People Profile: Shaughn Jenson

Community People Profiles is a series on the Salt Spring Exchange featuring local personalities on our dynamic Gulf Island. Our People Profiles are short interviews, with one answer questions to share with you a little about what each of the people we will feature are thinking about as they go about their lives living on Salt Spring Island.

This weeks featured local people profile is: Shaughn Jenson

Here’s a little about Shaughn;

After living on this beautiful land for the past 12 years I am grateful to call Salt Spring home. I have been GM at SS Spa Resort, a Sat. market vendor selling our Ayurveda spa & herbal products, Yoga Teacher & Registered Ayurvedic Clinician at Samya Ayurveda Clinic & Spa offering health consultations, detox, yoga, Ayurveda & meditation classes & a variety of therapies. I've traveled 5 times to India & sponsored Ayurvedic doctors, yoga & meditation experts and others here to practice & teach.

What brought you to Salt Spring Island?

I moved here to join my parents in the family business when they purchased the SS Spa Resort in 2002. My father, a longtime meditator, hotelier & developer, along with my mother, a retired nurse moved from the prairies to take on the Resort after it was run down by the original owner. When I arrived after completing my first certifications in Ayurveda & Yoga, there were only a few people who knew what this Indian system of medicine was. Now Ayurveda is synonymous with Salt Springs Spa Resort.

What one thing about Salt Spring would you tell someone who has never visited the island?

I would tell them about where Salt Spring got her name, the mineral waters at the Spa. I would talk about how this land was sacred to the First Nations & still is to us. I would talk about the many benefits of the healing water & the therapeutic effects it has in remineralizing & purifying the body. I would tell them to take time to appreciate the elements of this precious organic setting and to use this Island's gifts of healing & peace wisely & with reverence to their channels & Source.

If you had a magic Salt Spring wand, what island thing would you change?

The Island thing I would like to see change is the sense of entitlement & false projections of healing abilities that some people display on SSI. With new alternative therapists popping up every year, SSI has been a testing ground for amateur healers with minimal education & experience trying to make a living. There are already many professionals here with specialized degrees & professional accreditations in established medical systems who have the knowledge and skills to really help people.

Which well known person, living or dead, do you think would be a good addition to the island?

I think George Harrison would fit right in. I could see him jamming out with Tom & Dave at Moby's or playing some oldies with Randy, Valdi & Raffi at Artspring. For charity he would write protest songs for the Raging Grannies and give lectures at the Yoga studios about how Asanas are not the most important lesson of Yoga. Instead of random flakey Sanskrit or nature names he would give his disciples medieval British royal & pop icon names & would bring forth peace among trustees planners & public.

Is there a special project, business or initiative you are working on that islanders should know about?

Over the past 8 years my wife Radhika & I have established Samya Ayurveda, offering internationally accredited Ayurvedic Certification courses & have developed & formulated (with Dr. Dharmesh Kubendiran & other consultants) an entire range of organic Ayurvedic & Spa massage, wellness & beauty products & the sequences and training manuals for all of the therapies offered at the SS Spa Resort since 2002 when the spa was one of the first in Canada offering Ayurveda. See more @ http://www.samya.ca

Is there a really good interview question we should have asked you?

What got you into Ayurvedic Medicine and Yoga?

How would you have answered your question?

Dad taught me Transcendental Meditation at age 5. Maman & he raised me & my 4 brothers with Vedic values. After dropping out as a teen & living on the streets, I returned to education with a keen interest in healing after amazing experiences of my own healing capacity. I suffered since childhood with chronic pain, skin & digestive issues mainly due to early sports injuries & accidents combined with poor lifestyle choices as a teen. After my first trip to India, Ayurveda & Yoga changed my life.

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By Salt Spring News

Salt Spring Exchange news and editorial account for general public news, community contributed stories and official news releases.

May 15, 2014 3:55 AM