By Sarah Bancroft for Fashion Magazine

 When Vancouver’s Tori Holmes was 21 years old, she became the youngest woman to cross the Atlantic ocean in a rowboat. After running into hurricane Katrina and breaking several ribs in a 60-foot swell, her desalinator broke, and she and her then-partner were without water for several days. It was a seminal moment that she describes in detail in her new book, Beauty Water, which launched this week. Holmes, a two-time cancer survivor and now a registered holistic nutritionist, has dedicated her career to the art of hydration and plant-based medicine, first with her Nectar juiceries, and now with this beautifully-designed recipe book of water-based elixirs for beauty, health and healing. We spoke to her about her favourite recipes, how the side effect of the medicinal Schisandra berry is horniness and why self care is going to change the world.

What inspired you to write this book?
To help people feel well so that they can do well. Through my time at Nectar, I had the gift of interacting with thousands of people in relation to their aspirational health goals and where they were at as well as what really scared them. I’ve been very dedicated to providing products and services that meet them where they’re at and just push the boundaries a little bit now. I think this elixir book is a little ahead of its time, but I think the world is awakening. What’s happening in our planet right now with the emissions is the globe saying wake up and personal accountability is really what it comes back to and how can we do good for others. Self care is something that I’m a huge advocate for and it’s not just about having facials and massages. What I’ve seen in my experience of coaching people into their optimal wellness or their personal potential is that if you strengthen yourself, your capacity to lead to hold space for others, too.

I chose it as the conduit for the stories in the impact of these plants. My intention was to take hydration because, if you think about it, go East go West, any beauty or health ritual from the beginning of time comes back to hydration. So what if we were to take hydration and turn it into self-care rituals and water into a remedy, and think of plants as the body’s personal trainer? It’s a way to just elevate something that we already need to do. Even if you drink water for 30 days, you feel exponentially better, just the ritual of helping your cellular system turn over. Now imagine if you’re able to infuse antioxidants or vitamins and minerals or certain compounds that support the liver or the digestion?

To read the full story, head over to Fashion Magazine. 

Purchase The Beauty Water Book here.