Recess co-founder, Paulina Ortega, welcomes us to her home. While she's at it, she offers a view of her headspace &mdash; a place she cultivates by keeping a balance between moments of movement and meditation.&nbsp;

PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Brennan

&ldquo;What are you cooking?&rdquo; I ask my colleague, Paulina Ortega, during a call intended to be a press briefing. &ldquo;I'm making Samin Nostrat&rsquo;s sweet potato tahini&hellip; if I don&rsquo;t burn it,&rdquo; she replies. She&rsquo;s preparing dinner while I go over my laundry list of topics. We discuss family, fitness, and fashion. Ten minutes in, she mentions, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize you were recording.&rdquo; We laugh. &ldquo;I thought you&rsquo;ll be more forthcoming outside a formal interview,&rdquo; I say. After assessing what parts should be off the record, she sustains her candor, &ldquo;I love Katharine Hepburn&rsquo;s screwball comedy so much. There&rsquo;s something about her demeanor and how she carries herself that I super love. I wouldn&rsquo;t say she&rsquo;s rambunctious, but there&rsquo;s a spring in her step and how she speaks.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Paulina, who&rsquo;s inspired by several muses including the impossibly soign&eacute;e Lee Radziwill, is named after the 80s supermodel Paulina Porizkova. She&rsquo;s drawn to subtle femininity &mdash; the kind of confidence that doesn&rsquo;t shout. She, too, would rather expose her life in thoughtful increments. As the co-founder of the activewear line, Recess, it&rsquo;s surprising to hear her say, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not one of those people who love to post about fitness online&hellip; but fitness has always been a part of my life for sure. It&rsquo;s my secret life.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 &ldquo;Walk me through this secret life,&rdquo; I tease. Paulina cracks up, wary of sounding woo woo. &ldquo;I have a healer for my energy. I&rsquo;m a recovering insomniac so I consider myself as a high-functioning anxious person. Last week, I got my energy realigned and shifted for the year&hellip;The secret life is not just about working out. I meditate as well. My mom is a serious yogi. I would just be surprised to open my phone in public and she&rsquo;ll send me a back bridge. I&rsquo;ve always been around that,&rdquo; she confesses.

Thankfully, Recess directs the fitness dialogue inward. &ldquo;Something I felt was missing from the conversation of fitness and wellbeing is getting people to clock into their heads. It was always like action items and very physically directed things. Nobody was talking about our mental or emotional state,&rdquo; she points out.&nbsp;
 It&rsquo;s her turn to pry. &ldquo;Do you work out?&rdquo; &ldquo;Not lately,&rdquo; I mumble, &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve always liked Pilates.&rdquo; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also a Pilates girl through and through!&rdquo; she declares. Paulina enjoys working out in the garden if the weather permits it, but when the cold sets in, she recalibrates her modes of recreation. &ldquo;I don't want to be prescriptive or strict about my approach to wellness. I'm all about following what feels good.&rdquo; She wouldn&rsquo;t resist sharing a bag of Cheetos Cheddar Jalape&ntilde;o if you&rsquo;d offer.
 Once the reps are done and her head is clear, Paulina indulges her creativity by working with different brands such as Sunnies Studios and HaloHalo. &ldquo;I spend most of my time these days working in the front room of the house. It's technically our dining room, but ever since the 2020 WFH-fest began, it became a home office space,&rdquo; she shares.&nbsp;
 Like most people struck by the pandemic, she began seeing her home in a new light. Some rooms have shrunk while others have expanded. She noticed details she would have otherwise ignored, like how her husband collects colorful, oddly shaped objects while she, on the other hand, hoards a lot of beige. Her most frequented space is the living room which has a little sunroof that overlooks the backyard. &ldquo;The vines have started to bear figs!&rdquo; she exclaims, as she remains in tune with the present, slowly soaking in the Sydney sunshine.

&ldquo;Something I felt was missing from the conversation of fitness and wellbeing is getting people to clock into their heads."

What inspires your style and aesthetic? I'm never one to go, "This is my brand; these are the things I like." I kind of just like what I like? Whenever I come by something beautiful, I become consumed by it, and I try to remember every little thing about it. This happened last weekend at a museum. I took 10 photos of the same part of a painting by Andr&eacute; Derain because I wanted to remember a very spectacular set of colors he used. [laughs] &nbsp;
Favorite brand and designers at the moment: Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada, forever and ever &mdash; both individually and now together. I&rsquo;m very much enjoying their collaborative work. The Row is a constant source of inspiration too. I&rsquo;m also so intrigued by the work that S&eacute;bastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant do at Coperni. I live, work, sleep, and play in my CJ Cruz pambahay these days. Oh, and Simone Rocha! &nbsp;
A motif you keep coming back to: Flowers, abstract botanical shapes, everything and anything that keeps me tethered to the Philippines.&nbsp;
 Your fashion icons: Lee Radziwill, Fran&ccedil;oise Hardy, Rei Kawakubo, Tonne Goodman, Katharine Hepburn, Gianni Agnelli, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Victoria Beckham, Olsen twins
 Your style philosophy:&nbsp; Unless it's really adding something, do without it. But on that note, if that something is adding joy, lead with it.

Here are things from Paulina's wellness list that help her get through the day:

&nbsp;Pictured here are my "balanced" breakfast staples including a coconut croissant and some natural supplements from Hilma and Moon Juice which contain ashwagandha, zinc, vitamin C, ginger, etc.

Some sage, palo santo, and Aesop room spray clear the air and set a nice mood.

I'm definitely not meditating in this shot, but I like to meditate in this general space with the doors open to my backyard. It allows me to get some fresh air, natural light, and cushiony support.&nbsp;

Coffee in the morning. Very important.

It's just nice to try and surround yourself with stuff you love like this Bruno Munari lamp which brings me so much joy. It cuts a playful figure in the day and softens up the light in the space in the evenings.&nbsp;

The Secret Life of Paulina Ortega

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