Adora Winquist Heals From the Scent to the Soul
By meg hale brunton
Photo Credit: Cat Ford-Coates
Modern alchemist, author, entrepreneur and visionary Adora Winquist has always felt a deep connection to the natural world. Growing up, she spent a lot of time in the Adirondacks and in her family’s garden. “I spent most of my childhood in the woods and in nature, and found it to be a tremendous place of solace,” she says. “It was my comfort zone, my happy place.”
Adora believes the experiences we have as children have a highly formative connection to the path we take to become who we are. Though she credits her upbringing to her love of all things nature, her family was fraught with dysfunction and intensity. At eighteen, she moved to California where she got a job in a metaphysical shop. There, Adora had an awakening experience when she worked with a local Shaman who taught her about honoring the earth and creating ceremonies to open to the mystical energies around us for healing.
Adora was quite sickly as a child. She came down with bronchitis nearly twice a year. She also battled anxiety and deep, abysmal depression. She was diagnosed with advanced stage Endometriosis, and it was recommended that she undergo a hysterectomy at age 21. She was put on a regiment of opioids, and after experiencing the downsides to the pain medication, she decided she had to find another way. After moving to Cape Cod, Adora started to learn about the healing effects of herbs like eucalyptus, thyme, and ginger, used in teas. “I thought, ‘Wow! There’s really something here,’” she recalls. Wanting to know more, she started studying the most potent forms of plant medicines: tinctures and essential oils.
Knowing energy work and essential oil creations were going to be her passion, Adora made an effort to learn more about her field by traveling to Egypt to study Mysticism, and to India to study the farming of some of the plants she was working with, such as jasmine and sandalwood.
She began her own healing practice and also started her own line of essential oils in 1998. This line, Opus Gaia (then Rhiamon Energy Essentials), was one of the first in the country to combine energy healing and aromatherapy on a national scale. Demand for her products, including her bestselling heavy-energy dissolving oil, was high since there were so few products like them on the market. She enrolled in the Barbara Brennan School of Healing where she spent four years studying the science of healing and methods to facilitate personal transformation. Around that time, her daughter Lily was born, only motivating Adora further to make her line of essential oils successful. She recalls sitting on the floor of her apartment, mixing essential oils on a TV tray, while still seeing clients in the evening.
While pleased with her products’ success, Adora was pulled between work and family. She sought a balance between the two. During a period which she refers to as “hyper-growth,” Adora took on some help, including investors, partners, and a publicist, and moved her business, Adoratherapy, from New Jersey to Asheville, North Carolina. After many years of building the business from the ground up, she decided it was no longer her spiritual path, and stepped away from Adoratherapy in 2017 to pursue a new adventure.
In 2019, Adora created the Adora Winquist brand. She went on to start an organization for alternative medicine, holistic lifestyles, and conscious high-vibrational living called The Soul Institute. Its mission is to “evolve consciousness through the frequency of love.” Through this platform, Adora is not only able to offer humanitarian outreach with her essential oils, transformational teachings and global retreats, but can also offer her platform to other visionaries and thought-leaders to share their knowledge.
Adora also co-authored a book, Detox Nourish Activate: Plant & Vibrational Medicine for Energy, Mood and Love, a guide to healing oneself at the DNA level. In 2021, she launched her line of nanoparticle essential oil blends, The Elixirs for Quantum Living. Recently, Adora also partnered with a career military veteran to start a nonprofit called Mil Spec Formulas, which brings aromatherapeutics to veterans. All profits from the sales will be reinvested towards programs to benefit veteran communities and their families.
Now the head of an essential oil empire, Adora takes pride in the quality of her products and programs and the positive impact they bring to so many people. Through the rest of her career and her own life, she intends to continue to inspire people to see the power within themselves. “Every single moment, every breath you take, every step you’ve taken has brought you perfectly here and now, even though the journey is entirely imperfect,” she says. “Everything you desire deep within your soul is possible.”
For more information on Adora Winquist and the Soul Institute, go to their website:
