The Benefits of Meditation.

Collaboration: BIOEFFECT x Tristan Gribbin, founder of Flow meditation modality.

Joining forces with an entrepreneur.

As always, we at BIOEFFECT want to inspire our customers to improve their wellbeing and gain more confidence, ease, and clarity in every aspect of their lives. This is why we have teamed up with Tristan Gribbin, the founder of Flow – a meditation modality offered in VR, app, web portal, and workshops. Flow offers a virtual escape into a private meditation retreat in Iceland and surrounds you with soothing nature sounds and breathtaking footage from Icelandic nature, helping you release tension and boost focus.

Together with Tristan and the Flow team, we will offer you a complimentary guided meditation session. The meditation will be launched on the official BIOEFFECT Instagram account next Sunday. Follow us and join in!

Click to visit our Instagram account.

Talking with Tristan about meditation and Flow.

We spoke with Tristan and got some in-depth knowledge about her journey as a business founder and owner and her yearlong passion for meditation. She also told us everything about the benefits of meditation to your mind, body – and skin!

Read on for the full interview.

From California to Iceland.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up in California but ended up moving to Iceland in 1995 because I married an Icelander. I have three wonderful daughters who are strong, amazing, and independent young ladies. I love meditation, and I am obsessed with the idea of making the profound benefits of meditation accessible to everyone in the world.

Remembering dreams and planning the day.

What’s a typical day in your life like?

When I wake up in the morning, I drink a tall glass of water – or two. Then I have my morning routine. The duration of my morning routine depends on how early I wake up, but there are always some basics I do as a bare minimum, like meditate, move my body, and plan the day. The morning routine revolves around planning each day; to set intentions and having a vision. My ‘best day’ would be a day I have mindfully planned out, incorporating a work-live balanced activity, having managed to do things for myself despite all the work stuff I have to do.

One thing I aspire to do is to go early to bed every night, by 10 o’clock. I don’t always achieve that but when I do I feel great. I also like to wake up early, around 6 o’clock, and have plenty of time for my morning routine.

Recollection of dreams.

Another thing I try to do is remembering my dreams. Sometimes I have very interesting dreams, and it’s very fascinating for me to learn that businesspeople often come up with solutions to problems during the night. I came up with the idea for Flow at 4 o’clock in the morning. There are countless stories of people who have invented things in the night. Anyways – remembering dreams is something I aspire to do, so I try to do some journaling in the morning.

Combining passion and possibility.

How did you wind up in this field?

From a very young age, I decided I was going to do something good in the world. I didn’t have a crystal clear vision of what that would be, but I’ve done many things in my life, always with this in mind.

In the year 2000 I went to a retreat and fell head over heels in love with meditation. I just wanted more than anything for everyone in my life to experience that profound joy. 10 years later I became a certified meditation teacher and started to lead meditation classes and retreats in Iceland. I think this combination of loving meditation, having a background in theatre arts, wanting to find a creative expression, and being in Iceland – a land that’s very supportive towards innovation – is how I found myself in this field. I don’t think this necessarily would have happened in any other place.

Starting a business.

How did Flow start out?

At a certain point in my life I realized I wanted to make my work something that was in alignment with my passion – not just something to make money. I realized I want my future life to be in a flow where everything I do fits into the same purpose. I didn’t know what that would look like at the time but at that point I decided the thing that I enjoy most in the world, besides being a mom, is when I’m leading a meditation. I decided I would focus on that.

Why Iceland?

What I found is that Iceland is a great place to follow that dream, because Iceland is very innovative. I found that once I made the decision to start Flow the green light was on and doors were opening up to do this. From the beginning I immediately started working with companies, and from there came the technology and ways to develop the necessary tools. I think this came together because Iceland is such a close-knit eco-system. Like when I launched Flow and was on stage, the Icelandic president was sitting the first row with the CEOs of companies. Things started to kind of take off from there.

Do you have advice for those starting a business?

My number one thing would be to do something you’re passionate about. Starting a business takes a lot of determination so it has to be something you’re willing to give your energy to for at least the next 10 years. If the answer is no, you better pick something else. I learned this the hard way. My first company that I started was in sustainable fashion and it was something I was really excited about and knew the world needed, but even at that time my number one passion was meditation. After being in that company for 3 years I closed it down, which was very painful. When I started Flow I knew I would be working in meditation for at least the next 10 years of my life if not more. My inner drive was there. So that’s what I think is really important, that you’re doing something that feels really real for yourself but is also solving a great need for other people. If you have that combination, you can find a business model that will sustain itself.

Countless benefits of meditation.

What are the top benefits in your opinion?

More positive energy
Letting go of stress or negative thoughts and finding encouragement
Tap into a creative flow
Gain confidence and feel more empowered
Better connection and communication with people
Better focus
Finding ways to solve particular problems
More compassion, self love, and self care
Becoming more flexible in the moment, and spontaneous
Being more present – which also translates to your body!

What does it do for your mind and body?

It calms your mind from a lot of distractions that we are being bombarded with throughout the day. By taming the mind you’re actually able to take better care of your body and be more nurturing and kinder to it. But there is also a physical aspect to meditation; when you meditate it alters your brain – which is part of your body, right? It is actually scientifically proven that you can gain more mass in parts of your brain that make you empathetic, more kind and connected to people and yourself. So it allows you to grow your brain in positive ways, it’s amazing.

And then for your skin – that’s something that for me is actually fascinating to see. The inner state reflects on your face. When you're less worried and more joyful, it shows. It takes more muscles and effort to frown than to smile, meaning that a smile is a more natural, relaxed state. Meditation is a way of allowing you to return to that natural state, and your skin reflects that. It's fascinating to see the actual changes to people's faces, almost as if there are less concern or worry lines – it’s kind of like a face lift!

Have you noticed a growing interest in meditation?

There’s been a massive wave in the world as meditation has become very trendy and everyone has realized the need. There’s so much stress and burnout. Despite the growing interest there is however still a lot of resistance towards it because people perceive meditation as difficult. And that’s why we created Flow, to make it easier.

How does meditation for employees benefit companies?

Meditation can help people sleep better, get a more positive mindset, allowing them to achieve their goals, to be more productive, feel more wellbeing, and more energized. Giving employees the space and the tools to meditate consequently benefits companies as well, resulting in less sick days and more productivity. That’s just proven. When companies empower their employees to have access to mental wellness through certain tools you see a massive benefit. Supporting meditation at work is a wonderful way to prevent burnout and boost mental wellbeing. It shows the employees that there is willingness, care, and concern and that there are tools being offered to achieve mental wellbeing. This is something that’s becoming more important to the next generation, which is more aware of the impact of modern-day stress and dystopia. Gen Z will probably demand this at work.

A Complimentary Meditation Session for You.

We give thanks to Tristan for the enjoyable talk and a rewarding partnership. We wish her and her team at Flow the best of luck! As always, meeting pioneering women fills us with gratitude and inspires us on our own journey of self-improvement.

Together with Tristan and Flow we will offer our followers to join in on a complimentary guided meditation. The collaboration is part of BIOEFFECT's ever-growing effort to inspire our community to practice self care.

Follow us and join in!

We'll launch the restorative session on Sunday on our official Instagram. Follow us, tune in, and get ready for an empowering meditation!