ANACT Graduate Testimonials
“I really enjoyed that we practiced everything we learned to our own life along the way. The most fun part for me was the cleaning and organizing of my own kitchen, labeling and putting dates on every containers, making sure my pantry is well stocked. It has made cooking more pleasurable since.
The course also emphasized cooking with open heart, love for those we cook for and mindfulness in every step of putting a meal together. That is beautiful and stayed with me.” -Marie Amram, With Your Gut in Mind
“My kitchen has become the house chapel! ANACT has given me the confidence to better care for myself and to teach others to do the same. The people in my cohorts have also become trusted friends.” -Cynthia Crumlish
“My relationship to food before ANACT was non-existent, I ate whatever was fast and convenient, which unfortunately meant eating, a lot of take out, frozen dinners, and leftovers. Eat pray love. While taking ANACT, I realized I was in a self-perpetuated cycle of nourishing my body with the wrong foods, and Divya helped me break that cycle.” -Ashina Syal
“ANACT has been a powerful source of authentic knowledge and wisdom of Ayurvedic nutrition for a modern lifestyle. I always loved home-cooked food but ANACT opened the way to variety of simple, nourishing and medicinal ways of cooking. My son loves Kitchari and “all the things with veggies”.
ANACT has been an inspiration for my work as an Ayurvedic practitioner. I am glad that I can share so much practical wisdom of healthy cooking and eating with my clients, friends and family.” -Sabira Baratbaeva, Kyrgyzstan
ANACT has changed my life in every way—my health, my relationships, my career, and my personal growth.
It transformed the way I think about food and helped me develop a deeper connection with my body. It gave me tools to better understand how food, lifestyle, and daily choices can influence how we feel, and it encouraged me to become more intentional in the way I care for myself.
Perhaps most importantly, ANACT helped me discover my passion and purpose. It opened the door to a path that I continue to walk today as an Ayurvedic chef and culinary wellness educator. -Ryann Morris, Food Brilliance
“When food becomes medicine — for body, mind, and spirit — that knowing doesn't stay private. It radiates outward. My relationship with nourishment has become more intentional and reverent, which has quietly shifted how I show up in relationship, in healing work, and in community. Sharing a meal prepared with awareness of constitution and season carries its own teaching. It has deepened my integrative practice and given my spiritual path a grounded, embodied anchor.” -Leeann Brewster, Sacred Lotus Healing
“ANACT has completely changed my life. I am now a private Ayurvedic chef in Westchester serving women who are navigating health challenges such as long COVID, breast cancer, fertility, and postpartum. In my personal life, it has helped me feel empowered to take care of myself and my family.” -Stephanie Wright, The Wright Methods
“I was already on the spiritual journey with food as a core element. Having the ANACT professional certification has led to many new cooking engagements for work, such as Panchakarma chef, retreat chef, online cooking classes and more developing all the time.” -Carol Nace, Bodhi-Ayurveda
“ANACT has touched every part of my life. While the knowledge is rooted in food, the teachings reach far beyond the kitchen.
Learning to bring presence to the way we prepare and eat our food has taught me how to bring more presence into everything I do: how I work, how I communicate, how I care for myself, and how I show up for the people I love.” -Mary Marie Goines, Nashville Ayurveda
“Whether you're contemplating taking this course for professional advancement or personal wellness, it will open you up to looking at how you nourish yourself far deeper than you have up until now. The healing and balance achieved through adding in Ayurvedic food awareness is invaluable for our own empowered food choices and ongoing health.”
-Carol Jackson, Ayuum
“The knowledge and skills I received from this training cannot be found elsewhere. The lineage from which Divya (and the guest faculty) teaches is unique and of high standards—following the guidelines showed noticeable improvements in my healing in a sustainable way. Ayurveda is not a fad; it's an ancient science that is already within me. Divya helped me rekindle this knowing. My passion for healthy food and cooking as well as my commitment to improving my health in a way that aligns with nature and MY OWN needs, made this course one of the best investments I’ve made. Of course the recipes are fantastic, but the connections I made and the support I received is also a large part of what makes ANACT so worthy.”
-Katie Eyles
“Part of my job as an Ayurvedic Health Counselor is to give sound dietary recommendations based on my patients' needs. This has allowed me to go much deeper with their recommendations beyond just food lists. It also has made it easier for me to identify what about a patients' eating habits are throwing them off balance.”
-Valerie Hwang, Intrepid Ayurveda
“The content covered is vast, even more than I anticipated being exposed to. Divya, Kat and Katie (faculty) are just amazing. I so appreciated getting to see Divya in action in the kitchen, honored to witness her commitment to her spiritual practice and she had SO much knowledge to share. Kat and Katie's dedication to the logistics of the program and making sure students were taken care of was felt and very much appreciated.”
-Yvonne
“The community, the wealth of knowledge that was shared by all the instructors and assistants. The inspiration to take ownership of our health and lose the fear to become more creative in the kitchen. The value of food as medicine.”
-Angelica
“[I loved] the professionalism of the instructors and course assistants, the amount of material we covered, meeting and exchanging with other students. [I’ve taken away] 1) knife skills: changing the way I hold the knife and cut 2) the assignment to notice the virya and vipaka of an ingredient. I found myself doing that today as I was eating to become more aware of those qualities from my own experience. This takes some slowing down and being aware of the food I am eating - and eating in silence appreciating the food and digestion experience… If you are tempted to enroll in this course, do it! It is a rich course on many levels.”
-Devi
“This is an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in the field of Ayurveda in a pure and true form. ANACT Foundations offers not only fundamentals of Ayurvedic cooking, but an understanding of Ayurveda broadly and why it matters so much what we put into our bodies! Incredible knowledge from Divya and instructors including Kat and Katie, the community, a new style of cooking, understanding of what to do and what NOT to do in the kitchen, inspiration to keep moving forward”
-Christine
“[I loved] so many things... where to begin? Love Divya, Katie, Kat, other faculty and students, learning structure, lessons/material covered, live cooking demos, ability to watch recordings when attending live was not possible, amazing recipes, Ayurvedic kitchen set-up info, Q&A sessions, no facebook required, the list goes on... This is a beautiful, soulful, and life-changing learning experience.”
-Heather
“I keep my food list handy and think about the ingredients I am using and if it is to my benefit that day for how I am feeling! I try and think outside the box when it comes to recipes which is good. [If you’re considering joining ANACT], do it! Be prepared to really learn and change the way you look at food!”
-Shuba E