Nadya Pohran grew up in Ottawa and started meditating at a very young age—though she did not know it was called “meditating”, at the time. In 2008 she was introduced to a form of Christian contemplative meditation (St. Ignatius) and in 2010 she travelled to South East Asia to learn more about Buddhism. It was in India, in 2012, when studying Jainism (a religion renown for its emphasis on non-violence) that she began to dive more deeply into spiritual and contemplative practices. Her current spiritual practices draw deeply from a variety of religious traditions, and also spiritual traditions outside of religious institutions, such as a love for thought-provoking poetry and the wisdom of nature.
She eventually went on to pursue a PhD in religious studies at the University of Cambridge, during which she was fortunate enough to live in an ashram in India for about a year and speak with others about their spiritual practices. After finishing her PhD project on community and belonging, she spent several months in Rishikesh, where she became a certified Yoga Teacher and Sound Healer.
Nadya is grateful for her spiritual teachers who have introduced her to the many practices in which she partakes, and to the friends and community who challenge, encourage, and deepen her own commitment to living a spiritually-oriented life. Nadya is always excited and honoured when she can teach about spirituality, such as when she taught an undergraduate course called Introduction to Contemplative Well Being at the University of Ottawa. As an academic, Nadya has always prioritized pursuing research and teaching that resonate with her own way-of-being in the world.
Nadya and her partner live in Ottawa. They both love kayaking, cycling, adding to their wealth of house plants, and finding new interesting topics to learn about.