Beyond the “Woo-Woo”: Riz & Oriah Mirza on Conscious Living, Connection & Transformation
Riz Mirza and Oriah Mirza are renowned healers, conscious lifestyle experts, podcasters, authors, and media entrepreneurs who have spent more than two decades exploring healing, personal transformation, and what it means to live a more connected life. With a refreshingly relatable, decidedly “no woo-woo” approach, the husband-and-wife duo have built a devoted global following around curiosity, adventure, authentic connection, and the belief that transformation can be both profound and practical. Through Sacred Earth Retreats, they lead immersive journeys to extraordinary destinations where wellness, ancient history, exploration, and meaningful human connection converge. On January 8-10, 2027, they’ll bring that philosophy to Sedona, Arizona for The Mystics Experience: Sedona – a deeply meaningful experience inspired by their shared fascination with ancient wisdom, personal transformation, and collective healing. Miami Living Magazine caught up with the duo to talk about their journey, their work, and what continues to inspire them.
Riz Mirza
Oriah Mirza
Miami Living (ML): Riz, you grew up in the Bronx, and your life hasn't been a conventional path to becoming a trance channel, psychic medium, and shaman. Were there signs of this ability during your childhood, and how did it become your life's work?
Riz Mirza: The Bronx was my first mystery school. It taught me how to read a room and the energy in it. By the age of seven, I started having visions and getting messages from people who died. But in the Bronx, you don’t just announce that you’re talking to spirits; you stay quiet and observe and do your best to figure it out. So for many years I thought I was being pulled between two worlds, survival and the unseen world. Now I understand they weren’t separate, and being born there gave me a street sense of survival, but my gift gave me a purpose.
So I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to become a trance channel, psychic medium, or a shaman. The spiritual kept calling me. And every other possibility of other careers never panned out. Once I gave in, people came for guidance, and the messages became clearer. My mentor Alex Murray once told me to follow the gift and let the private ability become a public responsibility.
Miami Living (ML): Oriah, so much of your work revolves around helping people understand their emotions and regulate their nervous systems, yet you’ve also built a career in television, creative direction, publishing, and experiential design. When did you realize that our physical surroundings can actually change how we feel?
Oriah Mirza: Honestly, I think it started in childhood. I moved around constantly, often isolated, and I developed this intense ability to tune into the energy of everyone around me just to navigate my world safely. Later on, building careers in TV and design, I realized that very few people are actually intentional about how a space makes them feel versus just how it looks. You can spend millions on decor and still feel totally ungrounded in your own home. It’s that exact intersection of aesthetics and nervous system regulation that I’m fascinated by.
ML: Your new series, Oriah’s Nest, takes that idea quite literally – you’re entering celebrities’ homes and transforming spaces into personal sanctuaries. What do people most often discover they’re missing from their own space?
Oriah Mirza: Honestly, they discover they are missing themselves. Most people spend so much time designing their homes for entertaining others – for the perfect impression – that they forget to create a single space that truly nurtures them. In Oriah's Nest, we're reminding people that healing has to begin at home. They discover they are missing a dedicated sanctuary where they can actually unplug from the noise of the world, sit quietly, and just breathe.
ML: As a team, the two of you have taken people to places like Japan, Egypt, Glastonbury, and Mount Shasta in search of something that feels deeper than conventional travel. Can you take us behind the scenes of choosing a destination for Sacred Earth Retreats? What happens when you arrive somewhere and realize, “This is the place”?
Oriah Mirza: Riz and I look for adventure through the lens of spiritual history, culture, and deep energy. It’s usually an intuitive call first– we just feel drawn to a specific place, and then we figure out the logistics to get there. But the defining moment is when you actually arrive and stand on that ground – whether it's before the Pyramids in Egypt or at Mount Shasta. There’s an immediate, unshakeable unawakening inside you. You feel the energy in your bones, and you know it’s the exact environment to hold the transformation we’re designing for our community.
Riz Mirza
ML: What does the retreat experience look like? When is your next retreat, and where can others sign up?
Oriah Mirza: It is definitely not an "escape" from your life; it’s about returning home with practical tools and a renewed purpose. We focus on what we call the five pillars of well-being—spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and environmental connection—and we anchor that in the intense energy of a sacred site. It usually involves profound sound healing, shared meditation, and Riz’s live transmissions. We are currently preparing for Egypt 2026. Others who feel called can find out about our next Sacred Earth Retreat adventures and sign up at our main hub at www.rizmirza.com/sacred-earth-retreats. We are also excited to announce THE MYSTICS EXPERIENCE: SEDONA, based on our real-life and teachings. This is more than three incredible days in Sedona. You’ll leave with a clearer sense of yourself and the year ahead. A stronger connection to your own intuition. New perspectives from the channeled teachings and astrology. Practices to help shift your energy when you return home. And the experience of stepping outside your everyday world long enough to see your life — and what’s possible within it — differently.
ML: Through Chakra Cozy Magazine, you’re creating a modern, accessible space where spirituality, wellness, travel, consciousness, science, and personal growth come together. If the magazine could change one conversation happening in the world today, what would you want that conversation to be?
Oriah Mirza: I’d want to change the standard conversation that tells us spirituality, wellness, and personal growth have to be niche, separate, or purely "woo-woo." I want people to realize that becoming a more conscious human being is just a natural part of sophisticated, contemporary living. We've created a space where you can explore big, mystical ideas without feeling lectured or judged, showing people how to take these profound concepts and make them practical tools for a happy, real life.
ML: You’ve built a very expansive spiritual lifestyle brand while keeping your philosophy firmly “no woo-woo.” What does staying grounded look like when the cameras are off?
Oriah Mirza: Look, Riz and I both come from humble roots in East LA and the Bronx. Spirituality isn’t something you perform; it’s how you live when the cameras are off. For me, staying grounded looks like the day-to-day work: planning the magazine, having safe conversations at the dinner table with our children, admitting when I’m wrong as a partner, prioritizing real presence over perfection, and enjoying the simple, cozy universal frequencies of our own sanctuary.
ML: After everything you’ve experienced, created, and learned together, what still feels like a mystery to you?
Oriah Mirza: Honestly, the true depth of human resilience and potential is still the beautiful mystery. No matter how much open contact I’ve experienced, or how many profound transformations we’ve witnessed, the capacity of the human heart to heal and keep growing is endless. For us, curiosity is always more vital than certainty. The deeper you go, the more you realize there’s always another layer to discover about consciousness, about reality, and about ourselves.
Oriah Mirza
Keep up with Riz and Oriah on social media and watch the podcast: