Lili Barbery-Coulon was beauty editor at Vogue for 8 years, then at M le magazine du Monde before making a radical life change. Today, creator of the wellness blog Lilibarbery.com, Kundalini Yoga teacher, mom and author of a brand new book "La réconciliation" published by Editions Marabout, Lili is an exceptional, true, whole and generous woman who inspires us, a lot.
She's been by our side since the beginning of the adventure, and it's thanks to her in particular that On The Wild Side has come such a long way.
She kindly agreed to tell us about her journey and her philosophy of life, which we adore and admire.
The first time you said to yourself "I want to change my life"?
I don't remember a first time. I think I've always been on an existential quest. I started working full time at a very early age, unlike some of my friends who went on to further their studies abroad or in France. I quickly realized that the environment in which I was evolving professionally didn't suit me. But as I didn't know what I wanted, I wanted to change without knowing which direction to go in. As a result, I tried many different things without really going all the way. The more the years went by, the greater the pressure became: I felt I needed to leave my job as a journalist, while at the same time being terrified by my own doubts: why leave a job that satisfied me in so many ways, without knowing the path I wanted to take?
What part of yourself have you discovered through Kundalini Yoga?
From the very first class - and let me be clear, it doesn't do this to every student - I felt a simple joy that I hadn't connected with in a long time. I was neither sad by nature nor at the end of my rope emotionally. However, there was clearly a light inside me that had just been rekindled. The music, the postures, the body movement, the meditation, the chanting... I was transported and had no time to think for an hour and a half. It was the first time this had happened to me, or at least that I'd noticed it!
Is your book "La Réconciliation" a way of sharing your experience? A form of therapy? all at once?
I don't think the book is the end of the story, because I feel I'm still on the road, and I don't think I'll ever be done learning. This book was born of an urgency: to share the story of a little over three years during which I underwent a radical metamorphosis. From disarray to reconciliation with every part of myself. It wasn't the book that helped me to heal, but I had the intuition, despite my resistance, that I absolutely had to deliver this story, to share it so as to enable other people going through the same lack of self-esteem to believe that there is another possible path: that of self-love.
When was the last time you were moved?
I'm moved from morning to night. I laugh easily; I also cry very easily. Even more today than before, but not necessarily from sadness. A few days ago, I saw a video of Jean-Louis Trintignant that really moved me. He talked about the relief he found in performing on stage, how he could forget that he was blind. It really moved me.
Your latest favorite?
The book "Pour Une Révolution Délicieuse" by chef Olivier Roellinger (Editions Fayard). Everyone should read this manifesto for eating well, adults and teenagers alike. It's time to wake up!
Any advice for women who want to take the plunge and change their lives?
I don't think anyone wants to jump without a parachute. Our survival instinct pushes us to step back when the risk is too great. Yet sometimes there's a voice inside us, whispering and insisting, ordering us to change direction, to leave a world or habits that no longer suit us... What if we listened to this voice? What if we trusted our deepest intuition, the one that immediately senses what's good for us? And what if we started listening to our body, which never lies to us and knows how to remind us when we want to ignore it? Our intuition is fantastic because it has resources and solutions that the mind can't imagine. By sticking to this thread, we end up finding the keys we need to unlock what seemed closed. So I tell them: trust yourself! You have unlimited transformative power, but you've probably been taught to believe otherwise.