Inspired Guidance | Wayfinding

What do you mean by this inspired guidance/wayfinding stuff? good questioN!

My Inspired Guidance/Wayfinding work is about exploring issues and accessing solutions from inside ourselves. It involves tapping into our innate sense of clarity and wisdom to navigate the decision points, curve balls, challenges and general stressors life can bring our way. This also involves helping to release blocks, promote flow, and restore balance and harmony by addressing the unseen layers of one’s being and wellbeing - emotional, mental and/or spiritual aspects. Finally, the grief support work involves creating and holding a loving space to potentially connect with a loved one who has passed or deep feelings associated with the experience.

Work in this area can look like - 1-on-1 Guidance (Recurring Issues, Visioning, Grief Support, etc) Sessions/Consultations that support the Body, Mind and Soul, Reiki+ Healing Sessions, Primordial Sound Meditation Instruction, and Group Meditation Sessions.

To make this a bit more real, I’ve worked with some beautiful and brave people (bc it takes courage to look at ourselves and be open to this) to:

  • take a deeper look at family and relationship issues

  • address stress & anxiety

  • get unstuck from old patterns and behaviors

  • gain clarity on larger life questions or unresolved issues

  • learn tools and techniques to improve awareness, inner peace, and intuition (e.g. meditation, types of breathing)

  • work through grief by connecting to loved ones who have passed on

If you’re interested in connecting and doing a session, the first step would be to schedule a 20 min chat to explore what that might look like.

my approach

I have adopted the term Inspired Guidance/Wayfinding for two reasons.

  1. One name doesn’t capture all the tools I work with. There’s a lot of learning, practice, and experiences I bring to these sessions from different modalities and traditions. They include - different types of meditation, breathwork and movement learning/training (Vipassana, Primordial Sound Meditation, Qigong, Somatic Regulation); energy work and transmissions/alignments (initiation as a Reiki Master, energetic transmissions from teachers etc), and other gifts that are hard to name and attribute other than to - happenings along the way, my Ancestors and the Universe.

  2. The terms “wellness” and “mindfulness” are helpful in pointing to certain spaces, but I feel they are being used so much that the energy and meaning behind those terms are fading. “Inspired or Inspire” feels expansive. I learned it comes from Latin roots that means “to breath or blow into,” and what emerges and unfolds from that. That really says it all. That’s the magic we’re tapping into in these sessions.

From my own journey, I strongly believe we all have unique and extraordinary gifts and abilities to share. We're also ALL born with the tools we need to take care of ourselves, each other and thrive. The world and life has convinced us otherwise but it’s still there. My deep intention is that folks who work with me walk away with some awarebess that amazing things live within them.

REFLECTIONS ON THIS WORK FROM THOSE I HAVE WORKED WITH

“Malini introduced me to meditation during the toughest time of my life and it has become an invaluable tool for managing anxiety and unwanted thoughts. She provided personalized guidance and led me through all the meditation sessions. I can now use the tool whenever I need to refocus and regulate my emotions, thanks to Malini’s compassionate and supportive approach to meditation.” - Angie Wong

"Malini is a gift to anyone who is open to her healing powers. I had previously done reiki work and did not receive any benefit from it. It turns out, all you need is someone who truly has the talent to do reiki well. Despite the non-invasive touches of reiki, after a session with Malini, I come out feeling re-energized and rejuvenated. It was some kind of magic. After my father passed away, I went through grief counseling which was extremely helpful. A few years later, Malini sheepishly shared that she would be able to help connect me with my father as she had been feeling called to let me know this. I thought it sounded cuckoo but I trusted Malini as a long-time friend so I told her I would be open to it. Over the next week prior to our zoom session, I would get text messages from Malini giving me details about my father I had never shared with her. I was intrigued. During our session, Malini gave me the greatest gift - that of feeling like I was hearing from and directly communicating with my father. I felt such freedom after that session and I will forever be grateful." - Almira Torralba Baker

“Malini's warm, grounded presence and deep intuitive wisdom supported me to recognize, disentangle and release deep emotional bonds which were no longer serving me. With her skilled guidance, I was empowered to go deeper to transmute this stuck energy and become more aligned with my true nature. I feel deeply grateful for having an intuitive guide like Malini. I can't recommend her services enough.” — Stacey Martin

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • It depends. Do you have an earnest desire to go deeper within yourself to explore and find solutions? Can you stay open to the possibilities - expected and unexpected? If you’re willing to go deeper with true openness, compassion and curiosity for yourself, the experience and be OK with not “knowing” in advance - then it’s time to connect. If there’s an open heart and genuine curiosity, we can definitely give it a go.

    If you’re somewhat interested, pretty skeptical and need convincing, I totally get it but this may not be for you…..yet. 😉 It will likely be a waste of time and resources for both of us. The beauty of this wild place is that we’re all unique, and there are thousands of supportive approaches out there that can resonate with who we are and what we need at any given moment. I hope you find something that will help you bust out as the bad-ass rockstar that you are. And sometimes these things work on their own timing. So take that time, and take care of yourself. The world is a better place when we are able to take that care of ourselves.

  • Great and important question. We start with a shorter call to connect and explore your needs and/or things you might want to dive deeper into. Based on this, we can talk through what type of session/s might make most sense. A session can be conducted online, over the phone, or in some cases - in person. Timing of sessions vary based on the needs that emerge.

  • During

    It depends on the type of work that is done. For example, guidance in meditation and other mindful tools is pretty straightforward where there will likely be some sharing and practice. Other sessions might involve some initial sharing, and then sitting in presence where you may be asked to breathe, relax and stay open. With most people, I ask that you wear comfortable clothing, and if working virtually, find a quiet corner in your space where outside disturbances are less likely. It’s also helpful to limit distractions with devices, etc., to make the most of the time together.

    After

    This is also dependent on the session. With deeper work it’s pretty normal for thoughts, insights, feelings, sensations in the body to emerge and pass through. I invite you to simply observe them with gentleness, curiosity and openness. It’s also possible you don’t feel anything and that’s fine too! I do always recommend drinking plenty of water after and staying hydrated to keep your system moving.

  • A very important question for most folks. This is a tricky space for me because I seek to find a balance between honoring and valuing what I bring AND the strong belief that this work should be accessible to everyone who is interested. That said, for now I’m inspired to adapt a Pay What You Can model that S.N. Goenka (the teacher of the Dhamma Dhara technique of Vipassana meditation course I attended) uses. You can pay what works for you and hopefully aligned with the value/benefits it has provided. And don’t worry - I can provide a suggested donation range or you can look it up on the AI search of your choice! 😜

MY JOURNEY THUS FAR

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

Its kind of funny I landed in this world given my early years. My immigrant parents with roots in Kerala, India were/are (?) on the agnostic spectrum, holiday Hindus at best, who both pretty much believed religious, caste-based, and related-spiritual dogma have caused more harm than good in the world. Heck - my dad would often jokingly ask - “What is God spelled backwards?” So though I was a deeply feeling kid with a fascination with big, unknown and seemingly morbid questions like death - I was never able to linger and ponder such things for too long. Yet, interestingly enough and now looking back, my mother’s love for the land and gardens, my dad’s silly, made-up stories about our “alien” upbringing, and the basic values of respect, kindness and integrity they modeled with others, came from a deeper place that embedded in me.

Fast forward through life adventures with depression (and suicide ideation), anxiety, being told I was too sensitive for the world, unhealthy family dynamics, challenging and recurring work triggers, and then getting married and feeling the loss of identity and the weight of cultural expectations. The accumulated weight of what I was carrying led me to begin exploring those deeper and bigger questions again. These questions along with nudges and sometimes a frying-pan-to-the-head approach from the Universe opened up a new world. Over time I came to realize that - there is so much more to me and this world than my limiting thoughts, beliefs and expectations/pressures we allow into our life.

This awareness inspired me to lean into the learning, experiences and tools I mentioned, and a budding desire to support and share what I was receiving with others. Though the ride has been expansive and magical and translated to beautiful things, it has also broken me open and forced me to look at hard things along the way like recalling sexual abuse experience as a child, addressing unhealthy conditioning and relationships, health “projects” (an awesome QiGong teacher Daisy Lee introduced this framing) that forced me to release pent up emotions, and letting go and standing in my truth even when it feels lonely. I’m glad to be on the other side of many of those things. But the wild part is - for all the bumps, I'm grateful to be walking this path. I also believe that I wouldn’t be able to be of service to others in the same kind of way if I wasn’t a fellow traveler myself.

Growing up and into ourselves is really limitless in how deep and wide we can go, and what we might learn along the way.

ETERNAL gratitude and respecT

namaskaram, and my eternal gratitude and respect for all those earthly (and beyond) formal, informal and unlikely teachers and guides that have and continue to support me on my journey with this work. S.n. goenka, panache desai, robert peng, reya mellicker, LINDA THAI, my grandmothers, beloved goddesses, son and even pup gopi, are but a few of what feels like a village of educators that drop lessons and magic at the perfect times. great love to all those dear ones in my circles who hold space and share love, light, and learning when I need it. and finally because we are all always learning, growing and healing - i am so grateful to those who work with me, put their trust in me, and affirm that we liberate each other through our work together.

🙏🏾💗💓✨

important notes on care and privacy

The support and approaches I offer are designed to complement, and do not replace, the care and services offered by quality healthcare professionals for serious physical or psychological conditions. Every session is tailored to the individual, and it may not be the best fit for everyone. If you are facing urgent or emergency concerns, please seek immediate assistance from a qualified care provider or emergency services.