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Lopa van der Mersch

@lopalovesyou

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Founder of @wearerasa & mom of 2 really cool boys. Liberation or bust. 🌈

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A few years ago, my therapist told me my energy often has a “frantic” quality. I was…personally offended.

It’s taken me finally getting my nervous system regulated and balanced, to realize just how right he was.

I’ve spent extensive time over these last 2 decades trying everything under the sun, from both ancient traditions and modern science.

And I can now say I’ve gone from nervous system spaz to nervous system smartie-pants. 🤓

Recently, people keep commenting on how calm and zen I am. If they only knew how hard I worked to earn this!!

I’ve pulled some of my most go-to practices from my nervous system toolkit and paired them with what feels to me to be the essential missing piece for most of us (and has been the most transformative for me, for sure): working with our minds.

This is a 7-day nervous system reset that’s optimally designed to be paired with adaptogens for a holistic systemic reset. But any warm drink will do 😌

5 minutes or less per day & you get a toolkit you can draw from for the rest of your life (& a song, bc the right music is nervous system medicine too!)

It’s totally free. It’s not salesy (I promise - I’m allergic to that shit) and it genuinely feels like a kind of personal magnum opus (at least to date. I hope to have many more! 😊)

With great gratitude to those who have patiently guided me along the way, I offer this to you.

May the benefit ripple out to all. ✨

Sign up, share with your friends, and let’s all get a little more regulated, a little more calm, & a little more kind together, eh? 🙏🪷

~ Link in bio to sign up. ~

Did I mention that it’s free? 🙂 by @lopalovesyou

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a month ago

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a month ago

Lopa Van Der Mersch's talk at the Embody Summit is up! Discover proprioception — and what it can reveal about the way we experience stress, safety, healing, and connection in our bodies.

This is just one of the powerful conversations waiting for you inside the summit.

✨ Join us for free and catch Lopa’s full presentation. Drop the word EMBODY or head over to EMBODYSUMMIT.COM to sign up. by @lopalovesyou

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2 months ago

Glimpses of Nepal for my annual trip to bask in the transformative wisdom and compassion of my teacher, Khandro Rinpoche. And to be deeply nourished by the laughs, hugs, and deep conversations with some of my favorite people. I was also working half time during this because it wasn’t the right time for Rasa for me to take fully off (and since I haven’t updated here in a while, btw I’m CEO again! I took the helm back in October), so it was an extremely full time!

In the months leading up to the fire, I was finding myself struggling at an existential level to integrate spiritual practice—which was increasingly becoming the most important thing in my life again—with business.

With the fire came a whole host of other massive obstacles, which forced me to step back from the business.

It was my teacher who guided me last year that it was time to get fully back into the business and work hard. And boy have I ever! 😮‍💨

Through her blessing and instruction, I’m finally experiencing the great joy (and incredible challenge!) of the erosion of the duality between Dharma and worldly life.

I’m integrating my practice into Rasa in tangible, accessible, grounded, practical ways that excite the shit out of me 😃

It’s giving me great hope and inspiration for a bigger vision of the potential for business to be a vehicle for greater benefit.

We've been doing a lot of deep behind-the-scenes work on this, and will start sharing more visibly in the coming months.

Anyway, here's some pretty pictures from Nepal, along with the wish that they bring you some soothing and nourishment. 😌❤️😘🙏 taken in Kathmandu Valley by @lopalovesyou

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6 months ago

In this conversation, Lopa van der Mersch shares what it means to lead after identity has fallen away. When approval, performance, and people-pleasing no longer survive the fire. This is leadership that refuses to sacrifice health for success...

Integrity over optics. Devotion over convenience.
Because it’s the only way forward that still feels authentic and alive...

🎧 Intimate Conversations: Finding Soul-Led Leadership After Life Burns Down
with Lopa van der Mersch — now live on Inimate Conversations Podcast...

#leadership #feminineembodiment #rasa #allanapratt #rebuilding by @lopalovesyou

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9 months ago

Gratitude is a way of being kind to ourselves, and to others-when we make a practice of celebrating what is good in our lives, and acknowledging what has been given, it trains our mind to be less of an entitled jerk. (And we’re pretty anti-jerk at Rasa.) We’re especially grateful to all of our customers: without you, we legit wouldn’t exist.
Whether you’ve been with us since the Unicorn Bag days (holla if you know the reference! 🙋‍♀️) or are just placing your first order today, we wish you every goodness in this life.

And while we’re here, we encourage you to send a wave of gratitude to our network of farmers and growers all over the world, without whom we wouldn’t be able to bring these ancient healing herbs to your doorstep. And gratitude to the herbs and mushrooms who make our days just a smidge more easy and pleasant! And wow, the rain that falls and the sun that shines and the soil that...soils...wow it’s just really all quite an unlikely miracle, isn’t it?

And since we’re on a grateful roll now, how about a bit of gratitude for the makers and growers and packagers and creators and allill the many hands that go into everything that makes our lives work, from food to clothing to the electricity powering your ability to read this right now.

Drop something you’re unexpectedly grateful for below and enjoy the good vibes it brings to shout out something you’re grateful for! by @lopalovesyou

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a year ago

PINCH ME MOMENT!! The culmination of years of hard work, devotion, and care from all the wonderful people who have worked at, with, and for Rasa (and let’s throw in some tears, anxiety, and insomnia on my part - just to keep things real!) - your favorite adaptogen-packed coffee alternative is now AVAILABLE AT WHOLE FOODS in the Rocky Mountain region!!

Come get your Cacao Noir, Radiant Roast coffee, or Classic Herbal prebiotic goodness in the coffee aisle at Whole Foods Market stores in:

• Colorado
• Kansas
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Mexico
• Texas
• Utah
• Wyoming

If you’re in one of these fine states*, come on down and get yourself into an even finer state (of being 😌) and pick yourself up a bag or three of Rasa! Take a pic and tag us, we’d love to see your Rasa haul. 😍

This is a massive milestone in our mission to bring the life-affirming benefits of adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms to the people. I’m profoundly grateful for all the support we’ve had along the way—from our team to our customers to our investors…from suppliers to mentors to vendors and beyond, this couldn’t have happened without our loving little web of interdependence. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all!

I deeply wish that any person that interacts with Rasa in any way is truly benefitted. I feel like that’s the very core of being a Public Benefit Corporation—the sincere wish to make the world a better place - and help you to give your best to a world that so desperately needs it.

Thank you for reading and for being along for the ride with us. And joyfully grab some Rasa at a Whole Foods Market near you! 😃

* Not in one of those states? Me love you long time if you ask your local Whole Foods to carry us! (It might be a minute, but your requests do help us get into all 50 states!) by @lopalovesyou

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a year ago

Lopa is truly floating in a Matcha Cloud.

How do you like our take on Matcha? taken in Boulder, Colorado by @lopalovesyou

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3 years ago

Thank you all so much for the tremendous outpouring of support in the wake of my house burning down. I am overwhelmed by your kindness and love—you are beautiful, and I pray that you are nourished by your own good heart and that your kindness, generosity, and care come back to you manifold and ripple out to benefit all.

One of the biggest ways you can help me is by helping my friends James & Lisa Larn. They were planning to move into the ADU cabin on my property on Thursday. This Thursday. James had already moved all of his stuff up there, and not only that, had worked his BUTT off - literal blood, sweat, and tears - remodeling the cabin to make a beautiful home for his family. He lost everything, all of his hard work, and they lost their dream. Not only that, he’d worked off their next 6 months of rent, so now they have rent as an unexpected expense, too.

Helping them helps me, because they are incredibly dear to me. Because they don’t have insurance. Because we are all connected, and when we help one of us, we help all of us.

Please donate as much as you can. They are also seeking discounted long-term 3 bed 2 bath housing.

Additionally, James is in need of clothing - Men’s large. He’s 6’4” with long-ass limbs! A winter coat especially. And he had exceptional style, to boot. 🙂

Thank you so, so much, from my ever-expanding, broken-open, grateful heart. Link in my Stories to donate, or here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/james-scott-sunshine-canyon-fire-recovery taken in Sunshine Canyon, Boulder, CO by @lopalovesyou

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4 years ago

**Trigger warning: Fire & Divorce.**

I have some major life updates. It’s wild to me that both of these necessarily come in the same post. Life is demanding surrender at a level I could not have fathomed possible.

My home is the one home that was completely destroyed in the Sunshine Canyon fire. I moved in 3 months ago—and yes, “me”, not “us”—it was my sanctuary post-divorce.

I have not publicly updated anyone about the fact that Stephan and I are in the process of divorcing. Not an easy decision. Definitely the right one. This could be its own long post. But the fire is quite…recent and shocking, so I’m focusing on that here.

I was in literal love with this home—it was my temple, my sanctuary, my retreat, and a profound serendipitous blessing. Yesterday, that home burned to the ground.

I am ok, my son Henrik & our au pair Chaoxia are ok—thank GOD. (Nikola was in CA with Stephan).

I have been over dozens of scenarios where, within a moment’s change, any of us could have easily been…not ok.

I am so tearfully grateful that no other homes were destroyed. This was my biggest fear. I watched my own beloved home burn and listened to the horrifying crackling as the fire consumed its beauty, and my heart and body screamed prayers to protect any and all other houses, trees, animals, humans.

I have no idea how the fire started. My best guess is an ember from the near-dead fire in the wood stove. The wood stove was inspected when we moved in. It was all up to snuff. This was a freak incident.

I had just gotten out of the shower & heard screaming from Henrik and Chaoxia. I ran upstairs naked, holding the towel in my hands—it was that kind of scream. There were 5’ flames on the deck. The glass door broke, smoke started seeping in as I ran to get dressed and call 911.

We ran out of the house—no shoes, no socks. 10 seconds later I hung up with the dispatcher and thought to get my shoes. Opened the front door to a wall of black smoke—I couldn’t see 6” in front of me. I closed the door and we ran, me barefoot in 30° weather.

I was heaving screams as I listened to the fire roar through my home, cracking and popping and consuming this fresh new life. [cont’d👇] by @lopalovesyou

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4 years ago

Glimpses from my last retreat. I’m so grateful for these opportunities to step away from my daily responsibilities to deepen and open to the spaciousness within. Drinking tea, reading, meditating, doing pūjā, peeing outside…these are a few of my favorite things. 🙂

This was during the last eclipse a few weeks ago; there’s another eclipse tomorrow evening. It’s a potent time to go within and find solace within silence.

If you’re not familiar with pūjā, it’s an ancient Indian ritual where you invoke a deity—and the qualities they represent—from your heart and treat them as an honored guest, offering incense, beautiful food, water, jewels, flowers, and much more. And then you bring them back into your heart, where they always were. It’s a potent reminder that everything we seek is within us, ever-fresh.

And it makes a divine mess that I love taking photos of. My phone has hundreds! 😛 by @lopalovesyou

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4 years ago

My kalari teacher is starting a new beginner’s course May 3rd. If you are interested in learning this incredible practice, which is the best I’ve ever found for body conditioning, strength, & flexibility; but not only that is a comprehensive spiritual path designed to awaken Kundalini….you won’t regret it. Come for the strength, stay for the enlightenment. 🙂 DM @nikhilvaragiri for more info and to sign up.

It’s a 3-month course, 4 days a week for 1 hour, & it will change your relationship to your body, your energy, & your self if you give it your all. And even if you don’t, and skip classes often (I did at first, too!), it will still change your life. The science of this practice is millennia deep. And Nikhil is a phenomenal teacher who makes correcting minute postural errors on Zoom look as easy as tying a shoe.

Nikhil is a delightfully demanding teacher and the fire of that demand purifies you & pulls out your very best, growing you beyond what you thought was possible—& not just what your body can do, but every arena of your life. As above, so below.

If you have questions you can also drop them in the comments here. by @lopalovesyou

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4 years ago