THE THREAD
I'm Gaja
the heart & creative spirit of PREM CHANDRA
My path into this work began amidst noise. In the constant chatter of a mind looking for footing, working with my hands became a way of staying – a way to slow down and remain present when my instinct was to retreat.
Cooking with plants, and meeting them as living material, drew me into a dialogue with the natural world – one that, over time, turned inward, toward my own body, my cycles, and the parts of myself I had learned to look away from. The longer I stayed, the more the noise within me softened into a clearer sense of knowing.
This is why, for me, creativity is not separate from healing – it is the lens for meeting, understanding and navigating life. I see us all as artists, shaping the stories of our lives. Healing is part of that making – a creative act of uncovering, rearranging and reimagining ourselves after life breaks us open.
PREM CHANDRA is born from this understanding – as a shared journey, and a quiet act of walking each other home.
A way of being
The practices I return to – food, photography, poetry – have each taught me to stay with my experience as it unfolds, shaping how I hold space for others.
In all I do, I approach nature as a living intelligence that teaches through change, repetition, decay, and renewal. Paying attention outward – to plants, land, cycles, and material – draws me inward too: to the body, to memory, to what is usually overlooked.
Cooking with plants is where this relationship becomes most intimate – translating emotions and memory into tangible form. Like a perishable sculpture, it is fleeting by nature, yet leaves a lasting imprint on body and heart.
Photography and poetry extend this gesture – bearing witness to what passes, suspending it in time.
In my work with others, I do not seek to resolve or instruct, but to create conditions for pause and recognition – where inner and outer worlds can be sensed as part of the same field.
A path of learning
Jikiden Reiki (Shoden & Okuden), Jikiden Reiki UK Association
200-hour Sound Meditation Teacher Training, Yoga Alliance
Folk herbalism, Las Kobiet
Plant-based Culinary Arts, PLANTLAB
MSc in International Business, Hult International Business School
MSc in Occupational Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London
BSc (Hons) in Psychology, Queen Mary University of London
Classical music education, (flute & guitar)
Each of these studies has become a thread in the tapestry of my work – grounding intuition with knowledge, and weaving science, creativity, and tradition into the practices I hold today.