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On Explore Your Spirit with Kala’s Bohemian Blog, we seek out talented innovative designers and entrepreneurs of the 21st Century.   Join us as we meet up with bright souls who do what they love and allow the rest to unfold as it should. On this path, we connected with Niki Fountain, CEO and owner of Serene Bath and Body.

Kala: Hi Niki, Thanks for joining us here on Kala’s Bohemian Blog. We’re featuring a special section on the Bohemian Blog entitled Inner Beauty and Fashion for the Body, Mind and Spirit.  Your company, Serene Bath and Body sells a metaphysical inspired line of soaps and lotions with delightful names including Goddess, Aura Enhancer, Eve’s Garden, White Light, Awaken and Zen for Men. What was your inspiration to create this metaphysical line of products called Celestial Farms?

Niki: Hi Kala. First let me say thank you for having me! The inspiration for Celestial Farms came from a number of places but it really started many years ago when I was a young woman who, like many other women and girls, found myself with a poor body image.  I didn’t take very good care of myself or treat my body with the respect it deserved.  But I did find one activity that I truly enjoyed and it actually helped me feel better about myself.  And that was indulging in really nice bath products.  I can remember many times in graduate school where I would take what little money I had left after paying the bills and go shop for new soaps and lotions.  I would hurry back to my apartment and take a long, hot shower with my new soap and then slather myself with my new yummy lotion. The entire act of picking out a new scent, hurrying home in anticipation, taking the shower and then rubbing the lotion in created a wonderful sense of well being and made me feel good about myself.  So that was part of the inspiration, the desire to help others feel good about themselves, to help them find that sense of well being that I had found, that serenity that comes from taking care of our bodies.  But the other part, the metaphysical inspiration ironically came from my science background as a geologist.  Being a geologist I’ve spent many years learning not just about the physical properties of crystals and gemstones but also the metaphysical properties.  I took this knowledge of the crystals and what they can do and combined that with my desire and inspiration to create beautiful bath products.  And from there I created the Celestial Farms line where we include crystals and gemstones in everything we make.

Kala: When sampling your work, I was attracted to the fact that you include real gemstones and crystals in the soaps and lotions.  How did you decide which gemstone to put in each product and how do they enhance the product?

Niki: As I mentioned, being a geologist I have spent many years working with and researching crystals and gemstones.  Along the way I learned that crystals have more than just the physical properties that we can see like color and hardness.  They also have metaphysical properties. What I mean by this is that crystals vibrate with energy and different crystals have different types of energy.  I selected the crystals for various products based on the energy that I wanted vibrating in them.  For example rose quartz is a crystal that vibrates with the energy of love.  We utilize this energy and embed rose quartz crystals in one of the Celestial Farms product lines called Eve’s Garden.  Eve’s Garden was created specifically with love in mind. Whether you’re looking to attract romantic love, trying to love yourself, or learning to love humanity, Eve’s Garden is “charged” with love and will help attract love to you. By adding the rose quartz crystals we enhance this effect because we’re adding that vibrating energy of love.

This same concept carries in all of the Celestial Farms products.  For example our Aura Enhancer line contains amethyst crystals because amethyst helps clear and cleanse auras.  Our Awaken line contains aventurine because those crystals vibrate with an energizing and healing energy.  Our Goddess line includes moonstone crystals because moonstone vibrates with the energy of the Divine Feminine.

Kala: Celestial Farms soaps are all natural. What makes them different than other soaps?

Niki: I think what really sets Celestial Farms soaps apart is the energy that we put into them.  All of our soaps and other products are created and charged with love and white light. And of course the fact that we add blessed crystals enhances this.  Not to mention the fun bonus of finding a treasure of a crystal in your bar of soap!

Kala: How important is it do you think to connect Body Mind and Spirit in all activities? Is there a conscious thought that we should focus on when bathing?

Niki: I think it’s absolutely critical to connect body, mind and spirit in everything we do. In fact I’m not sure that you can really avoid it, it’s just that most people are not conscious of the connection. I think we can easily see the connection when we see things like internal emotional turmoil expressing itself as physical illness.

So the answer is you should definitely be conscious of your thoughts while bathing.  Research has shown us that we can manifest what we think- like athletes envisioning themselves winning the race before they run it.  So it is very important to be thinking loving and positive thoughts while bathing or grooming yourself.  Our bodies will give us what we give them- if we fill it with love and positive energy that’s what we’ll get in return. But if we’re thinking about how much we hate this or that part of our body or if we’re feeling angry about something while bathing then we’ll get that negative energy back, creating a vicious cycle.

Kala: Your education and background is as a hydrogeologist with a focus on saponification.  How has your work inspired you and what you create at Serene?

Niki: My graduate thesis work focused on creating “soaps” to be used to clean up chemicals that were spilled into groundwater.  I say “soaps” because they were not technically true soaps but had a similar chemical composition.  From there I spent more than a decade working in the environmental industry looking for and cleaning up chemicals that had been released into the environment.  During this time I saw firsthand what chemical manufacturing did to the environment and what long term exposure to chemicals did to the human body.  It was a direct result of this experience that led Serene to use ingredients that do not adversely impact the planet or the human body.

Kala: As an entrepreneur, you’ve found an outlet to share your talents with the world. How does what you do for a living also express who you are as a person?

Niki: First I want to say that I am so thankful and fortunate that I have been able to create a business doing what I love.  I know not everyone has that opportunity.  I guess I have always thought of myself as a nurturing person and someone who enjoys taking care of others.  By creating natural and organic bath products I feel I am, in a sense, taking care of others and helping them take better care of themselves.  Also, being a scientist, I have an analytical side that I get to tap into while formulating and creating new products.

Kala: The shapes and designs on the soap are striking and empowering. Do you connect with the Divine Feminine energy?  Wise women in the ancient past used herbs and oils to make soaps and healing poultices. Do you feel that you are continuing this work or are walking a similar path?

Niki: Thank you! I specifically chose the shapes and images on the soaps for their ability to empower and to further enhance the effectiveness of the soaps.  I do connect with the Divine Feminine energy and feel that I have spent many lifetimes as a healer and a wise woman who created healing potions and poultices. I feel very fortunate that I connected with this energy and found this path once again in this lifetime.  I am very honored and blessed that the Universe has provided me with the talents it has so that I can create the products at Serene.

Kala: Do you accept custom orders? What has been your favorite product that you have designed thus far?

Niki: At this time we don’t accept custom orders. But we do hope to have this option available to our customers in the future.  Ideally we would talk with the customer and find out what his or her specific needs and desires are- stress release, invigoration, self love, etc.  We would also discuss things like skin type and possible sensitivities.  From there we would create a personalized product just for that customer.

My favorite creation is our Dead Sea salt scrub. The scrubs are made with salts from the Dead Sea which are amazingly therapeutic.  The salts are in a mixture of various oils including jojoba, grapeseed, neem, and vitamin E oils- all of which are incredibly nourishing to the skin.  I love rubbing the salt/oil mixture on my skin after a bath or shower and then rinsing off.  My skin feels silky smooth and super moisturized.

Kala: Serene Bath and Body is now releasing a new organic line called Persephone’s Wish. Tell us about this line.

Niki: I’m very excited about this new line! While the Celestial Farms line is an all natural line the Persephone’s Wish line is all natural plus the products are made with certified organic ingredients. It was important to me to give customers the option of buying organic bath products.  It’s taking the “all natural” to another level and really embracing the idea of living a more eco-friendly lifestyle.  The line currently has bar soaps and lip balms and we’ll soon be adding lotions, liquid soaps, and Himalayan bath salts. We also use 100% post consumer waste recycled paper printed with soy ink for our bar soap packaging.

Kala: Who is Niki Fountain? If your friends and family were to describe you in five sentences, what would they say?

Niki: I think the first thing people who know me well would say is that I’m goofy and fun loving.  I’m not sure goofy is a good thing but I definitely am.  They would say I like to laugh and I try to make others laugh as well.  And they would say that I will do whatever I can to make others happy and feel good.

Kala: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to connect more with their entrepreneurial side and start their own business?

Niki: The most important piece of advice I would give is that you need to find something you love to do whether it’s creating a product that people use or offering a service.  You have to truly LOVE doing whatever it is you are considering making into a business because there will be times when you won’t love it. Creating and running your own business is one of the most rewarding things a person can do. But it’s also one of the most challenging and demanding.  I have never worked harder or more hours in my life than when I started my own business. Not even when I was working 3 jobs and putting myself through graduate school.  When you own a small business you, as the owner, wear most, if not all, of the hats in your company.  So while you get the joy of doing what you love you also have to do the things you may not enjoy like being the sales person, being the advertising executive, being the accountant, and being the bill collector. So that’s why I say you have to truly love what you do because it has to be enough to make up for the less enjoyable duties.

Kala: Beyond your business here Niki, what inspires you? How do you Explore Your Spirit?

Niki: I think I’m most inspired by love and the generosity of people.  Those two things make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and make me want to be more loving and more generous myself.  One way I Explore My Spirit is by listening to your show of course! And reading the Bohemian Blog.  It’s so inspiring and exciting to hear and read about what others are doing to make this time on earth more purposeful and enjoyable.

Kala: It was a pleasure speaking with you Niki. Looking forward to experiencing more of your bath and body products and best wishes for your continued success.

Niki: Thank you Kala for having me. As always it’s been a pleasure spending time with you and your readers.

More about Niki Fountain and Serene Bath and Body…

Niki Fountain is a hydrogeologist who spent the first part of her adult life working in the environmental industry cleaning up chemicals that were released to the environment.  She eventually left the industry and took the knowledge and skills she learned in graduate school and in her job and applied them to creating all natural and organic bath care products.  She founded her North Carolina based bath care company, Serene Bath & Body, in 2005.  You can find her creations at www.TheSereneStore.com Readers of the Bohemian Blog can enjoy FREE SHIPPING in the continental US until August 31 2009 on purchases of $25 or more by using Promo Code BOHOBLOG at checkout.

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