Wellness Practitioner Eve Daher Kinsella of Gentle Being
Around 2018, after years of health struggles, Eve Daher Kinsella felt compelled to answer a calling she had felt for years. As a mother of two young sons with a shifting and stressful career, Kinsella felt as though a major change was needed. What ensued next were years of personal and creative study in alternative medicine, nutrition, and spirituality. Kinsella found that she not only had begun to heal herself in ways traditional medicine couldn’t, she was also spiritually connecting to another realm that she would access later as the Akashic Records. Never heard of that? Neither had we.
This path led her to start a skincare line and spirituality practice she now calls Gentle Being. After personally sampling her incredible All Balm and witnessing an invigorating soul reading, Kinsella chatted with us about how she landed on this career shift and where her spirit guides are leading her next.
Tell me a little about your background. Where did you grow up? What course of study brought you to where you are now?
I grew up in St. Louis as an only child of two artist parents. They were progressive thinkers in a lot of areas of life which influenced me deeply. I was exposed to a variety of healthy living practices—alternative medicine, yoga, meditation, energy work—as well as ideas on spirituality outside of the lens of organized religion. It felt unique and deeply nourishing.
I’ve always been a dreamer and creativity naturally inspired me. After high school, I went to art school in Chicago, got a degree in photography, then moved straight to New York for an internship working under a photography editor at a Condé Nast fashion magazine. I then assisted independent photographers in New York, and it became clear to me that although I loved the medium, I wanted to create the ideas behind the imagery—the visual ideas as well as the conceptual storytelling. The 2008 recession made living in New York challenging so I moved back home to St. Louis to make that pivot towards art direction.
I landed a job at a St. Louis-based corporation within their in-house creative team. It was within the fashion world, and while there I did design and art direction on the brand marketing for a variety of their lines.
In 2018, I stopped working full-time to focus on my then two-year-old son and also on healing my body. I had been struggling with chronic illness for a very long time and had largely been pushing it to the back burner when nothing I had tried (and I tried almost everything) helped me feel better. Eventually, I hit a wall and was forced to stop and address my health seriously.
My husband and I now have two young boys and I am incredibly lucky to say that I have largely healed my body, and feel better than I have since childhood. In my healing journey, I’ve unearthed passions that deeply support and inspire me and I’m driven to share those in support of others as well.
How did Gentle Being come to be? How did you decide to combine skincare and soul readings?
The knowledge, practices and inspiration I gained while on my journey to heal from chronic illness is what directly led me to create Gentle Being. The lifestyle and topics that I was exposed to in my childhood laid the foundation for my interest in alternative health and wellness, herbal remedies, a more natural way of living as well as spiritual, intuitive and energetic modalities—and it was when I investigated these themes more deeply, as I sought new ways to heal as an adult, that things really came together for me.
From childhood, I had severe food allergies and digestive disorders that caused chronic pain. As I aged, these conditions and symptoms became worse and new ailments arose. I intuitively knew that the conditions within my body were interconnected, but no expert I spoke with could give me answers. I had been searching for solutions and tried a variety of approaches from allopathic doctors and medications as well as alternative practitioners and holistic treatments. The traditional approaches largely didn’t help me, and it became clear that a lot of those treatments left my body in worse shape.
In 2018 I felt like things within my health were really crashing down—I was in my mid-30s, with a family, trying to make it through my days with intense adrenal fatigue and exhaustion, chronic and sometimes debilitating intestinal pain and inflammation and raging headaches.
I recognized that my body was giving me a wake-up call, so I plead with the Universe to show me what to do next. I was determined to take my healing into my own hands, making it my mission to investigate and try new solutions to truly heal, not simply sustain. I also knew from my previous experiences that what I needed was going to be found outside of traditional medicine.
“I now believe that My Guides were leading me through each of these steps to what would help heal me and to discover my purpose.”
Eve Daher Kinsella, Gentle Being
There were a few really impactful things I did as a part of my healing process that led me to create Gentle Being. First, I adopted a completely natural lifestyle for myself and my family. It was a process of elimination to make sure I wasn’t adding any toxic burdens into my system that could potentially play a part in my illness—all mysterious or unknown ingredients were out. This applied to our body care products, cleaning and laundry supplies, scents we used, our food etc.
I also ended up being led to adopt a very specific and nuanced plant-based, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, caffeine and alcohol-free diet, with the help of a holistic nutritionist, and it changed everything for me. Shifting what I ate, what I came into contact with, and put onto my body—all that I absorbed—was pivotal. I began healing very quickly. I could feel and see huge changes in my health which were incredibly moving after about 30 years of searching for help.
Alongside making these physical shifts to heal my body, I had begun thinking about the emotions that could be adding stress to my body, and manifesting in physical dysfunction. The mind-body connection and how our conscious and subconscious minds and beliefs impact our reality is fascinating to me. I did a lot of self-discovery and some energy work, which led me to start thinking about spirituality and the unseen world more deeply. Through this inner work and the spirituality practices I engaged with, I shifted some core beliefs and started to view myself and my body differently. Addressing these emotional/energetic components noticeably pushed my healing even further.
The discomfort in my body have now improved about 80-90% already and I am still continuing to heal. I am sensitively connected with my body, Soul and energy. I’m honestly brought to tears with relief in thinking about what I used to feel like and how much I have healed. It’s an incredible blessing that came about from listening to and following my intuition.
The face and body balm I make and now sell as a part of Gentle Being, All Balm, was created during this journey as I became more fascinated with natural products, particularly skincare. I’d had a longtime interest in beauty and body care and was trying to aid my skin in conjunction with aiding my body internally. Once I went completely natural with the products I used on myself and my family I started falling in love with specific ingredients that worked well for me.
I had acne as a symptom of my body trying to purge toxins from within, so I wanted to create something that could be used to hydrate my skin daily, soothe and promote healing in my skin where it was broken or scarred. All Balm is my ultra-nourishing face and body balm that I created out of this need. I started sharing it with family and friends and then had requests from others who wanted to try it so I started selling it. It’s perfect for dry skin of any kind, as well as scrapes, cuts, and other skin concerns. I love it because it is multi-purpose and can be used all over the body to hydrate, as a balm cleanser, to treat problem areas, and it’s made for people of all ages. Self-love and self-care mean a great deal to me.
On the spirituality side of my healing process, the practices of engaging with my intuition and my intuitive gifts have been utterly transforming and have become a huge passion for me as well. Not long after actively working with intuitive practices, mainly reading The Akashic Records, I began receiving guidance that I should share these abilities I possess with others. I became very excited about this because of how much Soul connecting information I receive and integrate into my life through pursuing this practice in particular. So, I decided to create Soul Readings, which are sessions I offer to utilize The Akashic Records and my intuitive and mediumship gifts.
At the core of this work is self-discovery for greater alignment and flow. These readings are an extension of my heart. I’m absolutely elated to get to help others engage with their authentic self—their soul energy—and their spiritual/energetic guides. It has been an incredibly moving experience for those I have read for and for me as well. Once you are able to begin uncovering the layers to connect with who you are in your truest form and align with that version of yourself—even in small steps—everything in life flows with greater ease. The weights that keep us hidden from ourselves or from showing our essence to the world get lifted in that alignment, and that is incredibly beautiful.
All of this is to say, that passion and enthusiasm found within my own path of growth is what sparked Gentle Being. I think that engaging with the earth, supporting our bodies through the use of nature, connecting our energy to what lies beyond and opening our minds to those concepts—that interconnectedness—really struck me. It felt natural for me to combine the things that have brought me solace and joy—merging All Balm, which promotes self-love through self-care, along with Soul Readings, a practice of guidance for greater self-acceptance through inner discovery.
Can you explain what the Akashic Records are and how you became connected with them? When and how were you called to do this kind of intuitive work?
I’d noticed pops of my intuitive nature throughout my life—occasional prophetic dreams or speaking with loved ones who had passed within dreams, and also my being incredibly sensitive and empathic to people and my surroundings—picking up on the feelings and energies I’m near and having strong gut reactions. I’ve always been the kind of person philosophizing—searching for answers and a deeper understanding of my own life and life in general. This is probably why I loved getting readings from intuitives for life guidance when I didn’t know how to access that information directly. I’d never realized that I could learn how to directly tap in or access my own intuition daily and harness that ability for myself.
When I dove deeper into spirituality during my time healing, I started exercising my intuition more—asking the Universe for help, and trying to communicate directly with my Spirit Guides and Angels. I started noticing symbols and synchronicities pop up. Then communication and information were shared in my dreams more regularly, so I knew I was beginning to communicate and access a spiritual connection in some form with greater strength.
I had heard the term “The Akashic Records” a few times as I followed different people doing this kind of spiritual work, and it really intrigued me. The Akashic Records can be defined as an energetic space that houses the history of every thought, experience, emotion and interaction of every Soul, animal and place—past, present, and future. The Akashic Records can be accessed by aligning your energetic frequency with the vibration of The Records—then, the information you desire to seek knowledge on can be received. It’s kind of like tuning your energy to the station of The Akashic Records space as you would tune into a radio frequency. From my perspective, our Souls animate our body with energy, and the energy of our experiences, feelings, and traits live within the Soul’s energy body. The Akashic Records are a space for this energy to be housed and in aligning our energy with them, it’s as if a door is opened for our more physical, conscious minds to retrieve and delve into our Soul’s make-up.
The idea of this energetic library, containing the rich history of our lives that we all can seek guidance from was amazing, and the more I learned about it, the more I wanted to experience it. I felt so called to it, that I decided to take a course to learn how to access The Records for myself.
Almost immediately, information came flooding in within my Soul’s Akashic Records. I felt like finding this specific modality that resonated deeply with me allowed my intuitive gifts to soar. I began receiving information through clairaudience, clairvoyance, clairsentience and claircognizance. Recognizing and trusting my abilities in this space allowed me to further understand that these “clair” gifts had been there all along, I simply didn’t understand how to engage with them or believe that I could. So now, I receive messages in my daily life outside of The Akashic Records as well, though accessing The Records really allows the guidance to come through with even more direct clarity and flow for me.
After reading my own Records for a while, I began being told by my Guides that I should share this practice and read for others. This elated me. I was nervous at first as I hadn’t adopted the practice with this intention in mind, but as my abilities grew, I saw how applying the guidance I received in this space made my life fall into more alignment and ease, and I very passionately wanted to share this transformational experience and serve others in doing so.
Has anything ever come through in a reading that you didn’t feel comfortable sharing? And, do you ever get overwhelmed by the amount of information coming through?
There has been information that’s surfaced in readings that has been difficult to share, yes, though, I have always shared it regardless, believing that it is my ethical responsibility to do so with the consent of being in communication with another person’s Soul energy. I share whatever comes through, as it is their personal information to have and not my own. When learning how to read The Akashic Records, this point was highlighted—that I am a guide and a translator, and the information that is given within The Records is there to serve the person being read. Even the information that is potentially harder to hear will only come through to a person at a given time if they are ready and equipped to learn it.
I love this because our Soul energy and our Guides will never harm us, there is only loving energy to be accessed here. So, if someone isn’t able to face something yet, it won’t come up, and from what I have seen with my own clients, even the more difficult or possibly painful information brings great relief and resonance through validation and a strong inner knowing.
For example, I had a client recently who had a strong fear of fire but didn’t have any particular incident with it in her life that should have made this fear stand out compared to others, yet it did. We learned in her Soul Reading that she had past life history with fire that made it particularly fearful for her, as well as an ancestral history of death by fire specifically related to the Holocaust, and this emotional trauma passed down through their family’s bloodline. Learning this was validating for her because she could finally understand why this was coming up in her current life without any seemingly direct provocation, and I think it will lessen the hold that this fear has over her. Also, her more distant family lineage was a bit unclear to her, so hearing the confirmation that some of her ancestors were indeed victims of the Holocaust was clarifying for her as well.
As difficult topics are at times explored within readings along with a bounty of more positive themes, I have found that the difficult information is often discussed with so much love and encouraging support from the client’s energetic Guides, that there is great comfort and satisfaction in what is learned.
There is quite a lot of information that flows through in my readings, though I can say that it hasn’t felt overwhelming for me. I feel like I plug into the energetic space as a channel and therefore the information moves in and through me at a pace that can be quick but that my energy keeps up with very fluidly. It’s quite magical and often invigorating for me actually!
What are some common misconceptions people may have about a soul reading? And how is a reading with you different than a psychic or astrologer?
While a lot of intuitive practices can have some overlap in the sense that they aim to provide guidance and insights on a personal level, there is a lot of variation in modalities. Compared to astrology for example which is more systematic and derives information from the planetary alignment within your birth chart—Soul Readings are very free-flowing and less fixed you could say. In a Soul Reading, similar to a psychic or other intuitive readings, I tap into your energy using my intuitive gifts to relay the information that comes forward. However, what I find to be very special about Soul Readings and The Akashic Records, is that it is an endless wealth of information and guidance that can be investigated in a self-led way, again setting it apart from some other spiritual practices. Meaning, if you have a reading with me, you get to choose the topics and themes to explore and ask the questions that you seek knowledge on, whether it’s about your current life, memories, past lives, guidance for the future, about your relationships, career or family, or you can simply choose to see what flows in for the moment. There is so much to uncover from session to session.
I also like to emphasize that with Soul Readings, as with anything else—you have complete autonomy in your life choices. So, I always note that the guidance and information that comes through will help you through increased clarity, self-discovery and ease in greater alignment in your current path, and there are often very specific details given as well as a broader commentary. That said, you make your own decisions and the way your path unfolds isn’t written in stone. That may be a bit different than how some psychics portray things at times. There are life lessons that present themselves and people meant for you to come across for certain experiences and exchanges, but ultimately, you have the power to adjust and change of your own desire, which is incredibly beautiful. Soul Readings and my intuitive practices are very empowering for people in that way.
I like to mention that there are no negative or dark energies in Soul Readings. My intuitive guidance and The Akashic Records are a safe space where we are working with your own Soul energy—or your authentic/highest self—as well as any energetic guides who present themselves or are invited in with love. This could include Spirit Guides, the spirits of passed loved ones and ancestors, spirit babies, Angels—only those with loving intentions of support.
In addition to the insights and guidance presented, very specific tools and easy-to-implement practices usually come through for the client. In the world of spirituality we can often be given big-picture advice, but be left without those more attainable steps to make a change. The fact that tips on things like simple breathing exercises, energy practices, food choices, and activities to partake in that can all aid the person in the exact moment of life they’re in currently, is so helpful. It feels important to have those actionable steps to utilize, specifically catered to their needs from their Guides and Highest Self.
I’m passionate about an intentional and conscious lifestyle and I know you are too. What excites you about being more in touch with yourself, the earth, other people and simply living a more thoughtful life?
I feel like it’s such a positive chain reaction in finding authentic alignment. It all starts with the self and ripples out. When we uncover and align with our own authenticity by being intentional and conscious about our life choices, following our joys and our passions more readily, we find more flow. In greater flow, we have the ability to begin to cultivate more awareness and interest in the world we live in—to show greater respect for and utilize this planet and its natural resources with more responsibility, and in the people and animals, we coexist with.
This interconnectedness starts from seeking within, then emanates out in our emotions, energy and actions—bringing us closer to our own truth and the universal truth of oneness. This is so important as it shifts our perspectives and bridges the divide of polarity and separateness we so easily find ourselves participating in. I think that is something we all need to work on, myself included, and in doing so—we find greater peace and greater prosperity on a personal and global level.
This can sound philosophical, but in an accessible way, when we make more conscious choices that resonate with our beliefs and desires, we feel so good! When we feel better, we are easily kinder, more enthusiastic, energetic and more loving—the ripple continues. Who wouldn’t want more of that in their life?
You mentioned that you have two sons. What has surprised you about motherhood? How has having them influenced the work you do?
So much—what a transformation it is becoming a mother and riding the waves of parenting! It is the greatest, most meaningful gift and undoubtedly what I cherish most in my life, and also of course the most difficult, and there is such beauty in that.
I passionately feel that parents are given this incredible and very necessary opportunity to work on themselves through having children, and this is something that most of us are completely unprepared for and unaware of going into it. This realization through my own experience is probably what has surprised me the most in an overarching way. It’s far too easy to act from versions of ourselves that we don’t want to surface or never even expected to witness within the incredible stretches of exhaustion, the daily stress, and moments of heightened emotions that we experience raising children.
Parenting within all of its love and joy can be triggering and difficult and I’ve seen my inner child’s wounds and shadow bubble up more than I would like. So, I’ve chosen to view it as this unexpected opportunity to recognize these parts of myself and to do self-work—to aim to address my inner wounds and to try to do so with self-love and an understanding that we all have things to address in order to be the parents we strive to be. I most definitely don’t always succeed in that, but I’m learning to look at it as this gift to grow along with my children and to teach them with compassion, empathy and also with an appropriate level of rawness and honesty in seeing my humanness, as I am sensitive, emotional, and have my ups and downs just like they do.
That viewpoint on self-work combined with self-love very much impacts the work I do. I hold space for people to look within, to aim to alter what holds them back or hurts within their lives and their beings while encouraging them to love themselves through that process—because we all have our own “stuff” and that shouldn’t make us unlovable to anyone or to ourselves. That is very much what I aim to impart to my children as well—to guide them in embodying and giving love and striving to act from their highest selves.
We chatted a bit about your amazing All Balm. Do you have any other products in the works that you can tell us about?
Yes, I have been testing an all-purpose face and body oil that I adore and have gotten enthusiastic responses from friends and family on. So, I’ll be working on packaging and production on that soon.
I’ve also been working on ideas for a few other complementary products that would support and work alongside All Balm and the all-purpose oil—skincare staples that I use in my daily routine and would like to create with my own customized blend of ingredients I’m attracted to. I hope to expand Gentle Being’s line to include a few more products so the line as a whole provides a full daily skincare routine that is simple, effective, natural and holistically minded.
Gentle Being’s branding is so simple and beautiful. How would you describe your personal and brand aesthetics?
I really appreciate that, thank you. Aesthetics have always played such a large role in my enjoyment of things and I very much love creating a holistic branding experience in my work.
There are so many influences for me, but what I always seem to gravitate towards is modern simplicity infused with a nod to the past. I really love a somewhat minimalist take that is still layered with the richness of something with roots and depth. In my own style, and what I have also brought visually into Gentle Being, is this mix of bold minimalism and this free-spirited air of the natural and ethereal worlds.
So that comes in through the heavier, sans serif font for Gentle Being’s logo, paired with a somewhat retro-looking monospaced secondary font, alongside the palette and imagery that feels a bit “1960-70s earthy” in hue and color treatment—and it’s all wrapped together with some richer details in texture at times but also a lot of simplicity in composition and execution. I lean towards photography that feels like it beautifully captures a moment in a somewhat off-the-cuff way—more documentary in style and intimate—so I make sure that nothing feels overly perfect in the way it is expressed while still looking cohesive and thoughtful. I enjoy the juxtaposition of all of these elements combined.
Gentle Being is very much an extension of me within its own container, so I have infused myself into the branding and imagery visually. Sitting alongside the personal anecdotes and experiences I speak to, I’ve been led to include self-portraits and bits of my own creative self-expression, a bit vulnerably at times. It feels important to honor my own attraction to honesty and rawness in my self-expression by showing up in this way.
Are there any intuitives, soul readers, skincare creators, or other creatives that you look to or are inspired by?
I love gathering inspiration and have been very expanded by many admirable people. I’ll share some that have been the most expansive and crucial in encouraging my interests and confidence to show up in this work, though I know I’ll be leaving out many other people who I could go on and on about as well.
I love following along with Lacy Philips of To Be Magnetic. She’s inspiring to me as she has spoken outwardly about her own journey with chronic illness and holistic lifestyle alongside her work in neural manifestation and the subconscious mind. She was a great resource for me as I began looking at new avenues for healing and started dipping a toe into self-work with her transformative process and workshops.
I also admire Lisa O’Connor of A Radiant Life. She has also healed herself from chronic illness and infuses a very holistic, integrative approach to nutrition and wellness into her work alongside deep spirituality and visual creativity. I’ve adored taking her Kundalini yoga and breath-work classes recently too—they’re incredible.
Ashley Wood of A Line Within is ever-expansive. She is the person I was introduced to The Akashic Records through and I then took her training course to learn how to read them. She is a kind, loving, incredibly authentic intuitive and spiritually aligned Soul. She expresses herself honestly and fully and is ever encouraging in her work and with her presence to guide others in the space of The Akashic Records, aligning with your intuition, exploring past lives and a myriad of deep Soul work. She is really a gift.
My sweet friend Lindsay King of LK Studio has been so supportive and inspiring to me as well. We share a lot of the same interests in inner work, energy healing, creativity, and spirituality. She also combines a mix of tools within her offerings as I do, with her stunning Angel and Chakra energy paintings, she does a workshop on altar spaces and Reiki healing. She is incredibly kind, and her offerings are layered with richness. I admire her and other women in this space who are bringing such an array of offerings to the table that are a direct extension of their passions.
And to bring it back home, Maria and Ingrid of STL Herbs and Aromatics are absolutely wonderful. Their shop in Maplewood is packed full of herbs, essential oils, herbal remedies and other products. They are a delight, and I often work with them to source ingredients for All Balm and regularly buy their bar soap and incense.
What’s some of the best advice you’ve ever been given?
What has really lifted me and pushed me forward are my husband’s words of advice and continuous encouragement. He’s always been by my side lovingly cheering me on, supporting me and remarking on how proud he is to see me pursuing my passions.
I remember very specifically something he said years ago that planted a seed of deep encouragement for me. It was when I was working at my corporate job and had been experiencing some pretty toxic dynamics there for quite some time. I was worn down, creatively unfulfilled, and I knew I wanted to pivot to do something more nourishing, meaningful and impactful, but I didn’t know what that would even look like for me at the time. I was expressing my sadness in feeling lost and stuck in this way to him and in response he said that he always could picture me doing something for myself, creating something with great purpose and drive, putting my talents and perspective to use in a unique way. He told me that even if I didn’t know what that was yet, he fully believed that I could create something important that was my own, and encouraged me to follow my joys—to try things out that excited me and to do those things simply for myself and my own enjoyment. He knew that within doing so, I might find myself in a place where I was making something with a passion that I then would share with others.
At the time I couldn’t even fathom making something hands-on or helping people through a service—though those two things were always something I yearned to do and greatly respected. I just had no clue what I would eventually create. His ability to see that within me and hold space for that vision with such loving and kind encouragement was huge. That planted a seed for me, because I greatly respect him and his own creativity, his ambition and skill within his work as an artist and creator, and his ability to run his own business with success and passion. So with him seeing this possibility, lying dormant even, within me, and believing that I could bring it into fruition, was absolutely crucial in allowing me to begin to foster that belief for myself as something more than a dream or hope alone.
What is striking to me about that advice now too, is that I have gotten very similar advice from my guides within The Akashic Records. They’ve spoken about following my joys, even in small ways, to infuse more passion and uplift my energy within my daily life and to take note of how following those sparks of joy lead me to greater alignment and prosperity. This same advice also often comes through in various forms for clients of mine from their own Guides in Soul Readings. Every time it is brought up for a client I smile a little because I’ve seen how important this has been for me, and I love how that advice is being spread to others by their energetic support teams.
Find yourself someone who can vision hold for you to do amazing things, the things you dream of, whoever that may be. During times when you can’t see it yet for yourself, or your faith ebbs and flows, that person’s ability to lend their eyes so you can see yourself in the way they do—to see the glory within you—can be so moving and provoke your ability to transform yourself in the ways you desire.
Why do you call the St. Louis-area home and what are a few things you love about it?
Part of me didn’t anticipate returning to St. Louis in my adult life because I enjoyed the adventure of experiencing other places, landscapes, and the eclectic nature of that, but a large part of me was driven to have a family in St. Louis, and be close to mine and my husband’s parents. I’ve loved witnessing the relationships my children have formed with their grandparents by us being near and seeing them often, and their support with our kids has been incredible.
St. Louis has a lot to offer to families, which is wonderful. As a creative person, it’s been amazing to see all of the small business and creative community that has sprung up, particularly over the last decade. I’m privileged to be friends with some of the wonderful shop owners of businesses I love frequenting. We enjoy the remarkable restaurants here and that small-town community that lives within this larger city of ours.
What are your future plans for Gentle Being?
I was recently certified in Reiki energy healing so I’m crafting ways that I want to incorporate that healing modality into my offerings within Gentle Being. The Soul Readings in The Akashic Records I view as Soul healing support, and All Balm addresses the physical body’s healing—so adding Reiki to support healing through the energy body will be a wonderful addition.
All photography by Eve Daher Kinsella.
Learn more about Eve on her website gentlebeing.co.