The Body Behind the Brand

I’m Cassandra Juniphant.
Founder of Ori Ara. Creator of The Body Ministry™.
Student of the body as both sacred vessel and strategic self-leadership system.

Wife, (former single) mother, pro bodybuilder, Yogi, HR executive and Adjunct Professor is my lived experience as a woman who carried a lot in a world that offered no healthy support in return.

But Ori Ara was never meant to be about me.

It exists for the woman who feels the quiet knowing that she is meant to live, lead, and move through the world differently…and hasn’t yet been given a language, a system, or a place to practice that truth.

Ori Ara was founded in 2021.
But the philosophy behind it was born much earlier.

What started as a desperate search for answers to lose the baby weight became a much deeper divine discovery: Our body is not something to be fixed. She is someone to commune with.

I still remember the day.
I was deep in prep for a bodybuilding competition, exhausted, pushing myself to the edge when I heard the clearest message from God…

“This is what we came for.”

In that instant, everything changed.

I realized is wasn’t about the stage, the title, or the results.

It was about the relationship with Self.

I realized then that my body was a divine gift. A sacred vessel. A portal for joy, purpose, and presence.

Since that moment, my work became clear…

To help women stop waging war with their body and start building a relationship with it.

This is more than wellness. More than fitness. More than self-care.
This is a lifestyle.

A leadership strategy.

A return to your Divinity.

Through The Body Ministry™, women learn how to live inside their body in a way that supports their ambition, their relationships, and their spiritual life…at the same time.

Because women don’t just want abs.
We want it all…..ease, flow, authority, beauty, capacity and freedom.

I fully believe you can have it all…and it starts with your health.

Ori Ara is here to serve women who carry responsibility, influence, and vision by teaching them how to lead from a regulated, nourished, and embodied state.

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“A healthy body vibrates at the frequency of your wildest dreams!”

-Cassandra Juniphant, MBA, PHR, CPT

What Ori Ara is

Ori Ara is a home for modern women learning how to live well in their body.

My mission is to reintroduce women to their bodies as a sacred guide, not problems to fix.

I teach a framework and philosophy of embodied self-leadership, where nourishment, movement, rest, and ritual work together to create a life that can actually hold a woman’s ambition.

Why This Exists

Because for the first time in human history, we are living inside environments built to work against our health and our humanity.

Fast-paced. Digitally demanding. Ultra-processed. Toxic by design.

Women are not failing inside this world.

They are adapting to it.

And the cost of that adaptation is showing up in our bodies, our energy, our relationships, and our sense of self.

Ori Ara exists not to bypass this reality… but to teach women how to thrive inside it.

Not self-care as indulgence.
Self-care as strategy.

What I believe

We are souls experiencing life through a human body.

The body is not separate from our purpose.
It is the means by which we fulfill it.

Caring for the body is not a task.
It is a spiritual practice.

The quality of our health shapes the quality of our leadership, our love, and our contribution to the world.

Every body carries a unique calling.
Protecting our health is how we protect our ability to answer it.

Ori Ara is a Yoruba term meaning "purpose" and "body." It represents the idea of living fully aware and in deep appreciation of the body as the earthly home for the soul.

At its foundation, Ori Ara is a belief system…

The way a woman eats, rests, moves, breathes, and tends to herself is not separate from her destiny.

It is how she prepares herself to meet it.

Built on the 9 Pillars of Self-Care, this work moves beyond Western ideas of health and into a more ancient understanding:..

That self-care is not something you pursue.
It is something you practice.

join the body ministry

I created The Body Ministry™ to help women reconnect to themselves, one sacred habit at a time. Our body doesn’t respond to punishment, she wants to be partnered with.

— Cassandra Juniphant, Founder of Ori Ara

The Journey

2012 - 2016: Becoming the Strongest Woman I Knew

I stumbled into bodybuilding just trying to lose the baby weight and ended up falling in love with having a body.
I competed multiple times a year and earned my pro card in 2016.

After my divorce, this chapter marked the beginning of my spiritual journey, too.
It wasn’t just about fitness anymore … it was about reclaiming myself.

During this time, I became a certified trainer, owned a gym, taught group classes, and started practicing yoga. I dove into learning about supplements and basic nutrition.
I was all in … a single mom, working in corporate by day, coaching women by night.

I didn’t have a plan, just pure passion to share what I was learning.
And I became known in my community as Natural Fit Mom. A name that captured my heart and hustle in that season.

2016 - 2021: Beyond the Body

I stopped competing after earning my pro card because something deeper was calling me.

By then, I had seen too many cracks in the fitness industry. I had watched women fall through them doing everything “right,” and still feeling lost. I realized pure fitness wasn’t enough. Even with all my knowledge, I was struggling with my mental health. That’s when I finally understood the difference between health and fitness and that I had so much more to learn.

So I went inward.

I studied nutrition, mindfulness, and spirituality.
I launched a podcast and shared what I was exploring.
I practiced martial arts, published two children’s coloring books about movement and healthy living, and kept searching for answers.

But most importantly, I began to unlearn what the world taught me about health and remember what my body already knew.

Over the course of 6-7 months in 2018, I channeled and wrote what is now The Body Ministry™ and the 9 Pillars of Self-Care.

September 2021: The Birth of Ori Ara

Up until this point, health and fitness had always been my side hustle … a deep passion I squeezed in between work meetings, motherhood, and the demands of life.

Then, in the summer of 2021, I was laid off from my corporate job.

Instead of panic, I felt purpose. It was Covid and people were paying attention to their health for the first time in a long time. I knew I was in the right place at the right time.

That September, I officially launched Ori Ara with a fitness membership called More Than Muscle … a name that captured everything I believed about wellness. It wasn’t just about what your body could do, but how it made you feel.

The membership included:

  • Online workouts

  • Structured meal plans

  • In-person group training

  • Restorative yoga sessions

It was a full-circle moment. I had always known that movement and nourishment were keys to transformation and now I had a container to share it all.

Ori Ara was born from my lived experience: motherhood, heartbreak, healing, and hustle. It was the beginning of helping women move differently … with care, intention, and reverence for their body.

Fall 2023 - A Radical Pause

I built the business, launched the programs, and served the women.

But I wasn’t enjoying it.

I wasn’t fulfilled.

Fitness alone wasn’t enough and I was tired of pretending it was.
Women needed more than a program. They needed a practice.
But most still only wanted flat abs and quick results.

So I stepped back.

I closed the consumer side of Ori Ara and shifted my focus to corporate teams. Leading workshops and wellness seminars that spoke to the whole person, not just the body.

I was also getting remarried during this time.
And after years of grinding and proving, I finally wanted to be intentional with my energy… to build my marriage, my home, and my next chapter with presence.

This pivot gave me space to recalibrate.
To grieve what was no longer aligned.
And to prepare for what was next.

Spring 2025 - The Rebirth

I published my first book.

And with it, a new vision was born.

I reopened the consumer side of Ori Ara, but this time, it wasn’t about the gym.
It was about everything but the gym.

The rhythms.
The rituals.
The real-life transformation that happens when women stop obsessing over the one hour at the gym…
and start living The Other 23 with intention.

Through The Body Ministry membership, women now have unlimited access to the tools, teachings, and rituals they need to thrive in 2026 (and beyond) … physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Present Day: The Body is the Way

Everything I’ve lived, studied, and survived has resolved into one truth…

Your body is not the problem.
It is the portal.

To clarity.
To confidence.
To leadership.
To joy.
To your next level of life.

The Body Ministry™ is a living library of seasonal practices, micro-workshops, and daily rituals designed for real women living real lives in a demanding world.

Because we don’t need another crash diet.
We need a spiritual operating system for the body.

And that is what Ori Ara is.

A return to inner wisdom.
A new way of living.
A home for women who are ready to rise..

The Archives

Magazine Covers

  • Gorgo Cover, February 2018

  • Gorgo Cover, March 2015

  • Gorgo Cover, April 2015

Published Work

Podcasts

  • The Blissful Life Podcast

    Ep4: The Body Ministry w/Cassandra Juniphant

    Click Here

  • Holistic & Spiritual AF

    Ep 44: The Body is the Altar

    Watch Here

  • Growth on the Rocks

    Transform your Life: Fitness, Healing & Purpose with Cassandra Juniphant,

    Listen Here

  • Vixen Voice w/ April Roberts

    How Women Can Fit Health Into a Busy Schedule | Laura Mak Quist and Cassandra Juniphant

    Click Here

  • The Secret Formula of Feminity

    Can Women Really Have it All?, Season 2 Ep. 40

    Watch Here

  • 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳: 𝘈𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

    𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆~𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗢𝗪!

    Watch Here

  • The Rochelle Christiane Podcast

    Sacred Self-Care Ep. 241

    Listen Here

  • The Stormy Show with Stormy Sage

    EP 67. The Self-Care Secret to Success: Worthiness, Love & Devotion w/ Cassandra Juniphant

    Listen Here

  • LifeBlood Podcast

    Love Your Body with Cassandra Juniphant

    Watch here

  • Stumbling Forward Podcast

    Authentic Foundations

    Click Here

  • Ecstatic Life Podcast

    The Alchemy of Self-Care

    Click Here

  • About Her Podcast

    Ep. 20 *Embracing the Divine: A Journey of Self-Care”

    Listen Here

  • Just Say More Podcast

    Ep. 24 - How to Listen to Your Heart & Trust Your Body’s Wisdom

    Listen here

  • Sipping on Stories

    Sacred Self-Care, Ep. 31

    Watch Here

  • Soulibration

    Live on BlackDoctor.org

    Watch Here

  • This Podcast Has No Name

    Ep 35: Love, Fitness and the Power of Self-Care

    Listen Here!

  • Breaking Belief Barriers Podcast

    Fit, Fierce, and Fully Feminine

    Listen Here

  • My Former Podcast

    Visit Site

  • My old YouTube

    Description goes here
    Click Here

  • As Told By...Podcast

    Mind Your Body: As Told by Cassandra

    Listen Here

  • This Podcast Has No Name

    Ep 12 :Embracing Change with Cassandra Delynn

    Listen Here

  • Pain Free Fitness: The Podcast

    Why ’Fitness’ Does NOT Always Equal ’Health’

    Listen Here

  • Conversations with Monk

Speaking/Teaching

  • Spirit Weavers 2025

    Speaker/Facilitator

    Click Here

  • Rise Live

    Speaker

    Click Here

  • Yoga Class

    Elite Fitness

  • Camp Gorgo Trainer 2019

    Listen Here

  • Camp Gorgo Trainer 2018

  • Camp Gorgo Trainer 2017

  • True Beauty Revealed Spiritual Self-care Cruise 2017

  • Camp Gorgo Trainer2016

  • Do You Retreat 2018

    Guest Speaker

  • Do You Retreat 2017

    Guest Speaker

    Click Here

Competition Years

  • 4th place “Open” Figure class D, NPC San Francisco October 2012

  • 1st place “Novice” category, INBA Night of Natural Champions September 2012

  • 1st place “Open” Figure Class D, NPC Governor’s Cup March 2013

  • 2nd place “Open” Figure Class D, NPC California State Championship May 2013

  • 2nd Callouts “Open” Figure F, Jr. Nationals, June 2014

    Listen Here

  • Overall Winner “Open” Figure, NPC Northern California,s June 2014

  • 1st Callouts “Open” Figure F, Jr. Nationals, June 2015

  • 1st place “Open” Figure, UFE Fury, June 2016 – Pro Card Awarded

    Description goes here

This isn’t another wellness plan. It’s a movement.

enter the body ministry