Seeking dopamine, challenging wellness’ fix-it model, and building a toolkit for life’s inevitable ebbs and flows: a conversation with Marika Richoz

And a very inspiring one at that

I am thrilled to be sharing the insights gained from a really lovely conversation with Marika Richoz, a Vancouver based Chef, Counsellor, kundalini teacher and retreat leader. Before we get into our inspiring dialogue, I want to give a little background on my connection to Marika. Before moving to Vancouver, I was working at KOTN as their first Marketing Manager, and one of my projects was building out a Vancouver influencer list to prepare for their first West Coast brick and mortar. On this list was Marika, who was most well known for her chef-ing and “secret dinners” that she would host in her home in Vancouver. I remember following her on my personal account, as I was inspired by her content and how she was able to get people excited about nourishing food. I was also quite intimidated by her, and thought about how much I would love to work for myself and be in the wellness space as she was, but it felt very far away and out of reach for me at that point in my life. Fast forward to today, and it’s quite funny to look back at my interpretation of Marika, as I now have had the pleasure to go for a lovely walk with her, spend time with her in her beautiful home, and move with her in my TurF classes. We’ve also connected about collaborating on retreats, so stay tuned for that! Before sitting down for our conversation, I shared the following note with Marika on my goals around this Substack.

This is the kind of content that gets me excited – how do we ride the waves of life with the most joy, pleasure and ease, when we know that the ups and downs are inevitable? I don’t want to hear how someone went from being depressed to happy all of the time, I want to learn what tools they turn to when things get hard, because lord knows they will! I think our conversation did just that – explore the tools and techniques that Marika practices to live a more well and joyful life.