We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Parham Neal-Pishko. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Parham below.
Parham, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience came from family, both the kind you are given and the community you choose. The first crack was when my oldest brother had an accident, falling twenty-two feet leaving him paralyzed and leaving me as his care person in the hospital rotation for 36 days. The yoga I’d been practicing for a decade became something much more overnight. On top of its usual physical relief, I used it to keep myself together mentally and emotionally in cold, hard, loud, fluorescent spaces.
In 2016, I found myself at a mental and spiritual crossroads. My youngest brother lost his fight with addiction after nine years of struggling, and for the second time my immediate family faced traumatic loss. The silver lining of soul-fracturing experiences like these is that each crack lets the light in. My asana practice morphed to something deeper and more profound. Suddenly, I understood what my teachers had been talking about for years and dove deeper into the roots of the practice through teacher trainings. When I discovered a way to heal from an ancient lineage right under my nose and already in my muscle memory, I knew I had to share it with others.
I was already a teacher by career (Montessori and middle school), so adding yoga instructor and studio owner on top seemed like a natural next step. I was giving out so much energy to family, to the students, and to my new business that I was burning out quickly. Always the support system, I thought I had gotten really good at giving from an empty cup and that no one noticed until one day a mentor saw right through it and asked, “if this is you on empty, imagine what you could do for others if your cup was FULL first?”
Another shift occurred in my practice. What happens on the mat is just a reflection of the bigger picture. Yoga practice is life practice and healing is done in community, so I slowed down and leaned in. As I transitioned from a career Montessori teacher to yoga instructor and studio owner regaining contentment with newfound power, I began to pour the internal lessons learned out to support my community. The overflow turned into wellness retreats, yoga teacher trainings, rehab facilities, addiction recovery support, and becoming an Ayurveda health coach. I found my dharma through the trauma.
I learned how to hold grief in one hand and gratitude in the other, I paid it forward. My brothers are my muses and my community an extension of my family, they are my muses. I thank them every day for opening the gateway and now I can share how to go through it with others. Yoga saved my spirit.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Expanding Luuma Yoga and Ayurveda from four walls to a global community and product line has been exciting- and challenging! I run two to four wellness retreats a year both domestically and internationally, have recently launched an Ayurvedic product line, writing an Ayurvedic guide and cookbook for women’s health, and beginning my partnership with an online platform teaching for their fitness app starting this fall! It feels a bit like being the maid of honor, the wedding planner, and the bride all at once.
I have just as much passion for my one-on-one Ayurveda clients, my private yoga students, and my home yoga studio here in Richmond, VA. Nothing is as powerful as seeing their AH-HA moments as they holistically heal themselves and take back their health sovereignty.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
PERSPECTIVE. The language around the stories we tell ourselves hold the keys to our contentment. A tropical island can be a paradise or deserted isolation depending on the perspective. Being able to zoom out, look down, and get an aerial omniscient view of your current situation can reframe it. After all, we are here and in a body (which is wild and miraculous), we should all be having the time of our lives!
GRATITUDE FOR THE PROCESS. We’ve all been through our own stuff. Big T, little t, trauma is trauma. What if all the “dark” stuff you’ve made it through are they are ways to help others with the same shadows? For me, grief is no longer an emotion, it’s a portal. “There is such thing as good grief, just ask Charlie Brown” – Michael Scott
SURRENDER. When you try to control the narrative, deviations from your story can feel frustrating. There is your plan, and then there is THE plan. They might not be in the same path, but they can lead to a similar destination. Aim for intention over expectation and then let the steps forward reveal themselves. What if everything you wish and desire is destined to arrive at exactly the moment it is meant to be?
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
When Ayurveda clients come to me, it’s typically for one of two reasons: they are curious about how to heal themselves more holistically and what the ancient wisdom of India has to say about dis-ease and equilibrium in our modern times (what has already been working for thousands of years without big pharm dictating it) OR there is a chronic ailment or illness that western medicine has deemed a “mystery”. This is how I found Ayurveda, how I healed my own lungs from blood clots after a pulmonary embolism, healed my gut when my skin stumped the doctors, and rid myself of PMS after coming off of birth control. My clients have support coming off of birth control, acid reflux medication, chronic nerve pain medication, acne medication, and even lowered their thyroid med dosage!
I also tend to attract people in female bodies who are looking to balance their hormones or manage fertility. Though Ayurveda is so much more than food and herbs, they can be used as first medicine and ultimately lead you back to health sovereignty. It works if you work it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://luumayoga.com
- Instagram: @luumayoga
- Linkedin: Parham Neal-Pishko
Image Credits
Jenny Losee
Sass and Frass Photography
Michelle Terris
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
