Shanti Rose has been a highly influential person in my life, namely because she�s my mom. I can�t imagine being the person I am today without her. I remember her reading to my brothers and me every night before bed, and that literary influence has definitely paid off. Recently, thanks to her, I have discovered yoga and eastern philosophy. She is a phenomenal woman. Currently she is living and working in Marquette as a masseuse/bio-therapist. Read on to feel inspired and see what true self love is all about!

1. You've recently changed your name from Nancy Hunt to Shanti Rose. Any reasons behind that? What does the new name mean?

When I was 13 years old I was in a mall bookstore and a little paperback book called Yoga Youth and Reincarnation just fell off the shelf at me and I had to buy it. I'd never even bought a book before in my life, and I knew nothing about yoga. Well, that started a long journey for me. In the back of the book was a glossary and in looking through the list of strange words I saw the word Shanti, which means peace, and knew it was my name. Thirty years later I found out that Shanti is actually an ancient Sanskrit word (Sanskrit is known as the "Language of God" in India and it is not spoken except in the temples). Rose was my grandmother's name, who showed me unconditional love when I was growing up. I kept that name, Shanti Rose, as my "inside name" for many years until I got divorced about a year ago and needed to change my name anyway, so I figured why not?

2. You watch no TV and are a vegan (congratulations!) Why the alternative lifestyle?

For me, it's all about the chi. Chi is the energy, or life force, that is the universal stuff of which everything is made and keeps everything moving forward. I have developed a good sense of my own chi level, and have found that I have purer, higher energy (or chi) when I don't subject myself to crap. 99% of what's on television is crap, and even if you're watching a good show, you have to sit through crappy commercials and the crap just gets absorbed into your brain cells and you become that. Thoughts become reality. I don't use the word crap lightly. Watching TV for me is literally like ingesting a big bowl of fecal material for the brain. Why would I want to do that? And as far as my diet, I've found also that eating meat and meat products also lower my vibration level. I'm a vegan at home but an ovo-lacto vegetarian when I go out - I do want a social life!

3. What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?

I face east to the rising sun and my beautiful lake and chant "Om Namo, Guru dev Namo" (I bow to my higher self).

4. Last thing you do at night?

Rub hand lotion into my hands.

5. What brought you to massage?

That's a hard question. I'm not really sure. It's something that's been inside of me for a long time, and I just knew I had to do it. And now that I'm doing it I know what it's like to work your passion - I love it almost as much as I love breathing.

6. What brought you to yoga?

It was the book that I told you about when I was 13. It is my belief that this life is a continuation of a life that I had before, where I was actively involved in healing and bodywork through eastern medicine, including yoga. It's like I've always known it and always done it. Massage is that way for me also.

7. What would you consider your greatest accomplishments?

7. So far my greatest accomplishments have been raising my three beautiful children. I believe that I had two major things to do in this lifetime - basically I'm living two lives in one. The first being to bring these precious souls into the earth plane and the second to continue on in my role of traditional healer.

8. What are some of the biggest hurdles you've been over?

My biggest hurdle was development of self love. Once I addressed that, (and it took 40 years to do it) everything else just fell into place. Repeat after me: "I deserve every blessing that this life has to offer. I am worthy simply because I am." That's a powerful thing to truly believe and incorporate into your life, and I'm still working on it.

9. Who are some of the people who inspire you?

Jesus of Nazareth, because I believe he was the most enlightened human being to ever walk on this planet. And the Buddha, because he found true peace.

10. Name a few things you couldn't live without.

Silly girl, you can live without anything. Once you realize that, then you realize the door is wide open and has been there all the time. There is no beginning or end to life. Without our possessions, we might die. After death, without our bodies, we are still spirit. And as we lose our spirits to become part of the Greater Entity of all that is, the chi keeps going on and on. Life keeps going on and on.

11. What advice would you give to a random person?

Love yourself. Once you've mastered that, everything else is a cakewalk.

12. What are you current goals in life?

I have no goals. Goals narrow your perspective and your field of possibilities. Every day I try to stay open to every possibility that the universe has in store for me. I do have plans, however, and a big one is to go to Thailand later this year to learn Thai massage. But as far as goals go, I have found that once you realize that there is no end result (end results are just illusions because NOTHING is static - everything is dynamic), and process is all there is and all there ever will be, you need to learn to love the process. That's the key. Love the process. It is not the destination but the journey that is heaven.

13. What would you like to see happen in the near future on a global scale?

If everyone on the planet just loved themselves enough, there would be world peace. I know that sounds narcissistic, but I'm talking about true self love. When you look at the manipulations, antagonisms, and aggressions that are happening on a global scale and place them into a smaller scale (like children in a playground) you can see that we hurt each other because we cannot accept and love ourselves. In fact, the very things that bug us most about other people are the things inside ourselves that we have yet to acknowledge, accept and love.

Thank you for the interwiew!

Thank YOU! You have honored me.