The Inspiration Download interview series features different people who are bringing ideas to life and sharing something with the world that they are passionate about, whether it's through teaching yoga, creating a business, doing work in their community, creating art, hosting events, bringing to life new wellness products, or more.
These interviews highlight real people who have brought ideas to life and give real-life insight and inspiration on their processes and journey.
This session is with the founders of Moon Bath, Sierra Brashear & Dakota Hills.
How did Moon Bath come to be?
We weren’t always such believers in the power of ritual bathing. We were first inspired by a friend whose ornate baths seemed to transport her to other realms, from which she came back glowing.
We needed to know everything—we wondered, "Can bathing actually connect us to the cosmos?" Then we tried it. And who knew?!
Turns out that tuning in to the guiding force of the moon, setting an aligned intention, and immersing ourselves in warm, herbaceous waters was the medicine we never knew we needed. Dakota was on her yoga mat during the height of a Scorpio Full Moon when it struck her—for her next mission, she would inspire others to create space for these epic bathing rituals, and the name Moon Bath was beamed in from the stars. Meanwhile, Sierra was on a weekend getaway at her childhood home in the Rocky Mountains, having a bath, and blissing out. She recalled an Ayurvedic teaching that hailed the benefits of immersing yourself in water, salt, and intention, and she thought, The modern world needs to know about this ancient magic!
Our company, Moon Bath, was created out of a desire to connect more deeply with ourselves and the planet, and we set out on a shared mission to help ignite the modern bathing renaissance. With our desire to absorb the vast healing benefits of plants in through our skin, we loved the idea of turning our bathtub into a warm tea, adding a little milk and honey, and then steeping ourselves to drink in the earthly goodness. Combining the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda with modern intuitive alchemy, we created earth-integrated bathing rituals that inspire us to tune inward and reconnect.
Dakota Hills
Title: Coyote
Dakota Hills is an artist and renegade entrepreneur with a flair for bringing ideas to life and storytelling through visual art and messaging. Eternal seeker of wisdom and self-care enthusiast, Dakota enjoys discovering socially and environmentally sustainable solutions for supporting the growth of conscious brands. As Moon Bath co-creator, with a deeply ingrained commitment to the triple bottom line approach to business (people, planet, profit), Dakota seeks to partner with and empower others who share in these values. Dakota is lit up by moving her body, adventuring in vintage vehicles, and spending time with her fur babies.
What is the key to feeling balanced for you?
I feel most balanced when I have not overloaded my schedule. Creating space in my day and week offers opportunities to be more present with what I’m doing and to embrace the spaciousness where the subtle energies and breakthroughs can occur. I can relate to the temptation to fill my schedule and run around from one thing to the next, but I’ve realized that value in slowing down, be open to the void, and maintaining curiosity around what will come through.
How do you think where you are from has shaped you?
I grew up on our family farm in seacoast New Hampshire with my four siblings. Growing up on a farm, with barns and back woods and fields of berries and a dock on the river planted a seed for adventure in me from a small age. Walking out our front door was a playground of activities and ways to get into trouble and problem solve. We would create forts in the lower barn out of hay, walk across the high rafters, explore the backwoods and get lost long into the night.
My parents were both entrepreneurs, restoring our eleventh generation family farm into a working farm and stand and hustling berries, pumpkins and Christmas trees year-round. Being a part of this family biz and watching my parents make it all happen, sparked a flame of confidence inside me to pursue my own ideas and make them my reality.
How has starting a business taught you to grow?
Being a business owner, and thus my own boss has taught me so many things about myself and how to run a business. I have realized the most important component to success is your determination to problem solve. Not having anyone else to give you the answers, or tell you what to do, naturally creates a sense of responsibility that motivates you to figure things out for yourself instead of relying on anyone else.
One of the most eye-opening things I’ve learned about running a business is that everyone is just faking it until they make it. You see a business facade from the outside, maybe you cruise their website and social media, and you make certain assumptions about their level of professionalism or competence. Once you start really working behind the scenes you realize we’re all just bullshiting our way through things, doing the best we can with the information we have. When I had a previous business that was a new trend, I realized how much you can just make up the industry standard and others will follow! Having these experiences and realizations built confidence in me that propelled me to take the leap with other business ventures. The first step is just making the commitment and taking the plunge, the rest is just problem-solving day by day to get to the next level.
Sierra Brashear
Title: Lioness
Sierra Brashear, MA, is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner who believes that our reconnection to the rhythms and elements of nature is a wild reclamation of our ability to heal ourselves and transform the world around us. As a graduate of the Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula, Sierra infuses her knowledge into Moon Bath’s rituals, as well as provides personal consultations and online wellness courses that support people to show up as their best through her joint Ayurveda practice, Cultivate Balance. She is also founder of Vibrant Souls, through which she provides women’s wellness resources, and is a doula, gardener and lover of bass music.
What are you passionate about sharing with the world? Why does this motivate you?
I am passionate about inspiring people to better understand their unique bodies and minds, so that they can in turn take better care of themselves. The lens I work with for this is the Ayurvedic concept of prakruti, or the unique mind-body constitution. When we know our prakruti, we can more easily discern what is beneficial for us versus what is harmful, we can show up as our best in relationships, and we can better call upon our strengths in the workplace. Understanding our prakruti also invites us to know which rituals and self care practices will call us closer into balance — using the rhythms and elements of nature as tools and as guides. The bathing rituals we share through Moon Bath align with the lunar cycle because the moon’s phases are such a powerful representation of these natural forces, and a very tangible opportunity for us to tune in.
For me, the key to feeling balanced is having a daily and weekly routine. As an Ayurvedic practitioner, this is something that I am consistently recommending to my clients and students, because I have truly seen the difference it makes in my life. I find that all of my systems operate better when I do things at regular times of the day — ideally when the aligned energies are at play. For example, I love to rise early and get my body moving right away, eat a hearty lunch when the sun is highest in the sky, have meetings in the afternoons when my independent focus begins to wane, and focus on self care rituals like oil massage and bathing as the sun begins to set. When I am in this regular flow, I experience the best, most balanced version of myself.
What advice do you have for people starting a new project?
My advice for people starting a new project is to never let “I don’t know how” get in your way. I imagine that most entrepreneurs or creators would agree that not knowing how has never stopped us from doing something. You can always Google it, ask someone, or put your nose to the grind to figure something out — and when you do, it’s actually super satisfying. Starting a new business or project may seem like a daunting series of things you don’t know how to do... but if you just take it one challenge at a time, and enjoy the process of figuring things out, after a while you will probably look back and be surprised by everything you have successfully built!
Inspired? Take a bath ritual with one of Moon Bath's products, before or after this FREE yoga class!
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