Some things arrive as a nudge. A quiet feeling you almost talk yourself out of.
And some things arrive as a full-body yes.
When Mary's email landed in my inbox — yoga retreat, Costa Rica, Blue Zone, my birthday week — I didn't deliberate. I didn't make a pros and cons list. I just knew. That kind of knowing doesn't come from your head. It comes from somewhere quieter. I booked my ticket the same day.
Quick Shop: Chakra Collection | Root Chakra | Crown Chakra | Spiritual Symbols
Jump To: Fifteen Years of Showing Up | Make It to the Airport | The Blue Zone Effect | A Day at Salvatiera | The Part That Wasn't Magic | Mystic Soul — The Name | What I Learned in the Hammock | The Women Who Showed Up | Why I'm Telling You This | FAQ
Fifteen Years of Showing Up
For fifteen years I've shown up for the same yoga instructor — Mary Sullivan. Through the years my practice was strong, physical, looked like someone else entirely. Then a back injury took it from me, and for a long stretch it looked like nothing at all.
Even when my body couldn't do yoga, I kept showing up for Mary's chakra workshops. Her guided meditations. Her menopause group — because that's a season that deserves its own kind of community. My friend Heather and I had been asking her for years: when are you hosting a retreat?
When she finally did, and it landed on my birthday, in one of the world's Blue Zones — places on earth where people live longest and well — the universe had clearly done its part. My job was just to say yes.
Make It to the Airport
My friend Heather couldn't make it in the end. And I won't pretend that didn't give me a moment of pause. I'm an introvert. A week with new people in a foreign country is not nothing. It requires something from you.
Mary told me: just make it to the airport. Momma duck will take care of the rest.
So that's what I did. I leaned into not knowing. I didn't research. I didn't plan. I let it unfold in the days before we arrived.
What I didn't know until we landed — what felt, in hindsight, like the most perfect design — was that our very first morning class began with the Root Chakra. Grounding. Safety. Coming home to the body. Each class that followed moved us forward through the chakra system. Root to Sacral. Solar Plexus to Heart. Throat, Third Eye, Crown. Two and a half hours every morning, one layer deeper. By the end of the week it felt less like a yoga schedule and more like a map we hadn't known we were following. You couldn't have planned it better. Honestly, you couldn't have planned it at all — that's the point.
Like a Costa Rican road, the journey wound in ways we didn't expect. Went further than anyone imagined. And every curve revealed something the straight path never could have.
✨ Curious where you are in your own chakra journey? Take the free two-minute quiz: Discover your chakra type →
The Blue Zone Effect
A Blue Zone has been on my bucket list for years. Since I first learned about these rare pockets of the world — where people simply, naturally, live the longest — I've been fascinated. Not because of any supplement or system, but because of how life is structured around them. I always wanted to see what that actually looked like up close.
What I found: remote. Abundant with wildlife. Deeply connected to nature and seasons and the rhythms of the ocean. Healthy food that came from the earth around us. Sun. Slowness. And almost entirely disconnected from the noise we treat as normal.
We didn't get a room key. There were no locked doors at Salvatiera.
I've been sitting with that ever since. There's something in it — the idea that the fullest, most peaceful way to live might be to hold it all open. No locks. No bracing. Just presence, and trust, and the kind of safety that comes from being somewhere — and someone — worth returning to. That's my intention going forward. To do it, as much as possible, without locks.
Though I'll say this, too: not every place is a safe haven. Sometimes a key is genuinely needed. Knowing the difference — when to stay open and when to protect yourself — might be the whole practice.
A Day at Salvatiera
Salvatiera is built for exactly this. For letting go of the itinerary. For trusting the container.
Morning began with two and a half hours of yoga on the pool deck, overlooking the ocean. Howler monkeys in the trees. Macaws calling across the canopy. The kind of alarm clock that reorganizes your nervous system.
Group brunch followed. Then afternoon — siesta, or some days, an activity. At four o'clock, a second class: yin yoga in the Shambala. Deep stretches. Long holds. The kind of quiet that asks something of you.
By evening, between the double practices and the heat and the early mornings, I was — and I mean this as the highest compliment — completely empty. In the best possible way.
My favourite day was the silent morning. We kept quiet until noon. Twenty-two Calgary yogis moving through the property like a yoga zombie apocalypse, floating in shared silence that somehow said everything. It was one of the most peaceful moments in a group I've had.
I found a hammock by the beach and returned to it every afternoon like it was mine. Floating under the trees. Watching the light. Eating food that tasted like it was grown with actual intention. Doing absolutely nothing productive and feeling, somehow, deeply nourished.
The Part That Wasn't Magic (Until It Was)
Here's what the Instagram version of this story leaves out.
Getting to that hammock took ten years.
A back injury that was debilitating. Years of returning to yoga and having to walk away again. The slow, humbling discovery that what actually healed me wasn't yoga at all — it was weight training. Then Pilates. Building core strength until my body could finally, carefully, ease back into a modified practice.
My practice doesn't look like it used to. No strong, powerful vinyasas. What works for me now is cat/cow, child's pose, down dog. The modifications I once would have skipped past. The ones that, it turns out, were there waiting for me all along.
The path back to something you love rarely looks like the path you took the first time. And that, it turns out, is fine. More than fine.
Mystic Soul — The Name That Came From Starting Over
There's something else that belongs in this story.
Mystic Soul Jewelry didn't start with that name. The rebrand came after my divorce — a season that asked me to look very honestly at who I was, what I'd built, and what I actually wanted to carry forward.
The name Mystic Soul came to me the way things do when you stop forcing them. It sparked, and immediately felt like me. Not a pivot. Not a rebrand strategy. Just — yes. That's it. That's who I am.
I believe in a spirituality that includes, not excludes. One that invites curiosity, honours individual paths, and never requires anyone to leave themselves at the door. The chakra system, crystals, ritual, symbolism — these aren't doctrines. They're languages. Ways of paying attention to yourself. You speak the parts that resonate and leave the rest. That's always been the spirit of this brand, even before I had the name for it.
Mystic Soul is truly who I am. It took rebuilding to find that out.
What I Learned in the Hammock
Three things landed while I was floating under the Costa Rican trees that I want to name directly.
The first: being a kind person is not a liability. But kindness without boundaries can be harmful — to others, and quietly, to yourself. I had lessons to learn there. I can see them clearly now, and I can find genuine gratitude in them. That's not a small thing.
The second came from something I read that stopped me completely: going through menopause is like becoming your 15-year-old self — and liking yourself this time. I couldn't agree more. There's a childlike excitement I've reclaimed that I didn't know I'd lost. For creativity, for new experiences, for saying yes without knowing all the details. For fun — actual, uncomplicated fun. I came home tender with peace. And lit up in a way I hadn't felt in years.
The third was about friendship — and it surprised me most.
I've always had a small, close handful. I never thought of myself as someone who collected people, or particularly could. For a long time I quietly believed I wasn't someone who made friends easily. What I've slowly discovered is that I was just getting in my own way.
The last few years I've been saying yes differently. Book clubs. A moon circle I feel genuinely blessed to be part of. The gym with my son twice a week. Pilates with my daughter twice a week. Friends of friends who had been in my orbit for years and somehow we'd never actually connected — until we did. The retreat was twenty-two yogis, three of them men, the rest women, most of them strangers on day one.
What I know now is that the people showing up for me aren't an accident. They're the result of me finally showing up — open, present, without the old story that I wasn't the kind of person who built that kind of life.
I am. Turns out I always was.
✨ Not sure which stone is calling to you right now? Let your spirit guide the way: Discover your spirit animal →
The Women Who Showed Up
Five years of rebuilding has taught me something I didn't expect: it's not always family who shows up. Sometimes it's friends. In my case, overwhelmingly, it's women.
Women who have had my back through years I won't romanticize. Women who have quietly rebuilt my understanding that being single doesn't mean being alone — it means having peace, freedom, and the time to know yourself again. Some have been in my corner for years. Some are new to my world. All of them are looking for the same things: meaningful connections, real experiences, and the particular kind of joy that comes from being fully yourself in good company.
I am so proud to count myself among them.
Why I'm Telling You All of This
Because if you've ever felt called to something and couldn't quite justify it logically — that feeling is the point.
The chakra system is a map of the self. Crown for clarity. Heart for connection. Root for the groundedness that makes everything else possible. We began that first morning class standing at the Root — grounding into earth, into body, into the simple fact of being here — because you can't build upward without it. That's not just yoga philosophy. That's the whole thing.
The jewelry I make is a small, wearable version of that same practice. A reminder. A touchstone. An intention you put on in the morning and carry through the day. It doesn't fix anything. But it can be a quiet prompt to come back to yourself — and sometimes that's exactly what's needed.
If you're somewhere in your own version of this story — rebuilding, returning, not quite sure which path leads back to yourself — the Chakra Quiz is where I'd start. Two minutes. It might tell you something you already knew.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Blue Zone and why does it matter for wellness?
Blue Zones are regions of the world where people statistically live the longest, healthiest lives. Research points to lifestyle factors: connection to nature, seasonal eating, strong community, daily movement, and a slower pace. Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula is one of five recognised Blue Zones in the world. Salvatiera sits within this region.
What is Salvatiera and is it suitable for beginners?
Salvatiera is a dedicated retreat venue on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, designed specifically for yoga and wellness retreats. Mary Sullivan's retreat welcomed practitioners of all levels — including fully modified practices. The environment supports rest as much as movement. You can learn more at salvatierracr.com.
How does the chakra system relate to jewelry?
Each chakra corresponds to an energy centre in the body and is associated with specific intentions — grounding, creativity, confidence, love, expression, intuition, and clarity. At Mystic Soul Jewelry, chakra pieces are designed as wearable reminders of those intentions. They are not medical devices and make no healing claims — they're touchstones for the qualities you're cultivating. Browse the full Chakra Collection or take the quiz to find your match.
How do I know which chakra jewelry is right for me?
Start with the free two-minute Chakra Quiz. It asks a few questions about how you're feeling and where you want to focus, then routes you to the chakra type and gemstones that align with your current season. It's the fastest way to find something meaningful, not just pretty. Take the quiz here →
Does Mystic Soul Jewelry ship to the USA?
Yes. Mystic Soul Jewelry ships across Canada and to the USA. Canadian orders over $75 CAD ship free. US orders over $150 USD ship free with duties prepaid — no surprise charges at delivery. Full shipping details are on the FAQ page.
Are the gemstones used in MSJ jewelry natural?
Yes — all gemstones are natural and verified before listing. Every stone is identified and confirmed genuine. Glass, synthetic, or mislabelled materials are never listed as natural stone. If you have questions about a specific piece, reach out directly.
If this story found you at the right moment — welcome. You might be exactly where I was two months ago: a little worn, a little uncertain, and quietly ready for whatever comes next. The collection is here when you are. And the quiz is even faster.
Andrea
Founder, Mystic Soul Jewelry
Wear what you love & the rest will follow.
