After months of little structure and foggy sense of unknown, we are ready to shed the weight of 2020 and start anew. To settle the mind and renew our commitment to our health, we are diving deep into the power of ritual and meditation as nutrition-supporting tools.
Learning from the best, we chatted with Rashia Bell — co-founder of The Cristalline, a resident healer at the Four Seasons New York Downtown, and meditation guide for the special Provenance Detox: Renew Edition — to shed light on the meaning behind developing rituals in your day, your relationship with nutrition, and why mindfulness is the key to success.
Why is ritual important to you? What rituals do you practice every day to support your health and wellness journey?
I was a former Ballet Dancer, so rituals of practice and preparation for performances, etc., are necessary to be in the state of mind and be able to execute. Ballet is extremely disciplined so I credit that to the ways that I am able to implement routines into my life. I have always had a nightly skin/beauty ritual. I watched my grandmother when I was young and wanted to join in using the lotions and potions and donning pretty nightgowns and robes — that stuck with me. Also, since my dance training made my days very long, nighttime was precious because that was the time that I had to myself. It has carried over to winding down and decompressing from hectic work days.
Renew Your Relationship With Nutrition
This special edition of our most popular program, the Provenance Detox is designed to help you develop new rituals and routines that support lasting change.
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The New Year is a time for resolutions and starting new rituals or routines. Do you have any words of encouragement to help make those habits stick?
Slow and steady wins the race. Oftentimes we go into the next year with so many goals and plans to make huge life changes all at once, then we get deflated and discouraged when those things don’t start to change in the first two months of the year. Personally, the start of the year for me is about cleansing anything I need to from the past and aligning myself with my intentions for the year ahead with smaller, more attainable goals. It’s about shedding layers instead of trying to take on everything at once. Of course, I set my sights high and create larger goals as well but I make sure to also break those larger goals down into smaller increments so I don’t get burnt out by March and throw everything to the wayside mid-year.
Eating is a ritual, but is not treated as such. Why do you think people have become disconnected from their most natural practices?
Simply put, people are too busy. Eating is a beautiful ritual, in the most basic simplistic way. Yet the collective is so focused on work, working out, achieving success, and competing with one another that we have lost sight of the simple joys in life. Sitting down for a beautiful meal of healthy locally sourced foods with people you love is hardly ever done anymore. We are marketed towards meals that can be heated and served or even consumed on the go. We put our attention towards eating the right things and forget about the how. What is the experience itself that you have created?
Now is the perfect time to renew our relationship with the ritual of nourishing ourselves because more people are working from home now than they ever have before, so we have a bit more time to utilize our kitchens and dining areas. Even if it is creating a very simple salad or smoothie, we can take 20 minutes out of our packed zoom schedule and make something that helps boost our immune systems and gives us the energy needed to take on the rest of our day.
“Meditative eating can help your health immensely because the more aware of how your body feels with certain foods the better you can care for your body overall. It teaches you how to eat with intention.”
We are so excited to feature your guided mindful eating meditation that you created exclusively for the Provenance Detox: Renew Edition. What role has meditation played in your life?
Meditation is a huge part of my life. When I was first starting to meditate it was so hard for me to let my mind clear and focus, so I truly understand when others struggle when starting their own practice. Then I incorporated crystals into my meditation practice and things finally started to flow from there. The minerals in the gemstones help facilitate what I need energetically in my body to let my mind find more peace and my soul find its center. Meditation though doesn’t have to just be one thing. At times my dancing was meditative or staring at the water when I am by the ocean. It doesn’t have to be about ticking a box or the reward of some app telling you that you were successful in meditating.
The Cristalline hand-selected the crystals in the Clarity Gemstone bonus gift for the Provenance Detox: Renew Edition to serve as a token or reminder of your commitment to change.
How can meditation help individuals practice mindful eating and fully experience their nutrition?
Meditation helps you listen to your intuition and your gut feelings more clearly. Meditative eating can help your health immensely because the more aware of how your body feels with certain foods the better you can care for your body overall. It teaches you how to eat with intention.
If you had to share one tip to beginners to meditation, what would it be?
To the point of the above, try different things. Keep going. Try to incorporate things like a mantra, mundra, breathwork, or my personal favorite, crystals. These things aid in the relaxation process and help you find your center. Explore different times of the day. Five minutes of quality time can be more impactful than an hour of trying to and feeling frustrated.
For some, setting aside time to practice it may seem more like another task rather than an opportunity of self-care. How can people think of this differently?
If you don’t have time to meditate then you likely need to meditate for a longer amount of time. When I throw that reality at people, a certain part of their psyche really resonates with that. The busier someone is, the more important it is for them to set aside time for their mind to get quiet. Meditation is a process of training your thoughts and when someone is very busy they need that more than they realize. Start small and then build upon it. Also, know that it will change depending on what is going on in your life. So don’t expect it to be the same and be open to the shifts and possibilities of what resonates.
