WITHIN ME COLLECTION

There is a voice that knew before you did. It knew the friend was lying. It knew the offer was wrong. It knew the morning was going to be the kind that asked something of you. The voice did not shout. It did not announce itself. It simply waited at the centre of the chest, patient, until the world finally said the thing the voice had already said.

Most women have spent their lives apologising to that voice. Learning to override it. Calling it dramatic, or anxious, or too much. The WITHIN ME Collection was named for the practice of stopping that apology.

The collection is a small family of three pieces ~ bracelet, braided bracelet, and ring ~ each carrying the same two engraved words on the body of the wearer. At the wrist. At the finger. At the pulse. Each piece is worked in 22k gold vermeil over recycled sterling silver 925, and each holds a small opal stone that is not decoration but a small material lesson in what the collection is named for.

Sandrine, our founder, wrote the words of the collection herself, in three lines that are sometimes posted alongside the pieces. They read like a small daily prayer:

Within me… resides the intelligence to understand and the power to overcome. Within me… is the answer that whispers. Within me… you forever are.

Each line is the same beginning. Within me. The repetition is the point. The practice is the returning ~ over and over, gently, to the place where the knowing has been living the whole time.

SANDRINE’S OWN WORDS

WITHIN ME symbolizes the innate intelligence to understand and the strength to overcome life’s challenges. This piece is designed to inspire a journey inward ~ where true power, wisdom, freedom, and transformation reside. It also makes a heartfelt gift for someone you deeply cherish: “You are a part of me and will always have a place within my heart.” Take a moment to look WITHIN and discover the beauty of your inner world.

~ Sandrine, LeeLoobird

Sandrine names two dimensions of the collection that are worth understanding together.

The first dimension is the personal-practice dimension. The WITHIN ME pieces are designed to inspire a journey inward ~ a small daily practice of noticing what is happening in the wearer’s own interior life. Not a heroic project. A small pause, made possible by a small daily prompt on the body. Sandrine names what the wearer might find on that inward journey: true power, wisdom, freedom, and transformation. The suggestion is that these qualities are not somewhere else, to be sought after; they are already inside the wearer, waiting to be recognised.

The second dimension is the gifting dimension. Sandrine explicitly names the collection as a heartfelt gift for someone the wearer deeply cherishes, carrying the message: You are a part of me and will always have a place within my heart. Here, ‘within me’ is not the wearer’s own inward journey ~ it is what the giver is telling the recipient. You are within me. You live inside the shape of my life. You are not going anywhere. The piece becomes a wearable version of what the giver would otherwise have to say out loud, in words, in a difficult and vulnerable moment. Instead, she gives the piece. The piece says the sentence for her.

Both dimensions are true at once. Whether the wearer buys the collection for her own daily practice or gives it to someone she loves, the two words carry both meanings simultaneously ~ the invitation to look inward, and the declaration that someone is held there.

PRATYAHARA ~ THE FIFTH LIMB OF YOGA

There is a specific term in classical yoga philosophy for the practice the WITHIN ME Collection is designed to prompt. Its name is pratyahara, and it is one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga as codified by the sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (composed around 400 CE). Pratyahara is the fifth limb, sitting between the physical practices (asana and pranayama) and the meditative practices (dharana, dhyana, samadhi).

The word pratyahara is a Sanskrit compound: prati (‘against’ or ‘away from’) and ahara (‘food’ or ‘intake’). Literally: ‘withdrawing from the food.’ The meaning: withdrawing the senses from their usual external stimuli in order to turn attention inward. Patanjali describes it in Yoga Sutra 2.54:

Pratyahara is, as it were, the imitation by the senses of the mind by withdrawing themselves from their objects.

~ Patanjali, Yoga Sutra 2.54 (c. 400 CE)

The senses stop reaching outward for input. They turn toward the interior.

What makes pratyahara philosophically important is that it is the bridge between the outward-facing yoga practices and the inward-facing meditative ones. Without pratyahara, meditation is nearly impossible ~ the senses keep pulling the practitioner’s attention back to sounds, images, tastes, physical discomfort, and the buzzing external world. With pratyahara, the practitioner learns to bring her attention inward on demand, so that the deeper meditative work can begin.

The WITHIN ME Collection is a small wearable prompt for pratyahara. When the wearer’s attention has been scattering all day across ten screens, twenty messages, and a hundred small demands ~ and she looks down at her wrist or her finger and sees the two words engraved on the piece ~ the piece is doing what pratyahara does. Withdrawing. Reorienting. Bringing the wearer’s attention back to the interior. Not asking for a full meditation. Just for a moment of return.

CARL JUNG ~ WHO LOOKS INSIDE, AWAKES

Six centuries after Meister Eckhart, and half a world away from Patanjali, a Swiss psychiatrist was writing letters and clinical notes about the same distinction. His name was Carl Jung (1875-1961), and he founded the school of analytical psychology on precisely the observation the WITHIN ME Collection is designed to hold at the body. His most-quoted single sentence on the subject reads:

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

~ Carl Jung

The person who orients her life around external circumstances, external achievements, external relationships, and the endless external play of desire and disappointment is, in Jung’s frame, dreaming. She is living in a story shaped by things she cannot control. The person who turns her attention inward ~ who develops a working relationship with her own interior life ~ is awake. She is not passive to what happens; she is a participant in her own inner life. The WITHIN ME Collection is a small wearable Jungian instruction. Look inside.

Jung had a companion phrase that is worth carrying alongside. He wrote:

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

~ Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)

Two small verbs: look inside. The whole practice of the WITHIN ME Collection contained in them. Each time the wearer catches sight of the two engraved words, she is offered the smallest possible version of Jung’s instruction. Not a demanding one. Not one that requires an hour of silence or a therapist’s chair. Just the invitation to turn the attention, briefly, toward the interior. The awakening can begin from that small return.

RASA HATI ~ THE INNER FEELING IN BALI

In Bali, there is a word for the kind of knowing the WITHIN ME Collection honours. The Indonesian word rasa means feeling, but a particular kind ~ the inner sense that comes before thought. Balinese women speak of rasa hati, the feeling of the heart, as something distinct from the chatter of the mind. When a Balinese woman says rasa hati saya bilang… ~ my heart-feeling tells me… ~ she is naming exactly what the WITHIN ME Collection is designed to prompt. The inner voice. The knowing that arrives before the argument. The answer that whispers.

Balinese Hindu practice also holds a version of pratyahara, though not always named by its Sanskrit term. Before any significant ceremony, the practitioner is asked to withdraw her attention from the ordinary daily world ~ from the market, the phone, the small distractions ~ and turn her attention toward the sacred and the interior. The moment of preparation before offering a canang sari, the small silence before entering a temple, the pause before saying an evening prayer: these are all small pratyaharic moments. The Balinese person who has grown up with this rhythm has been practising pratyahara her whole life, whether or not she uses the Sanskrit word.

This is the culture the WITHIN ME Collection was made inside. Every morning, in the small workshop where our pieces are made, our craftspeople begin the day with canang sari ~ small woven palm-leaf offerings placed at the entrance to the atelier, on the workbench, near the tools. Before the first ring is filed, before the first chain is soldered, before the first inscription is stamped, the day has been quieted. Attention has been turned inward. This is not decoration. This is the daily gratitude and centering infrastructure of the culture in which every LeeLoobird piece is made.

The WITHIN ME Collection is designed as a wearable European translation of that same Balinese practice. What the Balinese woman does with a moment of stillness before her canang sari, the LeeLoobird wearer does with a small glance at her wrist or her finger. The gesture is the same. The interior return is the same. Only the material has changed.

THE OPAL ~ THE STONE THAT HOLDS THE INTERIOR

Set into each piece of the WITHIN ME Collection is a small opal stone, chosen with intention.

Opal is one of the more unusual stones in the jewelry tradition. Unlike most gemstones, which are crystalline, opal is a mineraloid ~ silica that did not arrange itself into a crystal lattice, but instead settled into a non-crystalline structure that holds water inside it. Between six and twenty-one percent of an opal’s weight is captured water, locked into mineral form across geological time. This is the source of its characteristic play-of-colour: light diffracts through microscopic spheres of silica suspended in the watery silica matrix, producing the shifting prismatic flashes the stone is known for.

The stone holds the wet inside the dry. The fluid inside the solid. The hidden inside the visible. This is what we wanted at the wrist and at the finger. A stone that carries something within it. A stone that is itself a small lesson in what the collection is named for.

Across cultures, the opal has been read as a stone of inner sight. The Romans called it opalus, a derivation of the Sanskrit upala, meaning precious stone. In Indian Vedic tradition, the opal was associated with wisdom and the inner light. Mystic European traditions of the Renaissance held that opals strengthened the gift of vision. Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime tells of opals formed where the Creator’s rainbow touched the earth. The traditions disagree about most things. They agree that the opal sees.

Geologically, most fine opal comes from Australia (which produces approximately 95% of the world’s precious opal supply), though smaller quantities are also mined in Ethiopia, Mexico, and Brazil. The stone forms in silica-rich water that seeps into rock cavities and slowly hardens over millions of years. It is, in an almost literal sense, a stone made of trapped water ~ the water content is what gives opal its distinctive optical effects and its slightly fragile character.

For a WITHIN ME piece, the opal is philosophically apt. Its colours reveal themselves to the wearer who takes the time to look. Its interior structure holds multitudes. Its play-of-colour changes depending on the angle of attention. All of these are metaphors for the interior life the collection is inviting the wearer to explore.

THE THREE PIECES ~ BRACELET, BRAIDED BRACELET, RING

The WITHIN ME Collection is a family of three pieces, each carrying the same two words in a different position on the wearer’s body. Each piece can be worn alone. Two pieces layer beautifully. The full three-piece family becomes a small worn interior anchor ~ within me at the pulse, within me on the cord, within me on the finger.

WITHIN ME Bracelet ~ The WITHIN ME Bracelet is the original piece of the collection. A delicate 22k gold vermeil chain, three microns of gold plated over solid recycled sterling silver 925 with a protective nano coating, holding a small opal stone at the centre where the pulse rests. The bracelet measures 16 centimetres with an additional 2.5 cm of adjustment ~ generous enough to find the comfortable fall at the wrist, snug enough that the opal stays at the inner pulse. The opal catches whatever light is in the room ~ pale, prismatic, never quite the same colour twice.

WITHIN ME Braided Bracelet ~ The WITHIN ME Braided Bracelet  is the softer sister. The same two words on a hand-tied cord instead of chain, with the small opal-set 22k gold vermeil plate at the top of the wrist. For the days when the wearer wants something quieter. Something that moves with her. Something that lets the skin breathe on the beach, in the pool, through a long yoga practice, into a warm bath. The cord is hand-tied in our Bali atelier by artisans who have been braiding for LeeLoobird for years. Each knot is placed with care, each cord finished so it lies flat and rests soft. The braided piece is often the first WITHIN ME a wearer chooses. It is the softest way in.

WITHIN ME Ring ~ The WITHIN ME Ring is a signet-style piece in 22k gold vermeil and recycled sterling silver 925, engraved with the two small words on a rectangular face and set with a small opal stone at the corner. Available in sizes 6, 7, and 8. Rp 1,990,000. The signet form is deliberate ~ signet rings are, historically, personal-identity pieces, carrying a seal or an inscription that marked the wearer’s identity, promises, or belonging. To engrave ‘within me’ on a signet ring is to make a small daily claim: what defines the wearer is not her external position or her worldly signs, but what is within her. The ring reads well on the middle or index finger, where the engraved face is most visible to the wearer herself throughout the day.

LAYERING THE COLLECTION

The WITHIN ME Collection is designed to be layered, and there is no wrong way to do it. But here are a few small suggestions from our atelier for the wearer building her own daily grammar of interior return.

The small daily kit. The WITHIN ME Ring alone, worn every day, becomes the smallest possible entry point to the interior practice. Sized 6 to 8, worn in gold vermeil, she is enough on her own. Many of our wearers begin with only the ring and add a second piece later.

The morning pairing. The WITHIN ME Bracelet with the WITHIN ME Ring, worn together, give the wearer a small interior anchor at both the wrist and the finger. Two glances, two returns, throughout the day. The most-chosen pairing for our gifting sets.

The full three-part practice. The bracelet, braided bracelet, and ring worn together give the wearer three small worn within me at three different positions of the daily body ~ chain at one wrist, cord at the other, ring on the finger. This is the closest thing the collection has to a full daily interior anchor. It reads as considered rather than heavy. The pieces share design language (opal stone, engraved plate, the same two words) so they are read together as a family rather than as three separate messages.

The WITHIN ME Collection layers beautifully with our Trust Ring and Merci Ring on adjacent fingers ~ the three together form a small worn interior sentence: thank you, I trust, within me. Some of our wearers own all three ring stories. Explore the full rings collection for further layering options.

CARE ~ KEEPING THE COLLECTION AT ITS BEST

The WITHIN ME Collection is designed for real daily wear. The 22k gold vermeil is a serious professional standard ~ 3 microns of gold plated over solid recycled sterling silver 925, protected by a nano coating that helps hold the finish through years of use.

A few small notes to keep the collection at its best. The opal stones require slightly gentler care than most gemstones ~ opal is a mineraloid rather than a true crystal, and its water content makes it more sensitive to temperature and impact than harder stones. Do not expose the pieces to prolonged direct heat, extreme dryness, or ultrasonic cleaning. Remove pieces before showering, before entering the sea, and before applying perfumes or heavy body oils. Wipe gently with a soft cloth. Store in soft pouches so the opal does not knock against other stones. With normal daily wear the opal holds up beautifully for years.

Each piece of the WITHIN ME Collection arrives in our small LeeLoobird pouch, ready to be worn or ready to be given. If the collection is a gift ~ and much of it is, because interior recognition is a natural thing to want to give to someone loved ~ we recommend a small handwritten note tucked inside the pouch. The receiver will not need the collection explained. She will already know.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the WITHIN ME Collection?

The WITHIN ME Collection is a family of three pieces ~ bracelet, braided bracelet, and ring ~ each engraved with the two small words within me and set with a small opal stone. Each piece is worked in 22k gold vermeil (three microns of real gold over recycled sterling silver 925) and blessed in our Bali atelier. Designed as a small worn daily practice of interior return.

What does the WITHIN ME Collection mean?

Sandrine designed the collection to honour the inner voice ~ the wisdom that has been living within the wearer the whole time. The three lines of the mantra she wrote alongside it sum it up: ‘Within me… resides the intelligence to understand and the power to overcome. Within me… is the answer that whispers. Within me… you forever are.’

What does opal represent in jewelry?

Across cultures, opal has been associated with inner sight, wisdom, and the gift of vision. The Romans called it a stone of hope. Indian Vedic tradition linked it to inner wisdom. Mystic European traditions valued it for clarity. Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime stories tell of opals formed where the Creator’s rainbow touched the earth. All traditions agree: the opal is the stone of seeing what is not visible to the eye.

Is opal a crystal?

Technically, no. Opal is a mineraloid rather than a true crystal ~ silica that solidified in a non-crystalline structure, with water held inside it. Between six and twenty-one percent of an opal’s weight is water, captured during the stone’s formation over millions of years. This is the source of its characteristic play of colour.

What is pratyahara, and how does the collection relate to it?

Pratyahara is the fifth of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga as codified in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (c. 400 CE). The Sanskrit word means ‘withdrawing from external stimuli’ ~ the practice of turning the attention inward. The WITHIN ME Collection is a small wearable prompt for pratyahara: each time the wearer catches sight of the two engraved words, she is invited, softly, to turn her attention from the external world back to her own interior.

Can I mix pieces from the collection with my other LeeLoobird jewelry?

Yes ~ the collection is designed to layer. The WITHIN ME Bracelet stacks well with our other bracelets, the ring pairs with our  and Merci Ring on adjacent fingers, and the braided bracelet layers with any of our other braided pieces. Some wearers own the full three-piece family; some wear a single piece as their daily anchor. All are correct.

Is the WITHIN ME Collection a good gift?

Yes ~ it is one of our most-given collections. Sandrine designed it explicitly with gifting in mind. The inscription she imagined alongside the pieces is: ‘You are a part of me and will always have a place within my heart.’ Frequently gifted between mothers and daughters, between sisters, between close friends who have weathered something together. The pieces arrive in our LeeLoobird pouch, ready to be given with a small handwritten note.

Where is the WITHIN ME Collection made?

Every piece is hand-finished in our atelier outside Ubud, Bali. Each piece is blessed in the atelier before it leaves us ~ to empower, to soothe, to manifest ~ following the same daily practice that begins with morning canang sari offerings at the workbench.

Discover the full Collection online and in our three Bali boutiques ~ Canggu Pererenan, Bingin Uluwatu, and Ubud.

•  WITHIN ME Bracelet

•  WITHIN ME Braided Bracelet

•  WITHIN ME Ring

RELATED STORIES

Discover other LeeLoobird collection stories:

~ MERCI Collection ~ A Story of Gratitude

~ MAYBE Collection ~ A Story of the Small Perhaps

~ SUNSHINE Collection ~ A Story of Bali Sun

~ SUNNY Collection ~ A Story of Warmth

With love,  the LeeLoobird family