Welcome to Banyan Body!

At Banyan, we recognize that personal transformation takes place on many levels. As people begin to meditate and explore their "inner" being, they often feel inspired and ready to make healthy changes in their "outer" being. Banyan Body seeks to inspire health, radiance, strength and wellbeing within the physical body.

Anyone who seriously walks the spiritual path knows the importance of having a healthy strong body. The body is our vehicle for service, the crucible in which our inner transformations take place. Along with our meditation trainings, workshops and retreats, we also provide access to excellent New York based physical trainers, body-workers and holistic health practitioners who share our values and who recognize not only the body, but the soul within the body too. All of the practitioners we recommend are of the highest quality and have been personally "sampled" by Harshada and his team.

"Love Your Body" Personal Training

There are many kinds of personal fitness training available in New York City. For many people a "boot camp" or "no pain no gain" mentality just doesn't work. Similar to meditation training, many people begin fitness training because they feel like they "should" and then give up again and again because they really don't enjoy it. Often the drive to get in shape comes from a feeling of shame or unhappiness with our physical body. Sometimes physical exercise is like a punishment for being out of shape. We created Love Your Body to provide an alternative way for people to bring out the innate strength and beauty of their body.

Love Your Body is a highly individualized approach taking into consideration all aspects of an individual. You will be challenged but you won't be pushed. You will learn to exercise as a means to love your body back into it's optimum state of health and bring out its capacity to heal itself and express the best in the world. Over time, your overall wellness baseline will improve. You'll look better, eat better, feel better and live better. Every session combines a deep personalized "workout" with a deep stretching and relaxation period. There's no "chit chat". A quiet check in leads directly into the heart of the deeply focused session. This program is especially suitable for people currently in meditation training.

Love Your Body sessions are conducted by "Kalima" Karen Harvey. Kalima is an accomplished dancer and choreographer classically trained in contemporary dance and personal training. She has been studying meditation with Harshada since 2004 and recently graduated from Banyan's Spiritual Leadership Training program. Formally a top-level personal trainer at Equinox gyms, Kalima now offers training in the privacy of your home or in our convenient Soho location. Kalima combines a no-nonsense technical approach to training with a genuine compassion and sensitivity to induvidual needs. Love Your Body sessions focus a great deal on allignment and are appropriate for people with all body types and levels of physical fitness. Therapeutic concerns such as injuries or illnesses are taken into consideration and inform the program Kalima designs.

For any further information or to book a Love Your Body session, email Kalima directly.

Other Services

We have an extensive list of doctors, chiropractors, dentists, healers, bodyworkers, yoga instructors, and other holisitic wellness providers.

Please email us if you have any requests.