The awakening of the sacred body: Training in Ayurveda and Balinese massage

My name is Alice Asti and I was born in the mountains of Giaveno in 1993. Ever since I was a child, nature, animals, travel and serving others through cooking have nourished my curiosity and my love for life. After studying education and working for years in the family restaurant business, I learned the value of hospitality and caring for others. But I felt that something was missing: an invisible thread connecting body, mind and spirit. I found that thread in Ayurveda. My journey began with massage and the ancient traditions of the Turkish bath, then was enriched by the study of Ayurveda, until I met Janani, where I completed my training in 2023. Today, I bring Ayurveda into my daily life and work, intertwining it with Ayurvedic cuisine, sound therapy and ritual care for women. After experiences in hotels in Trentino Alto Adige and a trip to Indonesia that opened me up to other cultures of the body and soul, I found my voice as a teacher of massage and Ayurvedic cuisine, gently passing on what I have learned: that care begins with oneself, and from there expands like a perfume that embraces everything.

My name is Ilaria Palmas. I was born in Turin in 1981, but my roots are in Sardinia — a land of silence, wind and memory — and my heart beats to the rhythm of India, where I rediscovered my essence. With a degree in Art History, I worked in the world of museums and culture, eventually becoming Project Manager of the Turin Book Fair. But behind my intense and rational life, I felt a more subtle calling, a longing for the sacred. A migraine forced me into silence, and from that silence came my encounter with Ayurveda: the science of life that healed me, brought me back to the world and taught me to listen to my body as a temple and an instrument of knowledge. In India, I studied Ayurveda, Kundalini Yoga, Odissi and Kuchipudi classical dance, and the martial art of Kalari. I lived in a small village where the women showed me the simple power of care: cooking, plants, birth, touch, life renewing itself. From them, I learned that healing means remembering who we are. Back in Italy, I chose to carry this wisdom in my hands and heart: today I accompany women during pregnancy and postpartum, collaborating with midwives and teaching Shantala massage for newborns. As a music-frequency counsellor, I explore vibration as a subtle healing tool. Over time, my research has intertwined with two luminous paths: the Harmonium, which I play as a sacred and therapeutic instrument, capable of uniting breath, voice and heart. In treatments and rituals, sound becomes medicine, a song that melts and awakens. Jyotish, Vedic Astrology, which for me is the natural continuation of Ayurveda. I study and practise Jyotish as a path of light — a science that reveals the deep connection between the movements of the cosmos and the inner pulsations of the human being. Jyotish allows me to unite heaven and earth, to read the energy of the moment and harmonise it with the body, sound and breath.