Spirited Stories... with Jignasha Pandya

Posted by Khushmita Sanghvi on Sep 2, 2013

Jignasha’s early years were in Africa in the thick of nature. From there she moved to India at an age of 14. Over the years Jignasha has gone through many phases in her personal and professional life. She was earlier in corporate communication, from where she moved into development communication and journalism with non-profit organisations. Her mother’s illness exposed her to alternative treatments like naturopathy and yoga. A shift to cities after Africa left a desire for greenery which made her go into urban organic farming. Now she has beautifully brought everything together – communications, yoga, naturopathy and organic farming and is offering them as a gift to people.


Neerad: With all the ups & down that you have had – changing tracks, trying to figure out a way; what kept you going steady?
Jignasha: The first thought that came to me when you said “what kept you going?” was Joy – the joy in exploring and finding. Whenever I am going through a difficult situation, I always try to look for something that would be opening up for me. I’ve always had an inherent trust that in all the adversity something wonderful is going to happen. It’s something I feel I’ve known even as a baby that if things are not fine right now, they will be fine soon. I just know it.

Kalrav: What made you change tracks? What moved you from mainstream?
Jignasha: My mother was diagnosed with cancer and that was when I got introduced to alternate treatments like naturopathy, meditation etc. It was during one of those sessions, which was a simple breathing exercise, where I realised how shifts were happening in my body by my just paying attention to my breath. After that I started studying more about these things and began experimenting a lot with myself. Experiments in food, experiments in breath and experiments in how I can connect with people from a different space within me. For a long time I wrote down all the experiments I did every day.

Ashima: Personally I always try to find acceptance in others… in family at least and in friends. How did you handle resistance from family during your journey?
Jignasha: For me having acceptance from my father is very important and if I don’t get that acceptance it just draws my energy away. Earlier I would just shut off in face of resistance. I will go out of the room for that moment and come back to it later. But now whenever I’m faced with resistance it manifests in a very physical way in my body. I can feel the pain and I take a moment to identify which part of me is seeking acceptance and not getting it. Only if I can truly understand what is it that I am looking for, if I can be compassionate towards myself, am I able to look at my father and I can operate from a different space and then it doesn’t matter if there is resistance.

Ashima: And conflicts?
Jignasha: Very recently I have learned to operate from a space of stillness. Whenever I’m in a conflict with my dad I go through a surge of low and high emotions. And for me they happen on a very physical level. Beyond those emotions is a space of stillness, which if I can find, I can handle the conflicts well. I try to see what is happening within me. Am I getting irritated? Am I getting upset? Am I jealous? Only after recognizing my emotion, am I able to connect with him. I may ask him “are you getting concerned?” I recognize his need and I can try to address that need. Otherwise I may just say “Why are you getting irritated? Don’t you know all these things? How many times do I need to explain them to you?”

Neerad: Where do you draw your inspiration from currently?
Jignasha: Nipun and Guri. They have been my biggest and greatest inspirations. From them I’ve learned to love life and respect the moment. I have learned to accept myself and everything around me. They are the pillars of strength for me. Service space reflects who they are. There is so much of oneness and there is so much of acceptance and at the same time there is so much of respect for diversity and different views. That happens when there is a complete inner acceptance of your own self.

Neerad: What are some of the personal practices that you have been following recently, which might help all of us in the journey?
Jignasha: An important one in personal practices currently is a conscious effort to bring value to the gardening work I’m doing. It’s not just about creating a gift garden, but I try to connect with every plant that we plant and bring oneness. I’m also trying to bring that in the collective of all the volunteers that are working with me.
The other thing at a personal level is that I sit in meditation every day for 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the evening, even if I’m very tired. I’ve experienced beautiful things happen through them.
And another practice that I follow is cleaning. Be it somebody’s toilet or kitchen; it may be a hospital, someone’s home or even in public places. If I feel it is looking dirty, I just go ahead and clean it. This practice has helped me break my ego to a great extent.

Neerad: Thank you Jignasha. Thank you everybody.  Can we all hold hands and hold a minute’s silence to give lots of love, compassion and wishes to Jignasha and to everybody in the circle, holding space for her. 

Posted by Khushmita Sanghvi on Sep 2, 2013 | permalink


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Previous Comments
  • Shaily wrote ...

    I'm reminded of the beautiful sharing with Chitra Di which helped that helped me emote.. couldn't stop crying for quite some time.. Reading this insightful post struck a deep chord within. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing :)

  • Harsh wrote ...

    Thanks for sharing. :)

  • Neeti wrote ...

    Lovely Jignasha. Thanks for sharings..

  • trupti wrote ...

    Thank u for sharing