For This Founder, Being Offline Is the Ultimate Luxury
"I didn’t learn how to calm my inner critic or have modalities to clear and reset until I was able to go out into nature and give myself the space to play, explore, and learn.”
Welcome to The Simple Things, a wellness series dedicated to the routines and rituals that bring a sense of well-being to our daily lives. As the name implies, sometimes it’s not about making seismic shifts in our day-to-day—simple actions can be just as impactful for ourselves and for those in our community. This week, we’re chatting with Evelynn Escobar, mother, Angeleno, and founder of Hike Clerb—a BIPOC-centred movement collective making the outdoors more inclusive for women—about pregnancy, the power of meditation, and the luxury of logging off.
What were your earliest interactions with wellness?
“Tae Bo VHS tapes were definitely in the house. I had a geometric, crazy-colored unitard as a kid to exercise in—I really loved that. I also remember a lot of Jazzercise.
"From an alternative wellness perspective, I'm Black and Indigenous Guatemalan American, so I also had wellness practices from my Latinx heritage. I don't know why, but if you're sick, you have to drink Sprite or Ginger Ale. Or my grandma would make me soup and put Vicks on everything. That’s what wellness looked like for me.”
When did you start taking an interest in wellness?
“I can remember very vividly going on a mental health walk with my brother when I was seven or eight years old. And we’d just talk. There has definitely always been this ancestral wisdom and intuitive calling that has been shown to me [that] walks and taking time in green spaces [are] medicine.”
You’ve said before that your first hike in Zion National Park was a turning point. Why was that such a formative journey for you?
“With that experience, I realized how white and homogenous the outdoors were and it was almost offensive for me to see. My work has always centered on empowering Black and brown women in any way I can. So going out there and not seeing any other Black and brown women that I felt were relatable really showed me that this was a huge area of opportunity and understanding for my own wellness journey.
"Growing up in a multicultural household where mental health was never prioritized, I didn’t learn how to calm my inner critic or have modalities to clear and reset until I was able to go out into nature and give myself the space to play, explore, and learn. Knowing how fundamental it was to my own healing journey, I knew that I had to bring in other women who are interested in these spaces.”
Do you practice grounding?
“Yes, definitely. And now that I’m a mom, anytime I'm on grass with my daughter, I'm like, here, take off your little shoes and run. I love implementing those things with her.”
What did pregnancy teach you about self-care and self-love?
“When I was pregnant, I was giving myself the time, space, and consistent practices that I should have always been giving myself. I was going to regular acupuncture appointments, getting regular prenatal massages, going to the prenatal chiropractor, and hiking up until I was seven or eight months pregnant. I was very consistent in my routine.
"When you have someone in your body that is affected by the things that you do, it inspires you to put your best foot forward for them. But we should be putting our best foot forward for ourselves every day, too. I think we're kind of conditioned to accept anything that comes our way, but it's all a result of the society that we live in. It's not like we chose to be like that. It's a conditioned experience.”
Other than hiking, what are your go-to everyday wellness rituals?
“Making space to be able to meditate and journal has definitely had a huge shift in my mental and even physical well-being. And walking or, as much as I hate it, running at a slow, steady pace to clear my mind and tune into my body. I’ve also been getting back now into a regular yoga practice and moving my body in very organic ways."
Is meditation something that you’re able to easily fall into? To silence the mind is such a difficult feat.
“I read a great tweet recently that said to imagine those thoughts coming in during meditation as little popup browsers—you just like press ‘X’ and they go away. Now when I'm in that zone, I just imagine shushing those thoughts away and closing out the browser. And I don't put that pressure on myself that meditation needs to be a silent practice. It's noisy in LA. Sometimes I'll hear construction or helicopters. It is what it is. I'm just giving myself space to flow.”
Recently, you captioned one of your Instagram posts "offline is the new luxury.’" You have created such a cool online space with Hike Clerb. How do you balance building and temper your screen time?
“The way we operate on social media is not normal. We're not giving ourselves proper processing time for experiencing life. I have definitely taken a step back to be more present and in the moment. I’ll still take photos and videos, but I may not share them until a week later. It has honestly been such a game-changer for me.
"I want to be in my artistry which tends to go against what the algorithm is telling me to do. If I was creating for the algorithm, then everything I share would be a reel, but I'm creating for myself. I’m trying not to have any sort of red tape around how I need to present online. Right now what feels best is not putting all my energy and time into making sure that my page is updated.”
Would you consider style and beauty to be integral elements of your wellness routine?
“One hundred percent. Fashion and beauty are vessels for creation for expression so that's exactly how I see them in my world of wellness. And Beyoncé, my fellow cozy girl, understands that comfort is key so by prioritizing my own comfort, I am prioritizing myself.”
What's your go-to hike soundtrack?
“I love like a fun, jazzy, soulful moment. Maybe it's Cortex, maybe it's Steve Lacy, maybe it’s Aretha Franklin or Renaissance by Beyonce or Kruanbin. Music that kind of feels like an extension of that piece that you get in nature. Or if I'm doing something really hard music that's going to hype me up.”