prathama nada
about the founders / facilitators
Shahana is principal founder and facilitator at Prathama Nada. She lives and works in the Seattle area as a vocal musician, intuitive life guide, artist, and speaker/ author. An awakening to Truth and Love began in 2004 and continually culminates in a Self-realized existence. All her natural gifts are harnessed as avenues to facilitate the abiding of human being in pure consciousness.
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Shahana's approach to sharing music is less about teaching a craft and more about awakening the natural music in every human being. Her understanding is that Raga is a natural harmonic of Nature and Dhrupad a natural state of the human body emanating vibrations. She is often able to 'transmit' what's remembered in her, and even very young children become quickly attuned. This approach notwithstanding, Shahana does have a history of training in Indian classical music, starting at age 3, as her mother found her moving to music in the womb. Beginning with Carnatic vocal, she transitioned to Hindustani at 7, and trained until a college and university education in architecture took over. Later in the U.S. she was blessed to be associated for 16 years with the Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music, learning with Pandita Tripti Mukherjee, and also receiving guidance from Pandit Jasraj. By 2015, a sustained abiding in Self beckoned a shift in direction toward purely meditative sound and whole-body engagement, and 2016 saw her beginning talim in Dhrupad with the esteemed Gundecha Brothers. Shahana has been sharing her guidance with students in the Seattle area since 2008.
musician and teacher
seer and life guide
With Self realization, unconditional Love is the premise of being, which opens up the limitless creative power of consciousness. By channeling powerful intuition we can consciously create manifest life in all its aspects. Shahana's gift in facilitating access to this potential in others, aligns them in Self and results in a profound shift from a circumstantial life to a consciously creative one. She works with various modalities, both in 1:1 sessions as well as in groups organized around any shared purpose, be it education, art, social-change or entrepreneurship... always with consciousness at the heart of all matter! Shahana's clients work and live in a gamut of 'fields' - the tech industry, academia, business, performing art, government, social change and healing. Shahana is a vipassana practitioner.
writer and artist
Among Shahana’s published works are Limestone Diary, Chickadee and the Cat, You Are Michelangelo...And You Are David!, Thrive! Falling in Love with Life, Ten Avatars and an international-prize-winning essay, Touching a Single Life. Listen to an interview with Shahana on her book You Are Michelangelo...And You Are David!', featured on GOOD BOOKS RADIO, by Dr. John Cook. With Shirin Subhani, Shahana has also been co-editor / publisher of the magazine Courageous Creativity. Presently she writes on social media as well as in a blog titled Reflections and Revelations. As an artist, she has exhibited her visual art (which has also found other homes!), guided socially-motivated stage and theater projects, and also has to her credit, built architectural projects.
Currently sessions are done in person or via skype / facetime. Please contact us for any personal queries.
Shahana Dattagupta
Vikas Garg
Vikas is a co-founder and honorary facilitator at Prathama Nada, envisioning and co-facilitating all its organizational activities, as well as vocal music instruction for kids. He lives and works in the Seattle area as a senior data scientist, vocal musician and community organizer.
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musician and facilitator
Vikas's sadhana is intuitive and spontaneous, and he connects body, breath and sound naturally. Although he began formal training in Hindustani classical music relatively recently., throughout his life he has enjoyed an intuitive access to vocal music and musical / rhythm instruments. He led our way at Prathama Nada toward Dhrupad sadhana due to its clear attunement with natural living. Vikas has an equally intuitive affinity for young people, and has fostered an environment in which the original music of children can blossom with ease. He is also a natural community organizer without aking it a mission, spontaneously offering up resources, space and time for collective and universal growth and well-being.
Paj Nandi
Paj is a creative visionary and honorary facilitator at Prathama Nada, envisioning and facilitating our yoga / asana / pranayama practice, as well as some vocal practice sessions. He lives and works in the Seattle area as a leader / community advocate in Public Health, vocal musician, yoga instructor and dancer.
Paj's sadhana is holistic, thorough and grounded. He combines with ease, the practice of dhrupad music, asana, pranayama and vipassana. He trained in Hindustani classical vocal music as a child and continued in adult life over the last decade, and his facility with dance brings additional dimensions to music. He is also a certified yoga instructor, with emphasis on natural health and well-being. Paj has supported the development of the Prathama Nada space into what it is today, with his mix of vision and tenacity in shaping and growing spaces.
musician and facilitator
public health leader and community advocate
In his role at WA State's Department of Health (DOH), Paj is responsible for forming and maintaining strategic partnerships with non-governmental and community-oriented organizations, statewide associations, and academic institutions, with a particular emphasis on achieving health equity. He has served as President of the Washington State Public Health Association. He is also a member of Trikone Northwest, a grassroots LGBTQ organization serving South Asians in Washington, and has volunteered with YMCA’s Powerful Schools program at his neighborhood elementary school.
data scientist and business builder
In his role as Senior Data Scientist at Amazon''s SCOT (Supply Chain Optimization Technologies) organization, Vikas actively partners with research scientists, business intelligence engineers and economists across the company to develop complex models to build, scale, and optimize world-class supply chain and fulfillment systems.
