VOGUE
Katie Holmes’s Latest Must-Have Accessory Is All About Self Care
CHRISTIAN ALLAIRE | Photo: BACKGRID
“It was her choice of jewelry, however, that imbued her ensemble with an extra-special quality. Around her neck, Holmes wore a quartz crystal pendant necklace from Green Star Wellness. Dubbed the “heart chakra” necklace, the quartz’s properties are meant to radiate love and healing, protecting the wearer against any feelings of negativity or pain. It’s a boho-chic piece, sure, but it also promotes self-care—arguably the greatest asset any item of clothing can bring. It’s already well known that decorating your home with crystals has its spiritual benefits, so why not, as Holmes has done, carry it around with you as an on-the-go fashion fix, too?"
VOGUE
Katie Holmes Reveals a Chic Boho Look at Paris Fashion Week
CHRISTIAN ALLAIRE | Photo: Getty Images
“Holmes’s prairie dress featured a soft floral print and puffed sleeves—a new twist on the typically easy, breezy silhouette. At the neckline there was also a layered cami worn underneath, for extra visual interest. The actress then put a unique twist on her soft, feminine dress: she paired it with a clunky pair of brown boots, the hefty square toe adding some edge to the look. Her accessorizing made the whole vibe less frilly, more modern and cool—something she always manages to do with her outfits. She then finished off the ensemble with a brown leather top-handle bag and lots of sparkly jewelry, including the crystal quartz necklace she’s been sporting a ton—self-care is important during fashion month, after all."
ELLE
Would The Real Katie Holmes Please Stand Up?
SAM BAKER | Photo: Daniel Clavero
Katie Holmes ELLE UK cover and video interview wearing our Vibrational Necklaces
GOSSIP
What New York’s Chicest Fitness Entrepreneur Eats in a Day
JASMINE GARNSWORTHY | Photo: J. Baird
Taryn Toomey: “My go-to natural health providers are: I have a few go-tos, including; Thomas Droge for acupuncture; Aleta St James for my heart and spirit; Dr. Keith Pyne for body work and adjustments, Dana James for advice when my diet feels unbalanced; and Alexandra Defacio for an occasional colonic."
FOOD COACH NYC
Beauty and Well-Being Interview with Dana James
Rebecca Leffler
“Many women inspire me for different reasons. When I need a beauty fix, I turn to the great film star beauties of the 1950’s. When I need a spiritual infusion, I take Guru Jagat’s kundalini classes either in LA or on RaMa TV. When I need someone to energetically rebalance me, I turn to Alex Defacio, at Greenstar Wellness. When I’m struggling with some deeply ingrained behavioral patterns, I turn to self-love guru, Christine Arylo. We all need teachers, guides and mentors, and the best evolve with you."
BOUNDLESS
Green Star Wellness Review
KARA LADD
“REVIEW: (9/10) Alexandra’s deep-rooted knowledge in shamanism and healing modalities is unparalleled. The lymphatic massage was very unique (almost felt futuristic) utilizing ozone wands to open up and drain the system, LED light therapy and an activating essential oil massage. The shamanic colonic uprooted a lot of mental and emotional shadow. I did feel a little ill after both therapies before I felt cleansed and energized."
THE Newsette
Been There, Done That: Trying a Colonic
Molly West | Photo: Ellie Bensuka
“You got WHAT put WHERE?” This was my friends’ reaction when I told them I got colon hydrotherapy. You can probably guess what this is but in case you can’t, it is a tube that puts water into your backside,in order to cleanse your colon and clean you out. Surprisingly, colon hydrotherapy has been around since the ancient times, and several wellness gurus swear by this treatment for a healthy gut.
I couldn’t deny that I was curious. But while I love trying new health and wellness fads, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out before my treatment. Luckily, Alexandra Defacio, the founder and owner of Green Star Wellness, was extremely informative and did a fantastic job of putting me at ease beforehand."
Refinery29
The 17 Most Epic NYC Massages
KAYLA JACOBS
A lymphatic massage from Alexandra Defacio gets an aromatic boost with cult Young Living essential oils and homeopathic ointments made from plants and minerals. Her sweeping drainage techniques are brilliant for smoothing away all signs of puffiness and water retention so you’ll not only feel but look a good deal lighter post-treatment.
Price: Lymphatic Decongestive Massage, $195 for 60 minutes.
Green Star Wellness, 3rd floor, 224 5th Avenue; 212-213-8520.
NEW YORK GUIDES
The Everything Guide to the Occult
The Shamanic Healer: Alexandra Defacio
Defacio, the founder of Green Star Wellness, a center for both spiritual and physical healing, blends modern bodywork, like colonics and lymphatic-drainage treatments, with the ancient way of calling to and interacting with the spirit world.
Endorsed by: Fashion publicist and reality-TV star Kelly Cutrone, who first went to Defacio for a simple colonic. In the midst of the treatment, the healer asked if she was open-minded, and Cutrone said she was. Then, she recalls, “The next thing I know, I hear her chanting ‘Archangel Raphael’ and walking around me with a crystal ball and sage, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ ” But the treatment—which Defacio calls a “shamanic colonic”—helped Cutrone feel like she was more centered.
CONDÉ nast traveller
19 Super Therapists and Healers
Alex Defaccio, colonic hydrotherapist Anyone undertaking a detox, looking to kickstart a new diet regime or suffering from IBS should hotfoot it to Green Star Wellness on New York's Fifth Avenue. Its Brazilian founder, the softly spoken Alexandra Defacio, is famous for her colonics and inflammation-reducing lymphatic massage using LED lights. We all know the standard advice when it comes to water: if you want to look good on the outside, drink plenty of it. But Defaccio has devised a series of treatments using water both inside and out to heal, detoxify and spring-clean. The bespoke Shamanic Colonic is not your ordinary colon hydrotherapy session; it assists with cleansing, but also works on balancing the body's vibrational sounds and chakras. It may sound a little out-there, but the process has such a powerful cleansing effect on your body that you won't feel like filling up on cakes and crisps any time soon. It's an enlightening way to lose a few hours and emerge feeling as fresh as a daisy.
THE KNOW
Total Body Theraphy & Shamanic Colonic
MASHA ORLOV | Photo: HENRY LOPEZ
It has been four years since I began working with Alexandra Defacio, owner of Green Star Wellness. After each visit, I feel like a fresh human being--clean from the inside out, and indeed, she compares herself to a broom “that scrapes layers off from within and then sweeps them away.” At the age of seventeen, she learned Shantala massage and worked on eight-month to four-year-olds attending a corporal alternative school meant for infants and toddlers to understand their connection to themselves and their bodies. Since then, she has become a Reiki master and studied a variety of bodywork including Shiatsu, craniosacral therapy, the Alexander technique, and Feng Shui for understanding energy--and that is just to name a few of the tools in her toolbox. “All therapies are from the same source. They are just different coats, but the base is the same,” explains Alexandra. Eleven years ago, after having thyroid problems, she realized that “even with cleansing and everything else, hydro colon therapy is the only way to heal the body.”
We have different realms of our body, and for Alexandra, emotion is a top layer on the body, as the bioenergy field and ectoplasm of the entire body are all that hold your subconscious. Emotion blockages create sickness and this is how we lose vital energy. Emotion is also kept in the gut, where we hold onto it, keeping toxins in the digestive system and organs. Sex, recreational drugs and food are used thoughtlessly and become a form of emotional nurturing to the gut, while connection to the body stops.
Total Body therapy treatment combines Alexandra’s complementary practices of Reiki, massage, polarity, Chakra Balancing, healing sound vibration and aromatherapy. It was created for people to heal themselves by releasing trapped energy and emotions from deep in the cells of their body and spine. The treatment begins with vibrational medicine therapy, which includes circular breathing, and takes about 40 minutes to open the seven chakras. Alexandra then uses essential oil aromatherapy on the spine, belly button and heart. She says people need to feel touched on these places to awaken the cells and help release traumas. After your body opens up, you are ready to start integrating, balancing, and releasing to unblock the energy field and awaken the mind, body, and spirit.
Alexandra believes that an essential component of this treatment is that clients be grounded as “it helps to get people out of their minds, dramas and stories, by getting them back into their bodies.” Through the massage, she feels the densities in the body, and she can sense where and which organs have blockages. (During our most recent session, she noticed a lot of heaviness in my pancreas, which is indeed an organ that has seriously affected me in the past). “Where do you feel it in your body when you challenge yourself?” she asks. “When it says ‘no’, listen. That is the primitive intuition, and it is our intuition of breathing and grounding that creates manifestation. When you are blocked in your mind, you don’t feel peace, happiness, and pleasure. Why pay attention to something from the past? Stories and drama create attachment and density. This heavy energy needs to leave and to be released.”
After the Total Body Therapy part is complete, Alexandra does another unique treatment, the Shamanic colonic, which incorporates more vibrational sound therapy, Reiki, aromatherapy, mantras, and earth elements like drums and wind chimes. The combination of these techniques with gentle hydro colon therapy invites your body to open up and easily release emotional buildup in the body as well as material buildup in the colon.
I went in to see her after an exhausting fashion week in September feeling a bit tired, low-energy and I had a nasty cough. I walked out of her office with the cough gone and everything else gross was “swept out.” Although I felt light as a feather and floating on clouds, I knew it is important to take it easy after physical therapy sessions, as they creates intense shifts in your body. Always best to go eat a light, healthy meal afterwards and then relax with a book on the couch.
GREEN STAR WELLNESS
7 West 22nd Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10010
Office Hours of Operation:
11AM to 7PM Monday through Sunday, by appointment only.
Business Cell Phone: (917) 828-6020