How My Life Has Changed: The Story Behind the Vyana Rebrand

Over the last year, my life has changed dramatically, in good ways and not. In December 2024, we decided to move our family to Portugal. The next nine months were focused on removing things from the home, packing, closing accounts, applying for our visa, setting our life in Portugal, taking some farewell trips to friends and family and more. You can imagine picking up and moving abroad with your family is not easy. It is time, money, and energy exhausting. The days and weeks leading up to our departure were some of the most stressful in my life. And though I had immigrated from India to America, I was a child so couldn’t appreciate what it took from my parents in so many ways. This definitely taught me to appreciate the immigrant experience even more. I wanted to move so badly, at any cost, and it was so challenging even being educated, connected, and resourced.

The other major change over the last year is that I lost my sister, unexpectedly, a few months ago. We are all grieving this blow to our family and picking up the pieces in so many ways. For days, after returning from the funeral, I stayed in bed. For the next few weeks, I went through the motions, trying to be present for my kids. With support from my local community and community abroad and returning to practices that brought me peace — yoga, meditation, Qi Gong, etc. — I came back to some level of modulation.

There was some guilt in having the life I do while my sister didn’t and wouldn’t, but it also put me in a place of needing to create. Over the last two months, I’ve been hungry for life — nurturing more plants, making new recipes, creating special canopy nooks for my girls, making a new table decoration, etc. etc. I’m also having so many ideas of ways I want to contribute to the world through my work in supporting moms in their most important life transition.

Why I Rebranded: The Change I See in Postpartum Care

I have been working on my offers for my audience in America, for prospective clients in Portugal, and for birthworkers around the world. There is so much I want to offer, but one thing was clear: my previous brand no longer fit me — my thinking, my beliefs, my desires on how to serve.

Over the last few years, I have been more and more curious about indigenous pregnancy and postpartum practices, especially Ayurveda. I took an Ayurveda course in pregnancy and postpartum and am adopting more and more Ayurvedic practices in my own life. I’ve known, since my training, that the founder of the organization that trained me went to India and discovered infant massage, an Ayurvedic practice that has been around for thousands of years. I’ve known that it has been part of my family for many generations. I’ve known that it’s been practiced in my own family with daughters, nieces, and nephews. I suppose I haven’t fully embraced my own connection, perhaps because I didn’t think people would understand or appreciate it, or I questioned if I was deserving of representing such a profound system. Imposter syndrome anyone?

Through my course work and learning, I realized that baby massage and belly binding were critical components, and there is so much more to impart to women in pregnancy and postpartum. I am passionate about improving outcomes in those areas, applying indigenous wisdom and practices in Ayurveda to do so. I wanted the royal colors to reflect that we are queens in our own right. It was a deliberate choice to make the mom and baby a golden color because you are the manifestation of life, unconditional love, and all that is precious. I want my brand to reflect this in not only the logo and colors but how I make women feel — cared for, supported, loved — because what you are doing is contributing to humanity. My goal is to make this contribution smooth, seamless, and honoring to you and your baby, to be life affirming. Together, let’s return to the ancient wisdom of honoring, celebrating, and supporting women to be fully embraced physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually before baby and after. Then only can humanity change. So, what does this mean in practice?

Reclaiming My Ayurvedic Heritage

I remember, in my childhood, my parents urged me to drink turmeric milk (aka golden milk latte) when I had a cold — a suggestion I scoffed at in pursuit of the over-the-counter cure that would knock me out. The same heritage I once didn’t have the perspective to value as a child leaving India, I learned to respect and appreciate in my older years. What I’ve learned, both through my own experience and through my pursuit of knowledge, is that the tools, practices, and philosophies of Ayurveda are timeless, evidence-based, and rooted in science, in spite of their misuse, appropriation, and being minimized. Their incorporation and implementation have always been — and still are — improving outcomes, reducing illness, and minimizing unnecessary medical interventions, pharmaceutical or procedural in nature. It is time to reclaim my heritage in Ayurveda and apply it specifically to birthing and restoring confidence in one’s body, ability, and intuition.

As part of this rebrand, I’ve given intentional and careful consideration to how to fully support my clients in America, Portugal, and beyond, offering greater support than I was offering previously. You’ll find on my US site and my Portugal site a reflection of the evolution of my offers, responding to the needs of new moms everywhere with appropriate support that goes deeper and broader than before.

Training the Next Generation of Ayurvedic Birthworkers

There’s a new audience in this rebrand as well. Birthworkers were asking me to train them in infant massage – eastern and western approached. Additionally, there is a noticeable absence of Indian birth workers imparting Ayurvedic knowledge to moms during conception and birth, and a lack of non-Indian birth workers being trained in Ayurvedic tools and practices. I searched for years, and at some point I realized: instead of thinking “who am I to?”, I needed to think “If not me, then who? Who am I not to?” More of this will be revealed in a global project, Janma, coming Spring 2027, where a group of us will train birth workers in Ayurvedic practices — directly from source. Click here to be the first to know!