Chakra Chai

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 profi le” 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 fi rst 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 profi t, but in a way that honors the Earth, community, and other human beings.

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 fi rst worked in academia and for human rights, collaborating with grassroots and intergovernmental organizations.

Mohajerani also has a creative side, and worked in Europe in fashion, art, and music production, as well as luxury goods branding. Her son, in o ering “Chakra Chai” to her, “allowed me to synthesize my entire life experience, personal and professional, into — for want of a better term — servant leadership,” Mohajerani said. She and her team spent almost three years developing the formulations for the seven chakra-based beverages, and developing a way of doing business that understands investors are not the only stakeholders. Mohajerani said her business is based on author Carol Sanford’s “regenerative business” model. Consider a star with fi ve points that represent everyone a ected by a business: customers, employees, Earth, co-creators and investors. All points are linked to and depend on each other. Her employees are well-versed in the concept of interconnectedness as well. “Working with Hoda is the most challenging thing I have ever done,” said Keith Hinkley, Chakra Chai’s director of operations. “Demands are high. … How can we do better, how can we take care of one another, and how can we show up in a way that is in the best interest of everyone?”

Chakra Chai follows what Mohajerani calls a “Seven Chakras Seven Causes Impact” framework. “Chakra,” a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel,” comes from early Hindu tradition. The seven primary chakras are points, or wheels, of spinning physical or spiritual energy. Aligned along the spine up to the top of the head, the chakras create an invisible healing energy that must be balanced and aligned to create physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Chakra’s seven beverages are formulated with adaptogenic herbs, plants, and other ingredients that are designed to bring each chakra into balance by a ecting and nurturing a di erent part of the body, mind, and spirit. “Root,” for example, supports the perineum and adrenal glands, focusing on rejuvenation of the immune system, cellular health, and stability.

photo: MICHAEL FREUND

“Power” addresses the solar plexus and pancreas, supporting self-esteem, drive, charisma, and a healthy immune system. “Love” focuses on the heart and thymus, enhancing emotional stability, the immune system, serenity, empathy, tolerance, and surrender. The “Seven Causes” are local or national charitable organizations related to each chakra, with 50 cents from the sale of each drink donated to the related cause: forests for Root, oceans for Flow, children’s education for Power, mothers for Love, free speech for Truth, elders for Insight, and wildlife for Spirit. Everything throughout the production process follows the regenerative model. Chakra Chai ingredients are organic and sustainable, and the company partners with regenerative suppliers whose businesses have a positive social impact. For example, the honey in Chakra Chai products is hand-harvested in India by women, which allows them to become entrepreneurs. Chakra Chai’s proprietary formulas, Mohajerani said, are formulated by ayurvedic experts with high-quality ingredients that are not o cially sanctioned by Western medicine, but have been shown in some studies and over thousands of years of use, to be healing. A short list of the ingredients includes almonds, frankincense, dandelion root, dates, basil, cacao butter and nibs, ginseng, honey, lotus fl ower, maca, thistle, marshmallow root, neroli, peppermint, sa ron, and turmeric. Because of FDA rules that require multiple rigorous trials and testing protocols, Chakra Chai products (along with most vitamins, supplements, and herbs) cannot claim to cure or treat any disease or condition. Chakra Chai items are sold as foodgrade products, Mohajerani said, because “you could go the route of scientifi c studies and spend thousands trying to convince the FDA,” or “use your capital instead to make products based on a form of medicine that is 5,000 years old.” Mohajerani said she moved to Ojai to start her company because she knew California championed innovation, the counterculture movement, and health and wellness. “It was a no-brainer; we had to come to California,” she said. “Austria was not ready for this.” She started looking in Los Angeles, Venice, Santa Monica, and Santa Barbara, but was attracted to nearby Ojai’s theosophical movement; regenerative farmland; and intimate, supportive community. Chakra Chai products fi rst made their retail appearance in 2021 at Rainbow Bridge Natural Foods in Ojai. Rainbow Bridge owner Ernest Niglio said he sells Chakra Chai drinks not simply because they are made by a local resident. “They’re a unique, high-quality, e ective healing product,” Niglio said. “From my experience using similar herbs, the products are very well thought-out. The amount of thought that went into them and the quality of the ingredients, right down to the glass packaging — everything in there is incredible.” Chakra Chai products, sold in glass bottles, might be more expensive at the point of purchase, but throughout the entire product process, lead to a lower “cost” for all involved, including the environment. “We need to start a dialogue about how we assign value,” Mohajerani said. Lowering costs by using plastic bottles, which other for-profi t companies do, “creates a cost to the Earth and the customer.” Mohajerani said many customers purchase a “rainbow pack” (each chakra is also associated with a color) and drink one each day over the course of a week. Others choose just one. Each 4-ounce bottle is two servings, but some people, she said, drink more or less at a time. They are not for children under 2 because they contain honey, or for people with allergies to nuts because their base is almond milk. Chakra Chai also plans to create additional products, such as foods, looseleaf teas, herbal formulas, and “things that are not ingestible but nourishing,” such as music.