A Moment With: Fern Olivia
Introducing our “A Moment With…” series where we’ll be taking a quick pause in our days to sit with the health, wellness, and fitness industry mavens shaping the world, especially those who are avid floaters. To kick off the series, we caught up with Fern Olivia, an alchemist, a warrior for women and thyroid health and all-around healer. Fern is also the founder of Ajai Alchemy, an all-organic fragrance and beauty brand created to invoke radiance, grace and invincibility through synergistic, seductive essential oil blends artfully chosen to support thyroid and hormone health.
1. What sparked Ajai and Thyroid Yoga? Did you have an “aha” moment?
My “aha” moment was when I began practicing yoga on a regular basis, for more than the athletic or stretching benefits — I became more intuitive and started to notice huge shifts in my life. I realized I had the power to heal myself and could teach others to do the same. After living with hypothyroidism for nearly 30 years, trying every pharma drug in the book, and feeling at the mercy of traditional medicine, I decided to take my health into my own hands. I created Thyroid.Yoga™ to share these potent tools with men and women who have tried everything and want to feel at home in their bodies again.
I realized that everything we put in and on our bodies can be a medicine or a curse. Same with our thoughts, intentions, and those we surround ourselves with. With this wisdom, I created Ajai Alchemy, tapping into the power of intention, mantra and the healing power of plant-based therapeutics.
2. What does it mean for you to “Pause”? And how do you integrate that into your daily / regular life?
For me, to truly “Pause” means I am connecting with myself in complete silence — no mantras in the background, no chanting, no counting my breath — just sitting. As a creator and a doer, it’s a challenge to purely sit without something to “do,” but it’s been a lesson that I’ve needed to learn to truly understand. I spend so much time as a human doing, and it is so important to go back to being a human being. To remain open, soft and receptive, I need to give myself the space to simply be and breathe without being purposeful. It’s been really profound. I aim to do 20 minutes of Vedic meditation first thing in the morning and another 20 minutes at night before bed. When I do this in a Pause float pod, I feel reborn!
3. What was the highlight of your first few floats? Why would you recommend floating to newbies?
Boundless energy! After my first few floats, I felt so clear-headed and recharged that I had difficulty falling asleep afterwards. Now I take my floats in the morning. I recommend floating to people who are new to meditation or who have difficulty meditating — the float tank is an accessible way to carve out the time and space to connect with yourself, relax, and heal.
4. When it comes to health / wellness, what’s one hack you think is essential for a healthy and balanced life?
I believe a daily, non-negotiable morning yoga practice, or Sadhana, is essential for health and balance. When you start your day focused internally on your own healing, you feel empowered, powerful, and laser sharp. It sets the tone for your entire day, and is a pillar that I talk about in my Thyroid Yoga course on MindBodyGreen.
5. Do you have a secret hideaway in the city / nearby where you go to “escape”?
I live on the beach in Venice, so I “escape” to the ocean as often as I can. I’ll take a cold plunge in the mornings or take a break from work to catch magic hour with a sunset stroll. I take my massive rose quartz from Sedona with me to the ocean and charge it up in mamma blue. And then I take it traveling with me for grounding and earth energy which is so important when I’m in metropolis like New York City!
Fern Olivia Langham is an international teacher and speaker on the power of integrative medicine and intuitive self-healing. Based in Los Angeles and a frequent visitor to New York City, she’s the founder of Thyroid.Yoga™ and Ajai Alchemy, and combines her training in Biomedical Engineering with an extensive knowledge of yoga, meditation, breathwork, mantra, holistic health into a one-of-a-kind integrative approach. You can follow her on Instagram @FernOlivia.
