What are the possibilities of the LoveCookYoga vision?

Support with ANY food related question that would add some ease to your life. 

For example…

• You want to chat with someone to plan a simple gathering where all the food is ready and

     cooked to go before the  guests arrive, on a limited budget but don’t know how to make it

     happen?  

• You are looking for DIY Spice Kits for Indian meals that will spice up your weekly/weekend dinnerswithout any extra trips to Indian stores or time on Internet looking for recipes.

• Or, have a busy schedule, want to have a dinner party where everyone drinks, cooks and eats together but want a guide by your side who ensures everything comes together in time. Somewhat like a wedding planner but much more mellow, a dinner planner?! That would be me and we could do it in person or online!

• Maybe your child is on their way to being a chef and they want to have friends over for a cooking event and you can’t be there to supervise? If you are in the Los Angeles area, then we are both in luck!

• Perhaps you want to celebrate an occasion but ALL the people you really want present just can’t be in the same room physically at the same time; maybe you would like to hear what the possibilities are of still making that celebration possible? 

• Are you a small business food owner and want to enhance your business marketing through multi-media - specifically videos of your food and services - but have little to no budget and don’t  know where to begin? I'm the person you are looking for. Everything you see on my website, blogs, pictures, videos, everything is done by me (except for the actual design of the logo - but I know people who can help!).

• You want to use your home to plan a private day long yoga retreat, birthday party, or wedding shower, with friends that includes a private yoga instructor, planned outdoor activity and Ayurvedic Food? I would love to help!

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Why am I a good resource for this type of support?

The main reason...I just LOVE the thinking that is required for micro, unique, ill-defined tasks.  It’s my thing.  What can I say? Beyond that, I love to cook as evidenced by my blog.  I come from a long line of stellar event planners, my grandmothers, who were amazing at making magic happen on the tiniest of budgets. I’m a mathematician and I find a lot of satisfaction in everyday problem solving. Years spent in relation to my PhD makes research fun for me and not overwhelming. My background in yoga/meditation, I’m a RYT 200 certified yoga teacher registered with Yoga Alliance, allows me to plan and support events in a fun and safe way. Finally, at heart, I’m an educator and coach and have been working in that capacity for over two decades and find no better joy than to help some develop and realize a vision.

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How did LoveCookYoga start?

I launched LoveCookYoga, on May 26, 2020, during the Pandemic. 

The story starts like this...​

 

The conception of LoveCookYoga did not have any form.  It just started with the idea of service. 

Summer of 2019, I decided to take a leave of absence from teaching for a year.  With the passing of my mom in 2018, I realized I needed to find some time to restore myself. I had been going since I was 16 when I came to the US, and had not stopped.  I was so grateful that my husband was no-questions asked as I decided to give myself a gift of time worth a thousands of dollars.  

 

As life has it, however, the day before I was to start my year of absence, we returned from our annual camping trip at Kings Canyon to a flooded kitchen. As my husband, likes to say, "we left a river to come home to a river."

 

I had the option of letting the reality of the kitchen taking over or I had the option of balancing it and still claiming my time. In December of 2019, amidst a totally non-functional kitchen, I completed a Yoga Teacher Training Course (with the support of my husband and two children; thank you.)  The overarching tenet of that yoga training was the concept of "Seva". Service without the expectation of anything in return (Thank you Travis Eliot &Lauren Eckstrom). This concept of 'seva" was a key aspect of my upbringing and re-connecting with that was the beginning of addressing the restoration I realized I was in need of. 

 

I began offering free yoga classes to my immediate community - friends and neighbors.  My general background as a teacher and knowledge from the yoga class allowed me to provide accommodations/modifications to support anyone who wanted to give it a try. That was supremely gratifying and the community responded by donating over $600 to Feeding America. How beautiful.  Many thanks.
 
When the pandemic started, I paused on the yoga teaching and I shifted gears to be of service to my father (Bapi) in India, and help him with cooking healthy food in the absence of my mom or any house help who was his support net.  I started making cooking videos and writing down recipes with an eye towards simple healthy meals.  I was posting a lot on Instagram at that time; check out this post here to read about my dad's comment on this journey.  On a side note, I can't express how amazed I am that my dad (77) is all hip to the technology that allows him to videoconference with extreme ease and is on Instagram so he can participate and cheer me on, and how fun it is for me to see his effort to connect with my kids on technology.  

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As the pandemic intensified, there were calls for rent relief.  I used that opportunity to offer online cooking workshops which raised more than $1800 and was donated to theconsciouskid.org.  The thought at that time was how to combine different needs to make it work for everyone.  It seemed natural then to provide a space for people to connect online, in my case cooking, which many people needed for their emotional well being and then use the funds from the workshops to provide shelter for people who needed that.  It was a win-win and I'm SO grateful to the folks who shared my vision and participated.  

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As we transition to the post pandemic phase, the big idea behind LoveCookYoga is still that of service.

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Please reach out and pass on as you see fit 🙏🏼​

     

Namoh-aste/Namaste

      (I Salute Your Soul) 

      

      Shiuli