake up feeling like I have a chance to bring positive life changes to another 10 people. By bringing happiness to others, helping others feel good, I know that I am serving the purpose of my spirit. While my daily motivation comes from each individual, I am also motivated by the possibility of reaching out to even more people on a larger scale – whether it be through a new book I write, through lectures or educational media. When my father died his last words were: “I have done everything that I wanted to do”, I want to be able to say the same thing.

TL: You are working on your second book, how does it differ from your first one, “Absolute Beauty” ?
PR: Similar to “Absolute Beauty”, my next book is deeply rooted in the wisdom of Ayurveda. It is intended to be a guide, offering simple and effective tools to be healthy and to look beautiful at every age. I have been looking forward to writing this next book for quite some time as I feel that I am in the lotus of my life’s journey where my work is just beginning to blossom. I will be sharing my personal experiences with aging and what has worked for me to help slow down the aging process according to one’s constitution.
TL: As a Hindu and a believer of reincarnation, who or what would you envision as your next reincarnation?
PR: I would like to come back as a saint – a spiritual person completely devoted to the people.

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