About the Guest

Shailla Vaidya, MD MPH CCFP (EM) C-IAYT is a Physician / Yoga Therapist practicing Mind-Body Medicine in Toronto, Ontario. She studied Medicine at Dalhousie University, did her residency in Family and Emergency Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and completed a Master’s in Public Health (Management and Policy) at Harvard University. She has also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and the University of Toronto.

Dr. Vaidya grew up in a cultural tradition of Yoga and Ayurveda and has been bridging Eastern Wisdom with Western Medicine throughout her 20 years of medical practice. She completed her yoga teacher training and yoga therapy training with the Mohans and the Svastha Yoga Therapy. She is the creator of the Yoga of Stress Resilience Burnout Recovery Program, and the Reconnect Concussion program, both of which combine the path of yoga with the science of human function for healing and recovery. As a “Compassion-it” Change Agent, she is effecting change within the health care system by healing our healers and by bringing a more holistic approach to the management of stress-related illnesses.

In this episode we discuss:

1. Growing up Indian in a majority white culture, shame and the impact of disconnection from culture.
2. The value of yoga and mindbody practices in medicine and education.
3. Stress, trauma and burnout, and ways in which embodied practices can help.
4. The impact of the pandemic and isolation on us as social beings and the value of yoga and stress relief in times of Covid.
5. Practicing compassion, stress relief, and strategies to generate compassion for self and others. 
6. Yoga and the importance of taking into consideration who you are and where you’re at; reducing harm with a better understanding of yogic practices.
7. Cultural appropriation of yoga and Indian culture and how to honor lineage and context.

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