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Nearly Enlightened
Join Nearly Enlightened's host Giana Giarrusso and discover the body, mind and spirit connection! The Nearly Enlightened Podcast is for the soul-centered seeker who is on the path of personal growth and spiritual development. This podcast takes a light-hearted approach exploring topics rooted in themes of mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Nearly Enlightened
Reclaiming Wellness Through Nature with Kelly McMenamin
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After a life-changing car accident took away her sense of taste and smell, Kelly McMenamin, founder of Forest Farms, embarked on a transformative journey into beekeeping, clean beauty, and holistic wellness. In this inspiring episode, Kelly shares how nature became her greatest healer, leading her to embrace organic living, herbal remedies, and intentional self-care.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
🌿 How Kelly turned adversity into a thriving wellness brand
🍯 The power of beeswax, tallow, and oils in skincare
🫒 Why natural ingredients outperform synthetic beauty products
🌱 Healing benefits of herbs like comfrey and oregano
🧘♀️ Yoga and mindfulness as essential tools for intentional living
🏡 How connecting with nature strengthens personal and community well-being
From handcrafted lotion bars to the wonders of castor oil, Kelly reveals the secrets behind nourishing your skin—without toxins. This episode is packed with actionable insights for anyone looking to simplify their lifestyle, embrace clean beauty, and reconnect with nature’s wisdom.
Tune in and discover how small, intentional choices can transform your health, skin, and spirit. 🎧✨
Nearly Enlightened Podcast
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Welcome back to the Nearly Enlightened podcast, your high vibe toolbox designed to help you connect to your body, mind and spirit. Today's episode is extra special because it's all about the healing power of nature, community and intentional living. And who better to guide us than Kelly McMenamin? Kelly is the founder of Forest Farms. She's a beekeeper, herbalist, yoga teacher and a mom, and she's an all-around expert in creating a holistic, nature-centered lifestyle. Her journey began nearly 10 years ago and today she's here to share her story with us and her wisdom on how we can reconnect with nature to nourish our families, our communities and ourselves. I'm so excited to have you here, kelly, Welcome.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:So a little bit about how I know Kelly. We've been friends since high school, um, so this is like extra special and it's fun. You're actually the second Bayview guest to come on oh, no way. Yeah, represent Bayview Bengals, yeah um so let's dive right in. So you just recently started forest farms. Let us know what it is. I'm actually wearing your chapstick right now oh, do you love it?
Speaker 1:I am obsessed. Actually, yesterday my lips were so chapped that they, like the bottom, my bottom lip, cracked and I wore that to bed and my lip is completely healed this morning.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, unbelievable. I know, um, so forest farms I um. So I just started being a beekeeper, probably about a year ago. Um, my husband had bees for about two years before but started his own business, so, um, he didn't have time. He's an electric. Um, he has an electric and solar business local solar and electric.
Speaker 1:Shout out.
Speaker 2:I took over the bees and with that came all of the beeswax, all of the honey. I do all of these natural remedies in my home so I figured I would add in the honey and the beeswax and it just gave me an extra, like oomph to my products and, um, all the good stuff that it provides honestly it really is so amazing to have it in your backyard like.
Speaker 1:I it's, it's like nature's best medicine. So last year I had made like the garlic that you put the honey over and it's not really a ferment but it's a way to preserve the garlic and, like the magic, of the honey and the garlic together creates like this natural antibiotic and I swear by it. It works every time.
Speaker 2:Every time garlic and onion is unbelievable, really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean onion is an expectorant. So right now, with all this stuff that's going around, like I don't know if you've heard, but everyone I know has like the flu, but it's like settled in everyone's chest and like, yeah, do I haven't made the honey infusion with with um onion, but I've heard it's a great cough suppressant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I haven't done strictly um onion and um honey, but what I do is I boil the um, I boil the onion and it kind of makes it's. It's not amazing, it's it's, it's kind of gross, but it's um, it's onion water, and then you put a little honey in it and if you can just drink that as a tea, that's super good for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. Everyone could use that right now, cause, like seriously, everyone's got it. Um so what inspired you to start prioritizing a healthier lifestyle? Jeez, um, I know, loaded question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we're're talking. We're talking 10 years ago, um, I think it all started it's. I started prioritizing it when it came to food. I actually, the truth is, I, if anyone who knows me I was in a bad car accident about 10 years ago and I lost my my um scent and my taste. So when I would eat food, I was super focused on um, textures and things like that, and I noticed that when I would eat an apple, I would feel like the wax film on it and it the taste that I have now is just different than normal tastes. And um, so 10 years ago I switched to starting eating organic and then um, and then from eating organic I then moves into. It really was just a huge explosion and every single thing I I was reading labels and really diving into it and it started with food. Yeah, short answer Food.
Speaker 1:Same, I, I same. And I know my friend, stefan, who's been on the podcast before, he's talked about how, like, the beginning of his healing journey was really started with food as well, because when you're healing your gut, you're really paying attention to, like, what you're putting into your body and for a lot of people, that's like the, the starting point and I think that is, you know, at this point of the year we're in February like most people have given up on their, their new year's resolutions and I think it's because people overwhelm themselves. But it could start with something so simple as swapping out your produce for organic produce, like start there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Food is medicine.
Speaker 1:Food is gonna heal you, yeah yeah, and that's a big part of what you do now too. You have, like, your backyard garden and, um, like a lot of the stuff you make you, it's all it comes from your backyard backyard.
Speaker 2:Everything I make is all wholesome good ingredients. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how did the transition to like starting to use more organic foods and like? How did that transition start in your start to shape your mindset and like your daily habits?
Speaker 2:So it, it really it it. I paid more attention to the food and so then I started paying more attention to my skincare and then I then it transpired into my makeup. So it really becomes, um, it becomes part of you, where every single thing I'm paying attention to, what I ingest, what I'm bringing into my household, what now is going on with my children. But, starting with food, it really turns into. It turns into like every single thing is more selective. I pay attention more. I try to make as much as I can like everything. I want to provide myself with my own lotion, because all the additives and all the stuff in um store-bought, it's just. I read the labels, it's just junk, it's just not good for you.
Speaker 1:No, it's junk.
Speaker 2:It's fucking toxic.
Speaker 1:It's like literally so insane. Like when I go to the grocery store, I spend so much time because I'm reading every, every label, every ingredient, and it's just like it's crazy what we've allowed. And you know we're talking about it now, it's like at the forefront of a lot of conversations. It's like a lot of these things aren't even legal in other countries. So it's like how are we still using them? It's crazy, because of money? I know Exactly, exactly, yeah, so that's how Forest Farms kind of came to be, was now you're making these things. So tell us a little bit about the Forest Farms products. I have a few and I'm loving them.
Speaker 2:Ooh, okay, so we're starting off with the Forest Farms Trap Stick, because that was really, ultimately, my first product that I came out with and that is with the beeswax from my own hive, which I don't know. Do you know anyone that's a beekeeper? I'm still shocked at myself for being a beekeeper. So it's just, it's just cool, like it's cool that that is my, from my backyard. So the chapstick it has honey in it with all of the honey healing properties as vitamin E in it, which is good Shea butter, coconut, almond oil, and I really I mix that all, I blend it, I heat it up, I put it in my thing. It's really just more of a detailed. I pay attention to the process and then I put my labels on it and so that I have chapstick. I have a hand lotion bar, which my husband is an outside worker, he's an electrician, anyone who works with their hands. This hand lotion bar is unbelievable for you.
Speaker 1:Or New England, best time of year? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:My girlfriend. My hands are always wet in washing bottles, constantly cleaning my house. Little touch of OCD and my hands are always wet. So I put this on me before and before I go to bed and I just wake up and my hands are so much softer. The lotion bars are funny where they're a little oily, but you really have to rub it in and the more you use it, the more you're going to get to love it. So you just got to give it a shot. I would say they're. I don't know what it's called, but the working guys know what it is. It's a little box. It's kind of like petroleum jelly.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. My brother used to use it too. It's like a hand bomb that helps with, like, cracking dry hands.
Speaker 2:But it's probably awful. Yeah, and petroleum derived products like that's so crazy that we're putting it on our body. Yeah, like we're putting that on our body, like so crazy. And Ocufir so anyone listening, you're using Ocufur on your baby. I just want PSA. That not good.
Speaker 1:Sorry, okay, this is the place to voice that opinion, because let me tell you, we got a lot of hot takes over here and I wouldn't use those products on my baby either if I had one.
Speaker 2:So I have the chapstick. I have hand lotion bar I just came out. Oh well, let me go with the other products. First, I have candles, which is half beeswax, half tallow a perfect combination. You're a perfect combination of melting and infusing the air. And guess what? Everything that you burn you're inhaling and everything that's around your household. So when people are burning the Yankee candles that everyone loves so much, you have to envision that your children are breathing that in. You are breathing that in, like I know that the dyes and everything are in. That you're it's.
Speaker 1:It's the fragrance that they're using, the fragrance alone is toxic.
Speaker 2:It is chemicals, and so I have chapstick, hand motion bars, candles. I came out with a whipped body butter which is I haven't tried it.
Speaker 1:I need to.
Speaker 2:You haven't, but so I have. I'm doing a whipped body butter and honestly it is decadent. Like I took my babies out of the bath yesterday because I kind of have a cold going through my house right now and I lathered them in it and, oh my gosh, my little girl this morning feels unbelievable, like the way that these products seep into your skin and you know I can come out and like if you were to try it out, you could say that maybe it's a little oily but that's because in the other generations you're not used to wholesome ingredients. You're used to like Jergens, which is going to run into your skin, it's going to absorb and guess what You're going to need to reapply in probably like half an hour. So like my products, there are good products. You really rub it in it. Honestly, I love it. It makes me feel so awesome.
Speaker 1:I love like a thicker, more oily, especially this time of year. Like you need something that's a little bit heavier and I I mean I rub like straight castor oil on my body after I shower, at night, before I go to bed, so like that doesn't bother me.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's oily. I'm just saying that if anyone were to try it, I'm just kind of having my back, but I don't think it's oily. I put our powder in it, which is all natural, and that kind of sucks it out and that. But my my favorite products actually have two of them. My next one is my face cream.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's so awesome.
Speaker 2:That's, like my highlight, my favorite product. So my face cream is only three ingredients. Right, I have beef tallow which is grass-fed rendered, and then I mix it with castor oil and jojoba oil and, for people who don't know, the tallow is hydrating, it's an antiseptic, it's going to work against acne. It's going to work against acne, it's going to hydrate you and it's really going to give like that nice glow, that nice texture. It really is the nice texture to help slide on. And then, mixed with the castor oil, which is the God oil.
Speaker 1:It really is.
Speaker 2:That is my favorite oil.
Speaker 1:I put it everywhere at night. I put it on my feet and then I'll put it everywhere at night. I put it on my feet and then I'll put wool socks on. I put it on my abdomen to do castor oil packs like gut work. I put it in my belly button when I'm parasite cleansing like I lather that shit on every single night.
Speaker 2:It's unbelievable. So it has castor oil in it, which is an anti-aging. I actually don't really even wear eye cream anymore. I lather this right around my eyes. I put it everywhere.
Speaker 1:I've been doing that too. Yeah, instead of using my eye cream.
Speaker 2:Anyone right, because castor oil, you can rub it on your eyelashes. Your eyelashes grow. You can rub it on your eyebrows. It will help bring it in and if you rub castor oil on your eyelids there are studies that show that it in it will help. If anyone has cataracts, it will help bring that down any eye issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, theers too. Um, dr jess petros talks about this and that's part of like the parasite cleansing. But if you're someone who sees like the little, like eye floaters when you look towards the light and like you can see them floating in your, in your vision, um, that's like a parasitic infection, and castor oil on the eyelids at night helps with that. Yeah, I mean, this isn't medical advice by any means, so no one like not a doctor here not making any claims, Nope.
Speaker 2:And then lastly, jojoba oil, which is just good hydrating properties. It's light, which I like because the tallow is a heavier base, but I whip the shit out of it, so it is light.
Speaker 1:The texture is amazing. Yes, it really does A little goes a long way.
Speaker 2:I sell them in two ounce little containers and I mean it depends how much you use it, but I mean a little goes a long way with it. And my face cream, I would say, is probably the star of my show right now, Definitely I love it.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know. The lip balm is also very good. It will. When you put it on, it lasts so long, like if you put it on before you go to bed. You wake up and it's still on your lips.
Speaker 2:Oh see, I wouldn't know, because I kiss my kids so much. Oh, so it's always coming off, which another highlight of I feel safe kissing my kids and I don't care if my chapsticks all over their face because I know that the ingredients in it is safe. Yeah, yeah, that's like another thing with my products. Like my little girl will be all over my face, her hands and like, if I like, sometimes when I'm wearing makeup although my makeup is all natural and I'm clean I I try to keep my daughter from touching my face, obviously, but, um, when I have just face lotion on, I'm not concerned, or I don't have any worries about my kids touching me.
Speaker 1:What's your go-to clean makeup brands?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I really only wear mascara and I highlight. Sometimes, if you catch me going out on a dinner, I'll wear makeup, but my everyday, my everyday style is not not there. My go-to makeup I really like Pacifica. I use Pacifica um highlighter and contour.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:Oh, and Hans Hans H A N, s, I use that, um. I use that for bronzer, but also contour.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, I'm always looking for good, clean brands.
Speaker 2:I want to go back to. So those are the. I have four of those products that I have in stock, but yesterday I had a specific request on a product and I saw your Instagram post.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, my friend came to me and she's like um, I saw your Instagram posts. Yeah Well, my uh, a friend came to me and she's like, listen, I have eczema and all of the tallow smells funky and all of they have so much additive additives in it. So I made a whipped body butter but I added tallow and that made it so much better. But in that, um, I also I have, um, all the same ingredients that I had in my whipped body butter. So it has the castor oil in it, it has the um, vitamin E oil, which is going to work, but this tallow butter, um, it is.
Speaker 2:So the whipped body butter is great, definitely not putting that down but the tallow, I just think, is a little bit like, gives an extra oomph and, um, that is really going to help with the eczema. And, um, my girlfriend, taylor, she just bought some um for her belly. She's she's newly pregnant, she's going to put, she's going to put it on her belly and the tallow, mixed with the castor oil, mixed with the vitamin E and all of the shea butters and cocoa butter, that is really going to prevent any stretch marks. It's really going to sink into your skin and it's so nourishing.
Speaker 2:So nourishing. I know that when I was pregnant my back was always so itchy so I was like a two times a day um body butter person and um, so my, I I'm not um, I haven't gotten to advertise that yet but my tallow whipped body butter is a pretty, pretty spot on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think when you're creating products, too, with not just like throwing things together, but like there's intention and care and everything is energy. So when you're using these products, you really feel that like like the passion and you feel all of your good energy behind it, I believe in them, I believe in them.
Speaker 2:And if I believe in it, I believe in them, I believe in them. And if I believe in it, if I believe in it, I can sell it to you. I'm not that I'm persuasive, but I know when it's good and I'm I'm going to preach it Like it, it when I. When it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1:That is how I feel. That's like you know, no one comes on this podcast without being like complete, like you have to be somebody that I have worked with, would work with, or like a very like you're in my close personal circle but, like I, when I use these products, I was like, oh heck, yes, like everyone in Rhode Island needs to know about them, and beyond you love them.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy.
Speaker 1:I am a best, and I have my boyfriend hooked on the chapstick now too, so I give you a candle. Yes, I haven't burned it yet, but it smells so good.
Speaker 2:Which one did I give you?
Speaker 1:Um, it has like chamomile and rosemary on top.
Speaker 2:Okay, that was, that was special. I made that a special for you. I haven't advertised that yet, but I'll tell everyone I did a. It's a warm vanilla candle vanilla essential oil, and I put a little Rosemary on it because all of the benefits I don't know if you guys know, um, rosemary water is so good, it's good for your hair, it's good for everything. And then I put a little chamomile, uh, dried flowers, on the top for almost like a little, um, calm ambience.
Speaker 1:It's so pretty. That's why I don't want to burn it yet. I'm like waiting for a special moment.
Speaker 2:I feel that intentional yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, and when I do, I'll post a little video for you.
Speaker 2:Love that, love that.
Speaker 1:So what inspired you to take it from like your kitchen to making these products to yours, for yourself, to being like okay, I'm going to pursue this, I'm going to, I'm going to create forest farms and we're going to sell this.
Speaker 2:Um, what inspired me was um, well, I have the wax, right, I have the wax from my beehive, and I was, so I was already making the other products as far as, like, my own lotions.
Speaker 2:Um, I didn't make my own chapstick because I, um, I didn't have the wax and so I would buy, but I didn't have the wax and so I would buy. But these were things that I did at home, and then I had the element of my own beeswax and I'm like, listen, this shit is good, like I use it and it's something that I'm doing anyway, so why not bump up the recipe, just make more and sell it? And so so I did, and that's what I did, and I just started doing it on Facebook, I started on Instagram and I had a good wave around Christmas time and then I got a little deeper. I bought insurance for it, I made a website and I mean, I have people looking at it and it's, it's it, it's. It just speaks for itself. You try that, you try it, you put it on and the next day, when you wake up and your body feels great, you're just going to want to keep using it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's so important, like not just what we're putting in our bodies, but what we put on our bodies too, cause, like you said, it absorbs into your skin. So if you're putting all of these chemicals on your body, then that's just being absorbed and that's more things that your body has to break down and detox and get rid of.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I make all of these products with intention, with care. I don't know if anyone knows this, but I like art. I can draw, I can paint and creating the candles and make, putting the, the rose petals on it and pouring the chapstick, just right, and getting like a clean cut on the top. It's, it's artistic to me and it is intentional. So I um, my um hopes is that when using my products, people treat it almost as like a ritual, like when you put your lotion on. I want you to do it after you just had a great shower and I hope you just feel great after you do it, because I am a firm believer that the energy that I'm putting into my products is a happy energy. I'm happy to do it and I'm hoping that with that, the energy travels through it and helps make everyone else feel good.
Speaker 1:It definitely does. I love putting my face cream on at night. It feels so good and my skin feels so nourished, even though it's been like super cold and dry here in New England, like I don't have that like winter, like chapped face you don't the you first of all, you look great, thank you you're welcome they can't see me, but they'll have to take your word for it take my word, I'm not a liar, um.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, I stopped using eye cream that's how good it is and I am a typical cleansing, toner serum lotion and I just dropped it. I dropped that because my lotion covers it, my cream. I don't want to call it lotion, I want to call it cream because there is a difference If you use lotion and you use cream. You know the difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cream is a lot more like thick.
Speaker 2:It's softer, it's thicker and it's softer.
Speaker 1:A little bit more hydrating, I think it lasts a little bit longer than like a lotion does a little bit more hydrating.
Speaker 2:I think it lasts a little bit longer than like a lotion does. Yeah, that's why you got to ditch your lotion and get the body butter too.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm ready for it. I'm going to go right after this and order some. You know it and everyone else will link um Kelly's website in the show notes, so feel free to go over there and check it out. Like the products are amazing, Honestly, the candle is so beautiful. Like you can tell that you spend time and care and intention in these products and they're not just like these mass produced kind of things.
Speaker 2:Thank you, G. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome yeah.
Speaker 2:So you can link my um, you can link my website, but also feel free to just follow me and message me, like it doesn't need for everyone else not you specifically anyone listening. Um, feel free to just message me. I have a section on my website that, um, I mean I offer only four products, but I am an herbalist. I um I do create other other things, so I have a section where people can um write what's going on and see if I can create anything. So my girlfriend text message me and she was just like hey, I have severe at at, um, I have severe eczema going on and so I didn't have tallow whipped body butter on my quote unquote but um so I'm able to just whip up something that um can target whatever ailment you have going on.
Speaker 1:I love that, and I think that also speaks to your products too, because you take that, that herbalist knowledge, and you infuse it into your products, and that's that's a really beautiful thing too.
Speaker 2:Thanks.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So right now, what would you say is like your favorite, favorite herb to work with, or oh gosh, um, my favorite herbs, um, my favorite herbs to work with, so, um, I would say well, if you're close with me, you would know that right now my husband broke his foot.
Speaker 1:So I yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, talk about this. Oh my God I am handling. First of all, he broke his foot and it's not. It's not that he's in a boot walking, and okay. He broke his foot to the point where he is. We're a month and a half into this. He is still on crutches. He cannot even put his foot down on the ground, he cannot bear weight, he cannot even really hold our daughter because he can't walk without his crutches.
Speaker 2:So I would say, at this moment my favorite herb is comfrey. Comfrey is the bone healing herb. So I had this man drinking comfrey tea. I made him a comfrey salve. We're putting that on his foot, his foot, um. So comfrey is going to help with infection, because at first he did have a little cut on on his foot and then, um, it's really going to seep into the skin and it's going to help with um. It's going to help with the bones, it's going to help with the joints, it's going to help with inflammation and stuff like that. But I mean, we're just talking about comfrey and um, and then, quickly, I also want to do a shout out to oregano, because oregano oil my kids are sick right now and I don't have any on hand, but I wish I did. And if you put olive oil over oregano right, let it sit in a dark, dark place for about two, three weeks and then strain it, then you have yourself, like a homemade tincture, the properties that the oregano give out is.
Speaker 1:It's anti-parasitic, it's anti-viral, it's an antibiotic, it's everything.
Speaker 2:You want to scream RSV, there you go, like, go, like, that's what you have. Um, and so let's say comfrey and oregano is, uh, the season of right now.
Speaker 1:My dad, um, grows a shitload of oregano every year. I have so much.
Speaker 2:Next time I see you I'll bring you some you need to, I I will make it and then I'll make tincture, and then anyone who has babies feel free to message me, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's such a safe herb to use and it's so potent, it's so powerful. It's another one of those like I think oregano oil tincture is really hard to take. It's one of those things that it tastes tastes earthy, like it's girl.
Speaker 2:You're talking to someone who doesn't have taste.
Speaker 1:That's true, it's but for the rest of us it's rough.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you oh well, trust me, my taste is um, my taste is semi there.
Speaker 1:It just tastes like dirt to me, but I mean, it's like to me it's almost like it's so powerful it's like spicy yeah, yeah, it is but it's in. There is this um, I swear by it. It's called wellness formula but it has, like oregano, echinacea, garlic, um vitamin c, it's like you're perfect for this time of year you're almost talking fire cider yeah it.
Speaker 1:Basically it is in like a crushed pill form and my boyfriend just had the flu, for literally he was sick for over two weeks and, knock on wood, here I am healthy, haven't gotten it. Don't want to jinx myself, but like anytime I've been around somebody who's sick like, I just pop a couple of those or I take my honey garlic and hope for the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean anytime someone's sick, like my whole house is sick right now. I had, I had an orange. I had a spoonful of honey. Um, I have some Rosemary in there. I might see some water in it. So like food is medicine, some water in it. So like food is medicine. That's honestly like. That is me in a nutshell. That's how all of this transpired, like that's what I believe.
Speaker 1:I believe in good, wholesome food good, wholesome ingredients yeah, I agree, I completely agree. And food and what you drink and what you put on your skin, like. I am in complete agreement with that. I think that's a good place to wrap it up. Is there anything else you want to share with us?
Speaker 2:Let me wrap it up. Anything I want to share. I want to share my yoga. I haven't talked about that, but I mean I've talked about how food is medicine and I am an herbalist, so I'm into the herbs but I didn't tie in my yoga into it. And I'm also like a firm believer in like deep breaths. I'm like your breathing controls a lot and if you can just control your breath you can control a lot. So I'm a firm believer in that and I'm not just yoga the practice, but kind of mixing it all into the earth. And it all comes back in the sense of like earth, putting your feet on the ground, feeling grounded, like inhaling the outdoors, and all of that like yoga the practice. Yes, stretching, unbelievable, great for your body, but also yoga in a way of life.
Speaker 1:Yes definitely.
Speaker 1:I've talked about it a lot on this podcast and it's something that's coming to the forefront of my classes as well right now is like, especially here in the West, we think of yoga as asana and it kind of ends there, but yoga is so much more than that. There's eight limbs of yoga and asana is only one of those limbs and you know so. Infrequently we talk about the first two limbs, which are the yamas and the niyamas, which are really like moral and like body hygienic practices and observances and like, yeah, I totally agree with what you're saying, because yoga is so much more than the physical practice. But once you get like the breath and the mindfulness involved and, um, like these self-care rituals and not just self-care rituals, but these, these moral observances like it really really does impact and have a huge change on your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah and and kind of. It also makes everything more intentional. It makes it like you. You go through like it's. It makes everything more rituals and like I know it sounds so silly, but like my skincare routine is a ritual.
Speaker 1:Absolutely no, it's not silly, I agree.
Speaker 2:It's like I take taking care of myself, like when I have a shower, like I mean, you're a female, you know the showers. It's either you have a wash shower, you have a hair shower or you have a whole body shower, everything shower.
Speaker 2:And when I have that everything shower, I'm getting out and first I'm brushing my hair and then I'm starting with step one, with my toner, and it just makes everything more intentional. I mean that just circles back with the products and it circles back with yoga and really I mean, yes, I'm an herbalist, yes, I'm a yoga teacher, but I would say probably, first and foremost, definitely a mom. But I would say, wrapping it up, I would say just an earth enthusiast and all natural enthusiasts, because that's where, like, it all comes from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we've separated ourselves so much from nature but we are so much a part of it and I think when you start this intentional lifestyle, you start to like dive in, you start to detox, you start to be more intentional about what you're eating, Like I think all of these things just kind of like fall naturally into place, Like you really, you truly transform from the inside out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for being here. I really enjoyed celebrating you and celebrating Forest Farms, because you gave me these products a couple of weeks ago and I am already obsessed.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love them and I've been telling everyone about them, so now I'm very excited to share it with everyone on the podcast, because oh my gosh, that's so exciting telling everyone about them, so now I'm very excited to share it with everyone on the podcast because it's like love these products and for me, like I'm always looking for like the cleanest things that I can put on my body and in my body.
Speaker 1:So when I saw you posting about this and then we got to chatting and then you gave me some products to try, I just like couldn't be more excited for you because this, I'm so passionate about this and I I want to tell everyone it's so important what you put in your body what you put on your body and like the intention behind everything. So I think this was a beautiful thing to celebrate. So thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Kelly's journey is a beautiful reminder of how small, intentional steps can lead to transformative change. From her dedication to her family's health and well-being to the creation of Forest Farms, her story shows us all that nature truly is one of the most powerful and empowering tools for healing. If Kelly's story resonated with you, head over to Forest Farms to explore her earth-enriched handmade products. You can also follow her journey on social media. I'll link everything in the show notes, so don't you worry. And, of course, if you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe to Nearly Enlightened, leave a review and share it with someone you love who could use a little bit of inspiration today. Thank you so much for being here, kelly. It was a pleasure to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, gianna, this was fantastic.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:All right, bye-bye.