Innovator Insights

Finding Self-Love Through Cancer: The Story Behind Potion

In Words of Cimeran Kapoor

Potion was never supposed to be a company. It was born as an expression of love to myself. Ayurveda came into my life after I was diagnosed with cancer during my medical training. It was the means by which I learned how to love myself.

For my entire life, I’ve been dedicated to serving the community and world around me. It started at a young age when my parents moved us from California to Bombay so that we could bond with our family and understand our culture, heritage and roots. At this young, impressionable age, moving to India had a massive impact on me. Evidence of human suffering, poverty, and disease was all around me and it seemed like everyone was ok with just passing this injustice by. My mother began to see how helpless I felt and introduced me to the spiritual concept of “seva,” a Sanskrit word, which translates to selfless service. I internalized this concept so deeply that I spent every opportunity to be of service. Whether it was cooking and delivering food to the homeless, volunteering at various health agencies, spending summers in the Ashrams, and giving every part of myself to make the difference I wanted to see in the world.

As we returned to the US in my middle school years, I continued to align myself to public health, research, and medicine – always focusing on how I could do more to reduce human suffering. I studied Public Health at UC Berkeley, I trained as a Special Education teacher with Teach For America and served the Bay Area communities. I joined the board of the Public Health Departments in San Francisco and Sacramento. I built clinics for large hospital systems like UCSF. I became a published researcher and spent years in clinical care and operations. And then, I went to medical school at UC Davis to further my understanding and contribution to alleviate systemic issues harming human health. No matter how hard I worked, and how much I did, I always felt like it wasn’t enough. That I wasn’t enough to help.

And then my life took a drastic turn. At 28 years old, during my medical training, I found out that I had metastatic cancer. Overnight, I became the patient. Fighting for my life. Fighting for a chance to have the impact I always wanted to. Life felt so unfair. Hadn’t I always done my part to be of service?

But cancer was my re-birth. I am grateful for it because through my diagnosis, I learned the most important lesson of my life: that I am worthy of love and care, especially from myself. For years, I had internalized “seva” to mean selfless service without love and care for myself, rather than what it actually means: service without need for reward or recognition.

As trite as the saying is, you cannot fill from an empty cup and the oxygen mask must go on yourself before helping others. So now, seva starts at home first, with servicing myself, loving myself, respecting myself, and allowing that inner flame to ignite that same flame within others. It’s ironic because the genesis of Potion had nothing to do with healing the world – it was about healing myself. And now I’ve found that this is what people want from me – showing them how I am healing myself -mind, body, and spirit – instead of what I thought they needed.

Life is so beautiful and unpredictable. To me the path to Ayurveda and now building Potion was marred with so much passion, pain, challenges, learnings, and a false idea of what I thought my destiny looked like. But as I look back at my career and life journey, all the pieces make so much sense.

Now having trained in Eastern and Ayurvedic medicine and mending my relationship with myself, I am sharing my healing as a means for others to access and unlock the love within themselves. I hope Potion gives you everything it has given me: presence, health, vitality, and self-love.

Cheers to brewing good health,
Cimeran

About Cimeran and Potion

Cimeran Kapur is the founder of Potion, a premium Ayurvedic medicine brand that combines ancient & modern science to bring clean plant-based remedies to your wellness cabinet. Potion was born out of Cimeran’s own quest to heal. At the age of 28, during her medical training, she was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. After traditional cancer treatments left her feeling hopeless, she turned back to her Indian roots in Ayurvedic medicine. Now an Ayurvedic master, Cimeran formulated Immunity Potion to rebuild her health and immunity. Based on a 5,000 year old formulation and crafted with 12 high-quality science-backed healing herbs and spices, Potion is a delicious and potent herbal supplement that marries soul and science. It is made from whole organic plants, infused with healing mantras and prescribed with a centering and grounding ritual. Get your Potion Today.