Jackie Christensen Ph.D. (Watsonville, CA) is an Ayurveda Health Consultant and owner of Practice Ayurveda. In addition to her private practice in Santa Cruz, she teach classes at Cabrillo College and Mount Madonna Institute of Ayurveda, and also serves as a faculty member for the Northern Star Academy of Holistic Studies and Kingdom College of Natural Health. Christensen previously served as a faculty member for the Global College of Natural Medicine and Vancouver Island College of Natural Wellness from 2005-2012, where she trained students to become nutritional consultants, herbalists, and holistic health practitioners. Christensen graduated from Mount Madonna Institute of Ayurveda Master program and earned a Ph.D. in Natural Medicine from the Global College of Natural Medicine.Christensen's passion is integrating natural health and education to help people understand how they can improve their unique mind-body type; she believes that people can make simple changes to their diet and lifestyle to eliminate the root cause of disease and heal the body. Her goal as a holistic health provider is to reinvigorate the body and remove toxins that are blocking vital energy; aid the body in its natural course toward healing; assess the whole person, not just the symptoms and search for the underlying causes for imbalance. Christensen believes that humans are individuals and each one is influenced by a multitude of factors including diet, exercise, genetics, attitudes and spiritual beliefs. Everyone is unique and each illness reflects an issue that is exclusive to that person. She is committed to using a wide variety of healing modalities and lifestyle options to help people utilize their internal resources, begin the healing process, and strengthen the mind, body, spirit connection.https://www.practiceayurveda.com/The author lives and works in the Santa Cruz metro area.