Reiki energy healer, primordial sound meditation educator, spiritual psychology practitioner, best-selling author, and wellness entrepreneur. These are just a few titles that the unconquerable Devi Brown holds in the wellness industry. After reaching the peak of her career in the music industry and becoming a top-notch radio personality, she began to believe that something was missing. As she dug deeper into her spiritual and wellness journey, she began to share her healing and spiritual findings through Karma Bliss, which has ultimately put a focus on carving a space in the wellness industry for women of color.
Today, Devi Brown serves as the Chief Impact Officer at Chopra Global, where she will "help drive Chopra Global's creative direction, content strategy, and impact efforts, as well as provide guidance and insight to best serve the company's mission of democratizing well-being and bringing expanded consciousness to a global collective," according to a recent press release on behalf of Chopra Global. Tonia O'Connor, CEO of Chopra Global, says the team is "grateful to have her" and dubs Devi as "one of the most respected voices in well-being."
xoNecole caught up with the wellness expert, author, and Chopra certified educator of Primordial Sound Meditation about her devotion to spiritual connection, her passion for advocacy for women of color in wellness, and how her career as a music executive led her to her new role with Chopra Global, who recently launched a new mobile app.
On her initial interest in the wellness industry and carving spaces for women of color:
"Curiosity about personal transformation and spirituality has always been at the core of who I was since childhood. I believe that so much of who we are, our innate skill sets and even the longings and interests that we have were determined before we got to earth, so in that regard I know that so much of my connection to this work is above me. In real-world not just spiritual world reality though I was drawn to explore healing modalities and wellness as I began to experience 'busy burnout' while working in broadcasting and entertainment. I was hitting milestones and fitting the 'success' model that society had taught me to measure myself against but it always felt like something was missing, like there was a void, or like I wasn't really meeting my full human potential.
"As I began to explore that new understanding and started shifting my lens of perception, this new view also extended to the way I experienced my past, present and future. Once you start really working on yourself and accepting yourself, it's as if the floodgates open and an outpouring of deeper understandings begin to happen in every aspect of your life.
"For women of color, I believe access to tools to enhance overall life well-being is of the utmost importance. Women of color are the most marginalized and unsupported group of people in the world. Specifically, black women in the United States. We have to joyfully care for ourselves first which is so counterintuitive to anything we have ever been led to believe."
On how the music industry prepared her for her new career move at Chopra Global:
"Working in entertainment and broadcasting can truly prepare you for almost anything (laughs). Something that I loved about that time in my life was the way it fed my curiosity about the human condition. The way it allowed me to connect with people from all walks of life and all backgrounds. How to really get clear on my thoughts and how to read a crowd quickly. It also taught me how to not take things personally. When I was a little girl growing up in L.A., we were always stuck in traffic and listening to the radio.
"I remember being in awe of the sacredness I experienced with being connected to someone I didn't know over the airwaves and feeling like they were a companion on that leg of my journey, which at the time was just the freeway drive from home to school. That desire for connection to help people feel seen and heard is what still drives me today, except now I get to connect people to themselves and to tools of transformation as opposed to headlines and music."
On her plans on using her role and Chopra Global as a platform to elevate wellness for women of color:
"When I first deep-dived into my wellness journey, first starting with being a retreat and summit participant with various collectives, then as student of different schools and certification programs, then as an entrepreneur starting my own wellness business; it was never lost on me that 99% of the time I was the only Black millennial person in every single space I occupied. This was especially true when I first started almost a decade ago. Some of these events ranged in size from 40 people all the way up to 500+ people. No matter the size, I never saw anyone that looked like me.
"I've spent a very long time investigating what that understanding meant to me, the barriers to healing that exist for POC and how that impacted my/our journey (and sometimes lack thereof). Much of that and more is what I am incredibly excited about helping to shift not just within the company but within the wellness industry as a whole. I'm looking to get more [people of color] certified as teachers and healing practitioners and help create events that include more diverse speakers and attendees as well as implementing the best ways to apply knowledge of barriers various cultures and communities have to healing and how to most authentically help people expand emotionally and embody well-being practices based on those unique but pervasive barriers to entry."
Courtesy of Devi Brown/22 Spring
On how she has been personally impacted by Deepak Chopra's work:
"Deepak's work very literally changed the trajectory of my life and informed my ability to identify my purpose and mission. I think like most, by nature of him being a spiritual pioneer for the last nearly 30 years, I was aware of his books and some of his philosophies but it wasn't until a chance opportunity to attend one of his signature retreats at the height of my busy burnout/ego investigation while still working in broadcasting that I was able to access deeper parts of my spiritual experience. Deepak has authored over 90 books but my entry point to deeper understandings of higher consciousness came through his 7 Spiritual Laws of Success and Perfect Health. I first learned to meditate and how to come into a space of acceptance, detachment from outcome and peace through his life's work. He taught me how to really be with myself and experience a lightness of being in all I did and do."
On wellness, self-care and self-love practices in her everyday life:
"Personal wellness/well-being is the top priority of every facet of my life. It's my foundation and fuel. The quickest road to purpose and personal evolution is found in your daily spiritual practice or routine. For me that looks like an am and pm practice. In the mornings I meditate, stretch, pray, say affirmations, play my sound bowl and read a couple pages from a soul-nourishing book. In the evening I clear my energy, light some copal, pray, journal, play music to raise my frequency and dance. I've really taken advantage of COVID/social distancing clearing my calendar to supercharge my practice at night. I've been really intentional with how I use all this new 'me' time and I've loved the way it is sharpening me. This moment in time is truly an opportunity to become the 2.0 versions of ourselves if we let it."
On spiritual activism and generational trauma:
"I experience spiritual activism as a way of infusing your core spiritual beliefs into the way you show up for yourself and others. This past winter and spring, I noticed a lot of the traditionally white wellness and spiritual communities weaponizing systems of belief as a way to bypass what has been happening in the world and as a way to insulate themselves against deeper understanding of real world human experiences for people of color. I believe that if you have healed and expanded yourself, it is a spiritual duty to go out of your way to insert yourself and these compassionate understandings into the world in real time in a way that is of service to all oppressed and marginalized people.
"A core piece of dissolving intergenerational trauma is educating ourselves on our own family systems and adding in the lens of the role society, systemic racism and capitalism played in our brokenness. To be healed and have regular access to peace we must accept ourselves. To accept ourselves as Black women, we have to radically stand in our truths and regularly set self-honoring boundaries."
"We have to cast down the mechanism of forced resilience and emotional bypass and allow ourselves to heal. We need to prioritize our happiness and well-being first. As we do that, energetically we create healing and freedom for our entire lineage past, present and future."
For more of Devi, follow her on Instagram.
Featured image by 22 Spring
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Anyway, I personally think that the less shallow folks out here may contemplate calling things “quits” or they at least distance themselves a bit from their partner (and what I’m referring to is serious relationships) due to all of the stress and strain that oftentimes comes with the holidays whether it be financial, familial, due to their tight schedules or something else.
Listen, I would hate for you and your man to miss the fun and happiness of experiencing this time of year, all because you are so overwhelmed or irritated that you can’t really enjoy it. That’s why I have a few practical tips for how to avoid allowing the typical holiday season stress from INFECTING your relationship.
Manage Your Expectations
GiphyUnmanaged expectations. If there is a main reason why the holiday season tends to be so stress-filled for so many people, I’d bet good money that this is the cause. And when you’re in a long-term relationship, expectations can manifest themselves in all sorts of cryptic and/or unexpected ways. You might have relatives who assume that you are going to be with them for Thanksgiving or Christmas when you have other plans in mind. You might be thinking that you are going to spend one amount for presents while your man is thinking something totally different. When it comes to scheduling, your signals may be crossed.
And you know what? To all of these scenarios, this is where clear and consistent communication come in. Don’t assume anything. Don’t dictate anything either. From now until New Year’s, mutually decide to check in once a week, just to make sure that you are both on the same page as it relates to the holidays and what you both are thinking will come along with it. The less blindsided you both feel, the less stressed out you will be. Trust me on this.
Set (and Keep) a Budget
GiphyOkay, so I read that last year, 36 percent of Americans incurred some type of holiday-related debt. Hmph. Last year, there was still some sense of normalcy in this country, chile, so I can only imagine what finances are gonna look like over the next several weeks. That said, since I don’t know a lot of people who don’t find being broke stressful, make sure that you and your bae set a budget and then stick to it this year — no ifs, ands or buts.
Because really, y’all — it doesn’t make sense to deplete savings and/or max out credit cards for a few days of giggles only to be damn near losing your mind because you don’t know how to make ends meet come Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
And by the way, this tip doesn’t just speak to things like food and gifts; I also mean travel. If it doesn’t make a ton of sense (or cents) to be all over the place this year — DON’T BE.
Keep Matthew 5:37 at the Forefront
GiphyIf off the top of your head, you don’t know what Matthew 5:37 says, no worries, here ya go: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” That verse right there? Oh, it’s a boundaries lifesaver! I say that because do you see “maybe” or “I’ll think about it” in there? Nope. LOL. It says that you should tell people “yes” or “no” and leave it at that — and that complements Anne Lamott’s quote, “’No’ is a complete sentence” impeccably well. Yeah, you’ve got to remember that anything beyond a yes or no to a request is privileged information; you don’t owe anyone details or an explanation.
Besides, if you are really honest with yourself, when someone asks you something and you give a “Umm, let me think about it” kind of reply, more times than not, you already know what your answer is going to be — so why not let you both off of the hook? Give your response. Commit to that. And let everyone (including yourself) get on with their lives and schedules.
I promise you that when it comes to those holiday parties, you are pissing more folks off by not RSVP’ing or doing so and not showing up than just saying, “Thank you but not this year” off the rip.
Remember That Your Personal Space Is Privilege Not a Right
GiphyA friend of mine recently bought a new house and invited me over to come see it. He’s a single man with no children, so as I was taking in all of the space that he had, especially as I walked through his finished basement, I joked about relatives coming to live with him. “Hell no” and “absolutely not” were pretty much his immediate responses as he went on to say that some folks even had the nerve to be offended when he told them that he had no intentions on taking DNA in.
Ain’t it wild how people think that your stuff is their right? And yes, that brings me to my next point. Your home is your sanctuary space. If you want to host folks this year — cool. If not, ALSO COOL. Please don’t let folks (family included) guilt you into how they want you to act or even into what they would do if the shoe was on the other foot. You are not them — and as one of my favorite quotes states, “If two people were exactly alike, one of them would be unnecessary.” (A man by the name Larry Dixon said that.)
Hell, my friends? They know that I am good for sending them random things that they need or even want all throughout the year. Coming over to hang out at my pace, though. Uh-uh. Chalk it up to being a card-carrying member of the ambivert club yet I like keeping my living space personal — and I sleep like a baby, each and every night, for feeling that way.
Always remember that your space, your time, your resources, your energy and shoot, yourself period (including your relationship), are all things that are your own. You get to choose how, when and why you want to share them. The holiday season is certainly no exception.
Cultivate Some “You Two Only” Traditions
GiphyIt’s not uncommon for some couples to hit me up after the holiday season to “detox.” Sometimes it’s due to the financial drama (and sometimes trauma) that they experienced. Sometimes it’s because they allowed their relatives (especially in-laws) to get more into their personal business than they should’ve. More than anything, though, it tends to be because they didn’t get enough quality time together and so ended up feeling “disconnected.”
Please don’t let that happen. Listen, I’m not even a holidays kind of woman and yet, I will absolutely sit myself down with some hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies to enjoy a Hallmark holiday film or two. Aside from the fact that most of them are lighthearted and sweet, I also like that they usually focus on couples loving on each other amidst all of the holiday beauty and ambiance — which is something that all couples should set aside some time to do.
Maybe it’s a vacation. Maybe it’s a staycation. Or maybe it’s my personal favorite, A SEXCATION. Whether it’s for a few days, the weekend or even overnight — don’t you let the holidays go by without setting aside time for you and your man to celebrate one another. Don’t you dare (check out “Are You Ready To Have Some Very Merry 'Christmas Sex'?”).
GET. SOME. REST.
GiphyI once read that 8 out of 10 people get stressed out over the holidays and 3 out of 10 lose sleep during to it — and when you’re stress-filled and sleep-deprived, that can absolutely lead to hypersensitivity, making mountains out of molehills and even not being in the mood for sex.
Your relationship can’t afford to go through any of this, so definitely make sure to prioritize rest. I don’t care how unrealistic it might seem during this time, sleep should never be seen as a luxury; it will always and forever be a great necessity.
That said, try to get no less than six hours of shut-eye in (check out “6 Fascinating Ways Sex And Sleep Definitely Go Hand In Hand”) and even ask your bae to take a nap with you sometimes (check out “Wanna Have Some Next-Level Sex? Take A Nap, Sis.”). Not only will sleep help to restore your mind, body and spirit but, when it’s with your partner, it’s an act of intimacy that can make you both feel super connected, even in the midst of what might feel like chaos.
___
Holiday season stress is real. Still, never give it the permission or power to throw your relationship off. Put you and your man first and let the holidays be what they are gonna be, chile.
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Using the same material from the interior of the Volvo EX90, Hudson crafted a wool-blend car coat and waistbelt that combine the vehicle’s Scandinavian design with his signature tailoring and intention. The exclusive collection launched on October 20, and each piece is made-to-order by Sergio Hudson Collections.
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In October, I traveled to Charleston with a group of journalists to get a firsthand look at Hudson and Volvo’s location. During a fitting, Hudson said his goal is to make “great work that can stand the test of time.”
“People can look back on and say, ‘I remember when Sergio did that collaboration with Volvo,’” he continued. “Thinking about aligning yourself with classic brands that speak to where you want to go. And I think that's what this collaboration kind of means to me and my business.”
Hudson pinpoints his mom as the biggest influence for his designs. This collaboration was no different.
“This particular coat reminded me of the swing coats that my mom used to wear in the early 90s. You know, diva girls in the early 90s had Sandra suits,” he said, referring to Jackée Harry’s character in 227. “My mom wore those and she would have these matching swing coats to go over them. And that's where the initial idea came. This would be around the same time that we had our Volvo. So she would put on her suit, her swing coat, get in that red Volvo, and go to church.”
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With this capsule and beyond, Hudson wants to see more staples rotating in and out of closets this fall. He advises fashionistas to build her closet out with essentials to mix and match that aren’t just stylish but also sustainable.
“It's just those special pieces,” he said. “You can wear the same shirt and pants every day and nobody will notice. But if you have a special boot, a special coat, a special bill, a special bag, that kind of speaks to everything that your style stands about, that is something you should focus on.”
These are the same kind of staple pieces that return to our Pinterest boards and TikTok feeds season after season. Fast fashion has never been Hudson’s aim. “I'm trying to create a special pieces that can stand the test of time,” he said in his warm, Southern accent. “I'm only creating those kind of pieces from here on out.”
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For Hudson, this collaboration is revolutionary. It’s his first time working with a car company and experimenting outside of his wheelhouse in this way.
“This is a Scandinavian brand, and, you know, it's 70 years old. I'm an African-American boy from South Carolina that has had a brand for 10 years. So I think bridging those two worlds and seeing the similarities was the beauty of this project,” he explained.
Though Hudson and his partner and CEO of Sergio Hudson Collections Inga Beckham have made massive strides in just 10 years, Hudson said the industry is far from where he wants to see it when it comes to Black representation. He pointed to how few Black designers were at this year’s Met Gala despite the theme being Black dandyism.
“The fact that I dressed 18 people speaks to how many of us weren't there,” he said. He implored more of industries, fashion and beyond, to collaborate with Black designers often.
“Allow mentorship. Allow funding. Allow great design to shine through,” he implored. “When it comes to being a designer of African descent, when you can't get the funding that your counterparts have, you can't compete. When you get opportunities like doing a collaboration with Volvo, or you get opportunities to be at the Met Gala, that's putting us on the equal playing field, but really the funding behind it is what we need to take it to that desk level.”
Featured image courtesy