Through The Mirror is our video series in which we illuminate some of the magic that our friends and customers bring into the world, and how self-care is at the heart of their successes. In this video we're diving deep into the world of tonic & herbal alchemy with Nitsa Citrine, Creative Director of Sun Potion.
OSEA:
Hi Nitsa! Let's just start off with the basic. What does your daily morning routine look like?
Nitsa:
Because I actually tend to wake up with a very active mind - I think about the million and one things I have to do - the first meditation I do when I wake up is I take a minute to meditate on my gratitude. It’s this multi-sensory activity like a wave that moves through my body and it comes out in articulating different aspects of my life that I’m grateful for: my health or being on a trip and traveling with my best friends or cuddling. Sometimes it may be other things. So whatever first comes to mind, I say I am grateful for it - even the challenges - I keep articulating the things to myself and at a certain point, I feel complete. Sometimes it takes a really long time, and sometimes if I’m not feeling an authentic sense of gratitude, I workshop it for a bit to find the lesson or value until it is just a “feeling thought”, and then I move on. And then I am complete. From there, I’ll do a seated tea meditation by myself, or with friends. And only then, will I fall into potions: in which, there are blender sounds, and iPhones, and activity.
OSEA:
Where do you find creative inspiration?
Nitsa:
I was raised by two health conscious parents. Growing up for the first six years of my life in Big Sur, rooted in the Esalen community, really shaped an understanding and appreciation of this community that is committed to transformation, self work, self care, healing and plant based or organic whole food diet. My father is an acupuncturist so I was raised on traditional Chinese medicine. So every time I would get sick or came down with the flu, he would whip out his little concoction of herbs (potion). My grandmother was a master gardener so she really brought me under her wing, and would take me out into the garden, teach me how to grow plants and pay attention. My father was a huge composting advocate so, hah yeah, I can see how that plays into my life and what I do now.
OSEA:
What's it like working for Sun Potion? It seems like a dream!
Nitsa:
I think it’s really amazing that my job is to make potions. To alchemize, to create recipes, to document and shoot them, to create a language that's accessible for people to understand how these plants work with the body to bring it into more of a state of balance. I created this campaign that started as a hashtag for Instagram but now it’s become a larger, inclusive online campaign called, A Potion A Day. It emphasizes the magic, the healing and the centering that can happen when you take a few minutes to sit, and make yourself a potion or a tonic, and share it with friends. And sip it, enjoy it, center and nourish yourself - the ritual of that. And within the brand, I feel like I’ve really tried to encourage other people to take the time to nourish themselves.
OSEA:
It seems like you're always on the go, how do you find balance?
Nitsa:
When I am working from home, I also like to spend some time outdoors. I take 10 to 15 minutes to go for a walk or just to sit outside on a meditation cushion.
OSEA:
Do you have a favorite Sun Potion recipe you could share with us? What's your go-to tonic or smoothie?
Nitsa:
I’m working on a book right now giving very detailed instructions. The most simple thing is to put some chlorella in spring water and it’s a great way to nourish, and detox, get chlorophyll, amino acids, clear heavy metals from the body. If you want a warm potion for two here's a simple Beauty Potion!
We have a wonderful formula of herbs called Yin Power that has ashwagandha, mucuna, shatavari: herbs that are wonderful for balancing hormones, nourishing skin. So you could do a teaspoon of that, a tablespoon of coconut butter, teaspoon of raw honey, some of our Jasmine Tocos which are basically bioavailable Vitamin E. They are the water and fat soluble portions of jasmine rice bran.
Put two tablespoons of that, two teaspoons of Yin Power and hot water into a blender, blend it and serve it! That’s a really simple beauty, nervous system - overall - adaptogenic tonic!