Teacher Feature

Daniel Bastacky is a Perfect Health instructor in Atlanta, Georgia. In this month’s Teacher Feature, Daniel describes the experiences that led him to the Chopra Center’s Teacher’s Path.

In 2001, I went to Birmingham, Alabama, to hear Deepak Chopra discuss Grow Younger, Live Longer, the book in which he and David Simon describe the steps to reversing your biological age. Two months later I decided to experience the Ayurvedic treatment Panchakarma, and it was life-changing.

I did a ten-day preparation followed by three days of Panchakarma. The treatments were wonderful and profound – including the two-therapist Abhyanga and Pizzichilli massages, the Shirodhara warm oil treatment, bastis, the Swedana herbal steam cleansing, personalized yoga instruction, and the incredible sound therapy using singing bowls.

At the end of the three days I was glowing! I had more energy than I knew what to do with and I came up with my vision of how I would like to see Ayurveda practiced. It was such a powerful, transformative experience that I decided I needed to learn all I could about Ayurveda and become a Chopra Center educator.

The following year I took the Perfect Health teacher training, became a Chopra-certified instructor, and began teaching my first class at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Birmingham. My first class had eleven students, including three doctors. I learned a lot about teaching that first time out and continue to refine my teaching style.

In 2004 I had the opportunity to teach massage students at the Georgia Career Institute in Conyers. They had just started an Asian Studies program and wanted Ayurveda to be part of it. I’ve now taught the Perfect Health course to more than 175 massage student at the Career Institute. I also teach Ayurveda and mind-body healing at medical centers and yoga centers in the Atlanta area.

For the past four years, my passion has been to refine my skills in sound healing. This includes working with crystal singing bowls, as both a meditation tool and as a bodywork tool for massage treatments. The bowls send pure sound deep within the body, relaxing the muscles and inducing alpha brainwave activity.

I continue to be inspired by the work of Dr. Chopra and the Chopra Center. My love for Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, and healing sound grows as my practice and understanding of these ancient tools deepens.

Daniel Bastacky
Perfect Health instructor
Atlanta, Georgia
Email: dsbastacky@comcast.net