About                                  

Credentials

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in NY State, #010095

  • Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), in CA State, #LPCC12116

  • 250-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certificate (Yoga Alliance),
    Yoga Limbs, Hong Kong, 2010

  • Ed.M. & M.A. Psychological Counseling, Columbia University, NYC, 2012

Nira (she/her/hers) is a South Asian licensed psychotherapist and registered yoga instructor, with 12 years of clinical experience. Nira has worked NYC, in clinical and research areas of international trauma, substance abuse, child protection, and social work. With a passion in humanitarian work and reaching vulnerable communities, Nira also spent several years working with refugees across sub-Saharan Africa and northern Thailand with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), focusing on child protection, sexual and gender based violence, and psychosocial support.

No matter who her client is, Nira has noticed a commonality: resilience. She has aligned her therapeutic orientations and styles to match what she truly believes can help clients heal and evolve— a combination of cognitive-behavioral and holistic methods.

After getting certified in an Iyengar-based yoga teacher training in 2010, Nira began to see the world of yoga differently. The good— yoga’s connection to mental wellness is clear and increasingly supported by science. The bad— the colonialization and capitalistic underpinnings of the world of yoga. Fad variations and a lack of diversity and inclusion in yoga spaces cause even greater divergence from it’s origins and make it feel unwelcoming to those who do fit the “yoga look”.

In light of this, Nira decided to adopt a teaching approach that returns to yoga’s authentic intention— a self development practice that excludes the ego.  Eliminating comparison and performative pressure to be "good" at yoga, Nira encourages students to view yoga as their own practice, one that starts wherever they are at, and is possible despite one’s size, shape, or ability. She also works to integrate cultural competence into yoga spaces and create accessibility for QTPOC and marginalized communities.

Over time, Nira has deepened her understanding, training and personal practices with the mindfulness and compassion tenets of yoga and incorporates these into services.

Nira is passionate about continually evolving—as a clinician, instructor, student, and human.