There she is, in harmony with nature—international model Ujjwala Raut swiftly metamorphosing from jet-setting New Yorker into ocean nymph in a matter of seconds. Surrounded by the sands of The Sanchaya on Bintan island, a lush tropical paradise in the Riau archipelago of Indonesia, she can’t resist the happiness brewing inside.
“What an invitation to pause,” she says. Yes, I agree, it is indeed a fertile place for daydreaming and introspection. Hers is a life of beauty—an everyday reality for someone cherry-picked by prolific designers like Tom Ford, Roberto Cavalli, Elie Saab, Diane von Furstenberg and others. As the waves kiss her feet, I am reminded of what Leo Tolstoy once said: “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.”
“For me, after years of travelling and modelling,” says Ujjwala Raut, “true luxury lies in how quickly I can decouple my body and spirit and slow down my mind. Somehow, real beauty today is simply a feeling of bliss.” There was a time when beauty was seemingly exclusive, a privileged combination of nature and nurture, with a limited perception that hadn’t yet been touched by the ethos of diversity we see today. Now the industry offers jaw-dropping variety, availability and affordability—replete with extraordinary products and cosmetic tools that empower us to correct outer ‘imperfections’ and present what we see as better versions of ourselves. But, I ponder, in this fast-paced world of endless corrections and cover-ups, what is the definition of beauty that is not skin deep? When ‘beautification’ is available to all, what makes someone stand out in a sea of good-looking people?
“Well, I am quite certain there’s something to be said about inner luminosity and energetic vibrations that transcend physical looks,” says Raut. She has certainly lived the disco-ball life, attending fashionable shows and glamorous soirées alike.
But with a bit of growing up, we both agree that a kind of magical transformation takes place when we recognise the critical difference between the fast and explosive pace of outer beauty and the slow, everlasting presence of inner beauty. I have observed this in those who have matured and perhaps become a little wary of the ‘fashionable’ life, using conscious inner engineering to slow down their overactive minds and hyperactive activities. It is the state, Osho explained, when one drops out from the ‘mob mind’. “Slowing down takes my mind from hastily reacting to a situation to mindfully influencing it,” says Raut. Living the ‘soft life’ is the new aspiration. The opposite of hustle culture, this movement encourages us to be mindful of the present moment, elevating ordinary experiences and minimising stressful interactions.
World over, we see how this form of barefoot luxury is embraced in how we dress, eat and travel, prioritising slowness as a reaction to the hamster wheel of speed and greed which says that to be or not to be is not the question. It is, in fact, to be and to be more. We know better today that chasing, acquiring and disposing corrodes the human spirit, but the tenacity to savour the luxury of small things—a tequila sunset, a home-cooked meal, the embrace of grandmothers—allows us to own our power and commandeer life experiences with joy and fulfilment.
The Dutch have a word called Niksen, the practice of doing nothing, which allows a swift ascension into owning your bliss by surrendering to ‘nothing-ing’. The executive chairman of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner, is said to schedule ‘nothing’ for approximately two hours a day, to deliberately create space for slowing down the mind. The Japanese invented the idea of Shinrin-yoku or ‘forest bathing’, a conscious act of reducing stress levels by walking silently through a forest and bringing awareness to every flora and fauna that crosses their path.
The magnum opus of yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, begins with this truism: yogas citta vrtti nirodhah, which means yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. Practise this, and blissful beauty shines through us because we no longer feel the need for overthinking, people-pleasing, self-sabotaging, negative thinking and manic activity, or being consumed by the malaise of striving for outer perfection.
Slowing down the pace of life means you add time to savouring those moments; decreasing speed means you increase clarity, patience and the ability to be planted firmly in the now. When we honour ourselves, our true selves, from a deep place of self-love and self-care, the inner glow of beauty is perceptible to all. The biggest joy is to have the capacity to be enchanted, to be in a state of awe and wonder. That is what brings that twinkle to the eyes, those positive vibrations and the warm aura of happiness—all unpretentious qualities of true beauty.
Photographed by Daniela Federici
Styled by Louw Kotze
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