AMEN: Candles for Inspiring Mindfulness

AMEN is a brand-new sustainable luxury candle company with products crafted of vegan wax oil in Grasse, France. Its recent launch around the globe was celebrated at top yoga studios—RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology in New York City, Rasa Yoga in Paris, and Medicina da Consciência in Rio de Janeiro—by those who value a peaceful mind, body, and soul. The brand has also welcomed a handful of global game changers to help guide its sustainable and spiritual principles, such as Oskar Metsavaht, founder of Osklen and Instituto-E; Burak Cakmak, the dean of fashion at Parsons School of Design; and Guru Jagat, founder of RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology.

Whitewall spoke with Guru Jagat, who is based in Los Angeles about her collaboration with ΛMEN, her women’s leadership organization, and her sustainable fashion line. Additionally, we heard from three creatives—Calu Rivero, Katharina Kaminski, and Sofia Fanego—who are known to the brand as the souls behind the VETIVER, JAZMINE, and ROSES fragrances.

WHITEWALL: You grew up with a single mother in and around Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, later moving to New York. After discovering Kundalini Yoga, you visited New Mexico to see Yogi Bhajan at his ashram, and for two summers received transmissions from him. Tell us a bit about why you then created the RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology in 2013.

GURU JAGAT: When I founded the first RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology in 2013, it was an effort to create a hub of socializing, creativity, futurism, and wellness. To me, it’s critical now to have in-person spaces to practice all kinds of wellness technologies, which includes high- level practices like Kundalini yoga and meditation as well as art, music, and everything it means to live powerfully and creatively. All of the RA MA Institute studios (Venice Beach, Los Angeles, New York City, Palma de Mallorca) are open 365 days of the year and host a variety of yoga classes, food cleanses, teacher trainings, unique courses, and offer experiences at the intersection of wellness, art, culture, music, and socializing.

This December, I am hosting and curating, through RA MA Institute New York, a New Year’s Eve Party at the former PS122. The experience will be a 12-hour marathon of enlightened performance, music, movement, dance, art, activism, well-being, integrated social spaces, compassionate and passionate intention setting, and worship of personal and collective meaning making. It will change the way we understand communion and community.

WW: Tell us a bit about Guru Jagat Collection—your sustainable fashion line made of ecologically sourced fabrics in Los Angeles by women.

GJ: The Guru Jagat Collection is fashion as technology. From a young age I have studied the lineages of great masters and teachers. Masters of every school have always considered their dress throughout the ages, because the lines in one’s clothing have an effect on your psycho- magnetic field. It’s a science of dressing and using clothing to have a singular experience.

The Guru Jagat Collection uses this science and treats the clothing as a living altar to the modern woman, yogi, trailblazer, mother, lover, leader, queen. The designs are inspired by sound and drape the body in exaltation and aerodynamicity.
I’m ever mindful of the imprint a life leaves on the planet earth. To me, sustainability means living and creating in a way that regenerates, energetically as well as environmentally, rather than in a way that brings more chaos.

WW: In 2017, you founded the Aquarian Women’s Leadership Society, and today it has members in over 20 countries. Tell us a bit about this organization.

GJ: More than ever, we need initiatives that transcend the pandemic isolation of the technological age. I started Aquarian Women’s Leadership Society as such a program.

Completely online, Aquarian Women’s Leadership Society quickly created a high-networked, global group of the femme identifying who are interested in cultivating their creativity, power, and vanguard offerings for the world.

New installments of esoteric yoga sets, mediations, ancient recipes, creative prompts, group calls, and wellness insider offerings launch every new moon and offer electromagnetic and confidence- building upgrades.

WW: Can you tell us a bit about the ΛMEN & RA MA rose candle and what it aims to inspire?

GJ: For time immemorial, humans have used the light emanating from candles to create sacred space for meditation, gratitude, and worship. The collaboration is created to inspire this depth of beauty in your daily life. The rose is ritualized and revered like no other flowers in history. It quintessentially embodies the feminine, delicate and gentle and yet strong enough to grow in wild nature protected by its sharp thorns. The scent of roses evokes love, purity, grace . . . They say when you smell rose flowers, an angel may be flying near you.

WW: Calu, you are considered the “soul” of AMEN VETIVER. Can you tell us a bit about your view on sustainability in today’s climate?

CALU RIVERO: I’m the daughter of Mother Earth. I practice in my everyday actions harmonious living on Earth. How can I be more myself? How can I share my light? How can I bring heaven to earth every single day?

WW: What does the company reflect? What does AMEN mean to you?

CR: To me, AMEN is amor in Spanish. It is heart, it is presence, and it is light.

WW: How is the brand aligned to your personal purpose?

CR: I really want to explore the endless possibilities of connecting in a natural way, and the human connection is very important for me. I found AMEN very close to what I project in life, and I feel it deep in my heart. I wanted to be a part of this community that is starting right now.

WW: Where do you find light every day?

CR: In going with the flow and finding pleasure in everything I do.

WW: Katharina, you are considered the “soul” of AMEN JAZMIN. Can you tell us a bit about your view on sustainability in today’s climate?

KATHARINA KAMINSKI: I think we should consider a new approach toward sustainability, starting from inside ourselves. The more I love myself, the more love I have to give to others, and to our world. Nature is not separate from us, so spirituality and sustainability shouldn’t be separate. I believe if we all were more in tune with our spirit we would be naturally aligned with better decisions and solutions for our planet. It’s all about raising the earth’s vibration. I dream of a world like that.

WW: What does AMEN mean to you?

KK: A high, pure frequency that sends our intentions to infinity.

WW: Where do you find light every day?

KK: Within myself.

WW: Sofia, you are considered the “soul” of AMEN ROSES. Can you tell us a bit about your view on sustainability in today’s climate? What do you feel the world needs right now?

SOFIA FANEGO: Consciousness and immediate action.

WW: What does AMEN mean to you?

SF: A full moon on a bright day.

WW: What are your feelings toward AMEN? How is it aligned to your purpose?

SF: The light it procures makes me feel inspired and encourage me to find a place to express myself.

WW: Where do you find light every day?

SF: Inside me, around me, and in beautiful simple things.