BuDhaGirl creates jewelry that will make you think.
You might call it jewelry with a conscious. BuDhaGirl is the brainchild of Jessica Jesse and Susie Hoimes. Each piece is beautiful to look at. But it’s also designed to help you live a more beautiful life.
One of their signature offerings is their all-weather bangles. They look like gold bangles and you would expect them to clang as they collide with one another. But these are no ordinary bangles.
BuDhaGirl’s All-Weather Bangles are flexible, polyvinyl carbonate rings with gold dust filament suspended in them. The circles of gold are then sealed with BuDhaGirl Buddhist prayer beads.
The Bangles are waterproof, clang- proof, and feel as light as those strong friendship bracelets we wore as kids. And although TSA might ask you to remove them, you can tell them that there’s no need to bother.
The bangles come in sets of nine. But some devotees like to wear even more. They come filled with silver filament too if gold isn’t in your style profile. But these are more than just easy to wear, everyday kind of pieces. A whole lot more.
These bangles are not decided to don in a hurry. The pieces are designed to slip on one at a time while focusing on one specific intention. When I put mine on, I say things like – to being a good mother, to being a good partner, to being happy, to being healthy. You get the idea.
Not surprisingly, this short time commitment yields big returns. Why? Because meditation works. Plain and simple. And the bangles are a physical reminder of that mental need. “If you think clearly, if you live in the present, things work well,” explains co-founder Jesse.
And Jesse is serious about not wearing the bangles as “just jewelry.” In fact, when her assistant casually mentioned that she had been running late that morning and had done nothing more than pushed them all on her wrist at once, Jesse told her she needed to take them off and put them back on mindfully. She did. “She told me she instantly felt better,” Jesse says.
Jesse may seem hopelessly devoted. But she didn’t want to mess around. “We’re going to do jewelry. But we’re going to get this message out too,” she says about founding BuDhaGirl.
It’s becoming more and more clear that clearing your mind is paramount to nearly everything else when it comes to improving your well-being. “Now the science is backing up the spiritual practice. That’s how you achieve higher thinking. You recalibrate your brain. That’s the paradox. When you’re emptying your brain, that’s when it’s working at it’s best Buttoned up men disarmed by this truth,” Jesse jokes.
The all-weather bangles are not BuDha Girl’s only conscious offering. They always offer “Reminders,” images that can be worn in a frame around your neck to keep you focused on precisely what you want to focus on. “It’s all about a contemplative practice,” Jesse explains. Rituals and objects that help people shut their minds down, like the prayer beads and singing bowls in Tibet. These are physical reminders. Intentions influence outcomes. Intentions mean you’re present. That’s what makes it so important.”
Perhaps one of BuDhaGirl’s most charming offerings is their BuDhaBoy. They were inspired by a modernist, jade Buddha that BuDhaGirl fabricates in resin sets of three – Neon, Moss, and Chica. Each one is hand finished, Jesse says, in a factory which she says she would proudly and happily invite any visitor into.
“We’re having a great time with the vendors,” Jesse says. “They are so respectful of the environment and the people. If they ask you to stay for lunch, stay. It’s the best lunch in Bangkok.”
Jesse imagines a future where we buy things because we love them, because they fit into our lives and make them better, because we believe in how they are made and the company who designs them. “Intelligent. Curious. Aware. Compassionate. That’s who a BuDhaGirl is. That’s it. It can be a ten year old. It can be an 80 year old.”
Jesse says mindful products like those from BuDhaGirl are the way of the future. “It’s not kitchsy. It’s real jewelry. I think there’s going to be a movement and I think it’s going to start with women about moving toward a healthier reality.”
For more check out: http://www.budhagirl.com/