A board-certified family physician with more than 30 years in primary care, Dr. Sheila bridges modern medicine and Ayurveda across Gaja’s programs.
Dr. Sheila Patel, MD, FAAFP, is Gaja Collective’s Chief Medical Officer and Director of Ayurveda Programs. A board-certified family physician with more than 30 years of experience in primary care, she spent nearly fifteen years practicing medicine in small rural towns in Alaska and Wisconsin before moving to California, where she maintains an outpatient practice alongside her work in integrative, mind-body, and lifestyle medicine.
For more than a decade Dr. Sheila served as Chief Medical Officer of a leading mind-body wellness organization, where she directed its medical group, led its clinical research, and developed and taught the curricula for its Ayurveda and meditation certifications and physician trainings. She has co-authored peer-reviewed research on meditation and Ayurvedic retreats and serves as a volunteer clinical instructor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at UC San Diego.
She is the co-author, with Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, of Awakened Sleep: An Ayurvedic Approach to Getting Deep Rest and Unlocking Optimal Health (2025). Her training spans both worlds: she holds an MD from the University of Wisconsin Medical School, completed her family medicine residency at Ventura County Medical Center, and is a certified Ayurvedic health consultant, certified meditation instructor, 200-hour certified yoga teacher, and certified HeartMath practitioner.
At Gaja, Dr. Sheila leads the Ayurveda programs, teaches in the meditation, coaching, and yoga certifications, guides the Ayurvedic Women’s Health Mentorship, and hosts Gather, Gaja’s free monthly community gathering. Her work rests on a rare integration of medical expertise and Ayurvedic wisdom: using the best of modern science and timeless practice to help people find deep rest, balance, and lasting health.
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