The Just Being Team

Executive Director

I joined Just Being as a student of Mindfulness based Listening course and felt connected to the welcoming and accepting place that it is. While at work, I love to engage my creative side, 'figure things out', optimize processes and basically get my hands dirty. Before Just Being, I have worked with Teach for India where I enjoyed teaching and connecting with teenagers; designed and facilitated learning spaces for personal growth of young adults. As an aeronautical engineering graduate, I have worked briefly with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd as well.

Head (Adjunct), Delhi Chapter

To me, each day of life is about building and rebuilding a bridge, to this place within myself that I call home. A place as cosy as a womb and as vast as eternity, embracing me and everyone, as we are, where we are. Building this bridge, finding my way home is not a one-time accomplishment. It is more like a daily prayer, a meditation - sacred, committed, unambitious yet trusting fully.

Often it feels like hard toil, at other times it is as joyful as playing with a child and sometimes as restful as a baby sleeping. Whichever way it is, it isn’t a mundane experience. It takes all of me and sometimes, when the weather is very stormy, it also requires a compassionate other, willing to accompany me, holding hands, walking together.

I have been blessed to experience this connection at various points in my life’s journey, sometimes with family or friends and at other times with the community at Just Being. I feel blessed to be able to extend this connection to others, in my role as a Mindfulness Based Counselor. I am based in Delhi I am currently pursuing the course on Mindfulness & Presence Oriented Psychotherapy at Just Being.

I also work in the area of strengthening leadership in education and child development. My educational background includes a Master’s degree in social work and a doctoral degree in education. My wish is `May all have well-being. May all be home.

Accounts Manager

As a student of the ‘Mindfulness Based Counseling: Listening with Embodied Presence’ course, I instantaneously got drawn into the kind and accepting energy, that the space and the team of ‘Just Being’, offers. The earthy aura of the classroom and my diverse classmates turned into a beloved community “who came together with Mindfulness, Compassion and Wisdom”. In this environment I am deeply connected with the aspect of ‘Wholeness’, that we all have a deep inherent capacity to know, love, connect and no life experience can take that capacity away from us.

My love for social psychology and community fieldwork and my continual interest in the area of mental health, brought me in touch with the Just Being Center. My workspace environment allows me to naturally rope in my organisational skills and my love to work with people. I look into individual, group and corporate counselling services; coordination with regard to online mindfulness circles and workshops; and the daily internal management systems at Just Being.

I have pursued a Masters in Sociology from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration from Indo German Training Centre. With an overall work experience of ten years, I worked as an accredited Sociologist in the area of Environmental Impact Assessment for a renowned consultancy organisation in Kolkata, for seven years.

I love to look out from the Center’s balcony, where the beautiful green trees soothes my vision, where I hear the rustles of the Tibetan flags in the cool breeze and my eyes look up to the slow effortless flight of the eagles. In moments like these, I feel I listen to the words of the universe “when we take something from the ‘Whole’ that too is ‘Whole’”

Training Operations Lead

After pursuing my studies in Business Management and an early career in the retail sector, I began to explore my curiosities in yoga, contact improvisation, and other body-mind movement modalities. I am a certified yoga teacher and teach relaxation techniques for a vaginismus support group program. I also completed a Diploma in Sustainable Living from Bhoomi College, Bangalore. I was part of the Mindfulness-Based Listening course of 2021-22 with Just Being.

Counseling and Organizational Programs Coordinator

Arriving at Just Being was a Home Coming for me.

Supported by a consistent mindfulness practice, continued learning and a queer-affirmative perspective, I am deeply committed to fostering an inclusive environment, meeting at the intersection, where all identities and experiences are honored through the counseling/listening spaces I offer.

My journey from being a Field Engineer to a Teach For India Alumni and into the field of Psychology, has supported me in coming closer to the qualities of being, seeing the world from a lens of interconnectedness and compassionately extending this knowing into the listening spaces.

I have assisted two batches of the Mindfulness based Listening with Embodied Presence course by Just Being Center and currently supporting the supervision spaces for the participants of the course. I have also been actively engaged with the Training and Peer Mentoring at Connecting Trust, which is a non-judgmental, non-advisory listening service for those feeling low, distressed and/or suicidal.

Events Coordinator

Gaayatri Damle is an accomplished professional with a strong academic foundation, holding a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and a Master's degree in International Business from one of the top business schools in France. Having played Marketing and Communications roles in India, Switzerland and Middle East in Corporates , Gaayatri brings in a lot of vigour and organised skillset. With a keen interest in the intersection of business strategy and human behaviour, she is deeply intrigued by the complexities of the human mind and psychology.

Beyond her professional and academic pursuits, Gaayatri has been dedicated to the practice of Pranic Healing for several years, exploring its profound impact on well-being and energy balance. Her passion for understanding human consciousness and psychological intricacies continues to drive her curiosity and personal growth. She is also actively associated with Connecting Trust for a cause of Suicide Prevention and Mental Health.

Research & Content Coordinator

I began my journey as a mental health social worker at The Banyan (Chennai), working at the intersections of homelessness, gender, poverty, and the resulting psychosocial distress and disability. Over the years, I have worked in mental health care as a counsellor, facilitator, and researcher across community settings, including schools and clinics in Chennai and New Delhi.

Discovering mindfulness and presence at Just Being was a turning point for me. It deeply resourced me during intense care work, expanding my sense of inner silence, listening and connection with others. I found great courage and curiosity to know myself, slowly and sometimes surprisingly- feeling human in a relatively fuller sense. Simone Weil’s words, “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” resonate deeply with me and guide and ground my work as a person and mental health professional.

I am trained in therapeutic approaches such as presence-oriented psychotherapy, narrative therapy, solution-focused brief therapy amongst others, with a particular interest in working with adolescents and young adults. Additionally, I am committed to research that fosters conversations on preventive mental health and contributes to making mental health care more accessible and affordable in low resource communities.

At Just Being, I find joy in alternating between research, brainstorming ideas, and dreaming/meditating. In my free time, I run, swim, and experiment with food!