Hollywood may be known for celebrating youth, however there is beauty in age. “I’m far more comfortable with myself now than I was when I was younger,” says actor Perrey Reeves. An East Coast native who lived with her family in France and Italy growing up, she reflects on her life today. “I’m in the world of Hollywood,” says the 43-year-old. “Looking at myself as a product is a weird thing. You have to build your life with interests, friends and activities that support another aspect of you or I don’t know how one can survive.” Those are also the things that keep you comfortable in your own skin. Simple things like going for a walk with the dog, watching a movie, doing meditation and yoga help to ground the star. “When I feel good then I’m ready to conquer whatever needs to be conquered that day.”
What’s on her radar now is promoting the movie version of Entourage. For eleven years, Reeves has played super agent Ari Gold’s strong-willed wife Melissa. This movie is a chance to take all of the characters we have grown to love to the big screen.
Prevention Matters
With her busy Hollywood schedule, staying healthy is a must. A pound of prevention is by far the best policy for staying healthy. “If you walked into my kitchen, you’d say: `Holy moly! How do you swallow all those supplements?” Reeves explains how her father was a physician, but his goal was to prescribe medicine as a last resort. She has always focused on prevention and following a holistic lifestyle, partially because of him.
“When patients would come to my dad with a migraine, he would eliminate certain foods and encourage them to eat other foods. He would try to get them in better balance. If an ailment persisted, only then would he prescribe medicine,” says Reeves.
When Perrey suffers from a common headache she turns to meditation. “It helps with any kind of pain or suffering – emotional and physical. Then I turn to yoga for its breathing techniques and visualization,” she says. “Still, every now and then, an Advil helps.” You can use medicine, just don’t rely on it all the time.
So what supplements does Reeves keep in her cabinet? There are two types of digestive enzymes to help with my GI tract and overall digestive system, plus a few other enzymes. Also acidophilus and quercetin to help with allergies.
Tumeric and black pepper supplements can also be combined with cooking. “The benefits of these two are immense,” says Reeves. They’re great for fighting chronic inflammation and for your heart health. Inflammation is at the root of most diseases, so if you want good health it’s crucial to get a handle on it.
Building the Perfect Retreat
“I feel like I’m my own science experiment,” says Reeves. “I’m totally interested in health and wellness and part of that was building a retreat centre that caters to that.
Reeves started her personal meditation practice in 1992 and started going to an Ayurvedic physician a year later. In 1994 she started practicing yoga. “All these practices came to me from different directions and they have really been a major influence on my life.”
In wanting to bring these benefits to others, Reeves co-founded The Sanctuary at Two Rivers in 2012. The Costa Rican yoga retreat is a place where people can escape the stresses of modern life and focus on healing and rejuvenating their body.
The 100 per cent solar-powered, eco-resort boasts a full array of wellness services including massage, skin care treatments, acupuncture, yoga, meditation and holistic nutrition coaching. The menu serves organic vegetarian and vegan foods such as kale and fennel salad and Thai soup.
Guests are encouraged to connect with Mother Nature and relax. “The houses are very Zen and high up in tree levels,” says Reeves. You are literally surrounding yourself with nature.
Yoga for Life
Reeves recently reflected on the last 20 years of her yoga practice and realized that she has gone in and out of several phases. “For a long time I practiced with teachers and did trainings, but now it’s solely a personal practice,” she says. “Sometimes I’ll do yoga six days week and others I’ll do three or four. I depends on my work schedule, my day and how I’m feeling. As we get older, balance and stretching are things that help us age well. If you can stretch, if you can bend over and do those things at 90, you’ll be in great shape. I’m looking at yoga as a lifestyle, as a future and not just an athletic adventure.”
It’s a Friends and Family Affair
“As a family we lived in a big house in New Hampshire and then had to get rid of a lot of stuff to move to Europe,” says Reeves. “We were each told to take one suitcase. My family shunned TV in favour of reading and exploring literature.” She learned at a young age to collaborate with family and friends as a way to manage stress and maintain a sense of calm.
“I’ve been good at letting the things that used to stress me out, roll off my back now,” says Reeves. “I’ve realized that all the energy I put into stressful situations is wasted.”
The actor feels that she’s in a really good place. “Sure, I’ve got stress; I mean I’m getting married in June. However we’re collaborating with friends and making it something really fun. I don’t want to compete with Hollywood-type weddings. We’re making it fun for us. At another time in my life I think it might have been a stressful situation. Now it’s just fun!”
