We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jennifer Axcell. Check out our conversation below.
Jennifer, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
As a digital nomad traveling the globe solo, there is no such thing as a “normal” day. From one week to the next, where I call home can be either a tent in the Utah desert or a hotel room in London—meaning I have to be flexible.
Having said that, as an entrepreneur and champion of radical self-care who is always on the move, I have developed a weekly routine that supports my overall wellness while living a nomadic lifestyle—knowing I have to adjust my expectations and schedule (especially with all the time zone changes) to meet the uniqueness of each location I am living in.
I built a work week that helps me not dread Mondays. Now, it’s a day dedicated to introversion and creative expression. I spend the morning writing a weekly love letter to my community, and end my workday with a telemedicine appointment with my somatic therapist. Most Monday evenings, you will find me online in a cannabis meditation.
As a morning person, most days I wake up early with the greatest amount of energy during the first half of the day. So, how I start my day is critical to my energetic output.
To support my writing, I begin most days writing three Morning Pages, part of a creativity-boosting stream of consciousness practice called The Artist’s Way. I keep my journal and fancy pen on the bedside to make it top of mind when I wake up. I’m really into Jungian dream analysis right now, so I’m currently using this daily writing practice to record my dreams and contemplate their meanings. I also use my Morning Pages to pray over the rest of my day.
When I’m feeling motivated and not jet-lagged, before jumping in the shower, I like to go through the nomad workout routine that my fitness trainer friend helped me develop. I travel with a set of resistance bands and a foldable yoga mat (even a travel-sized “ocean-friendly” foam roller sometimes), so that I can continue to prioritize my body’s mobility and muscle while traveling. Some mornings, you may find me making friends on a local pickleball court.
Most days, I go through my extensive morning skincare routine (including facial gua sha and lymphatic massage), change into a chic work-from-home outfit, and find a warm and sunny spot outdoors to take my laptop and start my workday.
I tend to be task-oriented in the mornings, so I try to complete my emails and to-do list first. Because I intermittent fast, I use a late breakfast as an opportunity to check the stats of my sleep on my Oura Ring and gauge my output capacity for the rest of my workday.
Zoom meetings usually start after 1pm, and I wrap them all up with a late afternoon date with God—scheduled on my daily calendar, I try to spend at least one hour every afternoon walking in nature, praying, being present and mindful of my surroundings, and not looking at a computer screen. This daily practice centers me and helps me to stay off the burnout train. Often, it’s a walk on the beach collecting shells for an earth altar, fishing at a waterfall, or dancing in the forest. Sometimes it’s exploring an artisan market or hiking through a desert landscape in central Mexico.
Spending time outdoors generally increases my creativity, so I will typically utilize that boost to do a photoshoot at golden hour or design graphics for upcoming social media campaigns.
Due to my intermittent fasting schedule, I tend to eat an early dinner. While I’m abroad, that’s usually baked fish and vegetables, or a meal out. If I watch any TV (which is minimal), I will do so while I’m cooking and eating.
My mind’s wind-down process starts here by reading (I am generally reading 3-5 books at any given time), painting, or listening to a podcast while I stretch. As a morning person, my evenings are about refilling (being, not doing). This is often where I will roll out my yoga mat and play my sound bowls or listen to a recorded meditation as part of my physio divina practice (somatic prayer).
My evenings tend to be quiet unless I am with friends. As a woman traveling alone, I try not to take unnecessary risks, and going out at night in foreign countries alone is a risk I rarely take. But that’s okay, because I get to go on plenty of adventures during the daytime, like floating in a hot air balloon above the pyramids in Teotihuacan, scuba diving in Cancún, and bathing in hot springs resorts in Iceland.
Weekends are usually for travel, adventures, and Sabbath. After recovering from life-threatening burnout twice, I’ve learned to build into my schedule a day of rest each week. Six days a week, I can go balls to the wall if I need to (which I try not to anymore), but one day a week, I give myself the gift of rest—less striving, more playing—screens replaced with connection to God, Self, and others.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am the Founder and visionary behind Loto Wellness Collective—a global lifestyle and wellness company. Loto was born from my own journey of healing from burnout and spiritually awakening. After years of chronic stress, disassociation from my body, and religious deconstruction, I found myself being led back to the feet of Jesus—this time through rest, embodied wisdom, and encounter.
I believe that rest is sacred, not a luxury—it’s a divine invitation. As an Experience Designer, I host transformational women’s retreats, seasonal workshops, digital experiences, and publish a premium online magazine called Loto Living—all designed to nourish the mind-body-spirit connection (metanoia). Loto Wellness Collective exists to elevate soul care into an art form. We are a community of spiritual seekers exploring contemplative practices at the intersection of somatic healing and nervous system science.
What makes Loto unique is our deeply holistic, Christ-centered approach to wellness. We believe the body is a temple, the Spirit is indwelling, and the path to healing often begins with a slow exhale. Our community includes spiritual seekers, creatives, wellness enthusiasts, and brave souls who are learning to come home to themselves and God.
Right now, I’m especially excited about our new Forest Church gatherings—a sacred encounter in the San Isabel National Forest of Salida, Colorado, focused on communion with God and Self through contemplative practices like silence and shinrin-yoku (forest bathing). It’s an invitation to encounter Jesus through creation, in a deeply embodied and transformative way.
Loto Wellness Collective is more than a lifestyle and wellness company; it’s a movement—one that calls people to listen deeply, live seasonally, and be led by the Spirit into wholeness.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I’ve thought about this question a lot over the years. So much of my early identity was wrapped up in being an identical twin. But not just any identical twin—we’re mirror twins. We share a face, a voice, even the shape of our hands and feet.
And yet, our personalities (and core motivators) are reflections in reverse:
She’s an Enneagram 4 (envy); I’m an Enneagram 8 (lust).
She was born first; I’ve always been the alpha twin.
She’d lose a tooth on one side of her mouth, and soon after, I’d lose the same one on the opposite side.
Growing up, people didn’t see me—they saw us. We were a set. And being part of a matched pair in a world that thrives on comparison created a deep undercurrent of co-dependence and competition. Who was taller, faster? Who had better grades, more friends, more attention?
Eventually, how others saw me in comparison to her became my internal compass. I started seeking external validation, unknowingly reacting to the identity trauma of sharing a face with another person. Somewhere along the way, I internalized the belief that it was my job to make other people—especially my sister—comfortable. So I learned to shrink myself. I dimmed my Light. I tried to blend in instead of standing out.
It took years of therapy and deep shadow work to begin untangling these identity wounds. But my most significant breakthroughs didn’t come until age 39, when I started incorporating psychedelic medicines into my healing. They gave me a new lens—one that helped me see how much of my people-pleasing had been a response to constantly living in comparison.
It hasn’t been easy. The journey has been intense, layered, and often painful. But now, at 44, I can honestly say: I’m living as my Highest Self. I’m finally showing up fully, shining my Light unapologetically—regardless of how others respond. And that has brought so much freedom and fulfillment.
I’ve come to believe this is the real healing work: peeling back the layers of false identity our ego constructs so we can meet our True Selves—and shine from that place with clarity, purpose, and joy.
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
I used to believe that success—especially as a woman entrepreneur—meant hustling harder than everyone else, or risk failing. I believed that I had to prove myself by pushing past limits, performing through exhaustion, and constantly producing to earn my place at the table.
I bought into hustle culture deeply—it was the air I breathed. Burnout was the invisible badge of honor I wore, and it nearly killed me. I was faced with no other choice but to step down from the company I had fought so hard to build so that I could focus on recovering. Talk about an epic failure.
Reaching a life-threatening level of burnout by the age of 39 broke me open, forcing me to completely reassess not just my business strategy, but my entire way of being in the world. It was no longer about rest as recovery, so I could keep doing more things—it became about radical realignment. I had to surrender my addiction to striving and redefine success from the inside out, learning to say no to good things so that I could say yes to the great.
Now, I no longer chase, strive, or force. I trust. I receive. I attract. I create from a place of overflow, not depletion. I partner with God—not hustle—as my Source.
Through the work I do with Loto Wellness Collective, I’m learning how to build a Spirit-aligned business that honors sacred rhythms, not capitalist clocks. A business that centers on soul care, nervous system regulation, and divine timing. One that invites others into spaciousness, softness, and the sacred slowness required to truly heal.
Failing hard taught me that this softer way of doing business isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom. And that my worth was never tied to what I produce, but to who I am when I’m deeply aligned, fully present, and finally free.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
That’s such a good question. I genuinely try to be as open and authentic as possible in everything I do and everywhere I show up. Especially as an entrepreneur building a brand around a lifestyle of wellness, it’s really important to me that I walk the walk—not just talk the talk.
As a digital nomad, I often share beautiful glimpses of my travels and life abroad on social media. But I’m very aware of how easy it is to fall into the trap of only posting the highlight reel—the flattering photos, the inspiring quotes, the moments that make it all look glamorous and fun. And while those snapshots are real, they’re not the whole story.
That’s why my weekly love letter writing practice on the Loto Journal has become so essential to me. It’s my sacred space to reveal the behind-the-scenes story. I use it to share what’s really going on beneath the surface—my struggles, my doubts, the lessons I’m learning about myself and God, and the ways I’m still growing (often through discomfort and failure). It keeps me accountable to my values and reminds me that vulnerability is part of leadership.
My brand is built on authenticity and integrity, and I want that to shine through—even in the polished photos. Because ultimately, I believe our stories—especially the imperfect, behind-the-scenes ones—are what truly connect us and invite others into deeper healing.
So yes, the “public version” of me is real, but the more private layers are shared in my writing.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
I actually did this—quite literally—last year.
In January 2024, I stepped away from the nonprofit startup I had helped build, leaving behind a title, a mission I deeply believed in, and a role that had defined much of my professional identity.
But I knew in my spirit it was time. Time to stop building someone else’s dream and start fully saying yes to the vision God had placed on my own heart.
I laid down the job title.
I moved away from the home and community in Denver that I had loved for over 13 years.
I sold or gave away a lot of my possessions.
And I set out to travel the world as a digital nomad, living out of a suitcase and trusting that I would find what remained on the other side of surrender.
What I discovered was this:
When you strip everything away, what’s true stays.
What remained was my faith.
My calling.
My voice.
My Light.
My desire to co-create beauty and healing with God through Loto Wellness Collective.
I traded comfort for freedom. Control for trust.
And in doing so, I found a deeper version of myself I didn’t know was waiting. Now, as I live and work adventurously as a digital nomad, slow-traveling the globe solo, I’ve never felt more aligned, more alive, or more like me.
Because it turns out, when you lay everything down, you don’t lose yourself. You meet your True Self.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lotowellness.co
- Instagram: lotowellness.co
- Facebook: lotowellness.co
