A former Los Angeles Hip-Hop Radio Host and current Wellness Expert, Devi Brown bridges the gap between Tupac + Deepak. After being diagnosed with a stress-related illness in her 20s, due primarily to her busy career in entertainment, Devi was lead to crystal healing and other holistic practices, like meditation and Reiki, that transformed the way she approached life each day. As her passions began to evolve, she transitioned from interviewing some of the biggest artists in hip-hop to leading workshops, writing books and educating black women about wellness through a business of her own.
Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Devi Brown (via Zoom video chat) for an interview about being a Creator in the wellness space and spiritual practices that strengthen the mind, body + spirit. We discussed her Dropping Gems Podcast and the role meditation, journaling, and crystal healing can play in our lives during chaotic times like the pandemic we are currently experiencing.
Check out our conversation below — grab some tea because it’s about a 20-minute read!
victoriadrianna: Can you give me some insight to your career journey with meditation + wellness?
Devi Brown: I launched Karma Bliss 3 years ago with the desire to share the information and teachings that I was utilizing on myself. Originally I started it for my radio audience because a lot of people were like, “Girl you look like you have peace… What is this meditation stuff?” And this was about 4 ½ years ago before wellness hit its stride, especially in being connected with women of color… So at that time I felt like, I’ve got to get this information out — people need to heal, people need to feel! That’s why I started the company.
In retail, we sell crystals and I have a crystal book (Crystal Bliss). On the other side of that, I’m certified by the Deepak Chopra Primordial Sound Meditation program and I teach that brand of meditation. I’m also a certified Reiki Practitioner; I do energy healings and I have certification in spiritual psychology and coaching… All of those things, mixed with my life experience, come together and I share my perspective on wellness.
My perspective in wellness is really rooted in understanding the knowledge of ancient texts, ancient literature and ancient healing modalities, but pushed forward in a way that really encompasses and celebrates the duality of human existence. I want to share meditation and wellness in a way that’s actively tangible, specifically for women of color but really, for millennial and generation-Z women… For women who still want to experience the human condition and still want to live the life of their dreams (which is multidimensional and usually very multi-hyphenate) and still have access to, not just, “balance,” but true innerwork in a way that fits in and integrates with their lives.
I think the biggest misconception people have when they realize that they’re having that call of the soul, or they want to start meditating is that if you want to heal and have peace, that you have to give up your life and move to an ashram… And now you’re gonna be living off the land and doing yoga every day. Which is dope, if that’s your dream… But if you also want to live a full life in this world and still have access to those things, that’s the space that I like to fill.
We can access this work and this healing anywhere. It’s really just about reframing our perspectives and our expectations of how we’re going to experience it.
victoriadrianna: What type of meditation would you recommend to someone who doesn’t necessarily live in an “ideal” meditative environment, but is trying to cultivate a sense of inner peace?
Devi Brown: It’s really about being deliberate in finding those moments for yourself. Especially right now, I want to reframe things for this very strange space that we’re in. A lot of people are in the house with a lot of other people right now. Being able to have that kind of very individualized sacred, quiet space is probably not realistic… But I do think it’s an awesome moment to invite in opportunities for the entire household to get involved. If you have kids, they say practice meditation for every minute of their age. There is a way for you to seamlessly translate meditation into your every day, even if you’re not able to get that solid one-on-one time with yourself.
I think this is a time where people could really focus on top of the morning and bedtime intentions. Taking that time before you get out of the bed to start your day, and just waking up alone… Or even carving out time before your household wakes up to sneak in the bathroom, sit in the tub with your legs crossed and meditate. We can access this work and this healing anywhere. It’s really just about reframing our perspectives and our expectations of how we’re going to experience it.
I’m a big advocate of very, very traditional meditation — meditation of stillness and silence that is usually very Sanskrit, mantra based… But this is a great opportunity to lean into guided meditations. Even if your home is not a space right now where you can do a lot of solitary work, having some guided meditations just playing could really help elevate the household in that experience.
For people who don’t yet feel comfortable with meditation… If you could spend any moments with yourself, focusing on your breathing while being silent and still… I think that’s going to have tremendous effects on your lives right now. It can create that kind of pathway, or gateway, of allowing some interior transformation and healing to occur that you don’t even know you’re looking to heal just yet… Just creating the space inside for that pure potential to manifest.
victoriadrianna: Your Dropping Gems Podcast seems to be a natural link between your spiritual work and your previous career in radio. What advice would you give a younger version of yourself in need of motivation/guidance in trusting that natural process towards finding your purpose?
Devi Brown: That’s such an amazing question because the first few years of being on this journey — I felt so stretched! I felt like I was being pulled in two opposite directions and that I was two versions of myself that didn’t know how to integrate. It was really difficult, and very challenging, for me in those first couple of years… Especially in starting a business because I felt like I had one foot in one world, one foot in the other, and none of it made sense together.
I think what really helped me was very deliberately practicing using my voice. I had gotten used to broadcasting my voice as a tool for entertainment… But fine-tuning that deeply authentic voice that only talked about things that I felt passionate about was something that I over-thought for so long. I had originally titled and started that podcast 4 years before I ever launched it! I got way too in my head about if people were going to be confused because I was talking about things that they’re not used to, and was going to sound different than I sound when I talk about rappers, and if it was going to make sense. But when I finally pushed myself out of my own head and just pressed record and tried, I found my flow.
For anyone who may gain information from this towards finding a way to integrate the multi-dimensional versions of who they are… Just practice doing those things. Don’t be afraid to take up the space. Don’t be afraid to try.
I’m a recovering perfectionist, so I thought everything had to be so fully perfect from top to bottom… And it just finally dawned on me and I surrendered to it like, just begin. Even if you’re used to being an expert in one space, it’s okay to be a beginner in another. We have this fear of newness, and we have this fear of being seen at our starting point… But just start, and then you’ll find your groove so rapidly.
I found that I have to approach my spiritual development and my personal advancement with the same level of detailed diligence that I use when I’m making my plans for my career and my family.
victoriadrianna: How do you stay on track as a business owner while still honoring and prioritizing your personal health?
Devi Brown: This conversation is going to be a little different because we’re in a global pandemic. So much has changed for me and so much is changing in terms of business and everything else… Now I’m, moment-to-moment, figuring out how to kind of pivot with this changing world. When everything first happened I was still trying to stick to my routine and my work, but without really knowing when these deliverables are due anymore because half the things that I do are live events. I thought, What should I be working on right now? And where do I fit in my personal stuff with that?
I have my workflow calendar, I have my family calendar that really focuses on my son and his needs and the things that we need to get accomplished… Then I also sat for two hours a couple Sundays ago and built out a super-color coded personal growth calendar. In between the work and the family stuff that I have to do, I have my very deliberate intentions set of what will nourish my spirit.
For me personally, I found that I have to approach my spiritual development and my personal advancement with the same level of detailed diligence that I use when I’m making my plans for my career and my family. That means (and this is my personality) very color-coded stuff — very specifically written out calendar invites. I have to visually see what my needs are to make sure that I’m meeting them. The same kind of agenda, or iCal content, that I have for appointments, work, and everything else… I have that same system for personal growth. I try to be very ritualized in the way that I access Spirit.
victoriadrianna: When isolation and quarantine first happened, there were a lot of social media posts pushing the concept of productivity… But I saw a post of yours that was more about taking time to journal. How do you think journaling can impact our experience during this time?
Devi Brown: It is, in my opinion, one of the most radically transformative things that we can do. I think that right now, it’s important that we [journal] for many reasons. I think it’s important that we document ourselves. This is something that’s happening to us that has not happened in our lifetime and in our parent’s lifetime… So it’s also an opportunity to really figure out who we are and what we’re made of.
Your value isn’t in your productivity or your resilience, your value is in your existence. — Devi Brown
It’s so interesting you ask me this question — we’ve been very aligned in our thoughts — because the podcast episode that I’m releasing tomorrow is entirely on that and what to do at this time. I saw this meme, I’m sure you saw it too… The one that was like, “If you don’t write a book or if you don’t do ‘this,’ your issue was never time it was discipline,” right? Then there was a follow-up meme for that saying, “Don’t listen to that meme. If all you do all day is sit and cry, that’s okay sis.” And I looked at both of them and was like, these are both a little problematic to me. In the episode that’s coming out tomorrow, what I really talked about is like, yes, listen to yourself. Don’t push yourself to be productive because your value isn’t in your productivity or your resilience, your value is in your existence… But at that same time, use your time wisely.
As challenging and difficult as this is, there is opportunity to hold space for both experiences. I can be terrified and I can find beauty in the moment at the same time — I can departmentalize in that way. So to use this time wisely, it’s really about focusing on being more deliberate with ourselves. We may not have the energy to purge our whole house, we may not have the energetic emotional space to write that book or to accomplish [something new]… But we can do more than we’ve done normally. We can and we should. There’s a real opportunity here to tap into the pieces of yourself you’ve been avoiding. God manifests his will for your life through isolation, through silence. The biggest change that happened in my life was when I took a job in another city and I didn’t know a soul, so I had all this free time to work on myself. That’s when my journey really took off. If we don’t use this time to really look at the depths of who we are and allow stuff to come up and process it as it comes up, we’re missing out on this entire opportunity.
We really have a chance to walk out of this pandemic, whenever those doors open, as such more open beings. We really have an opportunity to walk out of this as elevated versions of ourselves. And I don’t necessarily mean that in like a physical tangible way that’s associated with our perceived idea of success as a society… But I mean, you could walk out of this feeling freer inside. You can walk out of this feeling emotionally lighter; feeling like you actually know who you are, or closer to yourself, or more accepting of yourself. I think that this is the opportunity to use that time and space in that way, and that’s what I’m trying to do. No matter where you are on your journey or your path… Whether you have never had difficult conversations or if this is what you do all day, there’s still opportunity for more.
victoriadrianna: Do you have any recommendations for crystal healing methods or specific crystals for staying grounded?
Devi Brown: Usually the darker stones are phenomenal for grounding energy. A hematite, a black tourmaline, onyx, obsidian… Those are phenomenal stones for that grounding energy. But for this time, I would also throw in stones that are great for heart healing. So if you were to do a quartz or a crysacola or even like an amethyst.
I’ve redone all my crystal grids that I use and they now consist of a huge piece of crysacola, a big piece of black tourmaline, a selenite charging stand, and a rose quartz… Because, at this time, I want to feel grounded but I also want to expand, stretch and open my heart and I want to really invite in some of that divinity… That real opening of my third eye, my throat chakra, my crown chakra and letting in some of that divine wisdom to guide me in this space.
I would definitely recommend trying to do all three of those categories. A crystal that’s really going to work on expanding the heart — creating an environment for acceptance, for self-forgiveness, for openness. Also a stone for grounding, and definitely a stone that connects to your crown chakra so that you have the ability right now to tap into knowledge that you don’t already possess… To really build in that intuitive side of yourself. I think that now, more than ever, is such an opportunity to reset your wiring to your divine moral compass… To really reset yourself without all this extra noise, comparison, and all of these ego-led experiences… To reset on where you’re actually being led, how you’re connecting to yourself and to the divine, how you’re able to channel-in intuition and messages. There’s no better time than now to do that because there are no distractions.
victoriadrianna: That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately — like everything is resetting and redirecting me down the right path.
Devi Brown: Yes, and journaling is what I’ve been doing for that! Journaling, to me, is such a huge part of that reset because it’s important that we remind ourselves and relearn how to feel our feelings — how to really gut-check and see what comes up and then process it. If we just let it sit inside of us, it’s just going to be doing somersaults and backflips in there. We have to have a physical release for this energy.
I’m somebody that avoided journaling for years… Then I have also had times where I felt led to journal, I would start, and next thing I know, I’m not writing in my authentic voice… I’m writing like a novelist in an adventure book.
victoriadrianna: Yes! That’s literally how it’s been for me. I’ll catch myself writing in my journal like a writer, and not writing like I am actually feeling.
Devi Brown: Right, like I’m writing to someone who will discover this in 100 years, and I’m writing to their reaction. It’s just not natural. The way that I got through that was by doing a lot of freeform writing. Sitting down with no expectations, setting a timer and committing to freeform writing for like 10 to 20 minutes or an hour, whatever I have the time for, and just start writing.
I do a little meditation and prayer beforehand and say, “I am asking right now that my highest self lead this writing for my highest good.” Whatever comes up after that, it comes up and I don’t stop to read it or correct it until the time provision I gave myself is finished. Then I’ll look back over it and I let it go. That’s what helped me get my deepest, most authentic voice out of me on paper… By walking into it first like a mini prayer and meditation; no expectations and no real structure to it.
victoriadrianna: As a collective, we’ve been experiencing a lot of grief just within the past year… How do you feel we can keep faith alive within ourselves and for the way the world works without losing sight of reality?
Devi Brown: I think the way that we have been trained to look at life societally is not a way that best serves us. We are trained and raised to look at life as a series of good and bad experiences and this win or loss game where we are just trying to have more perceived good experiences than bad experiences… Then we’ve been trained to look towards God when we are having a perceived bad experience and thinking if we’re good enough, and if He likes us enough, that it’s going to change to something better. For me, that is not what faith is and that is not what communion with a higher power is.
Life was never laid out to be fair, it was laid out to be experienced. Within that experience, within our connection to God, there needs to be an understanding that both shadow and light have to exist for this experience to be the most serving to us. — Devi Brown
This is hard for all of us to wrap our minds around — myself included… But life was never laid out to be fair, it was laid out to be experienced. Within that experience, within our connection to God, there needs to be an understanding that both shadow and light have to exist for this experience to be the most serving to us. With shadow, with light, it means that we are going to have some deeply challenging things that feel painful… And we’re also going to have the really perceived great stuff, too.
The flow that I’m personally trying to find, and that I encourage people to find, is this space where both those light and shadow aspects are allowed to flow through you and you’re not trying to hold on too tightly to either. That’s what helped me wrap my mind around some of the grief that we experience in our personal lives and also just collectively/societally.
It’s also about allowing yourself to feel. When we have some of the things like, for instance, Kobe Bryant… Allow yourself to feel depressed. I cried for weeks! From my human mind and my human experience, I felt like it was so wrong and so unfair… But I also had to hold space for the understanding that I can’t just say, “God knows better” when it benefits me. I also have to stand in that and believe it even when it’s causing a conflict inside of me. So I think for us, it’s really finding that balance between ego and surrender… And also allowing there to be a certain amount of space to find peace in the fact that we’re not always going to understand. To find peace in the uncertainty, to find peace in the unknown… That is something I am still personally working through. That is the journey of our lives.
victoriadrianna: The last question I have is a question I like to ask everyone — how would you spend a perfect Self-Care Sunday with no rules or restrictions to it?
Devi Brown: My favorite, favorite thing that I’ve just gotten into is really spending time gardening. I don’t have a poppin’ garden, I’m not growing a bunch of vegetables and stuff like that (I’ll get there one day)… But it’s really about taking the time to move a little slower. I’ve found that it’s given me a lot of freedom in experiencing myself outside of a success and productivity-driven value system. So being out there and just seeing it grow is enough. I’m not making money off of it, I’m not getting applauded for it… But it’s this small, joyful relationship that I’ve built with this process. So like on a Sunday if I have nothing to do, I will dedicate two hours to being outside and either planting or just cleaning up the plants and watering them and doing whatever needs to be done while playing a great playlist of 90s R&B.
Then I’d like to be a little more luxurious with my daily practice if I have the time… Really standing and reciting these affirmations that I’ve created for myself, meditating, reading a soul-nourishing book, journaling, staging my house, lighting candles, opening all the windows in my house letting that fresh air to rush in… Doing those smaller physical rituals and not looking at my phone — keeping my phone in another room or in my back pocket and just trying to really experience being present with no restrictions.
