Inner peace and mushrooms: Bhawna’s Helsinki
Life in Helsinki affects everyone differently. The city can change your life in the most wonderful ways. For Bhawna Sharma, who has Indian roots and has lived in Helsinki for ten years, it brought inner peace above all.
“The shift comes from a sense of safety and predictability in life,” Bhawna says. Mushrooms also played a part.
Curious? Read on how Bhawna thinks Helsinki changed her life – in four different ways!
“In Helsinki, everyone in our family is more independent than we would be in India.”
The door clicks shut. A seven-year-old is back from school – by bus, all by herself, of course. For a snack, she has cheese bread made from rice flour. Her mother, Bhawna Sharma, takes a break from the computer to share a moment with her two daughters.
“My life in Helsinki is truly different from what it would be in India,” she says, once the girls are out the door again. The older one heads off to dance class, the younger to Kung Fu class. In India’s major cities, children don’t travel alone to school or hobbies. Parents accompany them, which also ties up their own schedules.
Bhawna Sharma has lived in Helsinki for ten years. She’s noticed four significant changes in herself.
Change #1: A stronger connection to nature
“I’m originally from the Himalayas in northern India, so I’m not new to snow. Still, when I first arrived in Helsinki, I had to get used to black ice. Throughout the winter, I learned to change the way I walk, taking short, shuffling steps – you really don’t want to step heel-first on slippery ground. Some people in Helsinki even wear spiked winter shoes.
There are four very distinct seasons in Helsinki. I enjoy their uniqueness. And no matter which part of the city you live in, you’re never far from the sea or the forest. The sea surrounds the city, and islands are visible everywhere.
I studied medicine at Bangalore University – both modern and ancient Indian Ayurveda. Ayurveda is based on natural living, from food to lifestyle. Still, it was only in Finland that I developed a deep connection with nature.
In Finland, forests are like temples – so clean and peaceful. And safe. In Helsinki, I’ve learned to pick bilberries from the woods. I also forage mushrooms – different kinds of chanterelles for soups and pies, for instance.
Unbelievably, after moving to Helsinki, I even became a nature guide. I took international tourists on nature walks in Nuuksio National Park and taught them to forage for wild herbs. Sitting around a campfire with mugs of tea in hand, I’d share Finnish folklore. Visitors are always amazed by Finland’s Everyone’s Rights – here, anyone can walk in the forest, regardless of who owns it.”
Change #2: Helsinki offers equality
“It was actually my husband’s idea to move to Helsinki. He had several job offers from Europe, but the one from an IT company in Helsinki was the most attractive. I didn’t know much about the city at all.
I was turning 30 and wanted to start a family. But I didn’t get pregnant right away. Previously, I had been very focused on work and quite restless. In Helsinki, I focused on my health and slowed down my lifestyle.
I see our two healthy children as a miracle. I always say that Helsinki made me a mother. I truly appreciate the Finnish maternity and child health clinic services. As an Indian woman, it was quite something to realise that all women here give birth in the same hospitals. Finnish society is genuinely equal.
In Helsinki, day care is built around the needs of the child, and each child’s development is supported individually. Both my daughters learned Finnish in day care.”
Change #3: I mix my own life ingredients
“In India, my life would have followed a clear path. I’d probably have my own Ayurvedic clinic and be very busy. In Europe, Ayurveda is less well known.
Moving to Helsinki gave me a chance to consider what other lifestyles and paths might be possible. That type of major questioning can feel stressful – or full of new possibilities. For instance, that experience as a nature guide nourished me in an incredible way.
I believe I’m happier this way, with multiple projects at hand. I offer Indian-style treatments to my clients and also teach vegan cooking based on Ayurvedic principles. I really value that my life isn’t rushed. I can go for a walk by the sea in the middle of the workday and be there to welcome my children home. They are my greatest inspiration, and I want to be available for them.”
Change #4: My roots are growing in the world’s happiest city
“Over the decade I’ve spent in Helsinki, I’ve changed – and so has the city around me.
Finland has a great reputation in India as the world’s happiest country. And especially since the pandemic, there has been a shortage of IT professionals in Helsinki. So it’s no surprise that thousands of Indian professionals have moved here with their families.
It’s much easier to settle in now than when we arrived. My husband and I used a dictionary at the Stockmann department store’s grocery floor – nowadays, AI translation tools do the same job easily. There are also countless YouTube videos made by Indians who’ve moved to Finland, explaining things like Finnish childbirth practices. Newcomers can also get advice from International House Helsinki, a free service run by the city and other authorities. It operates both online and at a service point in Sörnäinen.
It makes me happy that Indian ingredients are becoming more widely available in shops. Even my local store now sells fresh turmeric, coconut, a variety of lentils, and delicious ready-made Indian meals like paneer cheese, chicken tikka, masala sauces, and biryani.
Sometimes Indian women ask me about maternity and child health services. I’ve become something of a bridge between Finnish and Indian ways of living. I remind my fellow Indian women that while Finnish nutrition guidelines recommend eating meat and fish, those of us who are used to vegetarian diets can manage perfectly well – even during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It’s worth trusting your own traditions. In Helsinki, it’s easy to live in a way that reflects both your family roots and your new Finnish life.
As an Indian woman, it means a lot to me that it’s easy to take part in Indian festivities here, like Diwali. I want our children to stay connected to the traditions of their parents’ birth country. My daughter didn’t enjoy football, but she loves her Indian dance classes at Cultural Centre Sähinä in Lauttasaari.
I’ll never forget the moment when my daughter was two years old. We were at a metro station and she innocently asked why a certain lady was so huge. I silently thanked myself for having taught her to speak Hindi.”
If Bhawna could send a message to her past self ten years ago, she would encourage kindness:
“I’d say: getting used to a new place always takes time. We all carry old roots with us, but in time, new roots grow in new soil too.”
Bhawna’s holistic clinic with Ayurveda healing methods: Uusia Polkuja (in Finnish)