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December 2025
- Dec 18, 2025
- 7 min read
Renée Mifsud
Beauty of the Month
Our final 2025 Beauty of the Month is Renée Mifsud! We are so grateful to share Renée’s story with you—we’ve been connected on Instagram for a few years now, so it feels especially meaningful to feature her work. Renée is a spiritual guide and community builder whose work blends mind, body, and heart in a grounded, soulful way. Her perspective beautifully shows us how slowing down and living with integrity can be a powerful act of healing, for ourselves and for the world around us.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF RENÉE MIFSUD, interviewed by Beyond Beauty Project
"Being 'different' wasn't something to fix, it was my gift."
Renée Mifsud is a spiritual guide and founder of Ritual of Heart and Seva Sit, a community space for truth, resilience, and collective healing. With a background in mechanical engineering and years of study in herbalism, dreamwork, yoga, and energy medicine, Renée bridges the practical and the mystical through embodied teaching and lived experience. Her work centers on self-trust, emotional intelligence, and the wisdom of the heart as a compass for living an aligned and liberated life. Rooted in earth-based values and restorative justice, she invites others to slow down, listen inwardly, and live in integrity with themselves and the world around them.
How did you break out of the box of perfectionism?
Renée Misfud: I broke out of the box of perfectionism when I realized that being “different” wasn’t something to fix, it was my gift. Although it was very challenging growing up as the “different one” (and not falling into my surrounding cultural conditioning), this later became my superpower as an adult.
Because I didn’t fit into my environment, I became highly sensitive to energy and learned how to protect myself. This was far outside the norms of the small Midwestern, conservative, and religious community I grew up in.
Nobody spoke of energy, and at the time, I didn’t realize I was developing intuitive skills that would later shape my work and life. I was so used to carving my own path and living differently that this naturally continued into my adulthood—I just kept doing my own thing, unconcerned with what others thought.
I refused to compromise myself just to be “liked,” and I didn’t become a product of my environment. I was a fish out of water, but somehow I knew there was another way to live, even if I hadn’t seen it yet. I focused on what I could control: who I surrounded myself with and how I nourished my body. From the age of ten, I made my health a priority.
In a small Midwestern town filled mostly with fast food restaurants, I couldn’t stand the food. Thankfully, my mother made homemade meals almost daily, which gave me a strong foundation. I became intentional about what I ate because I sensed that staying healthy would give me more autonomy and keep me from having to rely on the Western medical system I didn’t trust. At that time, there were no alternative medicine options around me—only my inner knowing that food was medicine.
What advice would you give your younger self about the pressure to be perfect?
Renée: I would give my younger self advice on the pressure to have it all figured out, especially when it comes to career and purpose. Some people are blessed with early clarity about what they want to do, but I’ve learned that this idea of having one fixed “calling” is an illusion of capitalism and a colonized mindset that defines success through productivity and status. The truth is, the path unfolds as you walk it.
I’d tell my younger self that every chapter inspired by curiosity or passion is never a waste, it all adds up. A winding path doesn’t mean you’re lost; it means you’re multidimensional. I learned this through my experience in Mechanical Engineering. I chose it because I loved helping my dad with hands-on projects and thought I’d be creating and building things. Instead, I found myself immersed in theoretical equations and one of the only women in a program that was over 98% male. It demanded discipline, humility, and a level of perseverance I didn’t know I had.
That experience taught me that success isn’t about getting straight A’s or having the perfect plan: it’s about finishing what you start, trusting your resilience, and letting your path reveal itself over time. Since finishing that degree, I’ve worked and studied across many fields — design, trend forecasting, color, yoga, herbalism, dreamwork, postpartum doula work, sacred plant medicine ceremony, energy, and multiple healing arts. Every piece has led me to where I am now, and I’m deeply grateful for all of it.
"The truth is, the path unfolds as you walk it. "
How has your perception of beauty and success changed over the years?
Renée: My perception of success has completely transformed. I used to believe it was about achievement, productivity, and wealth, but now I see it as coherence between my inner and outer world. Success to me is integrity.
Abundance comes in many forms. I’m grateful for the simple things we are privileged to have access to, like pure water and organic foods. It’s about slow, conscious parenting (I’m a mother). It’s living in a way that feels aligned with truth, care, and presence: even when no one is watching.
I’ve learned that beauty and success both emerge from authenticity. Beauty isn’t about appearance; it’s an energy, a frequency. It’s the quiet radiance that comes when you’re rooted in who you are, when your nervous system is calm, and when your actions reflect your values.
For me, beauty and success now look like tending to my relationships with the same devotion I give to my work. It looks like rest, self-trust, and creating with intention instead of urgency. It’s living cyclically — as a woman — honoring the seasons of creativity, stillness, and growth as equally sacred. The world once taught me that success was linear, but I’ve learned it’s actually spiral-shaped. Each cycle brings a new layer of depth, wisdom, and grace.
What helps you live authentically?
Renée: I remind myself to feel and follow what my body and intuition are telling me: to not look around at what others are doing. When I was young, this was ingrained in me because I never quite fit into my surroundings, and I couldn’t force myself to. That early difference became my compass. Now, when I create or make decisions, I move from the inside out. My reference points live within, not in comparison to others. Living this way keeps me connected to truth, integrity, and the quiet wisdom of my own heart.
"Beauty isn’t about appearance; it’s an energy, a frequency."
How do you practice self-love?
Renée: I practice self-love through my inner dialogue. My self-talk is gentle and supportive… I whisper to myself, “It’s okay.” I try to be my own kind, loving mother when I need it most.
I also gift myself my yoga practice. Sometimes it’s hard when I’m in a deep, dark place in my evolution, but I show up anyway because I know yoga will bring me back. Even if I can’t make it through the whole class, and end up crying on my mat, I know I’m moving energy. I remind myself that discomfort is temporary and that the only way out is through.
Being surrounded by wilderness is also deeply healing for me. I feel most held when I’m in nature, it helps me regulate, remember, and reconnect. Loving myself often looks like making time to be outside, to breathe, to listen, and to be part of something larger than me. I also reach out for help when I need it.
While I do much of my healing work in solitude, I’m not afraid to be transparent with a trusted friend and community. For me, self-love is the ongoing practice of meeting myself — exactly as I am — with tenderness, truth, and trust in the process.
What are ways you honor your body?
Renée: I honor my body through consistency, purity, and deep listening. I drink plenty of raw spring water and use high trace-mineral salts and herbal teas daily. I don’t drink coffee and very rarely drink alcohol. I rely on herbal medicine and avoid Western medicine unless it’s truly an emergency.
I nourish myself with pure, organic foods from small farms, ideally regenerative and local when possible. I hold deep gratitude for this and recognize it as a privilege. My food and water are my luxuries in life. Movement is a daily ritual for me: yoga, afrodance, walks, stretching, and movement medicine that keep me in tune with my body’s rhythm.
I also make sure to receive natural light each day, including at least fifteen minutes of sunlight in my eyes without sunglasses, to connect with the frequencies of light that nourish the body and support circadian balance. I’m also intentional with blue-light intake: all of my indoor lighting and screens are always warm color temperatures, and in the evenings I turn my phone to red mode to protect deep REM sleep.
I don’t own a TV or subscribe to streaming platforms. I protect my energy by limiting media consumption. Although I create content on Instagram, I rarely consume it — my attention is sacred. I’m very sensitive to media; it has a huge impact on me. I stay mindful of what I take in. What I do stay tuned into are subjects around restorative justice and collective healing: that’s the kind of intake that nourishes me and I feel is non-negotiable.
Most importantly, I listen. My body is always communicating. Honoring it means slowing down enough to hear what it needs: water, rest, movement, activism, sunlight, nourishment, or stillness.
Renée's Socials:
@ritualofheart
Website:
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