Donca Vianu

Professional Background and Experience

I am Donca Vianu, MD, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist with 40 years of experience across different countries and cultures. My professional and personal journey has taken me through totalitarian Romania under communist rule and Ceausescu’s dictatorship, post-war post-Nazi Western Germany, the progressive liberal democracy of the Netherlands, India’s spiritual traditions, Southern Europe, especially Portugal, and, by serendipity, Brazil.

Spiritual Journey and Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca entered my life in 2004, after I attended a lecture on the subject by Benny Shannon, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Jerusalem, during a consciousness conference in the UK. Since then, my life has increasingly centered on Ayahuasca and other entheogenic ceremonies. My path has long been guided by a search for spiritual evolution, and I have followed Eastern traditions for many years.

Clinical and Therapeutic Training

As a psychiatrist, I worked in psychiatric clinics and mental health institutes while also maintaining a private practice. As a psychotherapist, I trained in Rogerian and Gestalt psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, EMDR, transcultural psychiatry, and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. More recently, in 2018 and 2019, I expanded my hypnotherapy practice to include regression to previous lives, a method I learned in New York with Paul Aurand, MHt.

Studies in Spirituality and Comparative Religion

My interest in spirituality led me to study comparative religions and later Buddhist psychology with Thich Nhat Hanh, the Zen master, poet, and peace activist. I also completed a three-year course with Annette van der Berg on the Vedic science of chakras at the School voor Effectieve Intuitie of Carolina Bont, which deepened my understanding further. In the same spirit, I studied the Sacred Feminine with Paule Salomon, philosopher and author of La Femme Solaire and La Sainte Folie du Couple, and later explored Shaktism, or Tantric lore, including the ten cosmic powers, the Mahavidyas.

Shamanism and Art

In 2017, I became interested in shamanism and learned to work with the Four Directions, also known as the Wheel of Life or Medicine Wheel, with Daan van Kampenhout, a shaman trained by Lakota and Sami shamans and the author of many books, including The Tears of the Ancestors. My love of art also led me to two years of theater training with Luc de Smet, founder of De Kleine Academie in Brussels, followed by dance classes with Naomi Duveen from the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. In addition, I studied painting with Han ter Keurs and Frits van Tiel.

Personal Life

I am married to Sanjay Gupta from New Delhi, India, an eye and orbit surgeon who is also trained in Ayurveda and Chinese Traditional Medicine. For the past five years, we have lived surrounded by nature in the Portuguese countryside.

Coaching Approach

I coach people online who wish to work on themselves with the support of the methods, professional expertise, and life experience I bring. My approach is holistic: I see mind, body, and spirit as deeply interconnected, constantly influencing one another through countless feedback loops. I like to know the people I work with in depth. Once I have gathered enough information, I meditate on the person and try to distill the essence of their life, what they need at this crossroads, and what I can offer. I then share my impressions and ask whether they resonate, and together we decide how to move forward.