executive Team
Mukul Purohit - Chief Exec, Producer & Founder
Mukul Purohit is the Co-Founder and Producer of Mystic Art Retreats, where he plays a pivotal role in expanding the franchise internationally. With over a decade of multi-regional experience, Mukul has developed expertise in corporate finance, corporate development, global business development, and licensing across various sectors, including Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Creative Industries, and Hospitality
In addition to his professional endeavours, Mukul is an avid art collector and an investor in emerging sacred artists. He has a profound passion for indigenous cultures and traditions, dedicating his free time to studying their art, rituals, folklore, and cultural geography. Mukul's commitment to the arts is further exemplified through his involvement with Shanayya Arts, an art marketing company that promotes the works of emerging artists. Mukul holds a business degree from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, an arts degree from the University of Greenwich in London and studied finance from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
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Having lived in multiple countries including the UK, Australia, and the UAE, Mukul is now based in India. He frequently travels in search of ancient marvels, cultural gems, and shamanic traditions, reflecting his deep appreciation for global heritage and spirituality.
Ekabhumi Charles Ellik - Creative Head & Founder
Ekabhumi Charles Ellik is an award-winning poet, author, devotional artist, yoga instructor, emcee, and event producer. His primary spiritual practice is creating sacred art. Through a ritualized and meditative creative method, he makes artworks for ceremonial and educational use that help people recognize the divinity of common experiences and find meaning in daily life. His artworks may be found in yoga studios, private homes, and on altars around the world.
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His name was given by his first guru during a formal initiation ceremony into a yogic lineage in 2005. Since that time, he has studied with many spiritual teachers and traditional artists both in India and the States. Ekabhumi’s writing and artwork has been published widely, appearing in anthologies and journals like The Poetry of Yoga, Berkeley Fiction Review, and Pearl, as well as books like Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Hareesh Wallis and Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton. His instructional Shakti Coloring Book and the uplifting Bhakti Coloring Book are now available world-wide from Sounds True Press. Though his first love is art, he has a wide range of interests that are reflected in his many past occupations: Yoga instructor, stock options broker, handyman, journalist, ski boot fitter, competitive surfer and champion sailor. He toured internationally as a performance poet, and the poets he coached won numerous regional and national titles. He hosted writer’s groups, produced poetry readings and organized spoken-word festivals for nearly 20 years, culminating in the wildly successful 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam.
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For nearly two decades, he variously taught yoga, painting, public speaking, and creative writing to students ranging from kindergarten to post-graduate level. Ekabhumi is an inspiring, playful yet methodical teacher who utilizes the arts to help students cultivate deeper intuitive states. He is currently core faculty of livingsanskrit.com and visiting faculty for The Bridge in Shanghai. On weekends, he can be found in his garden practicing silence and learning directly from Nature. ​
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Melanie Rhodes - Brand Ambassador
Melanie is a dedicated practitioner of various holistic arts and her desire to further ancient knowledge in contemporary contexts led her to patronising the mystic art retreats. A deep appreciation for the arts in so many of its facets, she is a qualified Architect with a degree in Building & Architecture from the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Melanie has been practicing different styles of yoga such as Iyengar, Bikram, Vinyasa and Kundalini over eighteen years and is also a qualified Asthanga yoga teacher. Her immersion in Ayurveda is reflected in her adopting the medicinal science into her daily lifestyle, attending panchkarma programmes and even taking post-partum care following water-births of her two children – Nathan and India.
Melanie is also a student of the Non-Dual Advaita philosophy of classical Hindu thought with her teacher belonging to the the school of Ramanah Maharshi. With four children she still manages to meditate daily whilst embracing a very busy life with her famous coach-cricketer husband Jonty Rhodes. Their commitment and love for India as a philosophy is not just reflected in them naming their daughter “India” but also their immersive practice in Indian holistic arts and traditions.
Disha Ghorai - Head of Business Strategy
Disha Ghorai is a dynamic marketing professional who is passionate about blending creativity with strategic insights to craft meaningful marketing solutions. She is a graduate of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. A recipient of the prestigious Joseph Rodman Scholarship, she pairs her academic excellence with a passion for innovative, data-driven marketing strategies. Growing up in India with roots in Bengal and being born in the U.S., Disha’s diverse background shaped her global perspective and passion for cultural storytelling, which she integrates into her professional work.
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Disha worked as a Marketing Associate at C3iHub, where she spearheaded engaging social media campaigns, and at IIT Kanpur, where she honed her analytical and research skills in digital marketing trends. Disha was the Secretary and Board Member of the Cape Verdean Student Alliance (CVSA), organizing cultural events and leading community engagement initiatives. During a service trip to Cape Verde, she visited three schools, tutoring and educating over 200 students, further strengthening her commitment to social impact and education.
A recipient of multiple awards for her storytelling, innovation, and leadership, Disha strives to create marketing strategies that drive impact and foster meaningful connections. Outside of work, she enjoys baking, learning tunes on the kalimba, and reading.
Disha's role at Mystic Art Retreats shall be to shape the company's direction in a niche market that lies at the intersection of art, spiritual travel and wellbeing. She will lead transformation through embedding digital practices into our core operations in an increasingly digital landscape, ultimately enriching the cultural fabric of the communities we engage with.
Ellie Murtagh - Website Designer
Ellie is a website designer and former performance artist based in Melbourne, Australia. She previously studied contemporary dance at Transit Dance from 2018-2019, where she practiced daily classes of improvisation, ballet, yoga and contemporary technique. After her training, Ellie moved forward to begin her studies in Meditation Teaching and Holistic Human Development which is where her appreciation for daily meditative practices began.
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Throughout COVID-19, Ellie created Wired Arts, an online arts platform focused on sharing and celebrating art throughout the pandemic. Through creating the Wired Arts website, she furthered her knowledge in website design and has now moved forward to work with international clients based in the art community, to help support and build their online presence. She continues to gain more knowledge in her work as a dancer and website designer, and explore how these can coexist to support the global art community.
Sonali Gurung - Manager North India & Exec Assistant
Sonali Gurung is an innovative entrepreneur, passionate traveler, and dedicated philanthropist with a Master's degree in Mass Communication. Her life journey is deeply influenced by the tranquil mountain landscapes of her upbringing. She integrates her enthusiasm for travel and commitment to building meaningful relationships into her business endeavors and her nonprofit organization, Tathastu Foundation, which aims to provide free education to underprivileged children. As a loving mother to three dogs, Sonali's existence embodies a vibrant mix of adventure, hospitality, and deep connections, all inspired by her lasting bond with the mountains.
Tanvee Joshi - Projects Manager
Tanvi Joshi is a committed IAYT yoga therapist and sound healer, trained by Satya Brat and specializing in oncology yoga therapy from The Yoga Institute. She adopts a holistic healing approach, integrating her extensive knowledge of yoga, sound therapy, and the innovative practice of astro yoga, which merges Ayurveda and astrology to foster balance and transformation.
Her journey has been enriched by extensive travel and diverse professional experiences, fueling her desire to explore life's mysteries. Yoga emerged as a pivotal element in her personal healing journey, addressing her inquiries about karma and the complexities of existence. As a lifelong learner and seeker, Tanvi embodies the belief that genuine healing originates from within. This philosophy is reflected in her programs at The Blooming Om, where her compassionate teaching encourages others to discover their unique paths to inner harmony, empowering them to flourish and reclaim their wholeness.
Sagarika Das Mehdi - Manager North-East India
Sagarika, hailing from Assam, has diverse experience in entrepreneurship, heritage, and the creative industries. She earned her Economics degree from Hansraj College in New Delhi and completed her postgraduate studies in Tourism and Travel Management. After her education, she returned to Assam to manage her father's 30-year-old Assamese cuisine restaurant.
In 2023, she founded Driver NE, a platform connecting professional drivers with customers in Northeast India, driven by a desire to address regional challenges. This venture has deepened her connection to her homeland's unique stories. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Sagarika rediscovered her passion for art and became committed to reviving Assam's ancient manuscript paintings. Since 2021, she has researched "Bridging the Accessibility Gap - Promoting Awareness and Accessibility of Manuscript Paintings of Assam," focusing on preserving this art form and raising its cultural profile globally. With Assamese Manuscript Painting recently receiving a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, Sagarika aims to ensure its legacy endures, empowering communities and showcasing Assam's rich heritage.
Teachers
 Ekabhumi Charles Ellik |  Sonja Picard |  Mavis Gewant |  Shanna Dadisman |  Tova Olsson |  Erika Strauss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Carolina Fonseca |  Jacqueline Kapur |  Judy Schneider |  Andy Weber |  Anita Sinclair |  Tiffani Gyatso |
"It is my opinion that spiritual liberation practices are context-specific; they arise in specific cultural, geographic, and historic contexts. They must be understood and/or practiced in context to function properly. After all, those of us who desire self-realisation/liberation in a human body are asking for a context-specific experience. So it behooves all of us who have tasted or deeply immersed ourselves in the nourishing waters of the dharma traditions to cultivate a relationship with living stewards of the practices we engage and the cultures from which they arose."
by Co-founder, Ekabhumi Charles Ellik