Podcast producer: Chris Robertson

I had been admiring the work of Shiva Rose for years, and love her beautiful book Whole Beauty. It's natural, earthy recipes are relatively simple and are a great way to become more connected to the potent benefits of natural herbs, oils, and more. It's the perfect book to have my daughters reference as they begin to develop beauty and self-care routines (hopefully, rituals!) and develop an embrace of nature's powerful beauty and healing abilities. If you're also interested in a holistic approach to beauty and self-care, I highly recommend that you consider Whole Beauty.

—Sophia

(The image above is an Amazon affiliate link.)

Podcast Intro

Shiva Rose is a beautiful guide into the natural world and to ancient remedies for beauty and self-care. Author of the bestselling and gorgeous book, Whole Beauty: Daily Rituals and Natural Recipes for Lifelong Beauty and Wellness, Shiva's wisdom was hard-earned. 

In the preface of her book Whole Beauty, Shiva writes:

The first several decades of my life were marked by trauma. In 1979, due to the Iranian Revolution, my family was in danger, my mother being an American citizen and my father a well-known liberal TV personality. They felt it was best that we leave the country, so we escaped Tehran on one of the last flights out. We resettled in Los Angeles, where my parents had a lot of tumultuous times before they divorced when I was a teenager. Not long after that, one of my closest friends was murdered on her way home from a party we attended together. To escape these challenging times, I immersed myself in acting, eventually going on to study theater at UCLA.

Shiva went on to marry a successful actor and gave birth to her first daughter in her mid-twenties. As you'll hear in this conversation, Shiva's pregnancy—coupled with other stressors in her life—probably contributed to the onset of autoimmune issues. She was later diagnosed with Lupus (an autoimmune disease), scleroderma (a disease that affects your skin, connective tissue, and internal organs), and rheumatoid arthritis. One of Shiva's doctors told her that she had about 3 years left to live.

Refusing to accept this fate, Shiva discovered how to heal herself through organic foods, herbal medicines, Ayurveda, self-care, and adding healthy fats to her diet. 

To share what was helping her get well, Shiva started her holistic lifestyle blog called The Local Rose. Today, Shiva describes herself as a curator of The Local Rose and an alchemist. Shiva is also the creator of the skincare brand Shiva Rose Beauty. 

In this podcast, you will hear how Shiva experienced healing, her beauty and self-care rituals, experiences as an author and entrepreneur, and more! One of my favorite quotes from this podcast is when she says:

Sometimes the biggest misfortune in our lives can be our best medicine.

While you'll hear Shiva and I talk about things that helped us—like supplements—please do not interpret anything in this podcast as medical advice! Hopefully, this conversation will provide you with new ideas for you to explore with your trusted healthcare physicians to see if they are safe for you.

This podcast was recorded in February 2020 in The Detox Market retail store on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles with an audience that asks questions at the end. Our voices are harder to hear than usual. So I'd like to give a special shoutout to Chris Robertson, my podcast producer, for elevating your listening experience as much as was possible.

I'd also like to thank the team at The Detox Market for hosting Shiva and I for this podcast conversation. Inspired by a breast cancer case, The Detox Market was founded to help you find safer beauty products. Since 2010, The Detox Market has been curating the best of green beauty—combing through thousands of products so you can feel safe and confident in your choices, according to its website.

Shiva Rose is generously offering you a unique 15% discount code on her gentle and nourishing Pearl Cleanser. 

Enjoy 15% off  The Pearl Cleanser with code: SOPHIA

Click here for the Shiva Rose Beauty Pearl Milk Cleanser.  

To save 15%, use code: SOPHIA

Correction: The podcast states that the event occurred in February 2019 but it took place in February 2020.

Podcast Show Notes

[4:50} Shiva's history

• As a mother of two daughters, author, and entrepreneur, how beauty and self-care has evolved for Shiva
• Beauty practice has melded into her spiritual practice and vice versa
• Morning rituals
  • Wake up 4:30-5am
  • Mist face with rose water
  • Living tea ceremony, sit in silence
  • Kundalini set, which helps hormones, thyroid, digestive system, and spiritual practice
• Autoimmune issues in her mid-20s after giving birth to her first daughter
• Diagnosed with Lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis
• Told she had 3 years left to live
• She had been depleted of minerals, like vitamin D
• She was experiencing deep inflammation (the bruise on her back), felt bad, was constantly achy, sleep issues

[10:49] "Sometimes the biggest misfortune in our lives can be our best medicine."

• Challenges as an author and entrepreneur

 

[10:57] What helped pivot the trajectory of your health?

• Vitamin D
• Minerals
• Blood work
• Work with a holistic physician
• Bringing inflammation down through various ways; she often felt bad and achy; had sleep issues.

[12:20] "I don't think you really know, sometimes, how much you're suffering until you're not."

 

[12:56] Sophia discusses her daughter's severe eczema, and how Traditional Chinese Medicine transformed her daughter's skin.

 

[14:24] "See the inflammation on her skin, imagine what's going on inside."

 

[15:28] Unique sensitivities

 

[15:45] Ruan Detox Immersion Program

• Reduce toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and EMFs as an elimination diet
• Our chemical explosion
  • Since World War 2, more than 84,000 chemicals have been introduced into American commerce
  • Less than 1% regulated, few are tested for safety
  • Other countries have their own story; i.e., the European Union had over 143,000 chemicals registered under REACH in 2015, when A to Z of D-Toxing was published
  • Personal care products uses over 10,000 of these chemicals

[18:30] Shiva's inspiration for Shiva Rose Beauty Products

 

[18:50] When you're in sync, when your diet is clean, when your water is pure, when you're breathing, ...clearing yourself, and clearing your karmic past... things just appear... blocks are removed...

 

[20:18] "What do you wish you knew sooner about beauty?'

• The Ayurvedic aspect of beauty
• Women, in general, need more fat.
• Healthy fats is what make our skin glow, our hair luxurious... Ghee, sunflower oil, almond oil, olive oil... eat and put it on your skin too
• [21:23] "In Ayurvedic traditions, they oil-up before the shower because (and sunflower seed oil or sesame oil) then the water will seal it, and then you'll be so soft."
• Dry brushing
• [21:54] Evening rituals
  • Bath
  • Mantra
  • Dry brush
  • Sea Siren Body Scrub with lemongrass, which helps release negativity
  • Then moisturize

[23:08] One thing that I've learned as I've gotten older is, Timing is everything, and don't push it. Whole Beauty was a salient reminder of this lesson.

 

[25:13] Taurus description (Sophia is Taurus)

 

[25:53] Male versus female brain

[26:26:22] Bluelight glasses

[26:58] Sophia explains body burden: You can lower your body burden by reducing your toxic exposures

[28:09] Shiva does following to detox:

• Chlorella
• Spirulina
• Barley grass
• Breathing exercises

[29:00] In Ayurveda, drinking a cup of warm water and lemon in the morning is crucial to do before anything.

 

[29:11] Shiva thinks fasting is not optimal for women

 

[29:52] Infrared saunas

 

[32:11] Questions from the audience

• Perfumes
• Hormones
  • The Woman's Code book
  • More magnesium
  • Teas: Nettle, Red Clover
  • Eat certain seeds (like flax, sesame) during certain parts of your cycle

 

[35:05] Shiva's moon course explains how we're connected to the cycles of the moon

• Men versus female cycles in connection with the moon
• White moon bleeding: childbearing years
• Red (full) moon bleeding: healers, women who create to serve others, medicine women

[36:50] Influence of a full moon

• Full moon is a special opportunity to assess what you have reaped during the last month and what you want to release/purge
• New moon is about planting seeds
  • Dry brush
  • Baths
• Laying out under the moon's light is helpful too
• Get the most out of a full moon by dry brushing, bath rituals, list what you want to release
• We can work in sync with our menstrual cycles

[38:05] Favorite hair products?

• Bayan
• Shiva's hair oil
• Surya Spa in Los Angeles

[39:26] Sophia's favorite skin products?

• Raw Elements tinted sunscreen

[39:58] Favorite makeup products?

• RMS products
• Tammy Fender products

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