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article: foods that bring you instant happiness? it’s too good not to share. check out this eat this not that article here.
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photo: instagram/@kayrichae
kay richae (@kayrichae) is a spiritual alignment coach who shares deep traditions of manifesting and energy work through nature and the divine elements to create magic in your life
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julee wilson (@missjulee) is currently cosmopolitan’s beauty director. she is always serving up all the inspo, shares how she balances her job while being a kicka$s mom of two and is always keeping it authentic and real
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p.s. all the companies featured in this section are women founded or women-led, duh!
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golde was co-founded bytrinity mouzonandissey koboriin brooklyn from a 1-bedroom apartment with the vision of making self-care more inclusive, engaging, and fun. their products are infused with single-origin turmeric, a potent super-herb recognized for its beautifying, healing, and mood-boosting properties. they believe that being well should feel good. their products are daily essentials for inner and outer radiance, because beauty and balance start from within.
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do you know why your chakras are important and
how they operate and affect your whole body health?
the chakra system is a system of channels and biologically active points through which energy flows in the human body. open chakras rotate energy like a whirlwind, which contributes to its even distribution in the body. a smooth balanced flow helps maintain mental, physical and emotional health. if a chakra is blocked, the vortex weakens and stops feeding the organs and the whole system gets unbalanced. at first this influences feelings and emotions. if stagnation continues our body starts giving out other signals and that’s when disease and dysfunction of organs associated with the damaged chakras happen.
solutions: meditation, reiki, accupuncture, color therapy, bija mantras, essential oils & intuitive practice
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a weekly q&a featuring kick-a$$ women ranging from celebrities and ceos to the women
that are hustling every single day to make things happen for themselves and others.
from loss and addiction to spiritual reflection: biet simkin, meditation guru teaches the power of control
biet simkin isn’t your average spiritual leader. sure, she is one of the leading meditation teachers and published author on the subject, but her path to higher consciousness came about through the school of hard knocks.
biet experienced more in her first 30 years than most of us will ever experience in a lifetime. she lost her mother at age four and was raised by her father who was an awakened shaman. by her early 20s, she had fully lived the "rock ‘n’ roll glam” lifestyle in new york city, and eventually she succumbed to a heroin addiction. what followed was a near-death experience, the death of her own infant child to sids, the death of her father and a fire that burnt down her home, all taking place in rapid succession.
for most of us, having to endure just one of those tragedies would leave us utterly broken. but instead of such epic loss, pushing her deeper into a black hole of despair, it sobered her up and propelled her to get her life back on track.
today, biet uses her spirituality and unique life experience as a compass and example of how we all have the power to raise ourselves up, sometimes even further than we even think is possible.
with her edgy style and raw approach, biet teaches that we can be both spiritual *and* still want the most from life without feeling guilty. she immerses her audiences in meditations that break down inhibitions, offer deep connections and showcase the profoundness of our humanity. so with that, let’s meditate on biet.
the void: for those who haven’t heard your story, can you tell us a little bit about how your life as a spiritual teacher and meditation guru came to be? what got you started helping others, especially in the way you do it?
biet simkin: yeah, i think that i was always in a space where magical shit happens. my father was a shaman and bred me inside his work, so we've studied it together from the time that i was a baby. i think that it was a blend of being my father's daughter, but also being in a space where weird shit happens. i am in a space where people’s lives get transformed, where people's moods get transfixed, where people's sadness gets transmuted. and so, people would always come to me for that completely unique perspective on reality.
and one day, you know, it dawned on me that it was my calling.
the void: you went through a lot very early on in your life; your first 20-some years were pretty tough. how did you find the resilience to start again?
biet: i don't think it's abnormal when coming from complete shock, tragedy and trauma, like i did, to turn it all around. i think that actually, in a way, people have been gifted that kind of offering to either turn it into their life's purpose, or it kills them, you know what i mean?
the void: how do you navigate the concept of “life is happening for me” and the flow?
biet: i would say everything is happening for me, i don't even think there's anyone else here. if anything's happening, it's happening for me. and it's all about taking that one day at a time, not waiting.
me not dying from a heroin overdose happened for me, me losing my baby happened for me, me losing my mom, when i was a kid, happened for me. but i think it's actually tougher when we deal with the day-to-day. it's like, why didn't i get invited to that party last week, what the fuck? that stuff, that’s actually harder. i can bear with the “oh well, that happened for me 15 years ago,” but as the day hits me in the face, who am i being as i interact with that shit?
i let myself feel the pain, which usually brings me back to a childhood wound, like when i didn't get invited to this party, which is super irrelevant. that's why i tell the story, because it's so silly that that would even happen or that it would even matter, right? but i didn't get invited to a party last week. some guy on the street invited someone else to a party right in front of me. i was like “what am i was my chopped liver?” i was like, “oh, my god, that was really painful.” then i went home and felt the pain. and as soon as i let myself feel the pain and asked into the pain through prayer and meditation, it was clear to me that i didn't care about the party so much as i was still connected to that horrible feeling that i had when i was seven years old and the girls in the playground circled me and said: “we're glad your mother died.” i felt so alone and so confused and so bewildered by what is wrong with humans. and that is something i still haven't recovered from.
does it matter that i get invited to the party? no, not at all. even if it's nowhere, even if i was meant to be eating pizza in my bedroom. it doesn't matter. it doesn't have to be so dramatic, it just means i wasn't meant to be there, you know?
the void: you started club soda, an event series for the sober curious, with your friend ruby warrington. what was the importance of that in terms of spirituality—why was sobriety so important for you?
biet: i'm sober, almost 13 years completely sober. and i don't fuck with anything: no drugs, no alcohol. but i'm really curious about how i get high in life without those things. i don't want to shortcut, i want to know how to find bliss on my own because i have taken away the tools that gave it to me for free, so to speak. the tools of heroin, cocaine, mushrooms, lsd, you name it, i took those tools away. and so what i was left with was a question and an inquiry and a quest. and that quest has led me to actually discover tools that i now use daily.
the void: if you could be remembered for one thing, what would you want it to be?
biet: i think that i would want to be remembered for being a conscious human, like leonardo da vinci, because i don't think leonardo da vinci was remembered for one thing, right? he was remembered for painting and science and anatomy, and god knows what else. to me, to be conscious and to be an awakened human is what i want to be remembered for, because there's something that comes out of it that is completely authentic.
[interview has been truncated and edited for clarity; original interview took place in 2019.]
