#84: Maya (@arsalendi)

"Instead of rebelling by staying out late, I rebelled by refusing to do an aura scan each morning."

Jan 18, 2026

Maya (@arsalendi) is an herbalist and scholar of beauty, nourishment, and esoterica. Her work draws from both Eastern and Western traditions, integrating herbal medicine, functional nutrition, and psycho-spiritual practices to treat the body as a deeply interconnected whole. You can learn more about her work, and book a 1:1 session, here.

#84: Maya @arsalendi
Astrology: “Try to guess”
New York, NY/Amsterdam, NL

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

Ease and consistency in the little things.

Helping people with nutrition and esoterica has made me fairly non-consumerist about health. I don’t hate gadgets, supplements, or protocols. All of this can be useful; I just don’t think most people’s lives change because they one day found the perfect device or went on a luxe wellness retreat.

I am more invested in the microcosm of living and in arcane knowledge that has stood the test of time. Things as simple as walking under the sun, embracing slumber, feeding the senses and spirit…all of these are rituals and channels toward calmness. I think devotion to these little things creates the perfect substrate for vitality to sprout.

How would you describe your current lifestyle?

My life is a mix of deep research and creative indulgence. Some days I’m translating medieval medical charms and pharmacopoeias, or interviewing people about dreams and religious experiences. Other days I’m making beauty regimens or grocery lists for clients. All of this is rewarding, but also very screen-based and physically stagnating.

So, I dance. Salsa is my fixation right now. It is one of the most reliable ways I’ve found to re-enter my body and to melt away tension. A static body is a dead body, and I want to live.

How do you start and end your days?

I need sunlight. I have a rule to run outside whenever the sun breaks through, which can be scarce in the Dutch winter. During the darkest parts of the year, I like to use a Sperti vitamin D lamp to start my days. I still try to get actual sunlight on my face, first thing, if possible.

My second non-negotiable: I find a cat and pet it. It sounds silly, until you do it for a week and notice how much happier you are. Affection, novelty, and having a little mission are nutrients. It’s instant nervous-system food. There are so many cats around my neighborhood, it doesn’t take that long to find one during my post-breakfast walk. I am very serious about small and sweet rituals and getting some oxytocin and warmth.

I try to make the destructive things hard and the nourishing things easy. It is human to follow the path of least resistance, and I would probably otherwise doomscroll until three in the morning. The internet cuts out on my phone around 9 p.m. (ask your husband to set up a secret screen time password). That usually kickstarts my nightly rituals. I keep lemon balm or magnolia bark tea (both GABAergic and very soothing) and my journal in an accessible spot. I dump thoughts or doodles onto paper, do my skincare/hygiene routines, and finish with prayer.

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

I grew up in a very “woo woo” household. Acupuncturist mom, health nut dad, deep distrust of the Standard American Diet. Our kitchen cabinets overflowed with propolis, beef thymus, reishi, and echinacea. By elementary school, I was compounding dried cicada shells and mandarin peels. Instead of rebelling by staying out late, I rebelled by refusing to do an aura scan each morning. By the time I was eighteen, I had tried almost every major and minor intervention the alternative wellness market had to offer. I still never learned anything about health, real health, until I left home.

When I turned nineteen, I hit a wall. I had never been particularly robust, but I was now the most frail and adrenaline-fueled I’d ever been in my life. I couldn’t sleep, much less hold a thought. My skin was angry and inflamed. I was perpetually bloated. I was studying graphic design in Manhattan, drowning in deadlines, and at my worst, I felt lucky to get two or three hours of sleep before class.

I saw doctors. I tried conventional medicines and alternative medicines. Nothing helped. It became clear to me that health was far beyond “getting healed” or “doing something healing” a few times. I would cease to exist if I didn’t change something.

I decided to drop out of college. After a few weeks of rest, I visited a Chinese herbalist: a stout, ancient, devout Buddhist woman. She examined me head to toe, and told me to eat meat. I was vegan at the time, but desperate enough to listen. I started with a few bites of sardines and salmon, and it genuinely felt like someone turned the lights back on in my brain. The fog lifted. No other intervention had affected me so profoundly.

After that, I went all in. Rotisserie chicken, chicken livers with ghee and onions, goat kefir, gelatinous broths, braised pork feet, bison ribs, calamari, mussels. After years without these foods, I was just ecstatic to be able to think again. I could eat without pain. I knew I had to learn more about my body at this point. I found a passion for cooking and began to take the study of nutrient therapy, herbs, and everything in between quite seriously. This was only the beginning of a deep devotion to nourishment and healing.

What’s your relationship to self-healing?

I’m self-reliant by nature, which is useful, until it becomes: “I’ll figure this out alone and never ask for help.”

My relationship to healing is now a blend of agency and humility. I like experimentation. I like personal responsibility, but I don’t believe in doing everything alone. I trust the power of a good practitioner.

I think it’s good to have accountability and a second set of eyes. It doesn’t always have to be a coach; it can even be a friend. It’s so good to have someone on the other side, who can introduce a bit of friction and see through our blind spots. Everybody has blind spots, and setting up the relational structures to heal not only makes the process easier, but also more honest.

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

Yes, I love working with others. There is both an abundance and scarcity of information about wellness on the internet, right now. Self-study and experimentation are important, but it helps to cut through the chaff, which is ever-growing. Working intimately with a practitioner can bring you very far. If you find someone with a wealth of knowledge, rigor, and experience, who resonates and clicks with you, that relationship is invaluable.

Neurofeedback has been a big needle-mover for me over the last few years. I have basic training and regularly do sessions on myself. I trust TCM and acupuncture and have benefited a lot from them. Right now, I’m also exploring myofunctional therapy and PRI. One practitioner I trust deeply is Stephen Trush.

How do you reset?

My resets are stupidly simple. A shower, a walk, and tidying the house can improve most situations. They won’t fix everything, but I find that I’m able to shift states more easily. It feels like a cheat-code to cleanse your scalp and take a piping-hot shower. It’s just so effective. Scrubbing away dead skin feels like scrubbing away mental “dirt,” and a clean body creates a tabula rasa.

If I need something stronger, I go for more active movement: dance, sweat, sauna, rowing, and biking. I am very fond of walking through the royal zoo in Amsterdam and the Dutch dunes.

When do you feel the most nourished?

I feel nourished with liquids: teas, liqueur cordials, broths, elixirs, and stews. There is something deeply alchemical in the liquid extraction of flavor, minerals, alkaloids, and the essences of herbs, flowers, meats, and vegetable matter. Drinking something warm, simmered and condensed over a few hours, is like ingesting a life-giving potion.

What types of foods are you typically drawn towards? Do you have a favorite meal?

My favorite meal is a meal with rice and beans. It’s humble and grounding, and I think that whatever was most comforting to you as a child will always anchor and warm you more than anything else. I ate a lot of arroz congrí growing up. Rice and beans with avocado and plantains, plus pork and eggs, feels like inner peace. Feijoada is similarly up there. Cassoulet.

I also love cheese. Cheese is a meal. I’m obsessed with Gouda-style goat cheese with fenugreek seeds. Many Dutch people drink a carton of milk for lunch and call it a day. If they can do that, then I can eat a block of cheese for lunch. Isn’t cheese portable milk? I love cheese so much that, as a child, I used to tell people I wanted to be buried with a piece of cheese. I read too many books about ancient Egypt and thought I’d one day be buried pharaoh-style, with little treasures for the afterlife.

Root vegetables are captivating me, lately. Taro and parsnips. Mandarins, ham, sardines, olive oil, goat dairy, and coconut products also make up a large part of my diet. I also love ethnic grocery stores and trying new foods I can’t pronounce. Novelty is part of nourishment for me.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Put far less trust in people, and far more trust in God. Doing many imperfect things is worth more than waiting to do one thing perfectly. Sleep earlier. Always create.

You are cared for and loved in ways you cannot see or understand. All your dreams will come true.

To the person reading this?

Keep what works for you. Let go of what doesn’t. Don’t let self-improvement become another form of stress. Trends and dogma are not that important. Someone else’s idea of how you should live is not important. If you ever feel stuck, take the step and connect with a person you feel you could trust.

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

I would love to see health that feels human and intentional again. Slow-burn embodiment and daily rituals.

I’m creating a community for people who want to work unhurriedly and relationally on their nourishment. People who are seeking relief from protocol and product overload, who want to become re-enchanted with everyday life and forgotten practices, are welcome to my Substack.