2021 May

Katie Hess co-founder of LotusWei

SUITE (45th A nniversary)

• Balances the 7 chakras with 7 musical keynote frequencies

• The original #1 bestseller

• Often imitated, never equaled!

• Over 777,000 sold worldwide!

Sound Healer Founding Father of New Age Music

• 2012 GRAMMY® nominee

• 47 weeks on Top Ten New Age Chart

• For relaxation, healing and meditation

• Supports the immune system

“Steven’s music has uplifted a generation of seekers. He has created a soundtrack for our evolutionary journey.” — Marianne Williamson, bestselling author, A Politics of Love

Mesmerizing soundscapes & ethereal vocals that nurture body, mind and spirit.

Enhances CBD, THC, sativa, indica

From the Editor

e

‘age’ that has n en rein nted…

These modern times, people and communities are seeking to find a legit sense of connection, fulfillment, and success. The good news is that a perfect combination of those goals can be fully realized when the search starts within.

Spirituality is the ignition that sparks intuition and guidance, and it can be applied to every area of your life. In order to learn how it works, you have to practice it. It helps you build up spiritual strength, confidence, discernment, discipline… day by day, so you will find yourself free of the heavy weight that doubt carries. As a process, you are making a way for signs, insights, and opportunities to come your way.

Without a doubt, this edition is one of my favorites. Not only do I ‘love to talk’ about spirituality, holistic practices, and mindful stories, but I have experience how spirituality changes you, and circumstances around you. It teaches you to be humble, vulnerable, accessible. But it also gives you strength, vision, courage, and balance to understand when the spiritual should take control over the physical. Not by manipulation, but by self-realization. This is how spirituality operates.

What inspires you? What motivates you to keep going? What do you do to feed your mind-spirit?

In this issue, we have covered amazing stories in conscious living to help you identify what can be changed in your life so you can start shifting things around!

Have an insightful reading,

Roberta G.

Roberta Gazzarolle Editor-in-Chief

Editorial

Retailing Insight Magazine is a bimonthly trade magazine specializing in the conscious living retail market. The magazine is published exclusively for qualified retailers and small independent businesses in the United States. Our mission is to share one on business advice, product reviews, advertisement from top sellers and makers in the industry, and exclusive topics to help business continue to thrive.

Editor-in-Chief

Roberta Gazzarolle

Copyeditor

Sean Ruck

Designer Marina Avila

Digital Media & Sales

Karen Johnson

Contributing Writers

Melinda Carver

Tracee Dunblazier

Anna Garrido

Amisha Ghadiali

Steven Halpern

Dan Jablons

Margaret Ann Lembo

Megy Karydes

Deborah Koff-Chapin

Evelyn Mulders

Jacki Smith

Sean Ruck

©2021 New Way Publishing, LLC.  All rights reserved. ISSN 2372-7977. Volume35/ Issue 3/ Year 2021. The magazine is published bimonthly/ six times a year (January, March, May, July, September, November) by New Way Publishing, LLC. 4117 Park Road, 12252, Charlotte, NC 28220. Periodicals postage paid at Charlotte, NC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address changes to Retailing Insight Magazine, P.O. Box 12252, Charlotte, NC 28220.

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Retailing Insight Magazine is published by New Way Publishing, LLC. 101 S Tryon Street, 27th Floor Charlotte, NC 28280 800-730-1147 I circ@retailinginsight.com

Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.

PEMA CHODRON

SPIRITUALITY IN BUSINESS

The Time of Beautiful Leadership

BEAUTIFUL LEADERSHIP is a new paradigm of leadership. This paradigm values creation from the soul while paying attention to the details of what you put out into the world, as well as your own inner work. This way, you lead from a clear and authentic place while illustrating that everything is connected. Beautiful leadership listens to the wisdom of our ancestors and leaves something for future generations. It invites us to embrace the complexity of life while recognizing that we are all leaders at this time.

When I started my jewelry label in 2005, I was working with my intuition. I hadn’t studied jewelry design or been to art or business school. In fact, I studied politics. In those days there was no movement around ethical fashion, and you couldn’t even Google the term. However, in the years to come,

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: AMISHA GHADIALI is an intuitive therapist and host of globally influential podcast ‘The Future is Beautiful.’ She runs Presence Mentoring courses, focusing on wellbeing through meditation, breathwork, and yoga, and is a trained Reiki master, Yoga and meditation teacher, and intuitive energy healer. She has been featured in the Huffington Post, Rebelle Society, and Ecouterre, and is a speaker at talks from TEDx to Burning Man. You can find out more about The Beautiful Leadership Immersion and Amisha’s work at www.amisha.co.uk

I was part of propelling that. All I knew was I wanted to create jewelry that would be kept for life, connecting us deeper to our inner world. Jewelry made in conditions fair to those who made it. I was in India spending time with family when I set off to create my supply chain, and after that, launched the label. What guided me was a deep sense of knowing, and an understanding that we needed better practices in our businesses that understood the need for creating beauty.

This beauty is not a surface aspect, it’s about engaging in what is truly meaningful in life, and asking along the way – is this the most beautiful way of doing this? Will it benefit people? Does it honor the people coming into contact with it? Is it regenerative in its relationship with nature? Does it understand our interconnection?

me the gift of space to get to know myself again, and forced me to turn to practices like meditation, yoga, journaling, and deep rest to feel inspired and energized again.

The times that we live in are asking us to dig deep into who we really are and to be a part of creating a beautiful future, living a life and creating businesses of intentionality. The old paradigm of leadership taught us that we must control and dominate everything. There are certain rules that must be followed. You have to be certain. This is part of a story that has kept power held in certain places and allowed success to come at the cost of others.  What I have come to understand about beautiful leadership, is that the focus on the inner work is key. You need a clear vision of the business you want to bring into the world, be willing to understand yourself, and you have to rewire your patterns in order to live out your trauma through your work.

After years of working in sustainable fashion and running my jewelry label, I burned out. I hadn’t been taking care of myself and although I had a beautiful vision, I wasn’t able to sustain my energy. The burnout forced me to stop when I just couldn’t push through anymore and go from one thing to the next. It gave

I learnt it is so easy to run a business from our childhood patterns and play out fear or try and prove something. By transforming these subconscious patterns and developing self-awareness, you create a stronger relationship with your intuition. This intelligence can guide you in your own inner life, as well as how to show up in your business and make decisions that are beneficial to all.

Intuition has been undervalued in our society, yet it’s now being understood as a vital part of who we are and how we operate. Many successful social entrepreneurs credit their intuitive intelligence for what they have been able to achieve. It gives you a leading edge, as you are not just following rules or examples of how things have been done before, but you are able to truly listen to the wisdom within and act from that place, allowing you to see what you might not have noticed before. This action then brings a more vibrant creativity to your work and life.

This past year of the pandemic has shown us we can’t rely on life’s predictability. We have to remain fluid and able to innovate and sense new ways of doing things. We need to embody our full potential. We need to be beautiful leaders.

| Here are the Keys to Beautiful Leadership:

Re-defining Worth & Leadership

Awakening your true worth so you may understand your unique pathway, soft power and what being a leader means to you.

Shadows, Trauma &

Liberation

Understanding the conditioning trapping you into limited beliefs, how to break free and to find your hidden gifts.

Embodiment & Biohacking

Exploring how ancient wisdom, movement and new technology can bring health, wellbeing and possibility into your life.

Vision,

Intuition & Edgewalking

Learning to move between worlds, to bring new seeds into form and to trust your vision and the insights you receive.

Sacred Activism & Decolonization

Exploring how your way of life can contribute to the collective healing of this planet from finding your way of activism, to decolonizing the self.

Creativity, Cultural Futurism & Flow Consciousness

Embodying a reciprocal and receptive relationship with how we co-create the future and weave with the tapestry of life.

Collaboration & Community

Unlearning needing to protect, hoard and hide –opening into a way of being that is collaborative and community-led by nature.

Rituals, Practices & Tools

Discovering beautiful, powerful rituals and practices connecting you to your soul, and opening up a richer, more abundant and playful relationship with life itself. •

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FEATURES

Open to Buy: The Retail Business Art

I AM GOING TO DESCRIBE a process by which your retail store can make money. Not just money that shows up on your income statements, but money that shows up in your bank account. Good, hard, spendable cash. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I hope so. After all, retail is supposed to fun, especially in the wellness market. Your customers are coming to you to improve their health and well-being, and the last thing you want to be is grouchy because you have no cash flow. This is not some obscure economic theory. The process is actively in use at every major chain store, department store and larger specialty store

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DAN JABLONS , President of Retail Smart Guys worked in retail while attending Ohio State University, where he graduated with a B.S. in marketing and production. He has worked with retailers such as Walmart, Target, JC Penney, American Apparel, Betsey Johnson, Donna Karan, Jimmy Choo, Charles David, Diesel, Oakley, Tumi, Hollywood Bowl, and many others. As a consultant, Dan brings many years of retail experience to stores of any size to improve their operations, revitalize their marketing, and maximize their profits. For more information, contact Dan at dan@retailsmartguys.com

chain. Yet the concepts are completely applicable to independent retailers. In fact, many specialty stores and boutiques use this to ensure cash flow and profitability for their stores.

It’s called Open-to-Buy. Now before you roll your eyes and think to yourself “I’ve heard it all before, it’s just budgets,” let me clarify something. OTB, when properly implemented and executed, is not just a budget. When done well, it creates an integrated buying and merchandising approach that ties together your marketing, customer service, point of sale, accounting, and operations and focuses all of them on one thing: great cash flow. It is the process of developing a great sales forecast and combining it with a sales and inventory plan to create cash flow. Let’s break that down into its components so you can really understand and apply it to your business.

| Forecasting is Not Guessing

OTB starts with a great sales forecast that breaks your business down into mini businesses that each have their own demand curve. For example, the rate of sale for candles is way different than the rate of sale for books, body care, or apparel. Your pointof-sale system should help you break your business down into these mini businesses, and each one deserves and requires its own forecast. Further, if you have multiple locations, each location should have its own forecast for each classification of merchandise. Too often we hear about bad forecasting techniques. Lots of specialty retail stores plan their business by “buying what we sold last year” or “we expect to be up 2%.” These are not forecasts. They are stabs in the dark and lead to lost sales and missed opportunities. If you buy only what you sold last year, then the most you can sell is what you sold last year, or less. Why? Because you are bringing in less inventory in classes that could grow. As such, you won’t have enough inventory to capture the growth, and you will lose sales. The method of buying what you sold last year has one sure outcome: You are guaranteed to do less than you did the year before.

Great forecasts also are built from the bottom up, not from the top down. If you find yourself forecasting your business by saying, “we will be even with last year” then you will make the mistake of generalizing all your mini businesses into one number. That means you’ll miss sales in the classes that could grow, and you’ll have too much inventory in the classes that are declining. Both consume cash flow like an army of college kids at a pizza-eating contest. Over the top, but you get the idea.

Your business’s forecast should be broken out monthly and should be adjusted for seasonality. Your forecast should accurately represent the sales of winter clothing, but should also identify when winter clothing stops selling, and spring clothing takes over.

Great forecasting does take into account what you did last year, but that is not the most important factor. Forecasting must also take into account current trends, both inside your business and outside your business. Your OTB forecasts should react properly when trends emerge and enable you to take advantage of those trends by buying into them (or getting out of them if they are trending down) and squeezing out as much cash as you can.

We spend a great deal of time enhancing and focusing our sales forecasts. Good OTB systems do that, because it is an important part of planning your inventory. Big retailers have very expensive systems (read: more than a million dollars) that do this for them. Independent retailers often hire companies that bring that technology to their stores, but those companies must invest in and deliver that technology to the specialty retail market.

| Okay, But What Do I Buy?

Once you have a great forecast in place, it should be easy to buy, right? If I know I’ll sell $1,000 of essential oils in January, I just need to have a little more than $1,000 of essential oils on the floor, right? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. You need to put a sufficient level of inventory on the floor so that you present an appealing assortment from which to choose. (This is

exactly where stores lose a ton of money. Read on carefully so you aren’t one of them.)

Knowing how much inventory to put on the sales floor to achieve your sales forecast is the key to making money in retail.

If you put too little inventory there, you’ll miss sales. Put too much, and you’ll have to take big

markdowns to sell through the merchandise, which eats up all your profits.

So how do you know? You apply something called a stockto-sales ratio, which is defined as the number of units you need to have on hand to sell one unit. For example, if your personal care department is operating on a three stock-to-sales ratio, that means you have to have three items on hand for every one you sell in that department.

Once you have your sales forecast, you then determine the proper stock-to-sales ratio. That will tell you how much inventory you need to have on hand, without overbuying, to meet your sales forecast with

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maximum profitability. Just like forecasting, there should be a different stock-to-sales ratio for each mini-business, for each location. By determining how much inventory you need to have on hand, you will know how much you need to buy, month after month, to achieve the best level of inventory for your business. If you do this, mini-business by mini-business, location by location, and diligently follow that plan (adjusting where necessary), you will have cash. Businesses that we work with that follow the plan have cash. Businesses that don’t follow the plan run out of cash, and eventually fail. It is that dramatic a difference.

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| Is That it? Really?

Mostly, yes. Of course, there are lots of nuances to this, such as achieving the proper profit margins, planning your markdowns, and ensuring that your inventory is fresh and new. The Open to Buy plan should become the centerpiece of evaluating your business. If you are on plan, then you should be achieving cash flow. If you aren’t, figure out where you’re not adhering the plan, and adjust your business accordingly.

In large retail operations, the planners are in a separate

department from the buyers. It is rare that a buyer is also a planner. I am not sure why that is. I think it’s sort of like letting the fox guard the henhouse, in that the planner should be challenging the buyer to do more, to achieve more sales, more profitability, and more growth.

In an independent retail store, it can fall to the same person, but better retailers realize that the most objective planning will get them the highest profits. That is why there are external opento-buy planning companies (like mine) for specialty retail. The good ones bring a vast array of outside knowledge and expertise that helps customers grow their businesses.

Most importantly (and a key tenet in what we do), it should be fun.

We always try to make planning a fun and enjoyable part of the business.

Further, it should inspire you. It should give you focus, direction, and excitement for what you do. If all that happens, then you’ll have cash flow, and you’ll be as happy and giggly as the customers who walk through your door. •

The WESA Trade Shows o er the most comprehensive trade experience for retailers of the Western and English industries. Featuring more than 900 product lines, newest trends, educational seminars, and entertainment; WESA’s International Apparel and Equipment Markets are where the savvy retailers shop to be educated and inspired. Join us at the WESA Trade Show in Dallas, TX August 26-29, 2021 Visit our website for more info: Wesatradeshow.com Where the Industry Meets #WESAtradeshow

FEATURES

Spirituality Nowadays

IN TODAY’S SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE, we are seeing an exciting trend. What appears emergent is a spirituality of mindfulness and a religion of kindness. More and more people are turning away from organized religious or spiritual gatherings and turning to an independent form of communion with their Creator. It is an acknowledgement of how they perceive a higher consciousness in the world, and they are celebrating it how they see fit. The awareness of the elements of life that unite us all are receiving the focus, no doubt, in part because of many factors: a distaste for current religious structures and fatigue from continual crisis conditions. Ultimately, people are striving to find peace and comfort in ways they can trust, which is bringing their path to the Divine, home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: TRACEE DUNBLAZIER , GC-C, is a Los Angeles-based spiritual empath, shaman, and eleven-time national award-winning author, publisher, and President of COVR: Coalition of Visionary Resources. As a multi-sensitive, Tracee’s blend of intuitive information combined with different modalities, has provided the opportunity for many to achieve deep healing and create the success and peace they seek in their lives. Her latest bestseller is Conquer Your Karmic Relationships: Heal Spiritual Trauma to Open Your Heart and Heal Your Soul.

| Old Traditions Falling Away

Deep questions have become pervasive in our collective minds about the lingering relationship to religion, to faith, and to the belief in a Creator. In difficult times, when the world feels out of control, we tend to naturally gravitate to things outside ourselves for solace. However, although the pandemic has supported it, there has been a forward motion for going within to find the answers we are seeking for the past two decades. The needle is moving towards an independent discovery of how we experience a higher-consciousness and an openness to a universal understanding.

Today’s spirituality is less about what the collective is doing and encompasses an individual’s path to awareness of the multiple energetic dimensions that connect us all. It is common for many to confuse religion and spirituality. Religion is the organized ritual used to cultivate a relationship to the Divine, and spirituality is the awareness of the multiple dimensions of energy that make up the Divine.

Since 2000, the practice of organized religion in the USA is down almost 15%, while the number of those who do not have any religious/spiritual affiliation has more than doubled — no doubt for many reasons, including the polarization of religious beliefs and the politization of many churches. Folks are beginning to gravitate to a solitary, spiritual construct in daily life.

| Everyone is Spiritual

Certainly, we are all spiritual, regardless of our beliefs, ideologies, knowledge, or awareness.

Spirituality is our relationship to ourselves and our environment on every vibrational level. Our empathy, instinct, perspective, and creativity are all a part of

our spirituality, and the tools we have, to become aware of the spirit world.

There are people who do not claim being “spiritual” or others still, that seem disconnected, but a person’s awareness or beliefs about being “spiritual” do not dictate the existence of that world, just their relationship to it. So, then the question is, can we become spiritual?

The answer is a resounding, yes! Everything we do contributes to being mindful of our spiritual awareness. How we treat ourselves and others. How we nourish our bodies and feed our minds. All these habits bestow a vibration of ease or conflict on our feelings and perceptions of life. Therefore, if we are interested in making a change, all we need to do is train our focus on the spiritual or emotional dynamic of taking care of ourselves, others, and the planet.

Spirituality is our relationship to ourselves and our environment on every vibrational level. Our empathy, instinct, perspective, and creativity are all a part of our spirituality, and the tools we have, to become aware of the spirit world.

|

Love and Kindness is the New Religion

Just under 75% of millennials report having no affiliation to a church, and the numbers for affiliations continue to decline for other generations as well. The focus that is taking its place is one of needing and expressing kindness. I was having a zoom discussion with a few friends the other day, when one exclaimed, “I don’t need for everyone to agree with me, I just need them to be respectful and kind.”

That was a poignant moment of realization for all of us — in our culture today, general respect and kindness seems to have been put aside because of

a lack of empathy, or for the illusion of righteousness. The truth of it is, our interactions with others can be full of disagreements about small things, but their existence alludes to more important needs underneath. Many of us have stories that have gone uncommunicated and can be ripe for expression through a reaction to unrelated events, getting our feelings hurt easily, or taking what others say and do, personally.

We are all on a quest to recognize our deepest needs and find positive ways to fulfill them. Kindness can be that path. First, to be kind to yourself. Next, to be kind to others and the planet. I must admit, I am addicted to “Hallmark Channel” love. If you’re not familiar, it’s the kind of love where everyone takes in full thoughtful breaths, before expressing their deepest heartfelt feelings, and no matter what, everything is always okay, even when telling the truth.

| Activating Faith

What would our world be like if no one took another’s feelings or actions personally? If they responded in empathy, emotional mastery, and love? Don’t get me wrong, I know we’ve got a way to go, but the spirit of love can go a long way in creating miracles in the world: large and small.

What I always do, even on my worst day, is consider that no matter my circumstances or condition, there is always someone who is in a less fortunate position than I. In fact, there are folks right now, who in the past year, have lost everything. People they loved and everything that was consistent in their lives. Yet no matter where you begin, there is a way forward.

The spirit of faith is unique, it expands as you give to it. When you are giving your love and hope or your anger and grief, it expands them until their pursuit is complete. It is the goal of love and hope to heal. It is the natural objective of anger and grief to acknowledge the truth. All it takes to activate your faith is your energy, focus, and commitment. Notice that I didn’t say belief? Nope, belief has no bearing

on faith. Just your commitment to move forward and your energy and focus put there. As you do that, your mindfulness kicks in and brings your awareness to what is needed to nurture your condition or circumstances. It is almost magical, if you believe in those things.

All in all, today’s spiritual outlook for the collective is absolutely invigorating. The more each of us becomes accountable for our own beliefs and ideals, and aware of the impact they have on us, and the lens through which we look at everything in our lives the more we will embrace the intrinsic oneness that connects us all. We can begin to find common ground with one another. We can continue to heal ourselves and the planet. And, finally, we can recognize we are powerful, loving, humans who have what it takes to make any change we wish to make. •

WHAT YOU SEEK IS SEEKING YOU.

- Rumi

MUSIC

Entrain The Brain:

TUNE THE CHAKRAS AND BIOFIELD WITH HEALING MUSIC FOR OPTIMAL WELL-BEING

SOUND HEALING MUSIC

traces its roots back over 5,000 years and was revered in ancient Egypt, China and Greece. Starting in 1975, there has been a re-awakening and new understanding of the many ways we can use music in the age of COVID to nurture body, mind and spirit. These factors go far beyond the pleasures of the entertainment value of music.

With the ‘right’ music, it’s easy to ‘entrain the brain’ and the human biofield (aura) into a relaxed state of mindfulness and inner peace. This was the subject of my landmark biofeedback research that documented the virtually universal effectiveness of my music, and which has been the foundation of my recordings throughout my career. If you own a yoga studio or a gift shop, you want to ensure the ambient music

played or the stock CDs you carry can provide proven therapeutic benefits to your customers, has a proven track record unmatched by any other recording artist, so folks can listen to for years to come. For more than four decades, our music has been the foundation of retail music sections. Check our selection of albums (demos available) that you can use to help engage your community and enhance your brand:

CHAKRA SUITE (originally released as “Spectrum Suite”) – Is the first and original album that tunes the chakras with the power of sound. I resonate the seven chakras with the seven tones of the major scale. When your chakras are in tune, your immune system functions more effectively. The hemispheres of your brain shift into a high coherence, deep alpha state in which you naturally entrain to the Schumann Resonance, which has been called ‘Earth’s brainwave.’ You feel at peace with the world. The album is now attracting new generations of fans. Many of them, like many long-time fans, prefer listening to music on CD rather than on their cell phones. It’s been rightly said that more people have relaxed and had their chakras tuned with this album than with all other chakra albums combined!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: STEVEN HALPERN is a Grammy® nominated, Billboard charting and # 1 bestselling recording artist, author, researcher and pioneering sound healer. He is the founding father of New Age music, and helped create the alternative market for music that has benefited other artists and the public ever since his first release in 1975.

DEEP ALPHA: Brainwave Entrainment

Music for Relaxations, Healing and Meditation – Is the 2012 Grammy® nominee that continues to make history with 50 weeks on the Billboard Top Ten New Age Chart. It is the first and only brainwave entrainment album to reach audiences far beyond the New Age demographic. The opening track opens the heart chakra, riding on the breathtaking melody of Paul McCandless on oboe. Most tracks feature the Rhodes electric piano, and all tracks ‘entrain the brain’ to the deep alpha state.

OCEAN OF BLISS

– As the internationally recognized authority on the healing music of Steven Halpern, I can report that this album became an instant and best-selling classic. The soothing rhythms of Mother Nature’s ‘Organic Brainwave Entrainment” (OBE) are combined with exquisite instrumentation, include Rhodes electric piano, harp and bamboo flute. The blissful effects are enhanced with subtle 8 Hz alpha brainwave entrainment.

ECHOES of a DREAM

– The title track features the angelic voice of rising star Kristin Hoffmann, with wordless vocals and exquisite melodies floating over a sensual blues-inspired chord progression. Other key tracks feature the late, great David Darling on cello, Jorge Alfano on bamboo flute, and myself on Rhodes electric piano and ambient keyboards. Perhaps my most melodic album ever, each track is entrained to 8 Hz for maximum relaxation effect. Sure to be a customer favorite.

CRYSTAL BOWL HEALING

2.0 – Combines audiophile quality recordings of the healing tones of gem-infused quartz crystal bowls (courtesy Alchemy Crystal Tones®) with beautiful, ambient soundscapes featuring the Rhodes electric piano and atmospheric keyboard textures.

NEW!!! CANNABIS DREAMS

– Chill-out music for relaxation, healing and well-being.” Like a tuning fork for the brain, each track creates an Auditory Contact High (ADH) at the speed of sound. Mesmerizing, ethereal soundscapes perfectly complement medicinal marijuana as well as recreational use. Recommended for stress management, PTSD, sleep deficiency, pure listening pleasure. Harmonizes perfectly with CBD, THC, sativa and indica. Each track is inspired by the plant ally inherent in each specific strain, including Mirayo® by Santana. •

FEATURES

What the Future Holds for Wellness

COVID-19 HAS ACCELERATED trends that were already in place, raising awareness of the many dimensions of wellness that have been changing people´s priorities. The pandemic will pass, but the world will never be the same. The virus has been teaching us how vulnerable life can be, and more than ever, important areas that have somehow been ignored, such as mental and emotional well-being will be the biggest trends in the near future. This disruption of day-to-day life has impacted how we live. Everybody is trying to adjust to a post-pandemic world, prioritizing meaningful relationships, happiness, spirituality and healthy practices.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ANA PAULA GARRIDO is a Brazilian journalist based in NY who has been traveling the world writing about lifestyle, wellness, tourism, destinations, and food and drink to major publications in South and North America like Catraca Livre, UOL, Viagens SA, North News, and more. Garrido is also a member of the Green Press, a non-profit project formed by travel journalists to inspire sustainable tourism. To know more about the author, visit omelhordaviagem.com

What is Wellness and why is It Important?

Especially now, the pandemic seems to raise the public awareness of the many dimensions of wellness. But what does it mean and why is it so important? Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits, making choices toward a fulfilling life on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental outcomes and having a lifestyle that leads to a state of holistic health and wellbeing. When body, mind and spirit are integrated, it positively affects our emotions and actions, and it impacts our physical health. That is why it is crucial to control our stress and bad habits to help us live a higher quality life with purpose. What we can see happening now is people are redefining wellness, adding behaviors related to sustainability and the environment, to intellectual, emotional and financial health as important goals to activate to live more fully within nature and our communities.

During this social distancing era, virtual health and fitness practices are growing, creating new behaviors where wellness will be permanently altered. Telemedicine, digital therapy, and at-home fitness are here to stay. Furthermore, customers are starting to search for more brands that make fitness and health more accessible, creating a big impact in redefining the wellness culture. Additionally, people and

communities are becoming more connected and supportive of each other, becoming more aware of the relationship between consumer and supplier as well as the relationships created by where we live and what we eat. These patterns will help accelerate demands for sustainable practices in a connected world.

Home as a New Sanctuary

New habits have been incorporated and our homes became our remote office, virtual learning school, a place to exercise, to socialize and more. All under the same roof. Houses are now a wellness hub with new routines, reflecting consumers’ interest in Zen spaces with yoga mats, candles, diffusers, stones, indoor plants and sustainable design. Interest in digital fitness, workouts and meditation, and videos and apps are increasing. Gardening, workouts, meditating in the backyard, cooking at home, baking breads and trying new recipes are part of the new routine for many folks worldwide. Being in a lockdown for months and restricting us from broad personal interactions in many cases helped to connect families leading to more quality time together.

Wellness Destinations

People are so ready to be out again. Wellness vacations,

including holistic hotels, spas and personalized experiences, are more likely to become the hottest destinations.

A World Tourism Association´s survey revealed that over 24% of travelers would be “extremely likely to book a wellness vacation within the next two years, and 78% said they already include wellness-specific activities to their itineraries when travelling. This shows how hotel business is shaping up, getting ready to provide unique customer experiences to start attracting new wellness-focused travelers. This will also be a great opportunity to help provide a boost to the tourism sector which was decimated by the pandemic.

‘Wellness’ into the Guest Room

Amenities like fitness rooms, spas and beauty treatments will be appreciated more than ever. Demand will also increase for a wellness program that can be provided in guest rooms for an ultimate experience. Amenities like designated workout areas with stationary bike, yoga mats, halteres, will be paired virtual yoga classes and personal fitness workouts via the hotel TV, meditation apps, in-room massages and treatments, special products and other personalized pampering that can be requested by the guest before their arrival. Some hotels are also starting to offer touchless wellness services and telemedicine

consultations to deliver a great experience to guests who may be more comfortable continuing their social distancing.

Just for ME

Bring some changes to your routine… How about paying more attention to your soul and health? Have you ever thought about trying different things to improve your mood and mental wellness like relaxing massages, aroma or salt therapy, and beauty treatments for your “me time”? Here are some wellness ideas:

Aromatherapy — It helps to calm the mind and reduce

stress. The different essential oils help boost the nervous system and increase relaxation. For instance, lavender essence is good for relaxation, rose calms the mind, cinnamon relieve fatigue, and jasmine helps elevate the mood.

You can create a more relaxing home environment with scented candles and essential oils to energize your mood.

Salt Caves — Salt therapy dates back to the medieval era. This alternative treatment involves breathing salty air that has anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties, and more than 80 minerals and nutrients. Is can help improve respiratory conditions and ease the symptoms of asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis and inflammation. It also helps relieve tension, anxiety and depression.

A salt cave has walls compromised of sea salt bricks and fl oors made up of looser salt (like a grainy sand beach) and includes a machine that blows tiny particles of salt into the air.

Forest Therapy – It is a growing Japanese practice that

H E Z E N S T O N E G A R D E N

Kelly Barker Newport, OR 541-961-1285 kelly@kellybarker.com

Artist # 22255 www.IndieMe.com

Both items come with a point of

promises a “forest bathing” by immersing people in the atmosphere of the forest with its sounds and smells for a deep relaxation and connection with nature to relieve stress and enhance well-being. The practice consists of walking through the forest, inhaling fresh air and fostering an emotional connection with the landscape.

Back to the Basics

A holistic and spiritual way of living can recharge your mind, body, and soul. There are some inexpensive and easy ways for you

to apply basic practices to your daily routine to help enhance the wellness experience:

☑ Stay centered and healthy by creating daily rituals.

☑ Eat well. Healthy eating helps boost your immunity system. Avoid fats and sugar and remember to drink lots of water during the day.

☑ Redefine your sleep habits. Get a good night’s rest. It helps your body to repair and get fit!

☑ Morning meditation. Avoid checking your phone after waking up. Practice some mindfulness and gratitude thoughts instead.

☑ Close your eyes and take a few minutes to focus on your breathing to help relieve any anxiety.

☑ Get some fresh air. Go for a walk! Let your body absorb natural vitamin D with the morning sun. Check the blue sky and the blossoming trees. Listen to the birds and take notice of the beautiful nature around you.

☑ Exercise. Walk, jog, bike or just stretch. Small movements can bring you mental and physical benefits. Find ways to let the happiness in, so the anxiety and stress can be pushed out. Back to the basics can help increase your self-care routine and improve your well-being. Find simple joy in your everyday life. Let spirituality, happiness and wellness be part of your journey in these “new normal” days. •

Why Social Media Matters

GINA LEMPA follows her customers closely through their Facebook pages and email marketing. As principle of Gina Lempa & Associates, Lempa is a representative for Melrose International, Vickerman Co. and Tripar International. Staying on top of what her customers are doing is an important part of her work.

“This past year, especially, I have seen many retailers step up their marketing game with Facebook Lives which really created opportunity to create community with their customers,” Lempa says.

According to an article published in Social Media Today, Toronto-based web design company Branex includes visual storytelling as one its fi ve tips to increase brand awareness and grow business using social media. Companies can increase brand loyalty by telling intriguing stories that align with the personal and social identity of your target audience, according to the accompanying infographic. “People stay loyal to brands who share the same values as they do,” the company says. Of note, 75% of website visitors visit a company website after watching a branded video and 80% of people remember things they see or experience.

How can independent retailers and wholesalers take advantage of storytelling and using social and digital media to make these much-needed connections with followers?

Lempa admits she’s always appreciated businesses that coordinate their message and promotions using email marketing and Facebook. “I believe maintaining a regular, consistent email marketing schedule is important as is sharing engaging Facebook content,” Lempa says. “An email program allows retailers to share more thoroughly their message, promotions and upcoming events. Giving the shop owners a

platform to solidify their message and brand on an ongoing basis.”

Melrose International uses Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and even has its own Melrose Radio playlist on Spotify to connect with retailers and customers. Its home page includes an embedded YouTube video of a short story that relates back to its products. The company has nearly three million subscribers to its YouTube channel.

Lempa has noticed many retailers pivoted their marketing approaches due to COVID-19 and some have truly embraced a different way to doing business.

“Some retailers have become Facebook Live hosts and entertained customers with weekly or scheduled Facebook Live events,” she says. “Customers tune in and set aside time to join in on the fun. They get comfy, sit back and enjoy their favorite beverage and interact in real time with the Facebook Live host. This platform allows the customers to ask questions through live chats, buy featured items and interact online with the host and staff as well as other friends that join in at the same time.”

Facebook Live and using video has allowed store owners to become more available and real to their customers, according to Lempa. It allows them to introduce themselves further, bringing in additional family members, children and employees. They often share their passions about life, food and love of refreshing cocktails. “Some sold more product by sharing their love for pets or travel,” she notes.

“Opening up” online and welcoming people into your social media space has created feelings of being connected and engaged, causing customers to become more involved and invested in the business, Lempa adds.

W

H A T

D

O Y O U K N O W A B O U T A N X I E T Y ?

5 6 % o f p e o p l e i n t h e U . S . t h i n k w e a r e

m o r e a n x i o u s t o d a y t h a n 5 y e a r s a g o .

INTERVIEW

Making Scents with Katie Hess

HOW FLOWERS CAN MAKE YOUR COMMUNITY HAPPIER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: SEAN RUCK is an editor and writer. He lives in Vermont with his wife and three children. When he finds spare time, he typically digs into environmental concerns and causes.

EVERYONE’S HEARD THE SAYING, “stop and smell the roses.” And at the heart of it is the message we should all heed – slow down and take a moment to enjoy some of the little pleasures in life. For Katie Hess, the phrase holds two meanings that might seem at odds, until you learn more. Katie is the founder of Lotus Wei, a company specializing in the creation of flower essence elixirs and related offerings. So when she stops to smell the roses — or rare orchids — she’s enjoying a gift nature presents to encourage us to slowdown, while simultaneously expanding the scope of her company’s goods.

Katie founded LOTUSWEI 10 years ago, but her journey started about a decade prior. We spoke with her to learn more about how she gained the inspiration for her company, how she develops new essences and what it means to be able to positively impact so many individuals while doing something you love.

Retailing Insight: Can you tell us about your background with flower elixirs?

Katie Hess: After I graduated college I was studying forms of herbal medicine — everything from aroma therapy to herbs to natural personal care. I had spent a lot of time living outside the country, in Europe and Mexico and traveled around Asia. It was when I was walking down a street in Mexico that this beautiful Indigenous woman handed me a flyer. I looked down and saw it was a flower remedies course in Mexico City. I looked around to ask the woman some questions and she had vanished. I spent the next 30 minutes running up and down the streets looking for her and couldn’t find her. I took it as a sign and I went to Mexico City, found an expert from Madrid, Spain and had my mind blown.

When I met my teacher, he taught me two things. First, each flower on the planet has a specific healing quality. I thought it was something I could use all my life and never find the end, it just felt so infinite to me, to have a healing modality that could help us expand into our full potential. Then he said, if we could get three percent of the world actively

COURTESYIMAGE OF KATIE HESS

working with flower remedies, it would create enough of a positive ripple effect that it would change the outcome of the future. I thought I could be part of that three percent.

I saw flower essences being prescribed in Europe, I saw they were prescribed in pharmacies in Australia, I lived in Mexico and even the taxi drivers knew the difference between flower essences and essential oils. And I thought I could bring it to be mainstream in the United States. That could be my life goal.

I started a business in Mexico and came back to the states shortly after, spending the first 10 years of my career working with people one-on-one. Over time, I noticed that flower remedies accelerate our personal growth. So the normal rate of growth a human would experience over six months, might be

sped up to take place over the course of one or two months. It was beyond talking, beyond coaching. The flower remedies work with your patterning, the things you’ve learned as you’ve grown up. They expand your strengths and quiet your weaknesses.

As I saw the results, it drove me crazy to see the success and wondered how it was possible that everyone in the world didn’t know about this. I realized if I worked as hard as possible and didn’t take any vacations, I could only see 76,000 people over the course of my life. I knew I had to make products to help more people than I could see individually.

RI: What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting the company?

KH: I looked at where could I find flower remedies in the U.S. and it was in health food stores. At the same time, a best friend was making dark chocolate and she put flower essence into it. The two of us decided to rent a booth at a natural food expo

where all the buyers go and we spent thousands of dollars creating our booth and making it look beautiful. I found out it wasn’t a show for sales, only promotion. Still, I collected 300 cards. Afterwards, I hired my first assistant and we called and emailed every business card and we got two orders. It was instant failure. But I knew all human beings needed what I had; it was the most powerful transformative agent I had ever seen.

I basically got down on my knees and said,

“Alright Mother Earth, you have to tell me which way to go, because I don’t understand.”

COURTESY

IMAGE OF KATIE HESS

We were doing the Phoenix farmer’s markets every Saturday and a chef came through who was working at an up-and-coming resort in Scottsdale and he found Lisa, who makes the chocolate. He asked if she could make some custom dark chocolate for the resort. At the time, I was formulating the herbs and spices, so she took me along and we found out they were also opening a 40,000-square-foot spa and they needed lotions and scrubs and soap. I thought, I could make those products and put fl ower essences into them so that people could feel the transformative effect and if they don’t know that they’re in there, it’s OK, I’m still helping them.

That led to a three-month process of having several meetings a week showing the corporate team samples of elixirs and lotions and soap and massage oils. I was competing against two enormous chemical fragrance companies in California and we won. It was a full moon in May, I remember the meeting — the spa director said the competitors’ stuff had spilled on her desk for the third time

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that week, had given her such a terrible headache that she threw them all in the trash. The whole team fell in love with my essential oil formulation 33. It was the embodiment of the place.

Walking to my car after the meeting, I saw a cactus with a giant bud on it. I had never seen anything like it before, but I had a feeling. I just knew it was a night blooming cactus. I snuck back at 10:30 that night and sure enough, an enormous, stunningly beautiful fl ower had bloomed. I thought it was really auspicious and realized I could collect the fl ower essence and infuse it into all the products of the spa. I didn’t find out until the next day that that particular cactus only blooms one night a year. At first, they might have thought I was crazy, but the general manager fell in love with the concept. We ended up transplanting the cactus near the front door of the spa and it became this huge story. That particular fl ower changed my business overnight, literally. I went from seeing people one on one in my private office space to figuring

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out how to make 300 gallons of soap and 300 gallons of lotion and making custom formulations. That particular flower is for dissolving fears and limitations so you can take a big leap. Today, if I show people the picture of that flower and they’re drawn to it, it means they’re ready to take a big leap.

RI: How do flower essences differ from essential oils?

KH: Essential oils are basically the blood of the plant. It’s the juice that can be distilled out. It’s precious, it’s sensuous, it’s wonderful. Rather than working with artificial fragrances that harm our bodies and create toxic overload, using aromatherapy is the way to go.

Moving to flower remedies, they don’t have any scent. They’re typically taken internally. It’s not alternative medicine — for thousands of years these are remedies that have been used. Alchemists and doctors would recommend their patients to go out and drink the dew drops off the top of a certain flower and that was the original flower essence. Flowers have energy. I call it floral Wi-Fi. We are picking up on it when we are in nature. To understand it better, look at another modality that’s been around for thousands of years — traditional Chinese medicine. Flower remedies are traveling through the same channels and meridian system of your body that acupuncture is tapping into. It’s like an acupuncture treatment without the needle. What they’re doing is simply reminding you to go back into balance, dissolving static and stress and putting you back into a place of happiness and peace.

on the size, you may have 10 years’ worth of supply that can benefit millions of people.

RI: Do you work business to business, to individual customers or a mix?

RI: As you mentioned with essential oils, it takes a lot of plants or flowers to create those oils. How do flower essences get created? You’re not having to harvest the flowers?

KH: It’s one of the most sustainable forms of natural medicine, because with one to 10 flowers depending

KH: We work with spas, green beauty concepts, doctors, anyone who wants to help people reduce stress and increase happiness.

RI: Do flowers have a “best by” date?

KH: It’s different than essential oils, because there’s no chemical aspect of the plant, it’s more of an

energy medicine and the carrier is alcohol, so that’s a preservative in of itself. Flower essences can essentially last forever.

RI: Are you carried in brick and mortar locales?

KH: In terms of very strong partnerships with training and supporting – a good strong hundred partners. Maybe there’s another 900 there that ebb and flow. But 2020 was a difficult year for brick and mortar, but we did grow in terms of healing practitioners.

RI: Do you have any celebrity endorsers?

KH: Carrie-Anne Moss who played Trinity in the Matrix loves our flower essences. And we’ve been endorsed by Alanis Morissette. I’ve had private conversations with others that love our product, but I don’t know who’s comfortable being named.

RI: How do you let potential customers know about LOTUSWEI? Do you advertise online? Do you use social media?

KH: We’re on social media just organically without ad targeting. We did a lot of spa tradeshows. Later, after the book, we did events called flower lounges where we’d show up in a city and create an event with giant flower mandalas and edible flower foods, and we’d invite businesses in that city. Word of mouth, and we also have a wholesale support team doing outreach.

RI: We’ve talked about the methods you use to promote your brand, but what is the message you share?

KH: Really, we’re just looking for good partners. I’m not interested in the easy quick sale. I’m looking genuine partners who have a real interest in helping their community. Someone who has a capacity to reach a community, to talk to people, to have meaningful conversations, to be a resource to help people, that wants resources at their fingertips that are gentle, natural, easy, transformative and powerful.

RI: How do you determine which flowers to use?

KH: I do a lot of meditation practice and I make sure when I’m going to collect flower essences, my intention is super clear and that I want to find the flowers whose remedies will most benefit the people I can reach and touch in the next 10 to 20 years. If

I’m going to Iceland to collect flower essences for example, it might be as simple as making that deep wish and seeing what I find along the path. Or it could be being so drawn to an orchid that I really want to find and if it’s meant to be, I’ll find it.

Every environment has different qualities. If we’re in Iceland, many of the flowers even though they have different benefits are in this similar flavor of childlike wonder and curiosity whereas flowers from Costa Rica are especially adept at digging into deep dark corners and dissolving subconscious fears. Flowers from Southeast Asia tend to be around abundance and growth and flourishing.

RI: Do customers ever reach out with flower essence requests?

KH: It’s rare they’ll reach out for a specific flower, but we often outreach to our community about what they’re feeling. Is there something our collection doesn’t solve? What complex human issues are occurring? Most often, we’ll have flowers for them that they just didn’t realize. When I do go collect, it’s as if I have the requests in my backpack and it feels all the more meaningful, because whatever appears on the path is like reconnecting with old friends. •

Card Decks Roundup

Divine Feminine

TAP INTO HER FIERCE INTUITIVE POWER

The Divine Feminine, in all her many faces, is an influential, loving and exciting teacher. Hear her call as you invoke her energies to empower your intuition to a whole new level.

Sacred Hags Oracle

Danielle Dulsky | Illustrated by Janine Houseman

Published by New World Library

ISBN 9781608686797 I Price $39.95 | 56 cards, 160-page booklet

This deck will attract witchy and Pagan customers. This new oracle merges the Hag archetype, lunar cycles, life lessons and magic spells to open ancient feminine portals for divination. Houseman’s hand-drawn illustrations flow in ritual energies. The booklet inspires an enchanted way to journey through life.

Dark Goddess Tarot

Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Published by REDFeather

ISBN 9780764360220 I Price $34.99 | 78 cards, 176-page booklet

A luscious Goddess-centric deck for sisterhood circles and women of all ages. Featuring goddesses from a world-wide pantheon, this RWS style deck encourages seekers to find the wisdom and healing from the Divine Feminine. The hand-drawn artwork and full-color guidebook are packed with intuitive insights.

The Wisdom of Tula

Karen Stuth | Artwork by Dianna Cates Dunn

Published by Satiama Publishing

ISBN 9780997282580 I Price $22.95 | 44 cards, 127-page booklet

An inspirational deck for those in need of positive messages. Slide into positive and uplifting emotions as you search for personal growth through the prism of Tula’s life. Dunn’s faceless Tula artwork allows the reader to impose their own face on each card. The full-color book offers insightful and engaging guidance. •

FEATURES

Crystal Healing

Use of Crystals to Heal Your Body & Transform Your Spirit

DO CRYSTALS HEAL? Are the rocks and gems so powerful that you can transform yourself into a happier and healthier being? In a way, yes, by using your mind, intention, and attention. Crystals and gemstones are beautiful tools that can help you in your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical personal development. Set an intention when you choose a crystal.

Usually, people are drawn to certain crystals as pocket stones, jewelry, or a specimen as a statement piece. Often, people want a special gemstone as an amulet to boost the energy of the chosen intention. It is the power of your mind combined with the vibration, color, and shape of a gemstone that makes the perfect duo for healing and transformation.

Many of the associations of the use of gems were established to include the qualities of the

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MARGARET ANN LEMBO is the author of Chakra Awakening; The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones; The Essential Guide to Aromatherapy and Vibrational Healing; Crystal Intentions Oracle: Guidance and Affirmations, and many more. She is an evolutionary aromatherapist, the creator of Smudge in Spray, and the owner of The Crystal Garden — the conscious living store of the Palm Beaches established 1988. Visit her page at www.margaretannlembo.com

gemstones for luck, protection, abundance, wisdom and more. For example, citrine has been known as the “merchant’s stone” throughout the ages. Likewise, amethyst has been dubbed the “sobriety stone.” Green aventurine is known as the “shamrock of the gemstone kingdom” and, therefore, brings good luck and great fortune.

These are the top areas of life that people want assistance:

Love and Relationships

Money and Abundance

Health and Well-being

Protection and Safety

How do you know which stones are allies for each of these intentions? It is easy with a little help from books and gemstone decks. Carry a variety of guides to crystals, minerals, and stones by various authors. Consider carrying a variety of decks featuring the positive use of gemstones. It helps you, your staff, and your customers familiarize with stone identification and the many uses of the stones to heal your body and transform your spirit. Crystal books and decks sell very well. If you plan on having gemstones as part of your product mix, it is helpful to have supporting merchandise. Crystals, minerals, rocks, metals, and gemstones are tools from the earth that can assist you in staying focused on intentions to create and maintain positive change in your life. Gemstones can be a constant reminder of those intentions.

To create the life you want, your focus must be on what you do want, not on what you do not. Whatever you focus on becomes your reality.

This basic principle is at the heart of most universal laws, including the law of attraction and the laws of physics. It is important to have an intention and to focus on the positive so that life refl ects your highest potential. Everything created is created through intention. We create our lives with our thoughts, actions, words, and deeds. Our intentions vibrate out into the world and return to us in the form of our personal reality.

When a gemstone is paired with a daily affi rmation, the stone amplifi es that intention. The crystals are a tool to keep you thinking about the established intention. In my work with color and crystals over the course of three decades, I’ve found to use a stone most effectively, it is best to associate an intention with it.

The more information you have about the qualities associated with certain stones, the more creative you can be in using these valuable tools to improve your life.

Stones commonly associated with increasing more love for yourself and those around you are:

Green Tourmaline Malachite

Pink Calcite

Pink Tourmaline

Rose Quartz

Crystals helpful to increase money, abundance, and prosperity are:

Carnelian

Emerald Garnet

Green tourmaline

All your conscious thoughts and feelings — as well as the subconscious and unconscious ones — create the life you are currently living.

Jade

Gems for health and well-being are:

Chrysocolla

Green Aventurine

Lapis Lazuli

Ruby

Sodalite

There are many more choices for each category though these are easy-to-find stones to carry in your store. There are many ways gemstones can be used to further support the sale of a nice product mix for your store. Crystal pendants tied to scented candles sell well. Organza and other cloth bags are a good crosssell for those who want to create

Crystals for protection and safety are: Amethyst

Black Tourmaline

Hematite

Pyrite

Tiger’s Eye

a charm bag filled with their good intentions and tumbled stones. Wooden and metal decorative boxes are good sellers for storage of the crystals – and even the gemstone decks mentioned earlier.

Pocket stones or tumbled stones are a great way for people to affordably work with crystal intentions and the power

of positive thought. Place the tumbled stones in individual clear glass bowls with a Stone Sign to explain some of the key qualities of the stone along with the price and a SKU or Code. At my store, we keep a basket of little clear plastic locking bags and ask that the customer place the stone with the Stone Sign in the bag. This makes it easy at checkout.

A perennial bestseller, Paramahansa Yogananda’s spiritual classic continues to inform and inspire people from all walks of life. Translations now available in more than 50 languages.

Otherwise, sorting through, identifying, and bagging them at the register is unmanageable.

Crystals, minerals, and stones used in jewelry are stunning. Carry the gemstone in a variety of price points and watch your profits grow.

Gemstone bracelets are well-loved by my customers. I carry quite an array of bracelets in many stones and colors. If you have the room, bracelets are a good point-of-sale purchase. The hundreds of bracelets in stock are priced between seven under $20. Bracelets are a great gift for oneself or others.

Pendants and earrings with precious or semi-precious stones

are popular. Some vendors make earrings and pendants with an established intention. Whether your customers want to wear them with an intention to transform their life or just because they are pretty, jewelry can be added to your product mix without a huge capital investment. Include gemstone rings into the mix. I carry size five through 10 and they sell well displayed in individual trays for each size. Rings are a big favorite. Everything is energy and all energy has a vibration. Crystals have energy and vibration and their vibration is based on the color of the stone as well as the manner in which the stone grew in the earth. Each stone has a spiritual

component to help you further develop your spiritual connection. Likewise, the mental use aids in maintaining mental focus and clarity while the emotional use of a stone can help you deal with feelings and unblock underlying challenges. The physical uses of crystals range from healing your physical body as well as physical needs.

It is important to have an intention and to focus on the positive so that life reflects your highest potential. Everything that is created is created through intention. We create our lives with our thoughts, actions, words, and deeds. Our intentions vibrate out into the word and return to us in the form of our personal reality. •

HOLISTIC APPROACH: LIMITED SERIES

Energy Medicine for Modern Times

THE TERM ‘ENERGY MEDICINE,’ coined by Donna Eden, author of Energy Medicine, is used to describe techniques of tapping into nature’s vibrations for health and well-being, influencing and affecting healing practices involving meridian or chakra therapy.

There are many healing systems founded by various cultures. Each culture is devout in its specific beliefs and understanding of the universe and its healing powers. With an open mind one can see how all are connected and interrelated and one can implement the healing systems in the awakening of spiritual consciousness. That’s what happened to me.

As an energy kinesiologist, familiar and grounded with the knowledge of the meridian therapy, I became curious about the healing potential of herbs. Filled with curiosity and desperately wanting to use the

herbs grown in my backyard to support my clients, I wrote the book Western Herbs for Eastern Meridians, reprinted as The Essence of Herbs. Using locallysourced herbs in conjunction with meridians was a pivotal concept supporting my energy medicine colleagues, at that time. As my research for the book evolved, so did I.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: EVELYN MULDERS is the award-winning author of The Essence of Sound, The Essence of Herbs, and the upcoming Whispering Herbs Healing Cards She is the alchemist of Sound Essence Vibrational Remedies and presents at international conferences. Evelyn is a senior faculty of the International College of Professional Kinesiology Practice and is the founder of the Kinesiology College of Canada. To know about the author, visit her page www.soundessence.net

The concept that plants’ healing potential not only comes from their chemical constituents but from their energetic signature, thereby offering healing vibration, was the start of my journey in energy medicine.

The herbs whispered and asked me to tell the world of their ‘messages’ unveiling an emotional component to herbology. I included the newly revealed healing messages which I call “attitudes” in the book. I discovered that an attitude shift can be all it takes to get rid of pain in the body.

By listening consciously to the plants’ messages, and using their messages as affirmations, the body regenerates.

The message from the herbs helps to shift the mind’s perspective and offers an attitude adjustment. The emotional drama then shifts, enlightening the spirit and allowing a new awareness over the situation. This shift in attitude and awareness helps to open the meridian pathways and cleanses the chakra filters, opening the energy fields to a healthier vibration affecting the life force energy of the physical body.

Louise L. Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Body, correlated physical pain to emotional attitude. She wrote, «for us to become whole and healthy, we must first balance the body, mind and spirit. We need to take good care of our bodies. We need to have a positive mental attitude about ourselves and about life. And we need to have a strong spiritual connection. When these three things are balanced, we rejoice in living. No doctor, no health practitioner can give us this unless we choose to take part in our healing process.”

Emotions are largely responsible for our wellbeing. By keeping emotions in check, observing them rather than buying into the drama, a new perspective is created. The event then may be witnessed from a bird’s eye viewpoint, offering the flexibility to see the situation from all angles. Once we move beyond our subjective, self-focused viewpoint into an objective viewpoint, we have an overview of the big picture, and something magnificent happens.

By deviating from our personal perception and gaining perspicacity, we open our heart. When the heart is open, our awareness shifts towards unity consciousness opening the gateway to health and vitality and a spiritual connection. It all starts by simply listening, maybe less with our ears and more with our heart.

Energy medicine is available to everyone. By being witness to our evolving emergence into this exciting field of energy medicine, I believe it’s possible for everyone to implement the essential wisdom from Mother Earth to enhance our own well-being.

One of the tools I have recently created is Whispering Herbs Healing Cards. Relying on the science of energy medicine, the cards provide the energetic signature that transmits healing messages to our organs and glands in the body. As the herbs softly whisper their energy of healing, the body is listening and responding at a deeper, subliminal level, offering vibrations of regeneration mentally, emotionally and physically.

Intimacy with the herbs opened my heart and awareness to flowers. If the herbs had so much to say, maybe the flowers had a voice too. Expanding my energy medicine training, I turned my attention to flower essences. I learned not only do flower essences support the basic emotions, but they can also support us on our spiritual journey. Here’s what I have learned about fl ower essences, sharing some excerpts from my book the Essence of Sound

Much of the plant’s energy is used to produce the expression of itself witnessed as the flower. The flower carries a vibrational imprint unique to the plant. This imprint is transferred to water, which is called flower essence.

“When we ingest a fl oweressence remedy this vibrational imprint is transferred to us. If the vibration is a match, our

bodies

use it to support our internal and external energy systems. Vibrational remedies are benign in the sense that they only work if the vibrations match. Because they work on a completely diff erent dimension on the body

they cannot interfere with other herbal

remedies, aromatherapy or allopathic therapy.”

The first documented use of fl ower essences was by Hildegard Von Bingen, Sept 16, 1098 - Sept. 17, 1179. Hildegard was a German magistral, monastic leader mystic, author, and composer of music. In the sixteenth century, Swiss doctor/alchemist Paracelsus experimented with fl ower essences. Flower essences were rediscovered in Britain, in the early 1930s by Dr. Edward Bach, a homeopathic physician. Dr. Bach believed that sickness came from attitudes and how we viewed life. He felt healing should be directed towards the pain in the heart and spirit of the person to prevent negative emotions manifesting physical disease.

He noticed patients with particular physical ailments had similar attitudes. For example, someone constantly expressing criticism may experience the symptoms of arthritis; someone who felt they were overlooked or never had enough, would develop symptoms of thyroid dysfunction, etc.

He also believed nature had the answer for our sicknesses and diseases. Dr. Bach prepared remedies from the dew of flowers and tree leaves and witnessed the negative mind states of his patients altering. As the patients’ minds or belief systems shifted, their physical bodies began to restore, creating integrated, mind/body health.

Since the 1930s, flower essences have been made throughout the world, and like food and herbs, it

seems the flowers in your own neighborhood are the ones that have the more potent effect on your well-being. Different geographical areas have different themes as each culture has its own issues. As geographical location has a bearing on the theme of the flower essences, so too does the historical time in which were created have an effect on us.

Bach flower essence were developed in a time when there was depression and a sense of heaviness in the culture. His remedies support core level issues relating to survival.

Compare this to the 1960s in California when the issues for our culture were ‘finding ourselves’ and the ‘meaning of relationships.’ The Flower Essence Society remedies support us with relationship issues.

Now compare this to the late 1980s when our culture was seeking higher awareness and understanding of spirituality. Pacific flower and sea essences, Australian bush essences, Alaskan essences, Perelandra essences and many more that were produced globally, supported everyone worldwide on their spiritual growth.

Some believe there are flower essences yet to be discovered because humans have not yet raised their consciousness enough to benefit from the vibration of these undiscovered flowers.

The year 1999 introduced sound essence. These essences followed the same principle of flower

essences, but used the healing vibration of sound for wellness and spiritual consciousness. You could say they were the next generation of vibrational medicine, and just in time to prepare us for the speeding up of time in the 21st century.

As flower essences give their imprint by way of the personality of the plant from the deva of the flower, sound essences offer nature’s most effective source of healing – sound. Life is sound and sound brings life to the earth. Sound maintains the existence of all beings. Sound is the key to the miracle of life.

The Sound Essence Vibrational Remedies have emerged from the foundation of energy medicine, addressing the many healing modalities offered to us by ancient cultures. Now 20 years later, I can offer you sound healing support for various healing systems, simply by misting the sound in a bottle.

Meridian Vitalizers Sound Essence focus on the sound healing offered by meridian attuned tuning forks and pair the sound with herbal homeopathy. The sound helps amplify the sacred geometry of the

herbs. Chakra Balancers Sound Essence carry the sound offered by the chakra attuned crystal bowls and blends this with other vibrations offered by nature such as color, crystals, sacred geometry and aromatherapy. The vibration of the sacred geometry is enhanced by the sound.

The Aura Harmonizers Sound Essence is imprinted by the sound offered by sacred geometry. Each remedy brings in a specific geometric healing vibration offered by spirit. Heart Tone Sound Essences are composed from the sound offered by alchemy crystal bowls and blended with flower essences and Irish fairy essences to support our toroidal field. The Archangel Blessing Series offers a combination of sounds supporting the hologram of the energy field.

I have come to understand in my own spiritual journal that having an open mind and integrating these ancient healing systems into our daily lives allows us to benefit from the ancient wisdom of many cultures as we awaken our spiritual consciousness and evolve towards unity consciousness. •

You attract what you are ready for.

UNKNOWN

BONUS

Portals of Presence:

FACES DRAWN FROM THE SUBTLE REALMS

“Mysterious and revealing…these images help us to understand our own souls.“

— Isabel Allende, author of The House of the Spirits, Daughter of Fortune

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DEBORAH KOFF-CHAPIN has been practicing Touch Drawing since it came into her life as a creative inspiration in 1974. She teaches this simple yet profound process internationally. She is the creator of best-selling SoulCards 1&2, Portals of Presence, SoulTouch Coloring Journals, and author of Drawing Out Your Soul and the Touch Drawing Facilitator workbook. She has also served as Interpretive Artist at numerous conferences including The Parliament of the Worlds Religions. She works with individuals to bring subtle dimensions of their soul into form through Inner Portraits. To know more about her work, visit www.touchdrawing.com

PORTALS OF PRESENCE offers an invitation to enter a deeper relationship with yourself and the world through the language of the human face. The face is the most familiar visual pattern in the human psyche. From the moment we are born, we center our world on the faces of the people close to us. As we gaze into their eyes, they gaze back. In mirroring each other, we communicate on a level beyond words. There is mutuality in this meeting. Can we use this primal visual language to open portals of communion with realms of our psyche and of consciousness beyond our familiar human world? A face in a  by Deborah Koff-Chapin. Distributed by New Leaf Distributing and US Games Systems, Inc.

printed photograph is only ink on paper. Yet we can attune to the presence of the person represented through focusing on the image. The faces on these cards can be used as focal points through which to attune to a more expansive range of consciousness. Think of them as personifications of elemental life forms, ancient wisdom lineages, spiritual allies, or visitors from unfamiliar realms.

The images were created through the process of Touch Drawing — a practice of creative, psychological and spiritual integration. A deeply embodied visual art process that lends itself to the translation of felt sense into visual form. Touch Drawing is used by artists, therapists, social workers, health care practitioners, educators and intuitives.

There is no preconceived meaning or symbolic system for the cards. The guidebook encourages the user to give attention to their own direct experience of a chosen image and explore how that relates to the issue they are addressing. It offers suggestions on how to gain personal insight into a card’s significance by interacting creatively with the image. It supports you to trust your own process and approach each session with the Portals without preconceptions. The source of inspiration for each face is not identified. You are encouraged to pay attention to what arises within as you gaze deeply into the face on your chosen card. The same card may prompt a different response in other circumstances.

The guidebook also offers a range of ways to select the cards, lay them out, take them in, and enliven them through creative expression. It also directs the user to a private webpage where they can download two digital guided meditations with original music. These recordings were created to hold sacred space and help deepen the user’s experience with the cards. The Portals can be combined with SoulCards 1&2, each deck bringing a new dimension to the other.

The core purpose of Portals of Presence is to evoke a sense of relationship with all life. As a natural extension of this, the cards can be used to explore personal and transpersonal issues. Think of this as an opportunity to connect with a loved one, or with a new friend whose life experience differs from yours. In the shared space, you may access a unique perspective, an insight, or a quality of energy

beyond words. Use your creative imagination to begin the process. As you deepen the connection, it can feel like a living relationship. This deck is not intended to hold the ‘guidance’ of subtle beings as authoritative. As enriching as it can be to open to the views of another, you are reminded to honor your own wisdom and free will. When you complete each session, take a few moments to return to your personal center and close the Portal.

There is a mystery that fuels this deck. A sense that unseen beings want to engage with it as a point of contact with our human-centric world. In this time of accelerating challenge on the planet, the possibility of expanding our range of connection offers hope that we do not have to face our challenges alone. Rather, we are in this predicament because we have lost our sense of communion with life. The Portals of Presence can help expand the user’s awareness of their deeper self, the subtle realms beyond the familiar human world, and the sacredness in all things.

“… SoulCards are a brave new dimension unfolding in our ability to tap our own inner knowing… rich with new and refreshing symbolism for the soul. The images…cut through the intellect and evoke a response directly from your essential self. When using them I crossed a boundary into a spirit space of feelings.” — Magical Blend Magazine • LEFT PAGE: PORTALS OF PRESENCE

+ BOOKLET & AUDIO DOWNLOAD

5 Ways the New Age Industry Has Changed Take Five

AS WE APPROACH this adaptive post-pandemic era, our customers’ wants and needs have changed. Retailers are juggling the rapid changes of 2020 while catching up on the natural evolution of the New Age market over the past three decades. New Age is the Now Age and Grandma’s radical views are the norm for today’s emerging adults. Talking to long-time retailers these are five of the more profound changes our market is experiencing in the long and short term:

1

Accessibility

Evolution ►► Finding an easily accessible new age or spiritual supply store was like finding your long-lost tribe. Regional availability of books and supplies were spotty, inspiring travel for real information and acceptance. Books, local

musician CDs and crystals were bought local and hoarded. Today, social media makes online classes, information, and community events a Google search away. Spiritual seekers are quickly finding answers to their own questions through e-books, streaming music through services and buying crystal sets online, pulling business from the local stores.

Adaptation ◄◄ Disconnected us from group events and interacting with our community. We crave community and connection again and are returning to the local store for the experience it brings us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JACKI SMITH is the founder, witch and enchantress at Coventry Creations. Jacki’s bestselling Blessed Herbal Candles started the intentional candle industry almost 30 years ago. Check out her brand of magic in Coventry Magic with Herbs, Oils and Candles, or visit her website www.coventrycreations.com.

2 Community

Evolution ►► Classes were advertised in the local store bulletin board and in the regional body-mind-spirit publications if you were lucky enough to have one in your area. Word of mouth and in-store events where how community was created. Now, we have conventions, online apps, and social media creating community that can span the country, eliminating the reliance on the local store as the community hub.

Adaptation ◄◄ Canceled all in-person gatherings forcing us to recreate community virtually. Smaller support groups have bonded, and livestreamed rituals have brought strangers together from around the world.

3

Acceptance

Evolution ►► The mainstream market made fun of anything remotely new age and new age stores were scared of anything pagan or witch oriented. Now, there is a fascination with ancestors, aboriginal spirituality and witchy spells, with each a growing trend.

Adaptation ◄◄ Self-care is paramount as we navigate the pandemic. Mainstream influencers are turning to new age and folk magic practices to keep calm and find their center in a time of collective trauma. Sales are booming for the new age and spiritual market.

4 Authority

Evolution ►► Three decades ago, we were scrambling for authentic wisdom and respected teachers to guide us on this awakening age. In today’s Google society all it takes is one wellphrased search and three articles and we can feel like the expert in almost any subject.

Adaptation ◄◄ Confinement sent us collectively online more. This is leading to many influencers suddenly becoming the authority based on the number of followers instead of the deeper study. Conspiracy theories can spread like wildfire through social media channels, and damaging communities by polarizing their members.

5 Education

Evolution ►► Seekers were hungry for more information and desperate for anything that represented them and their belief. This opened the market to publishing superstars as well as inauthentic imports to meet the aesthetic trend. Today, we have consumers who are educated in ethical sourcing and can quickly research any claim made by an author and the reputation of any brand.

Adaptation ◄◄ 2020 highlighted the unsung leaders of the community through social media and made the published authors more available for one-on-one interaction through virtual meetings. The internet became the connection to the outside world causing beliefs to be polarized and the followers fanatic it their support. Influencer statements were easily taken as truth without research and at the same time, researching claims before repeating became the call to authenticity.

I am fascinated to see what the next 24 months brings to this industry and to see what will be forever changed and what will return as the norm. •

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M S , O h m M y G o o d n e s s

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aces drawn fr o m the Subtle Realms

72 cards, 4.5” x 6” with guidebook and audi o d own loa d ISBN 978-0-9964634-3-0 $2 6 .95

Enter a deeper relationship with yourself and the world via the language of the human face. The images in this deck were selected from Touch Drawings Deborah created in the presence of ancient trees, mountains, standing stones, temples, cathedrals, and human wisdom carriers from many lineages. Each face radiates its unique being along with a universal presence. Think of them as friends, allies, beloveds, or guests from unfamiliar realms. Gaze deeply and explore your own relationship with these beings. There are no titles or written meanings for each card. This supports you to bypass preconceptions and cultivate direct experience. The guidebook offers approaches to spark creative imagination. It includes a code to download a guided audio with original music to hold sacred space for your process. Portals of Presence can be combined with SoulCards 1 & 2, each deck bringing a new dimension to the other.