Peta Kelly (@petajean_) is a mother, author, investor, and the creator of Body Luxury — both a European wellness philosophy and the title of her latest book, out now.
#88: Peta Kelly
Leo/Cancer/Gemini
Australia
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
When I think of the word “health” I think of the old food pyramid or outdated government advice. The world has “health” all topsy turvy. We’re taught to suppress our symptoms and “fight” illness. People go to the doctor for a five-minute consult and the symptom is treated in isolation without connecting the dots between the person’s psyche, their lives, their emotional burdens. I understand health differently. Symptoms are our bodies adapting and resolving. So, I don’t believe health is a total absence of symptoms.
For me, true vitality is living with vibrancy and energy most of the time, and not freaking out when the body needs to rest, or when a symptom is trying to tell us something. It’s knowing that our bodies are designed for life, and have inbuilt mechanisms to always restore life. I believe this faith and connection with the way we were created is important for health.
I always ask, what comes first, the vibrant body or the vibrant life? Our life, our minds, our emotional patterns — they are just as important to our vitality as what we eat and how we move.
In sum, being vital is having the internal resources to live how you are called to live, to create without exhaustion, to be there for the people we love, and to be well enough to notice beauty.
There’s that old proverb, “When you have your health you have 1000 dreams, when you don’t have your health, you only have one.”
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
I’d describe it as Body Luxury meets busy motherhood — it’s very real! We live a sunny, family and home-centered life. I have three young kids and I’m still breastfeeding night and day, so my entire life is my wellness routine. It’s not about a 136-step wellness routine, it’s more about standards, and values, and a whole-life approach. “High standards x carefree” is my motto.
I use the term Body Luxury, which I realize you may not be familiar with — it’s a European x Australian wellbeing philosophy I have pieced together over the years. It’s where the wellness girlies learn to mature into a more relaxed vitality.
My philosophy has evolved a lot over the years, and it’s the result of my background in health science, being an athlete, building an enormous wellbeing organization, but also struggling with eating disorders and obsession when I was young (something too many in my generation have experienced).
How do you start and end your days?
Start: wake up (kids always awake with me usually!), and try to go outside in the sun right away. Maybe have a little boogie on the rebounder or I head out for a walk at the beach, headphones in — I call it my prayer walk. It is one small thing that is very valuable to my mind, my body, my day and also my home. Sometimes one of my kids comes on the bike, but it’s my moment to set the tone for the day.
End: laying beside my kids, little red reading lamp on, reading a book. We have the family bio mat on, a red light, and I either do legs up the wall or we take turns on my little leg rocker for lymph. It’s a simple family wind down routine. I don’t typically do anything after the kids go to bed — I go to bed with them. I usually fall asleep right after reading, and I try to imagine beautiful things as I do — my mental prayers.
Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?
I have always been aware of my health — truly. My whole life. I had health anxiety as a child, and I still don’t know where it came from as my family have all been very healthy. I was a hyper vigilant child, so it was probably just an offshoot of that. I played a lot of sports, including elite soccer, and then I went to University to study exercise and health science and write research for my honors degree. I then left the science world and built a large wellness organization which taught me a lot about Eastern philosophies meets the West.
I have been through all the phases: body competitions, veganism, ultra crunchy...
Then I became a mum and I really wanted to scrap any remaining “crap” or obsession around food so my children didn’t inherit it.
I’d say one of the biggest influences ever when it comes to my philosophy has been living in Italy. We own a 60-acre organic farm there, and learning the culture, and how much beauty and togetherness matters for wellbeing, especially for women, was life changing for me.
I really felt very moulded by time in Italy. I learned a new kind of femininity and vitality that I could only learn from immersion.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
I believe God created us with self-healing mechanisms that are truly mind-blowing. I understand German New Medicine, as well as homeopathy, but I also understand the use of our imaginations when it comes to vitality. A big part of my philosophy is that our perception of ourselves matters more than what we eat.
I believe our body is always working towards balance, but we have to participate by understanding how we were truly created — for example, the biological laws, and the vital force and how our mind influences our physiology. I have loved studying, with a doctor, what it means to truly live biologically as women and I believe understanding a woman’s biology is important for vitality maxing.
Do you work with any practitioners, texts, or modalities on a regular basis?
Hmm...I have seen a chiropractor regularly for over a decade. I see a homeopath and I check in with German New Medicine friends/experts when I need support understanding a symptom and its conflict. I read the Bible, and many different interpretations of it, and wow…the wisdom, especially with regards to the body and living well! I love reading about the saints like Hildegard of Bingen too, who knew so much about our bodies long before science did.
A big part of my philosophy is that our perception of ourselves matters more than what we eat.
I love reading about the mind — the imagination — and gosh...I could not even begin to share the crazy variety of my stack. I have about 50 books at any time by my bed and I rotate through them like a mad girl. I am so, so curious.
How do you reset?
It can be a quick 20-minute sauna in the afternoon before I make dinner, my morning walk, movie night at home on Fridays with my kids, date lunch with my hubs, a good coffee catch up/playdate with a friend and her kids, and my nighttime reading.
When do you feel the most nourished?
I am very much a creature of comfort, but that being said I love variety and being in new places. I thrive most when I am in routine and have my family in a good routine; my days are active and full of good things but not overwhelming. I’m working out, moving my body, have time to write/create, social time with people I love… Honestly, I am most nourished in my regular routine with my family at home + time to create + move my body.
What foods are you typically drawn towards?
I am a Mediterranean kinda gal. I love fruit and fish and sourdough with butter and jam. I love delicious Thai food and the chicken risotto I make my family at least once a week. I love Pho too, gelatinous goodness. I am a big hot drink gal. A morning mocha with gelatin and an afternoon cacao before I write.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I would tell her that she will be so free one day. She always wondered if she would be, I’d tell her that she is.
To the person reading this?
Gosh, I don’t know! Don’t spend your entire life trying to perfect your wellness routine — live your life. Your most honest, vibrant life will change your body.
What would you like to see or create more of in the world?
People creating beautiful art, not just content for socials...less time on screens being manipulated by endless propaganda...more togetherness and less screen time...more long table lunches with your family for no reason at all other than you are blessed and you want to celebrate that. So many just yell into their screens these days and they’re missing the whole point, especially when they have little kids who need them to be regulated, and not endlessly spiraling.
Beauty is my favorite place to meet God and I believe if people looked for beauty more and outrage less, they’d become a lot more well.
so wholesome to read <3
Such a beautiful share, Peta ❤️