Ukiyo started as a mental health initiative in 2021, built by one idea, a handful of volunteers, and a lot of heart. Since then we've grown into a community built around slowness, self-reflection, and showing up for each other. We run structured self-reflection programs in collaboration with psychologists across India, the UK, and Australia, host book clubs and pop-up markets, publish community zines, and build small, gentle tools (like the ones on this site) for anyone who needs a softer place to land. Mental health comes first here, always. Everything else, the journals and the washi tape and the rooftop chai, is just how we make that feeling last a little longer.
the people steering the floating world
Ishika Jain
Founder & CEO
Ishika started Ukiyo in 2021 as a small mental health initiative, mostly because the spaces she wanted to be in did not exist yet. She has been building it ever since, one book club and one sharing circle at a time. She cares about the unglamorous part of community work: showing up consistently, keeping things kind, and making sure nobody who walks in feels like an outsider.
Pragati Chawla
President
with us
people who lend us their perspective when we need it
Nishika Mehra
Advisor
Sarvagya
Advisor
small numbers that mean a lot to us
100+
Volunteers who've shown up for us
2K+
Followers across all our accounts and groups
150+
Participants across our programs
7
Self-reflection cohorts run
94%+
Participant satisfaction score
20+
Events hosted since 2021
1.5K+
Attendees across our events
10+
Psychologists we've partnered with
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2021
Founded as a mental health initiative. One small idea, a handful of volunteers, and a lot of heart.
Oct 2022
8 people on a rooftop with chai and one very battered copy of Kafka on the Shore.
Jan 2023
A tiny market in someone's living room. Sold out in 2 hours.
Jun 2023
Opened online. Ukiyo became more than a city.
Dec 2023
'On Slowness', a community-made zine now in 12 cities.
Apr 2024
Journals, prints, and small cozy things to carry the feeling with you.
better together
Sessions, panels and circles run alongside other organisations and practitioners. None of this happens on our own.
Nyay'ri
NGOCo-ran a self-care and wellness session for young people, alongside Break The Ice.
Break The Ice
NGOThe other half of that self-care session. Known as BTI.
Humraahi Psychotherapy
PracticeVasundhara Gupta spoke on our Conquering Imposter Syndrome panel.
Anisha Samant
SpeakerSpoke with the community on mental health and self-care.
"The self-reflection program genuinely changed how I talk to myself. Didn't expect that from an Instagram community."
Meher K.
"I came for one pop-up and stayed for two years. Ukiyo just feels like a soft place to land."
Arjun P.
"As a psychologist who's collaborated with them, I can vouch for how seriously they take mental health, not just the aesthetic of it."
Devika S.
We're looking for curious, kind humans to intern with us. If this sounds like you, say hello.