Jess Jobst (@jess__jobst) is a designer, producer, and motorcyclist. She writes the Substack, Living on the Road.
#102: Jess Jobst
New York, NY
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Being healthy, to me, is a symbiosis of the mind, body, and spirit. It's as much to do with my mental wellbeing, emotional sobriety, and my environment as it is with my actual body. It's about being alive and awakened, living in sync with nature and the universe.
When I can, I stay away from any regimented routines and let my body sleep when it is tired, intuitively eat, etc. I have become so much more aware of how my body functions by paying attention to it acutely. I try and live in sync with the natural rhythms of the seasons and my menstrual cycle, etc.
I'm one of those people who need their space to be clean, enticing, comfortable, quiet, calm, and decorated well. I cannot do anything in a messy room — this affects my mind and my ability to function. I need to curate a beautiful space with art, handmade objects, books, and well-designed furniture to surround me, and a lot of light to feel good and inspired. It needs to be a peaceful environment. I am usually listening to some sort of new age, environmental, meditation music in the background, and there are fresh flowers on my table. My nervous system craves being grounded, so that is very much to do with setting the stage for that.
I grew up with an open-minded way of looking at my body and its ailments, with a spiritual and bohemian mum who took me to all sorts of naturopaths and alternative doctors. She was always foraging for something outdoors to feed my siblings and me (nettle soup or mushrooms were the wilder things), but she also had a vegetable garden and relied heavily on Bach’s remedies and homeopathic cures before giving us any usual over-the-counter drugs. Water was another thing she became obsessed with, always filtering our tap water and placing a grander water board next to our water source.
The spirit is the hardest one for me to tap into. Since getting sober in 2016, my spiritual realm opened back up after being dormant for 10-15 years whilst I drank myself into oblivion. Sobriety is a balm to the spiritual self; it's where you can feel safe again and feel feelings. Being healthy, to me, on a spiritual level, is about being able to sit with your thoughts and feelings, no matter how hard or overwhelming they become. This brings me back to the mention of “emotional sobriety.” This has become one of the most difficult aspects of the human experience to grasp, especially for someone with addiction issues.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
Adventurous, spontaneous, and freedom-seeking. I spend as much time as I can getting out of my mind and back into my body. Over the years, I’ve come to understand that I’m a highly sensitive person, and learning how to live well with that sensitivity has become an adventure in itself.
Much of my life now revolves around practices that bring me back to sensation. Sweating through a hot yoga class, riding a motorcycle, sleeping in a tent, walking barefoot through the park, slipping into a Korean spa for a few hours, breathwork, dance, long stretches of time in nature. None of these things are about performance or optimization; they are simply ways of returning to the body.
In many ways, my lifestyle is about nourishment and equilibrium. But I also have a deep need for movement and freedom. Being able to throw a leg over a motorcycle and ride into the mountains is essential to me. Life on the road, however, comes with its own parameters. You can’t always control what you eat, where you sleep, or whether your routines remain intact. Because of that, I’ve had to cultivate both flexibility in my schedule and a gentler relationship with myself — especially with my own ideas of perfection.
None of these things are about performance or optimization; they are simply ways of returning to the body.
I’ve always loved to travel, but traveling by motorcycle eclipses every other way of moving through the world. It’s profoundly independent. You’re free to roam, to veer off onto quiet backroads, to pass through landscapes slowly enough to actually feel them. Unlike flying, which tends to funnel you through the same predictable corridors of tourism, a motorcycle allows you to slip between places.
And as thrilling as riding can be, it’s also a form of meditation for me. Especially as someone who struggles to sit still, riding forces me into presence. There is no multitasking, no drifting into thought. Your senses sharpen. The air shifts with altitude. Every moment demands your attention.
In that way, the motorcycle becomes less about adrenaline and more about awareness.
As Eckhart Tolle writes:
“The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now — that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality. Slipping away from the present moment even for a second may mean death. Unfortunately, they come to depend on a particular activity to be in that state. But you don’t need to climb the north face of the Eiger. You can enter that state now.”
How do you start and end your days?
Although I am not someone who sticks to schedules and has a very difficult time with continuity, I do value ritual, and there are a few things that bring me joy and ground me throughout my week…
I have a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is This Moment, next to my bed. I read a few pages, then get up, wash my face, and give myself a facial massage with Marie Veronique facial oil.
I then make my morning drink. Over the last few years, my caffeine intake has dropped dramatically since it amps me up and upsets my stomach. I now drink MUD water, a scoop of collagen powder, and steamed almond milk that I make myself. I love making almond milk, and since giving in and buying a Vitamix, it’s one of my favorite things to make weekly.
I then sit at my table and write a few pages of freeform writing, The Artist’s Way-style, and after dumping all my thoughts, meditate.
I will try to move my body daily, either at a yoga or Pilates class in my neighborhood, which will entail a brisk walk in the elements and a stop to either get a green juice or a loaf of fresh bread from my local bakery. I always listen to Chani Nicholas’s weekly podcast when I do this.
The other thing I love to make weekly is Lacy Philips’ herbal infusions; she has a few on her Substack, By Candlelight, and I make those at the beginning of the week and drink them throughout the day. I love being a witch and ordering herbs and making different concoctions, etc.
I end my day usually with a very hot bath with lavender bath salts. I put on some Japanese zen spa music or sounds of a thunderstorm in the background, light a candle, and soak. I then smother my body with Camellia oil from Japan and my face with Rose Balm from Neal’s Yard, and get into something comfy. Since it’s winter, I have been wearing my goat socks, which are from a farm close to my mum’s in Wales [Editor’s note: these responses were submitted in early March]. She shears her Angora goats, has the wool spun, and then she hand-dyes and knits them into the most gorgeous woolly socks. I like to wear natural fibers as much as possible. I also just found out about Dilling, which are wool leggings instead of the nasty Uniqlo heat tech.
I then cook. I believe cooking something from scratch is the highest form of love for yourself, your partner, and your body. I love making soups from scratch, including highly gelatinous broth, which I simmer on the stove for hours. We always light candles when we eat, at the table with one another, away from screens.
After dinner, I usually make a pot of loose-leaf chamomile tea and eat a square of Hu dark chocolate whilst cozying down on the sofa with my husband and a book or show.
Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?
I think I’ve always been concerned about my bodily health and good food, but my mind and spiritual health were put to the side while I was drinking. I touched on this earlier, but it was really 2016 when I got sober, and I started addressing the mind, body, and spirit as interconnected. I started practicing yoga religiously, especially hot yoga. I used to not be able to sit through a yin class, as my mind would race too much. It's taken a lot for me to slow down and appreciate being in my body rather than running from it continuously. Getting out of the mind and into the body became my motto for life.
I can only speak from my experience when I say that getting sober is like suddenly waking up from a slumber — it's like seeing the world in color again after years of it only being in black and white. The biggest part of it is learning how to live and feel without running away. It's almost like being reborn and having to learn how to do things from the beginning again. Kissing for the first time sober is SO SCARY! I remember recounting all of the things I did for the first time drunk...my first kiss, losing my virginity, all kinds of intimate things that I wouldn't dream of doing under the influence now. Getting sober is a rising of consciousness and care for yourself and everyone around you. It has a ripple effect on everyone you touch in the world.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
Self-healing has a lot to do with patience with myself. Just being able to accept the reality of what is happening. Understanding that the body is so much more intelligent than we cognitively realize, and also that it stores trauma, which hides and needs time, care, and attention.
I'm pretty good with self-maintenance, so I pay attention to what I eat, drink, and put into my body. I check my bloods regularly and see an acupuncturist weekly. If something major happens to me, I’ll add in whatever capacity is required, whether that’s Craniosacral, osteopathy, chiropractic, body work, Reiki, herbal remedies, etc. I will always try to resolve an issue naturally before going to a doctor and having a medical intervention. I treat my acupuncturist as my GP, really.
Do you have a spiritual practice?
I love to create an altar, light a candle, burn something, and work with the energy of the moon and current astrology. When I have quiet moments, i.e., weeks in between work, I practice living slowly and more intentionally. Slow stretching, meditation, connecting with myself and my body.
When do you feel the most nourished?
When I am fully relaxed and recharged, I believe my time spent at Esalen has been the most nourishing in my life. Whenever I leave that place, I feel full to the brim of life force energy.
How do you reset?
Ride into the mountains and jump into a lake naked, or go to the K Spa.
Do you have a favorite meal?
As it's been winter over here, my favorite dish we have been making is borscht, with my homemade bone broth.
I always have fresh veggies and some broth in the freezer.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
You are beautiful and amazing and can do anything you put your mind to!
What advice would you give to the person reading this?
Go out and get on the back of someone's motorcycle, then get them to teach you in a parking lot ;) it’s the funnest thing you will ever do!
What would you like to see or create more of in the world?
More women on motorcycles. More women in positions of power. More sobriety, awareness, and raised consciousness in all beings. More reverence, kindness, and peace for every living thing. A world that takes a few cues from Japan — I just returned from an exceptional trip there. And perhaps most importantly: the beautiful intersection of motorcycle adventure and wellness retreats.
Japan. Onsen. Motorcycles. Another trip is brewing.
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Jessie bestie!