You have been a photographer, designer, stylist, creative person. What aspects of running SpaRitual fulfill that for you?
I engage in my life and work as a creative process. Creative in the largest sense of the word, where there is a fluidity of thinking. I wholeheartedly believe that everything I’ve learned and experienced prior to launching SpaRitual has aided me in the development of the vision for the brand. What fulfills me the most about SpaRitual is the team I have the honor of working with each day. I love the collaboration and the joy of working with talented, passionate colleagues who challenge and inspire me.
In terms of the intersect between beauty and lifestyle, what do you see as some of the bigger shifts going on right now?
Beauty, health and wellness (well-being) are intersecting. This adds more depth to our outdated ideas and ideals of how we define and express “beauty.” This convergence supports our need for sustainable self-care in a fast world that shows no signs of slowing down. We are going deeper, identifying resources from within to strengthen and become more resilient, and empower ourselves to act more powerfully on behalf of our self, others and the world.
We are also challenging how we age, and the outdated concept of chronological aging. Aging, as we’ve known it, limits our potential as human beings. We are seeking ways to expand, express, create, thrive and celebrate. We seek enlightenment – a lightening of the heavy load, of being “stressed,” as well as an expansion of consciousness. This enlightenment is not the kind where you leave behind your loved ones and depart to the Himalayas in search of the guru. In this post-modern form of enlightenment you are the guru. You are your best guide. You are the questions and the answers. Mostly I see beauty moving beyond the external to people embodying the Presence of Beauty.
As an entrepreneur, wife and mother of two, what are some of your secrets to leading a balanced life?
I make a conscious effort to carve out time each day to be present with my children. Being present includes putting my cell phone away. We have family dinners at least four days per week. This gives us an opportunity to share our day, talk and laugh. I love connecting with my family in these ways. One of my greatest joys is being a parent with my husband, collaborating together to guide our children, and also learn from them.
I make my friendships a priority as well. I make an effort each day to connect in a meaningful way with my friends—in real time. Spending quality time with my friends grounds me and makes me feel balanced.
What inspired you to create SpaRitual?
From an early age my mother taught me the value of health as a holistic proposition. I remember her saying, and she still says, “If we don’t have our health, what do we have?” My takeaways as a young girl:
- It’s vitally important to choose wisely what we put on our bodies, and in our bodies.
- The environment both inside and outside of our homes has an impact on our health and wellness.
- The ancient spa tradition as well as alternative therapies are an asset to promoting health, reducing stress and strengthening our constitution.
When I had the opportunity to develop a beauty-care brand I was inspired by the values of my upbringing to develop a line of products that would be healthier for the professionals who used them, their clients and the planet.
SpaRitual’s tagline is “Slow Beauty for a Fast World.” You are a pioneer in the Slow Beauty movement (slowbeauty.com). Why is it so important?
I’ve been practicing Slow Beauty my entire life, yet it wasn’t until five years ago that I named what I was doing after I experienced what is known in Zen as a satori moment. The phrase Slow Beauty happened to me after my son’s class pet, a tortoise, came to live with us for two weeks one spring, I observed him daily and became enchanted by his slow, deliberate walk. It was as if he was in a constant state of mindfulness or meditation.
These observations, coupled with a synthesis of a perspective I had been testing and shaping for as long as I can remember, gave me a platform to express how I see beauty and the aging process. We are not in a “fight” against aging—although we behave like we are. Quick fixes and instant results are not sustainable—although we buy into the hype.
“The Slow Beauty philosophy reframes our ideas and ideals about beauty and broadens our definition to also include health and wellness.”
The Slow Beauty movement is the anti-thesis of the fast-paced world of the beauty industry that sells us immediate results and invasive options. This outdated perspective has us racing against time, and fighting against aging. The Slow Beauty philosophy, a balance between expansiveness and restriction—a middle way—explores the big ideas of growing young, the spiritualization of beauty, and practicing a renewed feminism, reframing our ideas and ideals about beauty and broadening our definition of beauty to also include health and wellness.
Slow Beauty is more relevant now than ever. We live in a fast-paced postmodern world that shows no signs of slowing down. Instead of being swept up in the frenzy without any sense of agency, let’s fortify ourselves with ideas, principles and methods to help us remain calm and steadfast. This requires a strong and tenacious mind, body and spirit. Ultimately Slow Beauty is a celebration of joy and a well-lived healthful and beautiful life.
My hope is that this movement and philosophy enjoin all of us to live wisely and creatively. My hope is that we will have a global dialogue about the big ideas of this movement to uncover a deeper understanding of inner beauty, and identify the paths women and men are blazing to build bridges between our inner world and external reality, as well as discover insights to develop our collective vision of beauty, health and wellness for ourselves, our families and the world.
Where are you going with it?
I have a lot of ideas! We will be expanding the slow beauty blog to include more content to help people develop a personal Slow Beauty practice. I am developing tools and visualization exercises that I will be launching soon on the blog as well. One of those visualization exercises is called BRIDGEWALK™. Between myself and other ambassadors of this exercise we have metaphorically led over 10,000 people across the bridge.
The objective is to guide people across the bridge to move their mind, body, spirit state from a fear-based, apprehensive state to a state that is expansive, creative, fluid and always becoming. My goal is to walk 1 million people across this bridge. When we are on the other side together, in collaboration, in creativity, that is when we can really make amazing things happen, and make real, sustainable changes for our self, others, and the world. This is the presence of beauty.
Product Spotlight
SpaRitual True Bond Manicure System was created to maximize the staying power of a manicure and pedicure, with three steps: Primer, Base Coat, Top Coat. sparitual.com