Christa de Ridder

In recent years, I have brought together my love of cooking with my yoga and ayurveda practice, and that combination has inspired me to prepare food that helps the body feel more balanced, comfortable, and well. It is striking to see how often unhealthy food is presented as healthy, and how easily media messages can lead us away from what truly supports us. Many of us trust outside opinions more than our own bodies, intuition, and inner guidance.

I feel called to help create change. Through ayurveda, I have learned that the body can be more intelligent than the mind. I am deeply fascinated by the way the body communicates what is happening, and even more by how we often learn to ignore those signals. We would rather have someone else tell us what to do. Yoga and ayurveda invite us to reconnect with the wisdom we already carry and return to a deeper relationship with our bodies.

Over the past years, I have cooked at ashrams in Vietnam and the U.S., as well as at public yoga events, including retreats and workshops. More recently, I founded the catering company Sage & Saints to continue offering nourishing food that supports better health. Together with my partner Katarina Wittkamp, I also organize retreats so that more people can experience and benefit from the practice of yoga and ayurveda.