Welcome to The Prana Plate, a space of creating, sharing and exploring EVERYthing in life that influences our life force energy, our prana.

From the tiniest ant or grain of sand to the most majestic elephant or spectacular mountain, everything around us contains prana. The levels of prana we experience throughout the day determine the state of our minds. Prana is increased when we see things of beauty, hear our favourite piece of music, exchange deep and meaningful words in conversation, feel the warm embrace of another human, take the first bite of a freshly cooked meal or when we take a few moments to observe our breath at the end of a long day. Through our five senses we experience all the magic that is around us.

Did you know that there are 4 main sources of subtle life force energy?

• Food and Water

• Sleep

• Breath

• Perception

Join me on a journey as I explore these sources of prana and how each of them can be optimised for a happier, healthier state of mind, body and spirit!

It is difficult to put into words, an introduction of myself, because we are constantly evolving through all our experiences. Nevertheless, here it is… After studying Human Physiology, Genetics and Psychology, I went on to obtain a Masters degree in Genetics. Genetics is defined as a science that studies how genes control the characteristics of all living organisms. It is a branch of biology that deals with the heredity and variation of organisms. Through analysis of an individual’s DNA one could predict an organism’s behaviour, tendencies and affinities. Although I had learnt about these fascinating intricacies of human and animal genomes, my life path dictated that I use my research skillset in a completely different field of work in the retail industry that got me to experience life in a remote little Karoo town of South Africa.

Coming from the city, where material gratification was a constant, the "simple" life opened my eyes to the complex nature of this existence and I began to question what it is that we really needed to live a fulfilled life - one where we felt like we were truly living our purpose. In a world where it feels like we have everything, or are sometimes still caught up in the struggle to obtain more, when we do get it, is it really all that we were looking for, all that we were hoping for?

In my younger years I had been through a testing but transformational journey to eliminate my dependency on chronic medication for epilepsy. Living in a new environment, with new challenges, health issues started to arise again and compromised my physical and mental well-being. With no access to a doctor or pharmacy, like we’re used to in the city, I questioned this constant cycle of disease and illness - is it all that we are here for? Then began the most exhilarating experience - there was no option but to awaken my body's own healing mechanisms, once again.

My passion for scientific research prompted me to journey the road less travelled. I discovered the incredible teachings of the 5000-year-old science of life, Ayurveda, that allows one to live a life that is more aligned with the natural environment by addressing all the layers of our existence. Ayurvedic wisdom was always a part of my life - I just didn’t realise it sooner, but as soon as I did, I knew I wanted to be able to guide others along their own journeys. Unlike Genetics, which requires highly advanced machines to detect anomalies and addresses only the physical level of our existence, Ayurveda uses the human connection, which is far superior, to gain a holistic understanding of an individual to bring them back into balance.

As I come to understand the purpose of MY existence, which is a lifelong journey in itself, I continue to uncover holistic ways to solve modern-day woes. A balanced life means tapping into those sources of vital life force energy (prana) that can enhance our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. When we can optimise our experience of day-to-day living, we can move from the mundane to the infinite, and then perhaps the answer to “Who Am I?” slowly reveals itself.

If you made it this far in the story, perhaps you’d want to venture further with me? Have a look at my “Offerings” page to see what I have to share with you.

The Foodie in Me

I’ve created this space to share with you, my journey and how the choices we make on a daily basis affect our levels of prana – the subtle life force energy. What initially started off as a food blog has now evolved into so much more!

You will see that I share some great vegetarian recipes that are packed with flavours and wholesome goodness. In 2010, I decided to make some major life changes and choosing to be vegetarian was one of them. The question I was asked most often, by my friends and family members was, “…but what do vegetarians eat?!” So I set out on a quest to find the answer to that because I was determined to make this lifestyle change work.

I am a self-taught cook/chef, who grew up with a family of foodies, who were always experimenting in the kitchen and trading top-secret recipes which were passed through the generations. Any occasion called for a celebration of food! I grew up learning to cook Indian cuisine but also learned to love all the other cuisines of the world. As a lacto-vegetarian, I am always trying new ways to keep my meals filled with prana.

As a trained scientist, I’ve taken my passion for research and innovation from the lab to the kitchen! I love using fresh, seasonal ingredients to prepare my food and have eliminated products that have tons of unpronounceable additives, preservatives, artificial flavours and colourants. Our bodies can be nourished easily through simple, easy-to-prepare, home-cooked meals and I love sharing my ideas with you! You can follow my daily experiments on my Instagram page: @thepranaplate.

Hope you have fun trying out the recipes. I encourage you to experiment with the actual recipes as well, because I myself never follow recipes 100% - I do what works for me! You may even end up improving the recipes, so happy experimenting!