Audri the Alchemist, our October Vendor of the Month

We are thrilled to introduce you all to Audri Aviles, our vendor of the month. Audri sells her magical, seasonal products at the Whiteaker Market and has chosen an array of products that will help you embrace and enjoy the shift in season. With her impressive background in physical training, chemistry and holistic healing, Audri brings her passion, knowledge and skill to every item she crafts with the intention that it will bring you healing, joyful and grounding energy. 

Audri embraced the practices of Zen Buddhism at a very young age as a way to transmute the intensity and darkness of some of her childhood experience into positive energy. In college, Audri pursued a degree in chemistry and was a natural. She learned to synthesize her own essential oils and learned about extraction and synthesis on a molecular level. While working as a chemist in a lab, she realized she wanted to put more energy and time into her own healing and started by shifting her diet. "I started eating organic, non gmo foods, I wanted to heal from the inside out and it began a radical change in my life and career," she recalls. 

After beginning her healing process, Audri began to work as a personal trainer for a corporate gym. Hyper-focusing on physical health felt imbalanced to Audri and though she saw notable changes in her clients' physiques, she realized she wanted to offer more. "Our minds and spirits need healing and coaching, not just our bodies. I wanted to help facilitate fully integrated, holistic transformations in my clients." Audri began her work as a holistic healer, holding space for the emotional and spiritual growth as well as continuing her physical training and coaching. 

Audri, her husband Jason and 3 1/2 year old daughter Andromeda moved to Eugene to follow their dream of growing their own food. They now grow all of their own produce and have enough space in their home for Audri to have her own studio. Her healing skills and hand crafted magical products have vastly expanded since the move.

"I knew that I had to rely entirely on my skillset and passion to make a living up here and I trusted that it would work out. I started making the bath bombs when I saw my daughter enjoying a bath bomb we had purchased that was filled with little toys and I thought, "I can make this, and I can put treasures and surprises in them too!" I fill mine with crystals, dried flowers and spices! Through vending at the Whiteaker Market, I have found an incredible community and I notice what people purchase, and what they request. One person loved incense and asked me if I could make some, and I went home and figured it out!"

With this determined, passionate and endlessly curious energy, Audri has produced four products to embrace the Autumn. Star anise, ginger, frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon and orange are just a few of the herbs you will find in her seasonal offerings. A trio of bath salts, an equinox bath bomb, hand made incense and a protective anointing oil are in the shop now.  

"We all need to take care of ourselves, the autumn can be a challenging time, saying goodbye to the light, and enjoying the last of garden's bounty. We need extra care and comfort in this transition. Self care is an essential part of my business, I take excellent care of myself, I test the products I make and sit in a bath with a homemade bath bomb and think, yes, this is incredible! I am so grateful to share these comforts and help others care for their minds, bodies and souls."