A Simple Path: with writer and skincare producer Kamin Mohammadi
It's not often that you meet someone with a cv as rich and varied as this month's guest on A Simple Path. We are delighted to be joined by Kamin Mohammadi, whose many talents are outlined below, along with her thoughts on the importance of meditation, the slow living Italian-style and her beloved slipper collection. Kamin managed to turn her life around, from a point of feeling overworked, overwrought and lonely, to living a life of fulfilment and peace in Tuscany.
Prepare to be inspired. Here's Kamin's Simple Path:
Can you tell us what you do and how you came to be doing it?
I am a writer, a journalist, an editor, a broadcaster, yoga teacher, Reiki healer, massage therapist, olive oil farmer and organic skincare producer! I have always wanted to write and been passionate about words and communication, working in magazines for many years until I was brave enough to go freelance and then tackle my first book. As a journalist I started commentating on the radio, noticed I liked it. After publishing my first book I was asked to present a Radio 4 show I had appeared on as a guest. All the other stuff has happened organically, born out of my various interests, passions and studies. I love to keep educating myself.
If you had one piece of advice or wisdom to pass on to your younger self, what would it be?
Don’t waste so much energy on angsting about men! And START MEDITATING NOW!!
What is it about slow living and the simple life that you find appealing?
(Image by Olivia Rutherford)
I have always been a super-fast city girl, very impatient. At the same time, I am an artist and need a lot of solitude to digest the experience of every day otherwise my creativity can’t flow, and I go a bit crazy! So over the years, in order to write my books and create my products, I have had to slow down. There is a lovely way of putting it in Italy – being essential. I think it sums it up: it’s about that paring back, letting go of excess and uncluttering – be it the house or the mind. It is out of the simplicity, the quiet, that new ideas are born. My latest book Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way (published by Bloomsbury, more info here) is my attempt to share what I have learnt about the delights of slow living, the Italian way.
How can we counter the pulls of content-sharing and curating images of our lives with the need for being in the moment?
I’m not sure I have worked this one out yet but I suspect the answer lies in that magic word – balance! Social media is wonderful and seductive. But my goodness, can it ever replace a great face-to-face conversation with a good friend? I don’t think so.
Who inspires you?
My husband, for his energy and zest for life. My mother, because of her strength, elegance and generosity. My editor Alexandra Pringle because she is the perfect mixture of heart, soul and brain, and has given me a writing family to feel part of. My yoga teacher of the past 20 years who embodies love and devotion in action.
What are your essential homeware items/ things you couldn’t do without?
Ah, my silk pillow cases – my agent’s gift to me when I turned 40, an anti-ageing tip that I love! My moka coffee maker comes with me wherever I travel, and I always need lots of incense burners because I'm crazy about Nag Champa. I treasure my Persian carpets passed down through my family, especially the Kurdish kelims of my grandmother – I terrorise people who try to walk on them in their shoes! Which brings us to my big and varied slipper collection…
What would you like to be doing in 10 years’ time?
More of the same please! Just expanded, with new experiences added in.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done?
That’s hard! Maybe going to Italy for 6 weeks not knowing a soul, without a word of Italian, with no income or home, but staying 10 years (and counting)?
Thank you so much for your time, and sharing your thoughts with us! To find out more about Kamin's yoga retreats go here, and for more in our A Simple Path series go here and here.
