Teresa Herrera Anthony On Finding Her Best Self

“When you’re a little girl and you’ve got the pretty little girl dress and the pretty little girl headband, and you’re valued for your external qualities, you’re brought up being conditioned, “Oh, this is what I’m worth! As long as I’m pretty and I’m obedient, people will like me,’” says Teresa Herrera Anthony, as she looked back at what young girls go through and how it ultimately shapes them to be anxious and insecure. But for her, you have to know how to find value in yourself outside of these expectations to finally find the satisfaction and peace that you’re longing for in your heart.

This actress, model, mom, and wife sat down with Tricia Centenera for Talk With Tricia to talk  about the important life and career lessons she always keeps in mind.

“In entertainment, you’re the product. Your body is the business”

Teresa started modeling and acting in her teens, which put her under many pressures from the society. Although she was lucky that she grew up with a mom who did not prioritize their looks, but focused on giving them experiences and letting them see the world, being in the entertainment industry compelled her to focus on the external.

The beautiful and talented actress was just in her 20s when she got her first Hollywood break via the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr. This may have made for some of the most rewarding times in her career, but it was also during this time when Teresa found herself lost. She was having constant anxiety, and it was her yoga practice that saved her.

"[Yoga] helped me get grounded"

“I discovered yoga and it really helped me stay sane in an industry of constant rejection. It helped me get grounded,” she shares. For her, yoga is more than a form of exercise, something she can take with her everywhere since it required no equipment. But the more she took classes, the more she got into the science and history of it, the more she fell in love with the practice.

Nowadays, she is sharing her passion in and knowledge of yoga through teaching. She is behind the movement called Trance Dance, which is an exploration of the flow of natural movement through yoga. It’s basically a marriage of yoga and dance, where you're encouraged to let go and listen to your own energy and flow.

Apart from yoga, Teresa also attributes her well-being to her connection with nature. For her, being by the beach is always one of the best feelings in the world because it’s one of the ways we can go back to our roots and connect to the energy of nature.

She says, “We’re conditioned by society to live life… that I have to be this way, I have to post this, post that. It’s because of all these that we forget we’re naturally programmed to move and to be free and to be in nature. That’s why you feel so good when you’re by the beach.”

“A healthy mom and a healthy body is going to be able to create that happy family culture in your home”

Teresa is still active in the entertainment industry, with her solo play "Every Brilliant Thing" having a rerun last month. Despite the hectic lifestyle that often comes with this type of career, she makes sure doesn't neglect herself. Her self-care routine is all about sticking to natural products and harnessing the goodness in nature.

Her skincare is dominated by Ayurveda, a form of alternative medicine with Indian roots that focuses on nourishing your mind, body, and soul, and becoming in tune with yourself and your body's needs. Right now, she’s sticking to all-natural and essential oils, clean beauty products, and an Ayurvedic skincare line called Pratima.

She also emphasizes the need to complement these skincare routine with good and healthy food, because what you put into your body is just as important to stay healthy and glowing.

And as a mom, she says that staying and being healthy is all the more important because it lets her pass on that good energy and culture to her kids. “A healthy mom and a healthy body is going to be able to create that happy family culture in your home,” she shares.

“I learned a lot between 16 and now that I’m 43, and it’s a lot of healing, self-study, and learning,” Teresa says. That’s why she believes that self-care and self-love is a continuous process, things you should work on everyday.

Her wish is for everyone else to also strive to be in that mindset of healing and self-love. She enthuses, “My wish would be for every single person to feel their wholeness, their innate divinity within, that you are enough and you’re lacking nothing."

If you haven’t yet, watch the two-part special of Talk With Tricia with Teresa Herrera-Anthony below: