Poet, writer, editor, and mentor, Adelina Sarkisyan, is on a mission to help women connect with their divine inner voice and honor the wisdom of their soul. Here, she shares the rituals and practices that allow her to embody the very nurturing and self-love that she encourages others to create in their own lives.
Biorhythms
Rituals are very important to me. Beside the mysticism behind the word itself, there is a power in ritual that is very centering and calming. I am generally more of a night owl so mornings have never been my thing. Because I work a day job, I usually wake up around 7:30 am, but my natural rhythm is to wake up around 9 or 10 am. Sleep is harder because I tend to want to stay up later. During the work week, I usually go to sleep in the 10 pm-12 am bracket.
Morning and evening rituals really bring me into the moment and give me a sense of serenity, whether I am beginning my day or ending it. During the week I generally don’t wake up in time to throw in what I normally do in the mornings because I just need that extra sleep. But during the weekends, when I wake up naturally, I will just lie in bed for a while and breathe into that moment of complete comfort and serenity. I love the quiet. Once I am ready to get up, I will make my bed, wash up and do my skincare routine, then put on some hot water for my green tea. I always start every day with green tea. As for my nightly ritual, I typically do my skincare routine, take my vitamins, and hop into bed an hour or two before my bedtime. I try not to use my phone too much during this time, so I will read a book or two, then end my night.
Diet
I view food as both a luxurious and primitive thing: something I nourish myself with but something I also don’t ever overthink. My diet is something I am adapting every day. I’ve struggled with my skin since high school, so I am very aware of what I put into my body and how my body responds to it. I don’t really follow any specific diet except that I try to stay away from dairy and processed food/drinks. I really just try to eat as whole as possible, but still have fun with it. Breakfast: I don’t have a big appetite during breakfast, so it’s the lightest meal for me. A delicious cup of hot, green tea and fruit does it for me: a green apple with peanut butter, a banana, some berries. Lunch: I don’t have anything I specifically at for lunch. I usually go for a sandwich or perhaps a salad with some chicken or fish. Snacks: I try to snack a lot during the day and will usually grab some fruit or dark chocolate. Dinner: Dinner varies a lot: salads, sandwiches, Middle Eastern food, sushi, etc. Drink: Water, water, water! Green tea. Soy vanilla lattes in the afternoon (because coffee does nothing for me in the energy department, but tastes delicious, so it’s more a ritual pleasure than anything.) Splurge: I don’t believe in restricting the body, but I also don’t condone an unhealthy diet. I think you can splurge every day if you do it right. I don’t even know if I believe in the word ‘splurge’ because pleasure should never be something you restrict yourself from. I just try to make healthy choices often. Dark chocolate and vegan desserts are my go-to. (And…the occasional Hot Cheetos!). Supplements: The two I take daily are my organic daily multi-vitamin and a probiotic that I get from Whole Foods. I also love the Gaia brand, especially their Women’s Balance and Hair, Skin, and Nails supplements.
Fitness
Honestly, I don’t work out as much as I should, but I don’t make myself feel guilty about it. It comes in waves for me. For a certain amount of time I will work out a few times a week, then there will be a lull. I absolutely cannot work out in the mornings. It’s just not my jam. If I work out at home, it’s usually after 6 pm. I like making a ritual out of it and the nighttime energy makes me feel more magical. I don’t like a workout that feels like I’m working out, which sounds super strange, so I tend to go for workouts that are more focused on toning and building muscle, for example pole fitness, yoga, or ballet, instead of high cardio.
I detest the gym. I said it. Up until now, I have worked out at home, whether it’s yoga or pole fitness. But I recently started taking beginners ballet, which is obviously in a studio, in a group. It’s been life changing. You really have to do something that you love. Going to the gym, or hiking, or running never did it for me. I need something that makes me feel alive, and powerful, and sensual.
Relationships
To be honest, I have always been a bit of a loner. A natural introvert, I have kept to myself since childhood, so I have had a harder time with relationships in general. Growing up, I tended to overcompensate for this by acting more extroverted, which completely exhausted me and left me feeling inauthentic. As I’ve grown, the last two years especially, I have been on a self-mission to completely embrace myself just the way I am. Doing so has really opened my eyes to what I want in my relationships and what I can finally say no to after so many years of inauthentic yes’s. I value compassion in relationships. Understanding. Empathy. Authenticity. Love. Respect. Support. Depth. These are very important to me and, I believe, very key elements to a healthy relationship. It’s the little things that count. The day to day things. The sweet talks over coffee. I value depth: one friend I can be deeply in-tune with versus 100 friends who are just there. It’s wonderful to find soul sisters and soul mates. It’s soul medicine.
Home
I love quiet. I love stillness. I love waking up in the morning to an empty house. I love comfort and tenderness. My bedroom is my sanctuary, more than anything. My temple where I live and sleep and pray and work and dream and create. I am more myself there than anywhere else. I have created this for myself. I have black furniture and beautiful art on my wall: a painting of Frida Kahlo, a print of a beautiful, nude goddess woman, a print from Courtney Brooke/Light Witch. Lots of candles. More books than I can find room for. I would like to fill the walls with books and candles; be buried beneath them and have to crawl out for air or food. It’s lovely there. I feel peaceful, in my own little corner in the world.
Stress-Release and Centering Tools
A few years ago, I was at a job that I loathed and found myself more stressed out than I have ever been in my life. Yoga was a lifesaver then. Now, I either reach out or reach in. I have beautiful people in my life, especially my fiancé, who I can lean on during stressful times. I also find that detaching from the world helps as well. Slowing down, really. Finding something that makes me feel totally and completely at peace, like lying in bed and watching some movies or binge-watching a show. Sometimes our bodies just need to know they can rest and that it’s okay. We put so much pressure on ourselves. Stress is the body in panic mode. I am so passionate about the sacred feminine and the creative feminine because of this. This energy reminds us to slow down and rest and be receptive, instead of smiting us down for it.
I am going to be quite the devil’s advocate here and say I don’t find anything wrong with being in a bad mood. The phrase itself is quite interesting because we are automatically placing a value on it: bad. But why is ‘not being happy’ automatically ‘bad’? We can’t all be happy and ‘centered’ all the time, and we shouldn’t be. It’s not natural. This is why I love the word and the idea behind ‘melancholia’. To me, this is the joy/beauty of sadness. It is being okay with being in a ‘bad’ mood. Like Mary Oliver says, that box of darkness is a gift too. I find that my moods fluctuate over the month with my body and moon cycles, so when I come to a point where I am in a less-than-happy place, I go with it. I grab onto it like reigns and ride the wild horse. It’s there for a purpose and to shirk it away means that we are not connecting to pieces of ourselves that we need to be. I will usually go inward and try to find why whatever is coming up is coming up. I will cry because crying is very healing. I will change my environment and go outside and let nature do its healing. I will just let it be and let it pass, as it does. I eventually move to a more centered place naturally.
Soul
The two things that feed my soul: creativity and curiosity. Is it the Gemini in me? Possibly. I am still that same curious, little girl I was as a child. Always wanting to know, to learn, to discover—an insatiable curiosity for mystery. I’m that person who loved every subject in school, and honestly, would be a forever student if that were a career choice. I adore it.
Writing and solitude are the two companions I never go without. They replenish me deeply, to my very bones. I can be totally mad, stressed, crazy. But give me a day locked in my room, alone, and I’ll come out at night beautifully whole again. I sometimes feel I think in poetry.
I’m always at my happiest when I’m near things that bring me happiness: a library or bookstore come to mind. This may or may not sound crazy, but they’re the only places in the world where I am both alone, yet surrounded by, what seems, my dearest friends. It’s the perfect amount of joy. And having so much around to explore, to discover, to learn, to befriend—that always helps. And brings us back to feeding the soul, it seems.
Mystery gives me a sense of purpose! I don’t know what the future holds, but knowing that I can create it is purposeful in and of itself. Knowing that I have tiny, little buds taking root within me that may or may not bloom one day. So many creations. So many poems, books, ideas, magic, love, women.
Spirituality can be anything you want it be. That’s the beauty of it. When I light my favorite candle, that’s spirituality. When I talk to god/goddess before I sleep, that’s spirituality. When I’m pulling some Tarot or Oracle cards, that’s spirituality. When I’m connected to the moon, that’s spirituality. When I’m writing, that’s spirituality. These are some of my personal practices, and ones that help center me and keep me connected to the divine around me.
It’s Spring again and I can already feel myself crawling out of my Winter cocoon. I’m excited about what I will be manifesting in the coming months. I am recently engaged, so the beautiful aftermath is still with me. I also have so many things I am working on right now. I finally launched my creative feminine mentorship, which I had been imagining for over a year. I just had the first run of my first course and am polishing it up to make available for women to purchase on my website. I am also working on creating another course or two.
I am still writing lots of poetry, but to share some more mystery—I only this week was inspired to start writing a new book. Fiction isn’t my forte (I have two incomplete books left on the shelf), but this idea is not letting me go. I guess I have to run wild with mystery and see where it leads me.