Professional Reviews


Shiva Rea, author of Tending the Heart Fire
“Acharya Shunya is one of the extraordinary teachers of the living, embodied wisdom of Ayurveda. She transmits it through the roots of her family lineage as well as throughout Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom. She is a model of how to access the healing power of nature within.”

Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, BAMS MD (Ayurveda), and Author of The Hot Belly Diet, Director: Ayurvedic Healing Inc.
“Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom" is a valuable companion for those wishing to understand and apply holistic concepts of health and healing to real-life challenges. Ayurveda is the original lifestyle medicine, which bridges the gap between epigenetics and gene expression enabling you to take control of your total health & wellbeing. In this book you will find many pearls of wisdom that will inspire you to a mindful & positive lifestyle.”

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, founder of the LifeSpa.com video newsletter and author of 7 books including Eat Wheat, Body, Mind and Sport and the 3-Season Diet.
“For 30 years I have been trying to teach Ayurveda in the way I learned, by following my Ayurvedic teacher in India for over a year. Acharya Shunya has gifted all of us with her story of learning Vedic wisdom from her grandfather, Baba, as a very young girl. Baba’s timeless wisdom is woven throughout Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom as Acharya teaches us all the pearls of Ayurveda, Baba through Acharya and now to us. We all are deeply touched."

Sally Kempton, Author Awakening Shakti and Meditation for the Love of It
“Shunya Mathur has written a definitive guidebook to living the Ayurvedic lifestyle. A powerful clinician who comes from a long line of Ayurvedic healers, Mathur brings the tradition alive with profound authority and clarity. Her work is thoroughly grounded in the traditional wisdom, and tested through years of healing practice and consultation. Mathur offers us a path that integrates body with mind and spirit, showing us the secrets of Ayurvedic daily practice, self-care, and much more. Layered through the book is the deep spiritual underpinning that is the heart of true Ayurvedic healing. This is a book to cherish, consult often, and use throughout your life.”

James R. Doty, M.D. Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery, Director, The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University School of Medicine
“The practice of Ayurveda has been in existence for millennia and, for many, has proven to have a profound positive effect on mind, body and spirit. It is not surprising that this ancient practice that began in India is now being used throughout the world to improve the health of millions. In this wonderful volume, Acharya Shunya, shares with us a prescription to optimize our health in a clear and straightforward fashion giving each of us the power to change our lives.”

Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, Spiritual director, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment; founder and president, Meru Institute for Yoga Studies, Ayurveda, and Community Service; author, Living the Eternal Way: Spiritual Meaning and Practice for Daily Life, host, The Yoga Hour weekly podcast on Unity Online Radio.
“Acharya Shunya’s wise and engaging book, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom, rings out like a temple bell and shines like the sun at dawn. It gently, yet unmistakably, heralds a new day of radiant wellbeing as accessible to us as the air we breathe or the grasses beneath our feet. A healing balm for our distracted lives, it offers us easy-to-implement, practical Ayurvedic guidance for healthy living every day. It boldly inspires us to claim our inherent healing power and shows us how to do it. You won’t want to put this book down, and fortunately, we don’t have to, because its wisdom continues to whisper in our inner ear, like Acharya Shunya’s beloved Baba—Your life is sacred; remember, you can live that way."

Yogini Shambhavi Devi is a mystic visionary, spiritual guide, renowned author and educator of ancient Vedic traditions as Co-director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, USA.
“Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom by Acharya Shunya beautifully unfolds the ancient Ayurvedic wisdom in an experiential manner relevant to our contemporary lifestyles. All Wisdom must integrate devotion, pratyahara and dedication. Shunya has wonderfully woven these intricate teachings together forming the basis of all Yogic paths.”

Alain Touwaide, PhD, Co-founder and Scientific Director, Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, Washington, D.C.
“Ayurveda-Lifestyle Wisdom is a poetic and inspiring journey through the joy of life deeply rooted in a millennia-long tradition. I have had the pleasure of meeting Acharya Shunya who has been learning Ayurveda tradition from the best source--not only her grandfather but also the founding texts of Ayurveda. More than anything else, Acharya Shunya irradiates the calm certainty that life is stronger and that being healthy is more than efficaciously treating disease. With Ayurveda and the way Shunya explains it, life is an art, a wisdom, and the embodiment of a tradition going far back in time that Acharya Shunya helps us to bring back to life in the 21st century.”

Professor Meg Jordan, PhD, RN, CWP, Chair, Dept. of Somatic Psychology, Integrative Health and Human Sexuality, California Institute of Integral Studies, author, How to Be a Health Coach, founding Editor, American Fitness Magazine
“No one knows more about how to translate the time-honored philosophy of Ayurveda into health-enhancing practical steps than Vedic scholar Acharya Shunya. I’m convinced that if you follow her extraordinarily effective yet simple daily strategies, you will radically improve your mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom is the ultimate practical guide that promises to reconnect you to the fundamental truth of our spiritual nature and the divine cosmic laws of balance, rhythm, seasonal detox, and so much more. I love this book—it’s outstanding, and I’ve read many books on Ayurvedic medicine. However, this one was different. Shunya’s deep seated knowledge about Ayurveda, and her compassionate and warm-hearted writing gave me the confidence to try her suggestions about losing weight and getting better sleep and eliminating heartburn. It all worked --when nothing else would! Follow her recipes and daily hygiene and lifestyle tips. You’ll be astounded at the positive results.”

Philip Goldberg, Author of American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West
“Ayurveda is one of Indian civilization’s greatest gifts to the world, and Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom is an important addition to the growing literature on the subject. With this highly readable and eminently practical book, Acharya Shunya illuminates Ayurveda in all its fullness – not just a collection of remedies for preventing and treating disease, but a holistic system that draws from its venerable sister sciences, Yoga and Vedanta, to address all facets of human life. Every household should own a copy.”

Diana I. Lurie, Ph.D., C.A.P. Professor of Neuropharmacology, The University of Montana, Editor-in-Chief, Ayurveda Journal of Health.
“A beautifully written book that offers a unique perspective of the simple and effective diet and lifestyle changes from Ayurveda that you can make to achieve better health. The appendices with detailed information and recipes are a wonderful addition!"

Ricki Pollycove M.D, MS, Author of The Pocket Guide to Bioidentical Hormones and Co-author of Mother Nurture, with Rick Hanson PhD, and Jan Hanson, Lac.
“As a Western trained scientist and physician, I believe that Integrative Medicine offers health-enhancement at every age. Representing an Ayurvedic perspective, Lifestyle Wisdom encourages us to explore all aspects of our lives as they contribute to health. For those who suffer chronic headaches, joint aches and musculoskeletal pains, insomnia, anxiety or depression, frustrations with weight, gut pains or bloating, this book invites deeper inquiry. From reassessing “the American diet” to growing our own medicinal herbs, this book contains practical paths to better health in body, mind and spirit. Acharya Shunya's explanations are comprehensive, clear, passionate and often poetic and offer us opportunities to reconsider assumptions of what we consider “normal” in our daily lives and shows us how to gradually achieve health-enhancing change.”

Dhaval Dhru, M.D, Chair, Department of Ayurvedic Sciences, Bastyr University, WA, and President of Board, National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA)
“This book contains profound Ayurvedic Wisdom. Acharya Shunya, a well-respected Ayurvedic teacher and practitioner acquired this authentic knowledge from her grandfather and guru shri “Baba”, distilled it through her personal experience and practice, and observed the transformative effect of this knowledge. Now she shares that eternal knowledge through this book with stories and examples that are easy to follow and put into practice. This book would serve as an invaluable resource for anyone who is embarking on a journey to restore vibrant health, and a source of inspiration to those who have already embarked on that transformative journey.”

Richard Miller, PhD. Author of iRest Meditation: Restorative Practices for Health, Resiliency, and Well-Being (Sounds True)
“I can attest personally to the miraculous healing powers of Ayurveda, and offer my heartfelt gratitude to Acharya Shunya for her book, Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom. Her offering is a joy to read and offers us an information rich resource guide of spiritual wisdom and medical knowledge that flow through each and every one of her words. I love how Shunya weaves together easy to understand, health-focused practices that are deeply rooted in ethical and socially responsible interventions, which are good for both our inner health and outer relationships. Acharya Shunya offers us the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda Medicine that reveals our essential nature as already whole and healthy, while offering us practical and inspired lifestyle interventions to heal our personal imbalances and dis-eases that enable us to restore boundless health and vitality to our daily lives. This is a must read that belongs in every home and on everyone’s reading table who wants to lead a natural healthy and happy life.”

Anand Dhruva, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
“Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom offers readers a way of living that promotes continued well being for those who are healthy and a path back to health for those who have been unwell. Informed by a long family lineage of Vedic gurus and imbued with compelling personal stories, Acharya Shunya skillfully guides the reader in incorporating these time tested health practices to create a balanced state of natural resiliency.”