Nourish to Practice: Yoga, Recovery, and Listening to Your Body
This conversation traces what happens when yoga is not just a class but a way of living. Harmony speaks with nutritionist and longtime Ashtanga practitioner Karolina Zakrzewska about two decades in India, managing Purple Valley in Goa, opening the Tenerife sister center, and how dedication to practice intersected with her recovery from disordered eating. They explore the “fire” that fuels Ashtanga, the risk of letting that fire consume us, and practical, compassionate ways to nourish body, mind, and spirit through seasons of change, including perimenopause and midlife.
What We Cover
- Finding yoga in India and studying closely with Rolf Naujokat
- What Purple Valley means to the Ashtanga community and how Tenerife came to be
- The helpful and harmful sides of “too much fire” in practice
- Karolina’s personal story with anorexia and bulimia, and why radical honesty is a turning point in healing
- How yoga can replace, or heal, other addictions depending on mindset
- Working with “trigger foods,” fear foods, and mindful eating without moralizing food
- Why vegetarian or vegan patterns can be fraught for some teens, and how parents can keep an eye out
- Midlife shifts: protein, gut health, nervous system regulation, and sustainable routines
- The spiritual dimension of nourishment and why “your body is a portal”
About the Guest
Karolina Zakrzewska is a nutritionist specializing in dysfunctional eating and eating disorders. A longtime Ashtanga practitioner, she managed Purple Valley in Goa for many years and helped launch its partner retreat in Tenerife. Karolina works with individuals and yoga teacher trainings to build compassionate awareness around food, body image, and sustainable practice.
Resources & Links Mentioned (from the episode)
Purple Valley Tenerife Workshops
3 January to 10 January 2026
https://yogagoa.com/clearing-the-path-purpose-practice-presence/
10 January to 17 January 2026
https://yogagoa.com/embodying-your-practice-from-intention-to-transformation/
- Karolina’s website: https://www.karolinanutrition.com
- Karolina on Instagram: https://instagram.com/karolinakatzakrzewska
- Purple Valley (Goa: https://yogagoa.com/
If any link above needs a specific URL on publish, drop it in and I’ll slot it cleanly into the notes.
Call to Action
- Reserve your spot for Harmony’s January Tenerife retreats. DM Harmony at @harmonyslaterofficial for the booking link and details.
- If this episode spoke to you, share it with a friend who practices.
To explore nutrition support around disordered eating or mindful nourishment, reach out to Karolina via her website or email.
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00:00 - Introduction to Finding Harmony Podcast
03:38 - Meet Carolina: A Journey Across Continents
04:08 - Discovering Yoga in India
06:56 - The Ashtanga Practice Begins
10:46 - Meeting Rolf and Deepening the Practice
13:39 - Joining Purple Valley
15:10 - Challenges and Growth at Purple Valley
22:23 - Expanding to Tenerife
30:27 - Reflections on Teaching and Learning
32:08 - The Evolution of Ashtanga Practice
32:57 - The Importance of Personal Practice
33:42 - Favorite Teachers and Their Unique Contributions
37:07 - A Personal Journey with Eating Disorders
40:57 - Healing and Nutrition
53:54 - Working with Clients on Eating Disorders
01:05:57 - Upcoming Retreats and Final Thoughts
Harmony Slater
Finding Harmony Host / Coach / Spiritual Wellness Teacher
Harmony Slater is a Spiritual Wellness Coach whose mission is to support spiritually-curious entrepreneurs with “science-backed woo” to create a deeply fulfilling life and a business they love.
She's a National Board Certified Health Coach, Certified in both Quantum Coaching and in the Mastery Coaching Methods. She's also Certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, one of less than 20 women in the world to hold this honour, after training in India for 15 years.
She began travelling to East Asia in 2002 to study Buddhism, after completing two degrees in Philosophy and Eastern Religious Studies. In 2004, I began a life-long love affair with India, spending the next 15 years living there for extended periods of time immerse in Yoga practice, Vipassana meditation, Ayurveda, and Philosophy.
For the past 20+ years Harmony's been focused on sharing these deeper teachings + practices of multidimensional wellness to support women around the world in eliminating midlife burnout + restoring joy, to create a life and wellness business that nourishes both their soul and bank account. She's taught workshops and retreats in over 30 different countries.
She’s the host of the Finding Harmony Podcast, an active Board Member for the non-profit organization Yoga Gives Back, and has been featured in two anthologies on yoga, pregnancy, and motherhood in: ‘Yoga Sadhana for Mothers’ and ‘Strength and Grace: A collection of Essays by Women of Ashtanga Yoga.’
karolina zakrzewska
Karolina spent 20 years living in India, where she studied yoga and ran the well-known Purple Valley Yoga Centre in Goa. Her main teacher was Rolf Naujokat , and over the years she has learned from many experienced Ashtanga teachers who has visited Purple Valley. Today Karolina continues to study the sciences of yoga with a never-ending curious approach and loves sharing a practice which she has adopted as a lifestyle.
Her own journey through long-term eating difficulties and recovery has shaped her interest in the connection between the body and mind. This path led her to study nutrition and now, with over 25 years of yoga experience and a background in nutritional therapy, she offers a grounded, non-judgemental and compassionate space for others to reconnect with their own health.
Karolina holds a First-Class Honours degree in Nutritional Therapy from the University of West London. She is a registered nutritionist in the UK and offers one-to-one support for in two main areas; dysfunctional eating, specifically binge eating and bulimia as well as cancer focused nutrition. Her work combines evidence based, personalised nutrition, health coaching, and yoga.
She is a Master Practitioner with the National Centre of Eating Disorders and has additional training in cancer-focused nutrition, nutrition for eating disorders and integrative approaches to health and behaviour change therapies.
