The labels used to describe me are Integrative Health Practitioner, Entrepreneur, Scientist, Traveller, Writer, Yogini and eternal optimist. I prefer not being limited by labels, aiming to always live fully and in the moment.

However my name, Nitasha, is a shortening of the Sanskrit form Nitya-Asha  which means “eternal hope”. I do hope to live up to this name.

The words “my name” feel strange to me, as it connotes an image of me as separate from the whole. And I know this to be false.

I am committed to a life of dharma – this is the ancient Indian concept of living in accord with universal principals. And my dharma or lifes purpose is to use my every ability to help you Unlock Your Highest Potential and Live Your Dream.

More About Me

I have always been drawn to an ascetic life of discipline and mindful living. I am not willing to compromise on my values that are informed by my long and devout yogic practice. But as opposed to joining a monastic order or nunnery – I have to wonder:

“Is it possible to live my dharma in the modern world?”

Hence this page (NunInHighHeels.com) serves 2 functions.

1. It is a social experiment – to discover how easy it is to live my dharma in the modern western world.
2. It is also a personal journey to simple, ego-less living.

I am also hoping that this site becomes a space to share experiences and wisdom with others on a similar path.

How it all began…

For as long as possible, I have been insatiably curious about human potential and exceptional or “extra-ordinary” human performance. This interest may be due to abilities that I have had from childhood.

• I read rather quickly,
• Have High IQ,
• Have a hypersensitive sense of smell – everything has a smell for me (I now understand this to be an olfactory synaesthesia).
• Have an understanding/perception of the human body that underlies my ability as an Integrative Health Practitioner and Yoga Teacher – but which I still struggle to explain verbally.

As I approached my teenage years, it had dawned on me that not everybody saw the human body as I did. This ability got me into trouble when I asked people questions based on what were obvious perceptions for me but in hindsight were rather personal. I was accused of snooping – because how else would I have this information?

I was also told that I “had a bad mouth” because the things I predicted from my observations tended to happen.

Hence around the age of thirteen, I decided to keep my observations to myself and using my ability to speed read, I began looking for information to help me overcome my “abnormality”. This turned me into a loner and also gave me rather early start in the self-help book section.

About a year later and quite by chance I had an enlightening encounter.

While waiting for my mother outside a temple, I met an elderly gentleman – whom I thought was the shoe guard – he seemed to be guarding all the shoes left by the patrons. By this point I ventured nowhere without a book, and this gentleman observed me frantically reading. “What are you reading?” he asked. I mumbled some explanation about the book at hand. “Why are you reading that?” he probed further. Although by this point, I had become adept at keeping my “abnormality” hidden, this kind gentleman got me to tell him about my strange interaction with the world.

“Nothings wrong with you,” he said. “You don’t have an abnormality, you have a siddhi.” I remember asking him to spell this word and writing it down. He said I was not abnormal and obviously needing validation, I latched onto his words. “A siddhi is a special gift” he went on. “Once you know how to use your siddhi – you will do amazing things.”

Excited, I questioned him “but how will I know what to do?”

“You need to use your intelligence. But here’s the real secret.”

“Intelligence is not about doing what you know, its’ about what you do when you don’t know.”

His words opened up a new word for me – taking me to books by Francis Galton and subsequent authors on Exceptional Ability and Genius. Of the geniuses discussed in many of these books – Leonardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein captured my imagination. As did Bruce Lee. My guilty pleasure to date is reruns of Bruce Lee movies.

My grandmothers shared information on the Siddha’s and their secret tradition. I wondered if the mantra’s and yoga that they taught me as a toddler and which I practiced daily were the cause of my abilities. Over the years this question has empowered the two important areas in my life.

1. Perseverance in my yogic practice and
2. My personal need to objectively explain the effects of my practice. This drives my scientific studies.

From an academic perspective, the idea that I had to learn how to use my siddhi, has taken me down an unconventional and lifelong search for knowledge. I have studied conventional science and then a variety of other traditional and more esoteric treatment modalities. Whenever I perceive a physiological anomaly that I am unable to explain, I find myself on a new quest for wisdom – in the hope that any new skills I acquire will help you Unlock Your Highest Potential and Live Your Dream.