Connect
Thalia Ayres Will Inspire You To Create Sustainable And Impactful Practices
The shift to a new season is a natural time of change and an opportunity to welcome new practices into all areas of our lives. But during a year that’s brought unforeseen challenges and a way of life that many of us never considered before, it’s more important than ever to set intentions and incorporate routines that bring balance to our bodies and minds.
We designed the 21-Day Healthy Habits Program to help you form habits that meet you exactly where you are and that feel most aligned with where you want to be. For guidance, we’ve looked to experts in meditation, soundbath healing, and nourishing food to get their ideas on how to create healthy habits that will last.
Thalia Ayres is an L.A.-based Reiki Master, spiritual leader, and teacher. Thalia’s presence is warm and inviting, and her words encourage us to bring intention and purpose to everything we practice. With her work in yoga, meditation, and sound-healing, Thalia’s mission is to empower individuals in their healing journeys. Today, Thalia chats with us about the practices she incorporates into each day and how she discovered the path most in-line with her authentic self.
Below, Thalia shares the strategies that help her commit to her routines, how she pivoted from pursuing a career in the performing arts, and why she truly believes that we can always begin again.
B3 MAG: Can you share a bit about your story—how you came to alternative healing, how you began to incorporate these practices into your own life, and what inspired you to share these teachings with others?
THALIA: I have to give the most credit to my mother, my godmother, and my father. I’m lucky, because I didn’t have to seek out alternative healing modalities myself, because I was raised with them and they have always been a part of my family lifestyle.
When I was young, my mother would meditate and do yoga every morning. She had her own daily spiritual practices that she would do before any of us were even awake, and the example she set laid the foundation for those practices within myself.
I always loved these routines as a way for me to be in touch with myself and as a mode of healing. Growing up, I experienced my own type of trauma, and I found that these alternative practices were what helped me feel a physical release from my stored emotions and memories. I had been a singer, actor, and dancer since I was three years old, and I think that was where the bulk of my stress came from. It felt like every hour of my life was scheduled. I had thought that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry because it was all I knew, but as I grew deeper in my healing journey, I started to learn that that wasn’t true for me.
I was talented, and though performing had been a creative outlet for me growing up, as an adult, I learned that I no longer wanted my purpose to make me feel bad about myself. When you’re walking in your truth and doing what you’re called to do in this life, the energy of that is not of insecurity or doubt, but that’s what I had been experiencing in the entertainment industry.
There is a lot of toxicity in the industry, and it felt like a weight in my life that kept me depressed, and so I decided to leave it and commit to my daily yoga and spiritual practices. From that point forward, I made a promise to myself that I was going to stay open to where life would take me and trust that what’s meant for me will find me.
B3 MAG: You spent a year living in South Africa! How did you decide to move there and what were you seeking from that experience?
THALIA: All of my formal training and education had been in performance and entertainment, and once I decided to leave that industry, I think I just wanted to explore.
I was looking for a reset in my life, and I had the intention of doing it as a self-guided retreat. I didn’t know anyone there, and I decided to go by myself. I wanted to clear out all these ideas that I had about myself, and having that time with myself was crucial to discovering who I really was. I meditated every day, and it was necessary for me to be in solitude and completely immerse myself in that practice. That time I spent in South Africa was transformative for me, and from it I learned that I wanted to be a guide for others to have powerful realizations within themselves and through their own direct experiences.
B3 MAG: How did you start to incorporate sound into your healing practice and your offerings?
THALIA: My godmother introduced me to sound. She is a shamanic healer and uses crystal bowls in her practice. When I was younger, she would come to our house and play the crystal bowls. I had let go of them for a while, but after living in South Africa, I moved to Arizona, where I completed a series of healing arts certifications. When I finished my yoga teacher training, my mother gave me a singing bowl. Soon, I started playing the bowl in all of my classes.
The main teacher I moved to Arizona for, Danielle Godfrey, is also a percussionist. She had a technique called yin gong, where her son would play this massive gong through her yin and restorative classes, and she would play the singing bowls at the end of class. I started studying with Danielle one-on-one, and I became her percussionist in her classes. I would play the drum in her vinyasa flow and ashtanga classes and soon I started playing the crystal bowls as well. It was a beautiful experience.
B3 MAG: How have your healing practices supported you in navigating this uncertain time?
THALIA: All of these spiritual practices are here for this exact moment. We need to lean on these practices to help us understand and work through our current climate. The most important tool I’ve been practicing is acceptance—acceptance of the present moment that I’m in and learning not to resist it. What it comes down to is understanding that the only thing that is truly real is the present. The past is no longer here and the future is not here yet. This is the state of the world today, and whether or not we like it, we have to accept that this is where we are. Until we come to a space of acceptance, we’ll always feel this internal battle and stress and struggle within ourselves. Acceptance is the first step to coming back into harmony.
B3 MAG: Your mission is to empower individuals in their healing journey. What role does building and committing ourselves to healthy practices play in healing?
THALIA: It’s the foundation, and it’s what keeps us centered and balanced through challenge. For me, my practices and routines are the baseline that help me make it through each day. There have been times when I’ve wanted to shut down and crumble because of how everything feels right now. I started experiencing an anxiety that I’ve never experienced before in my life. It was debilitating, but I have these practices set in place that are helping me clear the anxiety from my body.
Routines look different for everyone, and it’s important to explore the things that you’re interested in and curious about, not what someone is telling you to do. Try finding a combination of practices that work for you. It doesn’t happen instantly, and like anything, you can’t do something once and feel the effects of it for the rest of your life. It’s like taking vitamins: You need a daily dose of the practices that help you feel connected to yourself.
I practice meditation to find balance and stability and to experience greater mental clarity, and I use yoga to move emotions through my body. I also love incorporating sound into my personal practices and my teachings because it allows you to completely surrender. Sound lets you very easily slip into a meditative state where you’re completely relaxed but still conscious. That is extremely therapeutic, and it helps you release the stress of the day.
For me, connecting with these practices that ground me are helping me reestablish that sense of clarity and connection with myself. That’s so important, especially now when so much of our focus and attention is being drawn outwards.
B3 MAG: COVID-19 has brought added stress to our lives, and as a result, many of us have stepped away from the routines we had established before all of this came on. What tips would share with someone who is trying to reintroduce those habits?
THALIA: You can always begin again. It’s important to be gentle and compassionate with yourself, and if you have the opportunity to wake up today, you have the opportunity to start once again.
Depending on what the practice is you’re recommitting yourself to, there are ways to modify it so that you can do it from home. For me, it took creating a dedicated meditation and yoga space. I never had that before quarantine, because I always went to studios for my practices, but I shifted and rearranged things in my home to create space for them. Now, every time I walk past that area I’m reminded of my practice.
Filling your space with the things that help remind you of your routines can make it easier to develop habits around them. If there’s a book I want to read, I just leave it on my bedside table every day. That way, I can’t ignore it. I’ll put things directly in front of me so that they become a part of my daily awareness. If I walk by my yoga mat, I may realize that I have time to stretch or pull up a quick flow on YouTube. It’s all about having the space already set up so that it doesn’t feel like an event. The fewer barriers there are between you and your practice, the easier it is to incorporate it into your daily routines.
For me too, it’s about shifting my mindset from thinking of these practices as a chore. If you’re putting your self-care routine onto your chore list, you’re not going to want to do it because you’re training your mind to view it that way. Do what feels sustainable to you. If you’re into meditation and if two minutes of breathing before you get out of bed in the morning feels like something you can do consistently, then do that. Over time, your meditation sessions may get longer and longer.
It’s important to remember too, that your practice will be different every day. Just because you did a one-hour workout one day doesn’t mean it needs to be an hour every day. Recently, I’ve been drawing a block with my physical self-care, and so a few days ago, I pulled up a 10-minute barre3 workout, which then turned into doing a 30-minute workout right after. Just doing that shorter workout set it off. I wasn’t planning on working out for that long, but because I set myself up with that small, accessible intention of doing a 10-minute workout, I actually ended up working out longer.
B3 MAG: Fall is starting, and though many days can feel the same as the day before, there’s immense benefit that comes with recognizing the seasonal shift we’re experiencing. How are you welcoming the transition from summer to fall?
THALIA: I love honoring things around full moons and new moons. Journaling around these times is a really powerful tool. Every time I go back and read what I wrote, I’m always amazed and shocked by what comes up when I write. Journaling is a powerful way to reflect, and it can help you set intentions for the state of being you want to cultivate moving forward. I think that can be a really beautiful way to bring the energy of summer to a close and enter into the fall.
I’ve also found that getting a group together virtually for a discussion has been incredibly grounding. That can look like a Zoom chat with a group or even just a phone call with a friend. We’ve been doing check-ins with each other and reflecting upon how we’re feeling. You can try doing that with someone you feel safe with and perhaps try vocalizing the things you would journal about. It’s powerful to share what you’ve been going through with others—it’s like having a virtual circle. Using technology like that can help us find connection and experience healing. We can still honor and do things as we were before—just in a new way.
Thank you so much, Thalia! You can join Thalia on Instagram for LIVE sound bath sessions Wednesdays at 12pm PST all throughout the 21-Day Healthy Habits Program. Learn more about how to join here.
The shift to a new season is a natural time of change and an opportunity to welcome new practices into all areas of our lives. But during a year that’s brought unforeseen challenges and a way of life that many of us never considered before, it’s more important than ever to set intentions and incorporate routines that bring balance to our bodies and minds.
We designed the 21-Day Healthy Habits Program to help you form habits that meet you exactly where you are and that feel most aligned with where you want to be. For guidance, we’ve looked to experts in meditation, soundbath healing, and nourishing food to get their ideas on how to create healthy habits that will last.
Thalia Ayres is an L.A.-based Reiki Master, spiritual leader, and teacher. Thalia’s presence is warm and inviting, and her words encourage us to bring intention and purpose to everything we practice. With her work in yoga, meditation, and sound-healing, Thalia’s mission is to empower individuals in their healing journeys. Today, Thalia chats with us about the practices she incorporates into each day and how she discovered the path most in-line with her authentic self.
Below, Thalia shares the strategies that help her commit to her routines, how she pivoted from pursuing a career in the performing arts, and why she truly believes that we can always begin again.
B3 MAG: Can you share a bit about your story—how you came to alternative healing, how you began to incorporate these practices into your own life, and what inspired you to share these teachings with others?
THALIA: I have to give the most credit to my mother, my godmother, and my father. I’m lucky, because I didn’t have to seek out alternative healing modalities myself, because I was raised with them and they have always been a part of my family lifestyle.
When I was young, my mother would meditate and do yoga every morning. She had her own daily spiritual practices that she would do before any of us were even awake, and the example she set laid the foundation for those practices within myself.
I always loved these routines as a way for me to be in touch with myself and as a mode of healing. Growing up, I experienced my own type of trauma, and I found that these alternative practices were what helped me feel a physical release from my stored emotions and memories. I had been a singer, actor, and dancer since I was three years old, and I think that was where the bulk of my stress came from. It felt like every hour of my life was scheduled. I had thought that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry because it was all I knew, but as I grew deeper in my healing journey, I started to learn that that wasn’t true for me.
I was talented, and though performing had been a creative outlet for me growing up, as an adult, I learned that I no longer wanted my purpose to make me feel bad about myself. When you’re walking in your truth and doing what you’re called to do in this life, the energy of that is not of insecurity or doubt, but that’s what I had been experiencing in the entertainment industry.
There is a lot of toxicity in the industry, and it felt like a weight in my life that kept me depressed, and so I decided to leave it and commit to my daily yoga and spiritual practices. From that point forward, I made a promise to myself that I was going to stay open to where life would take me and trust that what’s meant for me will find me.
B3 MAG: You spent a year living in South Africa! How did you decide to move there and what were you seeking from that experience?
THALIA: All of my formal training and education had been in performance and entertainment, and once I decided to leave that industry, I think I just wanted to explore.
I was looking for a reset in my life, and I had the intention of doing it as a self-guided retreat. I didn’t know anyone there, and I decided to go by myself. I wanted to clear out all these ideas that I had about myself, and having that time with myself was crucial to discovering who I really was. I meditated every day, and it was necessary for me to be in solitude and completely immerse myself in that practice. That time I spent in South Africa was transformative for me, and from it I learned that I wanted to be a guide for others to have powerful realizations within themselves and through their own direct experiences.
B3 MAG: How did you start to incorporate sound into your healing practice and your offerings?
THALIA: My godmother introduced me to sound. She is a shamanic healer and uses crystal bowls in her practice. When I was younger, she would come to our house and play the crystal bowls. I had let go of them for a while, but after living in South Africa, I moved to Arizona, where I completed a series of healing arts certifications. When I finished my yoga teacher training, my mother gave me a singing bowl. Soon, I started playing the bowl in all of my classes.
The main teacher I moved to Arizona for, Danielle Godfrey, is also a percussionist. She had a technique called yin gong, where her son would play this massive gong through her yin and restorative classes, and she would play the singing bowls at the end of class. I started studying with Danielle one-on-one, and I became her percussionist in her classes. I would play the drum in her vinyasa flow and ashtanga classes and soon I started playing the crystal bowls as well. It was a beautiful experience.
B3 MAG: How have your healing practices supported you in navigating this uncertain time?
THALIA: All of these spiritual practices are here for this exact moment. We need to lean on these practices to help us understand and work through our current climate. The most important tool I’ve been practicing is acceptance—acceptance of the present moment that I’m in and learning not to resist it. What it comes down to is understanding that the only thing that is truly real is the present. The past is no longer here and the future is not here yet. This is the state of the world today, and whether or not we like it, we have to accept that this is where we are. Until we come to a space of acceptance, we’ll always feel this internal battle and stress and struggle within ourselves. Acceptance is the first step to coming back into harmony.
B3 MAG: Your mission is to empower individuals in their healing journey. What role does building and committing ourselves to healthy practices play in healing?
THALIA: It’s the foundation, and it’s what keeps us centered and balanced through challenge. For me, my practices and routines are the baseline that help me make it through each day. There have been times when I’ve wanted to shut down and crumble because of how everything feels right now. I started experiencing an anxiety that I’ve never experienced before in my life. It was debilitating, but I have these practices set in place that are helping me clear the anxiety from my body.
Routines look different for everyone, and it’s important to explore the things that you’re interested in and curious about, not what someone is telling you to do. Try finding a combination of practices that work for you. It doesn’t happen instantly, and like anything, you can’t do something once and feel the effects of it for the rest of your life. It’s like taking vitamins: You need a daily dose of the practices that help you feel connected to yourself.
I practice meditation to find balance and stability and to experience greater mental clarity, and I use yoga to move emotions through my body. I also love incorporating sound into my personal practices and my teachings because it allows you to completely surrender. Sound lets you very easily slip into a meditative state where you’re completely relaxed but still conscious. That is extremely therapeutic, and it helps you release the stress of the day.
For me, connecting with these practices that ground me are helping me reestablish that sense of clarity and connection with myself. That’s so important, especially now when so much of our focus and attention is being drawn outwards.
B3 MAG: COVID-19 has brought added stress to our lives, and as a result, many of us have stepped away from the routines we had established before all of this came on. What tips would share with someone who is trying to reintroduce those habits?
THALIA: You can always begin again. It’s important to be gentle and compassionate with yourself, and if you have the opportunity to wake up today, you have the opportunity to start once again.
Depending on what the practice is you’re recommitting yourself to, there are ways to modify it so that you can do it from home. For me, it took creating a dedicated meditation and yoga space. I never had that before quarantine, because I always went to studios for my practices, but I shifted and rearranged things in my home to create space for them. Now, every time I walk past that area I’m reminded of my practice.
Filling your space with the things that help remind you of your routines can make it easier to develop habits around them. If there’s a book I want to read, I just leave it on my bedside table every day. That way, I can’t ignore it. I’ll put things directly in front of me so that they become a part of my daily awareness. If I walk by my yoga mat, I may realize that I have time to stretch or pull up a quick flow on YouTube. It’s all about having the space already set up so that it doesn’t feel like an event. The fewer barriers there are between you and your practice, the easier it is to incorporate it into your daily routines.
For me too, it’s about shifting my mindset from thinking of these practices as a chore. If you’re putting your self-care routine onto your chore list, you’re not going to want to do it because you’re training your mind to view it that way. Do what feels sustainable to you. If you’re into meditation and if two minutes of breathing before you get out of bed in the morning feels like something you can do consistently, then do that. Over time, your meditation sessions may get longer and longer.
It’s important to remember too, that your practice will be different every day. Just because you did a one-hour workout one day doesn’t mean it needs to be an hour every day. Recently, I’ve been drawing a block with my physical self-care, and so a few days ago, I pulled up a 10-minute barre3 workout, which then turned into doing a 30-minute workout right after. Just doing that shorter workout set it off. I wasn’t planning on working out for that long, but because I set myself up with that small, accessible intention of doing a 10-minute workout, I actually ended up working out longer.
B3 MAG: Fall is starting, and though many days can feel the same as the day before, there’s immense benefit that comes with recognizing the seasonal shift we’re experiencing. How are you welcoming the transition from summer to fall?
THALIA: I love honoring things around full moons and new moons. Journaling around these times is a really powerful tool. Every time I go back and read what I wrote, I’m always amazed and shocked by what comes up when I write. Journaling is a powerful way to reflect, and it can help you set intentions for the state of being you want to cultivate moving forward. I think that can be a really beautiful way to bring the energy of summer to a close and enter into the fall.
I’ve also found that getting a group together virtually for a discussion has been incredibly grounding. That can look like a Zoom chat with a group or even just a phone call with a friend. We’ve been doing check-ins with each other and reflecting upon how we’re feeling. You can try doing that with someone you feel safe with and perhaps try vocalizing the things you would journal about. It’s powerful to share what you’ve been going through with others—it’s like having a virtual circle. Using technology like that can help us find connection and experience healing. We can still honor and do things as we were before—just in a new way.
Thank you so much, Thalia! You can join Thalia on Instagram for LIVE sound bath sessions Wednesdays at 12pm PST all throughout the 21-Day Healthy Habits Program. Learn more about how to join here.
