98
OJAI MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022
by KAREN LINDELL
Chakra
LOVE HAS A TASTE: NOTES OF ROSE, REISHI, CACAO, AND ARJUNA (AN HERB), ENVELOPED IN WHITE CHOCOLATE. This is the “taste profile” for “Love,” one of the Chakra Chai company’s seven beverages that nourish, and are named after, the general theme of each of the seven chakras of Eastern spirituality: Root, Flow, Power, Love, Truth, Insight, and Spirit. The origins and mission of Chakra Chai, founded by Ojai resident Hoda Mohajerani, are similarly rooted in body, mind, and heart — especially in heart. “We were created from love, and from love, we create,” Mohajerani said. She founded Chakra Chai after losing one of the greatest loves a woman can know: her newborn child. In January 2017, Mohajerani’s son, Arta, was born premature. “He was with me for only four days,” she said. “Needless to say, for the year following I was a complete mess.” One year later, around what would have been Arta’s first birthday, Mohajerani, who was born in Iran and grew up in Europe, was in Austria, praying and meditating while living in a 550-year-old stone building reminiscent of a monastery. “It was a hermetic time for me, the hero’s journey so to speak after such a huge life event,” she said. While in deep meditation, she heard Arta’s voice say, “Chakra Chai.” She replied, “What is this, and what am I to do with it?” The response: “If you wish, you are permitted to move on this, but you don’t have to, because I
know you’re exhausted.” Mohajerani had no clue what “this” referred to. “I knew what chakras are, and I enjoyed a good cup of chai tea,” she said. “Was I supposed to open up a teahouse?” The one thing Mohajerani did know, she said, “is this was a beautiful gift from the beyond. If I were to accept, it wouldn’t be a passion project. It felt like a mandate, taking an oath of allegiance.” She mulled over the experience for a few weeks, and after meditating again and formally “accepting” the gift, received instructions on “this”: Create a beverage and business based on the ayurvedic principle of the interconnectedness of life. Mohajerani prayed for resources and support. Aided by a business-oriented
co- founder, she started Chakra Chai, with a goal of “conscious nourishment for the conscious age.” This is not just an abstract concept for Chakra Chai; the company has worked to translate the motto into viable products, practices, and experiences. Chakra Chai is a business that wants to make a profit, but in a way that honors the Earth, community, and other human beings. Regenerative work Mohajerani’s career shift to Chakra Chai wasn’t a complete one-eighty for her. A graduate of the University of London, she studied comparative religions, and first worked in academia and for human rights, collaborating with grassroots and intergovernmental organizations.
