#113: Taylor Conzelman

"With everything having become hyper-politicized, so much actual beauty has been lost."

Aug 09, 2026

Today’s guest is Taylor Conzelman (@taylorconzelman), a vintage reseller and content creator who covers wellness and clean beauty. I’m typically averse to featuring influencers, but Taylor’s approach feels different. She is very no-BS, an affect which makes me intuitively trust her — and the content she shares (face massages, esoteric beauty protocols…) is actually helpful.

You can read more of Taylor’s writing on her Substack, Beyond Fate.

#113: Taylor Conzelman
Marina Del Rey, CA

What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?

Being healthy is about being able to fluctuate between states naturally — it is about not becoming “stuck” or rigid. For me, it's been about building systems, trial and error, and seeing what works for me — because what works for my own body won't necessarily work for someone else's. I am pretty disciplined in certain arenas of my life, and not at all in others. I do find that when I fall out of balance in the areas where it is really important for me to maintain discipline, I end up suffering.

How would you describe your current lifestyle?

My non-negotiables are sunlight, sauna, walking, weights, and eating enough carbohydrates. SLEEP has always been the #1 struggle for me, so I find that when I do these four things — sleep is almost always going to come with more ease, which is so important. The older I get, the more insane I feel if I'm not sleeping well.

How do you start and end your days?

I start my day with a meditation where I try to cultivate heart-brain coherence. I either do this meditation on my PEMF mat, or in my bed under my Celluma red light. I then do a “brain dump”-style journaling exercise. I then get out of bed, stretch, go out to my balcony for some sun, do some deep-breathing exercises, and maybe have a matcha with coconut water (I recently cut coffee and am now adding back in caffeine in the form of matcha, which doesn't spike my anxiety).

Usually I will do a face massage and a long walk.

I will then work for a few hours, either shipping orders for my business (I sell vintage) or shooting/listing/sourcing new pieces to sell. I'm also a content creator, so lately I'm often filming during the day. I will then go to the gym around mid-day, which I do 4x per week and on off days, I'll usually do yoga or pilates. I go to yoga at OPEN Studio, which is the most beautiful space and sometimes I'll do a beach walk after.

I'll end my day with an early-ish dinner at around 6-6:30 PM, probably do some writing, take a hot magnesium bath or have a sauna, and then I'll fall asleep usually with a castor oil pack + red light over the abdomen, and often I’ll do compression boots before bed. For some reason, these two things knock me out better than any supplement, probably because they calm the nervous system so well.

Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?

I've never shared this before, but I've struggled with severe anxiety, addiction, and depression. Anxiety and depression were always there as a kind of consistent soft background noise but when I was 26, my father died suddenly. From there on out, my previously manageable symptoms increased in severity until they were impossible to ignore. I was dealing with everything from insomnia to erratic weight fluctuations to dissociative episodes, which I now believe were from being stuck in the freeze response from the event of the death and C-PTSD. At 28, I went the pharmaceutical route after a lot of pressure and was put on anti-depressants (to which I had an extremely averse reaction where I became manic), and then ultimately on a mood stabilizer. Right before I turned 29, things got really bad and I made the decision to detox from all psychiatric medications.

That was when I began to delve into everything holistic. I started to see an acupuncturist, became obsessed with adaptogens, started working with some plant medicines (which I only recommend doing very carefully and consciously), and I became addicted to hot yoga + did a teacher training. My weight fluctuations continued until my mid-30s, last year actually, which was when I ultimately got sober from alcohol entirely and stopped eating so low carb. These things were what moved the needle the most in my health journey.

With all that being said, I don't think that challenging emotions like anxiety and depression should even be seen through the lens of being fixed, even holistically through food or medicine, because there is nothing to be “fixed,” so to speak. They are the body’s response to being asked to carry intolerable pain. I still struggle with my mental health. I read this piece recently on Unbekoming, which challenges the notion that depression is a neurotransmitter imbalance and is, in actuality, a response to the human psyche being asked to quickly absorb intolerable circumstances. I find that when I find more grace for these emotions, no matter how bad they are, homeostasis comes more quickly. Sometimes that grace does involve finding ways to safely let out sadness or anger.

I don’t think that challenging emotions should even be seen through the lens of being “fixed.” They are the body’s response to being asked to carry intolerable pain.

Do you have a spiritual practice?

I have been disenfranchised from modern religion since I was a child. I grew up in Alabama, and one of my parents converted to evangelical Christianity, which was traumatic. Earlier this year, I developed a practice of writing down synchronicities I was experiencing in my Notes app. Synchronicities are (in my belief) little nudges from God that our inner and outer worlds are in alignment. I am a believer in the teachings of Christ, but I feel that modern Christianity has become quite perverse. So much of it involves looking outward, at the external — when in actuality, Christ wanted us to look within. To harness our creative energy, because we are creator beings made in His image. In terms of daily ritual practices, I read a lot of spiritual texts, meditate twice daily, and practice breathwork.

What’s your relationship to self-healing?

Honestly, going to a doctor is an absolute last resort for me. I do not take antibiotics when I am sick; I instead use sickness as an opportunity to go inward. Beyond my own challenging experience with SSRI’s, I also had an experience when I came down with what I now believe was very early COVID and was really ill for about a month with a horrible cough. I was given a steroid, and it was one of the worst experiences of my entire life...I was sleepless, emotional, my heart was racing, and it actually only made my recovery 10x worse. I believe that so often when we are experiencing disease, there is a (usually emotional) root cause and that sickness isn’t something to be fought; rather, it is the body’s attempt to restore homeostasis.

That said, there is a place for medicine and doctors. I was born with a pretty severe case of TMJ, and I had jaw surgery when I was 15. Because of my issues with my jaw/teeth (I was born missing a front tooth so I have a bridge and veneer), I’m pretty on top of it with seeing a holistic dentist several times per year, and I will occasionally see a functional medicine doctor to look at my hormones.

Do you work with any practitioners, texts, or modalities on a regular basis?

I worked with a Jungian analyst from 2024-2025. She studied under Marion Woodman. This experience was transformative.

Currently, the only things I do semi-regularly are lymphatic drainage treatments (lately I've been going to Detox by Rebecca) and sculptural and buccal face massage at a couple different places in LA. Face massage and lymphatic drainage have changed my face and body. I retain a lot of water and fluid overall.

When do you feel the most nourished?

Cliche answer, but when I am on vacation somewhere tropical. I love tropical weather more than anything.

How do you reset?

By going to the ocean, or to a river. Earthing. I was living in Ojai last year, and going to the river there was DREAMY. I love going to hot springs also, whether they are deep within nature or I'm visiting a hot springs resort. Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs is really nice.

Do you have a favorite meal?

I absolutely LOVE eating pho, but I never cook it for myself.

What I cook the most often would be coconut rice + chicken + a vegetable like artichokes/zucchini/mushrooms. I eat the same thing for breakfast pretty much every day: yogurt bowl with non-fat Greek yogurt, a quail egg, olive oil, honey, sea salt, some bee pollen if I have it, fruit, maybe granola.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell her, “You don't even want the things that you're chasing so hard, chill the fuck out.”

What advice would you give to the person reading this?

You are going to be okay.

What would you like to see or create more of in the world?

More beauty in the form of creativity that comes from free-thinking people. I think with everything having become hyper-politicized and dogmatic over the last six years, so much actual beauty has been lost. I don't think you can really create until you can unshackle yourself from all of the external noise. I think that there will be a huge Renaissance of people creating without their creations having to make a political statement.