
ROOTS & INFLUENCES
Pooja is ROOTED by the wisdom and ritual traditions of her homeland, Kerala, India. She is grateful to all her teachers (not all named) in the living arts & beyond, and to the perennial transmissions of Jungle/Forest, Plant, Flower, Bird, Serpent, Moss, Wind, Rain, River and Ocean.
direct learning / transmissions
indirect learning / influences
COSMOLOGY
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Dravidian ANIMIST & SHAKTA cosmology
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INDIAN & TIBETAN Mahayana (Kagyu) BUDDHISM
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ADVAITA lineage of Narayana Guru
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VIPASSANA Meditation
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Thich Nhat Hanh
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Pema Chodron
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Taoist 5-Element cosmology
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J Krishnamurti
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Ramana Maharshi
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Rumi
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Eric Fromm
RITUAL
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Expanded FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS
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BODY RITUAL MOVEMENT / Diego Piñon
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Vinaya Chaithanya - Sanskrit/ Malayalam chanting
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Maldoma Somé
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Martín Prechtel
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Sobunfu Somé
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Victor Turner
LIBERATION WORK
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INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ECOLOGY
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Vandana Shiva
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SOMATIC ABOLITIONISM / Resmaa Menakem
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bell hooks
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Audre Lorde
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Arundhati Roy
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Joanna Macy
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John Holt
PERFORMANCE
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Karen Beaumont - Body Mind Centering/ Linklater voice/ Lecoq mask
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Jane Nichols - Lecoq clown
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Nirmala Paniker /NATANA KAISIKI - Mohiniyattam, Thiruvathirakali
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Atsushi Takenouchi - JINEN Butoh
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Padayani, Teyyam, Mudiyettu, Kudiyattam
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G. Venu
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Pina Bausch
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Kazu Ohno
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Joan Jonas
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Blondell Cumming
ECOLOGY
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The Wild
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SARANG land-school
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working on farms; living off-grid
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20 years of apprenticing with herbal plants
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Permaculture design
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Masanabou Fukouka
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Susun Weed
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Jean Leidlof
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Georgia O'Keefe
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Eliot Cowan
FEMINISMS
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uncountable Great Ladies
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Diana Di Prima
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Riane Eisler
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Ntozake Shange
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Julia Cameron
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Jalaja Bonheim
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V
HEALING
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Solitary Retreats
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Wounds
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enteogens
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extraordinary healers
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shadow healers
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Ceremonial Doula Immersion
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Randine Lewis
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Lorie Eve Dechar
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Tami Kent
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Dr. Vasant Lad
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Maya Tiwari
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María Sabina
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Peter Levine
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Gabor Maté



'Photos: Katie Whittmore / Pooja Prema /
'V is for Victory' - photo Jeanny Tsai; w/ Cynthia Alberto