Ayurveda Practitioner and Yoga Teacher Ivy Ingram is training to be a Veda recitation teacher so she can pass on the tradition and the benefits of this practice to her students… According to Ivy,
“I am very clear that I never heal anybody. It is never me; it is always them. It is the person and the divine — the divine works through the teacher and practice. As a teacher, I can open a door that this person can walk through and directly connect to the divine. So, I am very clear that I’m not the one who’s doing any of the healing work. But I feel truly honoured to hold that position for anybody who may not have ready access to teachers in India or a direct connection to a lineage.”
Like many spiritual practitioners, Ivy started her journey with asana practice, and she feels grateful for that because it paved the way for her journey to Ayurveda and Veda recitation. She found yoga in the 1990s while living in Boston and studying psychology. From finding yoga in the ’90s to practising and training to teach Veda in 2024, her journey is filled with wonderment, and each practice led Ivy to another. Excerpts from our conversation:
How It All Began
Ivy Ingram: When I started yoga asana classes, I was living in Boston, and I planned to get a PhD in psychology and become a psychotherapist. However, during my master’s programme, when I was doing my internship, I felt this wasn’t right for me. I always wanted to be of service, which was part of my big picture. It is my life’s mission to be of service or support to other people.
So when I stopped studying during my Master’s, it was also the same time I found Yoga and started practising yoga just for my own benefit, and I started working in a hospital. I was working as a crisis counsellor, helping people resolve complaints and problems, which was very stressful. Yoga was a great support for my mental health, and during that time, I decided to become a yoga teacher. I internalised the practice to a degree where I felt like this was something that I could offer to others.
From Asana to Ayurveda to Veda
Ivy Ingram: I first heard about Ayurveda during my yoga teacher training and started exploring it. Ayurveda encompasses a person’s entire being. It is not just about the physical body, although that’s important. Ayurveda is about our physical health, but it is also about our mental and spiritual health. I decided to study Ayurveda full-time, which became my work in the world and my calling. So, I studied Ayurveda for many years and even went to India to study Ayurveda there. In 2011, I went to Vaidyagrama in Tamil Nadu and stayed there for six months with my teachers, whom I return to every year. While transitioning from Asana to Ayurveda, I was exposed to a bit of chanting when I attended classes by Sonia Nelson in New Mexico. She is a student of T.K.V. Desikachar. That was my first introduction to Veda recitation. The second time Veda came to me was when I was at Vaidyagrama. We chanted prayers every morning and evening, and I loved the practice of chanting. At that time, I had no background in Sanskrit besides asana names (laughs). Around 2013, I started studying Sanskrit. As I said, each practice I explored led me to a subtler practice, and I just followed the breadcrumbs and trusted the journey.
I’m not a great Sanskrit scholar, but I stuck to the study. A few years ago, I was invited to join an online programme, and Shantala was one of the guest speakers. I don’t usually attend these online programmes, but I was interested in Shantala’s talk because it focused on Veda recitation. When I heard her talk, I immediately went to the Veda Studies website, did the free essentials course, then the Foundation course, and continued studying. Two years later, I am attending her Veda recitation teacher’s training.
These two years of studying Veda recitation have kept my mind focused and helped me stay grounded and connected to myself. It takes so much concentration and effort to recite Veda correctly, so it trains the mind to stay sharp. I also love the vocalisation — it is distinct from singing, yet there is rhythm. I sometimes ask myself, “How will this work for me? How am I going to use this in my life?” But I trust, as with everything else along this path, how I am supposed to share it with others in the future will be revealed. For now, it is about absorbing the practice for myself and understanding how it affects me.
Exploring and Experiencing Veda
Ivy Ingram: I’ve always felt like meditation is the most challenging practice. Veda recitation is the best doorway into a meditative state because it’s hard for me just to sit down and begin meditation. This is where Veda recitation helps. When I start reciting, my thinking mind gets out of the way, so I feel like reciting Veda has made the meditative experience more accessible. This takes time. A part of me is always trying to make sense of spirituality. I keep trying to make logical sense of it. I wonder how I, a Southern American white woman, am drawn to this set of practices from another world, another culture, but it feels so familiar. It feels correct for my system. I know I want to deepen my practice. When I start learning a mantra, at first, it is a mechanical practice. I learn to pronounce the words correctly, where to put my tongue to get the right sound, and how to recite in the right metre. After all this mechanical work, I arrive at a layer where I feel like the mantra is affecting me. Of course, Shantala also teaches us like this. We start with the logistics, get that right, and then the mantra reveals itself.
I also love that Shantala focuses on theory. I don’t have a family history of Veda, and I am unfamiliar with deities like Gaṇeśa… The culture is not inherent to me. But I do feel a connection, and I feel this affinity to Gaṇeśa. When I study theory, it is like a bridge to connect what I am feeling with fact. I’ve already got this unexplainable heart connection to the practice, and studying theory makes these deities and the culture more accessible. It also gives the mantra meaning when I know what the words mean.
On Spirituality and India
Ivy Ingram: I love India. It is a beautiful tapestry of cultures, people, languages, foods and traditions. What I love most is how Indians naturally believe that all people have a spiritual layer to their being. I’m from the United States, and many people don’t expect that there’s a spiritual component to our lives. Of course, some do, but most don’t. I also never experienced paramparā in the US. So, I value and respect the guru-śiṣya tradition and the respect and importance given to ancestry in India. Ayurveda holds up tradition as the access point to wholeness and healing. For example, how can we follow the tradition of lineage? With something as simple as what our grandmothers ate for dinner. Our body will likely digest that food. Cultures that disconnect from tradition and lineage lose so much. I love being in India and feeling that continuity of lineage and tradition. I’m grateful that these practices have been preserved. A good teacher is imperative to any practice, and the oral tradition of Veda recitation has been preserved in India for millennia. My only advice to anyone wanting to study Veda is to find a teacher connected to a traditional lineage.
My understanding of spirituality has come from Indic practices and studying with teachers in India. Spirituality is a sense of connection to something larger than myself. I believe this power has good intentions and loves me, and spirituality connects me to that support.
To connect with Ivy, access her website
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