SB LIFE & STYLE wellness
a POTION a day
Self-care is a practice that Scott Linde, founder of Sun Potion and long time Santa Barbara resident, wants to you to experience. A simple, daily act, that helps you press pause on your never-ending to-do list and suspend a moment in time to cultivate joy and positive energy. A practice made all the more enjoyable when routine is transformed into ritual with the addition of organic and wildcrafted adaptogens. When I arrive at the Sun Potion headquarters here in Santa Barbara, I’m greeted in the parking lot by Scott himself, and ushered into their light filled office to begin our chat about all things adaptogens. But first things first, Scott offers me a taste of one of his new tonic creations: the transcendent elixir. With a name like that, how could one refuse?
58 | MARCH/APRIL 2020
Scott retrieves two rocks glasses from the cupboard and two bottles of chilled Topo Chico (his sparkling water of choice) from the fridge and proceeds to concoct a sparkling tonic for each of us, complete with a trio of transcendent elixirs: Shatavari, Ashwagandha, and Triphala. While the earthy tone of the drink may be off-putting to some, I think back on my days working at a health bar in Honolulu, where locals of all ages would come to savor a healing root beverage called Kava. After a sip of Scott’s tonic, my taste memory is confirmed, and the effects of this drink are similar: I feel a sense of ease rush over me followed by a slight—and welcomed—shift in perspective. It’s clear that these transcendent elixirs live up to their name, but their creation was no easy task. When Scott started developing the elixir line in 2018, he set out to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of plant tonics. It took him two years to get the formula up to his standards, and the company just released the final product last fall. The result: a ‘Vedic Alchemical Triple Extract Tincture’ made with three different parts of a single plant. Each component is extracted for purity and potency and then combined to produce a hyper concentrated plant extract that can be taken alone, or mixed into a tonic or tea.
Written by Keri Haugse Photographed by Silas Fallstich
T
he term self-care seems to be everywhere these days. Yet, more often than not, we are quick to write it off as a self-indulgent practice reserved for those who we perceive to have more time, more freedom, or fewer responsibilities than us. After all, we have jobs to attend to, children to raise, places to go, and people to see. But, the truth is, self-care can be accessed by anyone—at any time—and it can be as simple as making yourself a cup of tea.
