Sometimes just going to a spot right down the street will quench your thirst for enlightenment. Such a place exists on a vortexed pathway that Parmahansa Yogananda took and stopped on for tea on his early morning and evening strolls in the neighborhood. This issue we are taking you to an enchanted cottage that was converted into an Aveda salon with so much more … and the tea is always on.
Emerging from the Harmonic Convergence that hit consciousness in the late ‘80s, when all the planets aligned in the solar system, a spiritual goddess of enlightenment was tuning in to a higher calling. Studying spirituality, enlightenment, the path to joy, peace and happiness at 12 years old, the world was a ripe classroom for Tara Teipel, owner and operator of Encinitas’ own Lemongrass Spa for Wellbeing on 2nd Street.
This convergence corresponded with a great shift in the earth’s energy when it is believed a window of light allowing access to higher realms of awareness was opened. Finding herself at the center of this global movement, this beautiful traveling mystic made holistic studies, the modalities of subtle energies in healing touch, infusing intoxicating smells of aromatherapy, and the ancient practice of Ayurvedic treatments combined with a deep yearning to know what it would take to live a more soulful life and to share that with others, Tara chose to live a seekers path.
Traveling to such far off places as India. Peru, South America, The Yukatan, throughout the Hawaiian Islands, Brazil, and Europe, Tara found that it’s more than just going to a distant locale, suddenly realizing you don’t need to travel all the way to India to find God. You can find it within yourself. So she sought to bring back from each of these special spiritual places sacred items that one can infuse with to help call on something greater than yourself, to find enlightenment wherever you are.
It is her practice, purpose and message to the world that we can come home to God, spirit, universe — your conception of a power greater than yourself with a few simple rituals that she has curated from all her spiritual travels across the planet in the deepest mystical and devotional places in the world. With the focus on body, mind, soul connection, Lemongrass is a tranquil oasis in the middle of a kickback spiritually charged beach town.
People sometimes come into Lemongrass on empty and find a space of love. By using tools to invoke the sacred back into your life, taking care of yourself is not a frivolous thing because you are not only caring for your body but allowing for the much-needed soul maintenance that brings one back to their sense of purpose.
Spiritual Ritual Kits that have been put lovingly together by Tara include sacred Copal that she had manufactured into incense sticks from the rare resin that comes out of trees deep in the Yucatan and is harvested by Mayan healers she met on her treks and is the only distributor of this exotic scent in this form that brings about neurobiological shifts in the brain and triggers pleasant stored memories.
Love Ritual Kits have affirmation cards, precious love oil, crystals and Palo Santo cones that were brought back from Peru. These compilation kits help create a daily practice that brings timeless sacred ritual back to the heart and the practice of devotion brings about a soul connection with the true self and is perfect for your personal practice or to share with others.
Sip some comforting tea in the crystal garden where hand-selected elemental stones are displayed and get hugged by the loving energy each stone emits as they subtly communicate with you. Each one has a specific power and affects individual energy and is another reminder of our sacred self. They pick you, so check them out and read the different descriptions of the properties — each one has a different quality and is another soul reminder or talisman. See if one speaks to you before bringing that vibration back home with you.
And finally, the Crystal Light Bed … a Bio-Mat made of rare amethyst augmented by seven unique Vogel crystals that communicate with each of the chakras or energy centers in the human body uniquely. This therapy was brought back by Teipel from a small Brazilian village where the instructions for use were given by Beings of Light, entities that speak to the mystics.
Drop by Lemongrass and check out the many paths to self-love that Tara has created for all of us as a sacred gift to our community. The quest for enlightenment involves the vessel. Learn how to incorporate these gifts into your daily life and get closer to the path of enlightenment through ritual and devotional practices that are a rich invitation for the divine to enter.
We are going to the Chapel of Awareness in our next column.
