Cohort 2
Winter 2022
Sailaja Devaguptapu is a published poet, writer and researcher, wellness facilitator, designing and developing courses on Health Humanities; a practitioner and trainer of Heartfulness; and an organizer and trainer for programs and workshops related to wellness, arts, writing & poetry in the context of healthcare and mental health.
Interview with Sailaja
April 2023
What communities do you work with in your daily life?
Students of health and allied sciences, wellness enthusiasts, seekers of spirituality and everyone in general.
What's something that's inspiring your writing these days?
Everything! Nature, love, silence, solitude, wisdom, wholesomeness, health, illness, unity, simplicity, humility, humanity, divinity and so on!
What one thing has stuck with you most from your Certified Listener Poet experience?
Strong resonance with my cohort and course facilitators, continued connection through the Community of Practice (Alumni group).
Is there anything else you want people to know about you?
I love capturing the soul of conversations and interactions as a poem and serving it as a source of inspiration and meaningful connection for the poemee. Typically, by channeling it as a love letter from the Universe, from their higher self to their younger self by tuning myself into the void of nothingness.
Gray Davidson Carroll is a transfemme writer, educator, public health researcher, and (self-proclaimed) hot chocolate connoisseur.
Avni Vyas is a poet and professor living in Florida. She is the author of Little God (Burrow Press, 2021)
Dawn M. Schocken is the Director for the Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation.
Salaam Green is the Founder of Literary Healing Arts, a Consultant, and Artist in Residence.
Zina Mercil is the Director of Coach Development, a counselor, and body psychotherapist.
LaShaune Johnson is a public health professor, breast cancer survivor/advocate, and culturally responsive evaluator.
Sailaja Devaguptapu is a published poet, writer and researcher, wellness facilitator, designing and developing courses on Health Humanities.
Kelsey D. Mahaffey is a non-profit leader working to educate and engage communities in the All of Us Research Program from the National Institutes of Health.