82: Dr. Puja Shah - A Dharma-Filled Journey from Dentist to Award-Winning Author, Meditation Teacher, Philanthropist, Mom and Much More

This episode is a first in Untether Your Life history, in bringing on a husband and wife duo. On the heels of my interview with Amish Shah in 2023, I'm proud to release my discussion with his wife, the incredibly insightful Dr. Puja Shah.

Puja is a visionary poet who shares her voice through written and spoken word, guided meditations, and teaching. Born in Queens, New York to immigrant parents, she defied teachers who questioned her English skills by winning countless poetry and short story awards in her youth.

With over 10 years of nonprofit experience and a long public health career, she has pivoted careers to follow her passion for writing and created a campaign aligned with girls rights awareness causes for her triple award winning novel, For My Sister.

Puja holds a D.M.D. doctorate degree and has completed multiple training courses in yoga, meditation and ancient wisdom. She teaches corporate mindfulness guided meditations and is currently president of The Shah Education and Exploration Foundation, 501c3. For My Sister is her first novel.

Puja and I touched on so many amazing topics in our far-ranging interview, including:

• The meaning of the Paulo Coelho quote "we will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen"
• How the Buddhist practice of Vipassana or "seeing things as they really are" can help us question default stress management behaviors like alcohol or social media
• The impact of Puja's award-winning book For My Sister in shining a light on the dark practices of human trafficking in India and other parts of the world.
• The lessons of Puja's book on intuition, the duality that exists in all of us, and the benefits of following our dharma
• How serving underprivileged girls' communities in India and Uganda pushed Puja to reconnect with her life-long passion for storytelling
• Puja's journey from a lucrative but unfulfilling career in private practice dentistry and in government, to teaching children in India and Uganda, to teaching yoga, launching a 501(c)(3) non-profit and finally as a award-winning author
• The impact of COVID-19 in allowing Puja to "press pause" on life, reassess, and also attend multiple writers' events virtually
• The importance of community (or "sangha") in Puja's journey, notably The Chai Mommas group that she co-founded
• How Alka Joshi, who wrote her book, The Henna Artist, at age 60, provided inspiration to Puja and her fellow "chai mommas"
• How a "safe" career with high salary, benefits, and stability serves as "golden handcuffs" can prevent us from realizing our true dharma, or calling.
• Puja's impactful experience with plant medicine, which helped her connect with her true essence

Find out more about Puja's incredible journey and work by visiting her Websites, puja-shah.com and formysisterbook.com. You can also connect with her on Instagram at psnamaste, or check out her guided meditations on Spotify or other streaming platforms under psnamaste.

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