“I believe in serendipitous connections,” Kimberly Jonas tells me excitedly—and so do I. We’ve finally connected on the phone and are both overjoyed: She, because I “get” what she does, and I because I love what she does. My tail wags like mad. I suspect hers does, too.
Kimberly, who is based out of Boulder, Colorado, has been creating essential oil blends in her private practice for almost 15 years, but she didn’t formally launch BodyMantra Blends until 2011. Her newest creation within the line is the Power Animal collection, introduced this past September. There are eight essential oil blends—owl, bear, raven, eagle, fox, wolf, cat, and dolphin—created to “harness the healing power of animals.”
As I write this, a very special new blend has just arrived at my door that came out of our mutual tail wagging. It’s called White Buffalo, my personal spirit animal—and I really love it.
How did the Power Animal collection take shape?
I’m a big practitioner of a lot of kinds of ceremony, including the Native American sweat lodge, and I’ve been calling on spirit animals in my own ceremonial work for a long time. It wasn’t a big jump for me to conjure developing these essential oil blends that would help people to work with spirit animals.
Then I sat down and listened to animals. It was probably one of the most powerful creative processes related to my oil line in the history of my products. The way I work with creating any essential oil blend is really a listening process. It took about a month for the eight formulas to really show themselves, for them to alchemize. After the blend comes together, I start the writing process because I’m intimately involved with them.
How did you choose the eight power animals?
I wrote down every animal I’ve worked with myself and with my clients. Anyone looking at the animals will realize there are very common animals across many spiritual traditions, for example, bear, raven, owl, eagle.
We’re surrounded by animals—they’re really a part of the elemental on our planet. If we want to stay connected to the planet and ourselves, then it’s a natural thing, it’s natural to call on spirit animal medicine to help.
How do these animals aid us?
All of our blends are about helping people to harness not just the medicine of essential oils, but also what I call the energy of your intentions, so we’re blending those two things. We’re presenting the essential oil blends that have natural medicine and will start you on your way, then we ask the consumer to bring their personal intention or body mantra to the table—prayers, affirmations, desires. With the Spirit Animal Collection specifically, there are a millennia of spiritual traditions that call on animals. They can help us bridge between the physical world and what shamanism calls the non-ordinary reality. I’m a big believer that although we live in urban environments, we’re surrounded by animals—they’re really a part of the elemental on our planet. If we want to stay connected to the planet and ourselves, then it’s a natural thing, it’s natural to call on spirit animal medicine to help.
Which power animal do you believe, we—humanity at large—need the most right now? Which one should we look to?
I’ve been working with owl a lot these days. In most traditions owl is a very uplifted animal that is associated with seeing in the dark. In the current [political] environment in the United States, for example, there’s a lot of confusion and a huge unknown quantity that’s happening right now. Owl is all about helping us navigate times like this effectively.
I’ve been working a lot with clients now because of the state of our nation and all of the upheaval. I just feel like part of the conversation we’re having, what’s happening now, these products are about people empowering themselves to change their lives, and I know you get that. The way my husband and I talk about it, it’s not just about slapping some oil on your body, it’s about creating a ritual every day, a daily ritual that becomes second nature. We’re conversing regularly with our dreams and desires as opposed to once in a while. So when we get to these times like just what happened in our country, it’s good to prepared—to be in our spiritual seat.
So what does one do with the oil?
A great ritual is to use the oil in the evening. Owl is a nighttime animal. Our oil is intended to be used as a body oil. So, first pump two to three pumps in the palm of your hand, then rub between your hands and apply over your heart in circular motions. When I do this, I invoke a mantra. For me the mantra is about having some grace in the midst of the confusion. You should do this after a bath or shower.
I should just mention that in our Body Mantra line, I’ve been working with Heart Presence (the main oil is cedar wood, but it also contains geranium, lemongrass, and rose) and Surrender (the main oil is black Spruce, but it has some ylang yang). The oils should be used within six months, and a bottle, if used as directed, should last two months.
Mary Bemis
Mary Bemis is Founder & Editorial Director of InsidersGuidetoSpas.com. She is a pioneering spa journalist, most recently honored by Medika Life as one of the "Top 30 Influential Voices Transforming Wellness." She is an inaugural recipient of Folio's Top Women in Media Award, and was honored by ISPA with its distinguished ISPA Dedicated Contributor Award. In 1997, she launched American Spa magazine, and in 2007, Mary co-founded Organic Spa magazine. A pioneer in the sustainable spa and beauty worlds, Mary is co-curator of Cosmoprof North America's Discover Green Pavilion. She is a Global Wellness Day Advisor, and a co-founder of the Washington Spa Alliance.
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