Channeling Our Higher Selves with Anaïs

What does sobriety look like? In our Style section, we look at different answers to this question through photo shoots with some of our most eye-catching sober friends! Recently, we got the chance to feel some high energy vibrations with the beautiful spiritual goddess, Anaïs! We chatted about intuition, sobriety, and the key to the perfect vegan smoothie!

All photos by the incomparable Ali Garbutt.

NSH: Hi Anaïs! Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Anaïs: Hello my wonderful fellow humans! I’m so excited to share a bit of myself with you. I love being able to embrace vulnerability in new ways like this, it’s so empowering and beautiful! I am truly honored. I’ve been sober since February 7th, 2014, and connecting to the immense gratitude that comes every day that I’m sober never gets old. I love being fully present and experiencing my life, and I have come to embrace emotions in a deep way.

As a sensitive and deeply feeling person (as most alcoholics and drug addicts are I believe), my journey of embracing myself and feeling all the feelings has been a beautiful one. Something I like to say as a reminder to myself is that “I’d rather feel everything than nothing at all”. I’ve spent too many years trying to deny who I am, and now what I want most is to be as authentically myself as I can be. I love to love people, I love to explore every aspect of this life (spiritually, adventurously) and admire and connect to every part of it. And, as it so happens, I love to express myself in all my variability through my style.

NSH: How would you describe your style? 

Anaïs: I’ve never felt as though I could pick one “style”. I love it all! Whatever makes me feel like me. And I especially love the freedom that clothes bring to my self expression, now that I am more comfortable with myself as I am. I think as it is with most people, my “self” is always evolving and shifting, and so I use my outfits as a way to reflect that. I don’t subscribe to the idea of a gender binary, and I dress to reflect that. I love that I can wear baggy black pants, extra thick-souled Doc Martens, and a graphic tee that says “R.I.P. Patriarchy, Your Time Has Come” one day, and a flowing floral dress the next and unabashedly step into each as an authentic expression of self. I don’t feel limited anymore, and it’s beautiful.

NSH: You have amazing energy! You definitely give off intense good vibes. What’s your secret!?

Anaïs: There is no secret! I’m on my journey, as we all are. I place the highest value on growth, healing, and love in all aspects of my life and I try and embody that in every way; from the way I eat to the way I speak (to everyone in the world, including myself). I’m grateful that I don’t radiate darkness anymore.

NSH: Can you tell us about your spiritual practice?

Anaïs: My spiritual practice is always in flux, but there are a few healing modalities which have become incredibly impactful in my life recently. I am a Reiki II practitioner, and using energy healing with myself and with others has literally shed divine light on my life in every way. I feel connected to the light almost all the time, because it flows through me and has literally relieved physical ailments for myself and others as well as mental, emotional, and spiritual blockages.

Along with reiki, breathwork has been an intense way for me to access accelerated healing. Other than that, I try and embrace new practices all the time. I love to read the teachings of ascended masters and other divine teachers like Ram Dass (he’s one of my absolute favorites), and try and live those principles in my life through action. Any form of mediation or prayer is wonderful and worth exploring. I love to go into nature and connect with Mother Earth directly as well.

Whether it’s a road trip to Joshua Tree to look at the stars, or a hike in the hills of Laguna, or even just admiring flowers on the side of the road. There is infinite beauty all around, I just have to open my eyes and be present to it. Serving the earth with no reward, and serving others with no reward are also indispensable for me. In a word, my practice is Love. To be love, in every way. This would have been a radical thing for me to say a few years ago. Today I find that living in my Truth is simple, and it is usually rooted in Love.

NSH: So, you’re a vegan! What’s that like? What are some of your favorite things to eat?

Anaïs: Being vegan is wonderful. It’s definitely one of the ways I try to express love in all my actions. And it makes me feel amazing. There are SO many incredible vegan restaurants where we live, we are so blessed. There’s places that have comfort food and “junk” foods too! I think a common misconception is that people who choose to be vegan eat only raw spinach out of a bag (which is wonderful, but not how I’m living my life at the moment)!

There’s a place called Vegan Pizza in Garden Grove that has the best vegan junk ever, even corn dogs and Thai tea (a weakness of mine). When I first tried it, my friend and I could barely believe it wasn’t the real thing. My other top favorite places are Vegan Nirvana and Seabirds, and I’m totally a sucker for vegan ice cream from Hug Life.

I also make a lot of food at home. My favorite thing that I make is a smoothie that I created recently (bananas, raspberries, blueberries, spinach, milk alternative, soy vanilla yogurt, chia seeds, granola, and a teaspoon of chia and flax seed peanut butter) that I infuse with reiki. It is literally a spiritual experience every time. Most importantly I would say, being vegan for me is about enhancing my life, not limiting it. Not to mention treating my body with love after years of doing the opposite.

NSH: What has sobriety been like for you?

Anaïs: Beautiful. Raw. Vulnerable. Imperfect. A divine shift in perspective. And an absolute gift that I would do anything to keep and wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I never knew that I could have such a beautiful life. And that beauty includes the heartbreak, the loss, the grief, the mistakes that turned into soul-revealing lessons. Every moment of my sobriety has been a gift.

To be able to connect to people in my life so deeply, to love, to be present to every feeling and experience, to feel and show true unconditional love, and to go anywhere in the world and know that I can be sober and present and not need to drink or get high to have a good time is indescribably wonderful. I get to be a part of my family again, and have a whole new chosen family that inspire me everyday. It’s a life I didn’t even know I wanted. I could never express enough gratitude for it.

The fact that I want to live now, and not just live but really grow and heal and experience this life and give back to it, is incredible. I consider myself and all the other people who surround me who are sober to be walking miracles. We are people who should be dead, or barely existing, who are now living beautiful fulfilling lives. 

NSH: Do you have any parting words for our readers?

Anaïs: I’m just very grateful. To have had this experience, to get to do so many amazing things. Ali is such a talented photographer who really made me feel comfortable, and David is inspiring with his vision. I’m honored to be a part of such an empowering blog. Infinite Love and Light always. If you’re reading this, I love you! And anything is possible! You deserve love and happiness and healing.

You can follow Anaïs on Instagram!