Khushi Malhotra

Age: 27

Home Town: Philadelphia, PA

Education: MPH Social & Behavioral Health, MSW Clinical, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; BA Biology/Anthropology, New York University, NY

Specific Field Interests: Child Development, Yoga & Meditation, Community Capacity Building, Salutogenesis, Spirituality

Placement: Ashram Paryavaran Vidyalaya, Anjanisain, Uttarakhand

Area of Focus: Education

Highlights: Indian heritage and American opportunities have defined Khushi's integration of philosophies that span continents. She is honored to return to India in the spirit of seva to share the knowledge she gained from these incredible opportunities. After graduating from college, Khushi's conversations with her grandmother led her to the Himalayan Institute where she served as a Herbal Apprentice for 1.5 years, studying Ayurveda, Yoga, Meditation, and the Cultivation of Medicinal Herbs and Healing. After falling in love with meditation, Khushi became certified to teach these practices to others. Since living in Philadelphia, she earned two Masters with the intent to bring Mindfulness to underserved communities through research and practice. In Philly, she formed Finding Freedom Within, a social service organization that combines traditional modalities with meditation and yoga for incarcerated individuals, drug rehab, at-risk schools, and traumatized children at the UPenn Center for Youth and Family Trauma. Khushi also served as a public health researcher and writer in her time at Temple University in the areas of parenting and teacher well-being. She is a dancer, gardener, artist and aspiring mountaineer, and one day hopes to follow in her grandfather's footsteps to learn the sitar.