Spirit Tour: How To Find Magic in Milan
Forget Milan’s fluffiest cappuccinos and most perfect plates of pasta and discover the city’s top energy cleansers, meditation cocoons and wrinkle whisperers - all picks and tricks of our own guru, J.J.
"I think there are enough city guides dedicated to where to nab the best handbag, fluffiest cappuccino and most perfect plate of al dente pasta. The real insider’s guide to a city is the one that helps you actually connect to your own insides; ie, your heart, soul and energy body. So that’s why we are launching Spirit Tours; the best healers, teachers, techniques, and places to get you tapped into your higherself and activate your multidimensional awareness and power.
Now, I am pretty darn pignola - picky – when it comes to the people I let into my energy field. My field is extremely sensitive, something I didn’t really realize until the 5th time I got up from a massage table (or a yoga class) and walked out mid-session while the therapist or teacher looked at me in shock. My physical body’s soma and my energy body’s receptors know much more than my head does. If neither one is responding, or worse, if they are resisting the person I’m with, I now trust that silent speech and gently walk away.
Finding my special tribe of healers, magic-makers and teachers who I truly trust took over a decade to develop. These people aren’t celebrities or over-hyped, over-priced gurus. They are humble, hardworking and the real deal, toiling behind the scenes with their extreme energetic gifts and talents. Each one has assisted me in the all-important job of clearing my physical body, mental body, emotional body and energetic body and therefore deeply aiding me in the spiritual work that I had to do on my own. Some have even helped me hook up to pure Source consciousness. All have dramatically improved my life and consciousness as a multi-dimensional human being. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to them and help expand their reach to the collective."
Eiass Younis - The Bodyworker
"Eiass is technically a physiotherapist and a licensed osteopath, which the Italians love for wringing out any muscular aches and pains. He is without a doubt a mechanical expert in posture, fascia and joints. But he is way more masterful in the art of his craft rather than the science dictated in books and classes. He is what I call a gifted body reader and listener - he has extra ears for what your cells, organs and muscles need and the signs that they are sending. The pain in my hip for example was connected to the pain in my shoulder but was all connected after all to the heart and the womb and webbed together with my screaming psoas. He is incredibly strong and can manipulate your entire body with the grace and ease of flipping a pancake. His goal is to bring your entire body into harmony so that it can go about its divine business of healing itself.
During his sessions, I usually go into a very deep trance as he gently moves muscles around, unhinges rusty ligaments, and gets my sacrum back to its original position of open happiness."
What to expect: You get what you give. Eiass will go as deep as you do; so if you go for it and open to the work, so will he. If you resist, you’ll get the science and not the art.
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like your body is crunched up and crying for some rearranging.
fisioterapistayounis.it
Antonia Stefanaki – The Wrinkle Whisperer
"I landed Antonia the old fashioned way- a Greek yoga teacher in Patmos sent me a massage session with her as a gift. So I showed up to her cheerful home studio in Milan ready to take my clothes off and she said: “Wait! I only massage the face!” I was unprepared but delightfully surprised to learn that her facial massages literally wiped the wrinkles right off of my forehead. Antonia has incredible patience; she will spend 50 minutes just gently coaxing your jaw to relax. Sometime the work is extremely relaxing, and sometimes it’s irritating as her soft touch begins to release the emotions trapped inside the fascia of your face muscles. But the result is incredible. Antonia’s approach is to revitalise all the cells in your face, scalp and neck so they can begin to take care of themselves. This was exciting for me as I’m an anti-botox woman (probably the only one in all of Milan!). Not only does she give you the treatment but she will also teach you a whole regime and all the tricks on how to massage your skin and face everyday without the use of creams or serums. As a special bonus, she is highly intuitive and gets downloads from her team of guides and angels as she is giving you a massage. So I like to think of her as the psychic wrinkle whisperer."
What to expect: A little fairy angel who has light beaming out of her hands and eyes, the most delicate touch ever.
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like maybe you want to stop injecting chemicals into your forehead.
@antonia.stefanaki
Marco Migliavacca - The Energy Yogi
"One of the first people to help me get in touch with my somatic experience was Marco Migliavacca. Marco is a classically trained yoga instructor and can run a sweaty vinyasa class like nobody’s business. But, thankfully, he is so much more than that. He was the first to introduce me to Yin Yoga, the restorative, very slow, very subtle practice that helped me begin to listen to my body’s pleas, protests and pain after my infertility journey. Not all yin teachers are alike! Marco is one of the few who can hold the energetic space of the room with such warrior intensity, that I can fall safely into the darkness of my own shadow, weakness and allow healing to happen as my fascia lets go of its trauma grip. Marco’s pranayama work was also a soul-busting experience, as the highly intense breath work allowed me to begin to channel my own life-force. It’s hard, annoying and extremely worth it. Lastly, is his katonah-inspired restorative work in which he comes over to my house, straps up my body
in contortions that both support and activate my sleeping or convalescing organs. This is like a souped-up yin experience; meridians are activated, the waters of the kidneys start flowing again and my head releases years of shackles."
What to expect: Your organs to start chatting again, your fascia to release its iron grip on your muscles and some pretty twisted positions.
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like your currently yoga instructor is superficial and doesn’t really get your spiritual practice.
hohmstreetyoga.com
@allneon
LDJ Gorgeous Gift Guide
You could say that La DoubleJ’s latest vibration-raising partnership is less a meeting of minds, more a meeting of spirits. While J.J. has long been a religious tea-sipper at Ladurée’s world-class maison as a fashion journalist covering the Paris shows three times a year, it is the pâtisserie’s bountiful sense of joie de vivre that so appealed to this life-long optimist.
Viola Crespi - The Theta Healer
"Viola is a certified Theta healer, an energetic-based healing method based on meditation and spiritual philosophy that clears your mind of bulky limiting beliefs and get us closer to the Creator. She has incredible psychic and intuitive gifts that channel Source energy to help you unblock current pains and traumas as well as past-life trauma. I have worked with Viola on many one-on-one meditations that channel higher realms of consciousness. The work is unbelievably deep, requires continuous returning (once you uncover one layer, there’s a whole new room to explore) but has uprooted many of the walls and resistance that I have unconsciously brought along as luggage on my spiritual ascension process. She is an angel-worker. Truly gifted. And she can also work remotely by zoom. She is doing spiritual courses and offers guidance on how to best unlock the blocks with companies as well as individuals."
What to expect: Etheric sensations, a groggy head (in a good way), some psychic breakthroughs if you’re lucky, folks!
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like there’s something much more going on beyond the heaviness of your physical and mental existence and you’re dying to discover what it is.
@violaholistichealing
Il Sentiero Del Vento - The Crystal Shop
"The only hippy joint in all of Milan, this crystal shop is one of my favorite places to spend a Sunday afternoon. It’s packed full of every crystal you could ever want from giant slabs of amethyst to tiny obsidian bead bracelets, as well as informative books, glistening minerals and an incredible selection of native american and navajo sacred ceremony tools and accessories. The owners are hilarious, leisurely and very helpful; they are encyclopedias of the energetic properties of crystals. I also love their selection of smudges that ranges from white sage, cedar and paolo santo to frankincense and many incense sticks. I come here for myself but just as often for gift giving; it’s perfect for housewarming,
hostess and birthday gifts- people love to receive something energetically original."
What to expect: Cluttered but cozy atmosphere, inspiration in tiny little packages.
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like you need a one-stop shop for your at-home altar or an usual gift.
isentieridelvento.com
Lanna Thai
The Activating Massage
"Bodywork has become an important part of my spiritual practice. I use the massage process as a moment and opportunity to go into deep, deep mediation and I connect with the person giving me the massage through the pressure points that they hit in my physical body. I’ve gotten so finely tuned to this that I can not have a massage by just anyone. I need someone who is either energetically activated, or someone who is of complete pure heart when they touch my body. It sounds crazy but there is a true exchange and absorption of energy in these moments. The best massages I have found for this type of work are Thai massages or Balinese. This particular Thai massage center in Milan is simple and lovely. The group of women here doesn’t come with energetic baggage - they are very pure. They provide me with a perfectly starched set of cotton pajamas then stretch my body while activating sensitive pressure points. I almost always get a stream of intuitive or psychic download on the massage bed. Not only does it relieve aches and pains but it clears my energy channels, too."
What to expect: Low-maintenance, no-nonsense, clean, tidy and warm
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like you need someone to do more than just rub oil on your skin
lanna-thai.it
Parco Sempione – The Earthing Technique
"After a few years of my spiritual practice, I realized that one of the most essential parts of it was connecting with nature. In spiritual circles Mother Earth is a living being with a name – Gaia Sophia – and a massive heart beat. She emanates pure Source energy and is raising her frequency at an exciting rate. If you pay attention, listen and practice earthing and grounding techniques, you can tap into this energy and flood your own body and energy fields with it. Milan is not known for its astounding nature or grand parks but there are ancient trees in Parco Sempione that are powerful and unexpected. I like to practice creative qi gong moves at the foot of a giant tree, then take off my shoes, plant my feet inside the earth and lean my back up against the trunk. Sometimes I hug it and look up, imagining that I can shoulder all of that wood and spectacular growth.
You can also do this work by sitting on the shore of a lake or sea and letting your feet seep into Gaia’s soil as you absorb the abundance, fertility and harmony that has created it. It’s amazing to turn off your mental computer and start a dialogue with this magnificent being. Plus Pepper loves it, and she’s my real healer, after all."
What to expect: It’s not immediately obvious. Go and truly search for the ancient trees back behind the Castel. You can feel them.
Pin-drop if you’re feeling: Like you need to rediscover your inner equilibrium and suck in real wisdom.
Piazza Sempione, 20154 Milano