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Self-Love Starts With Your Nutrition Mindset

10/17/2022

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Support your Self-Love Retreat by rethinking your nutrition.
Even though I teach yoga and meditation and am a cosmetologist of hair and facial services, my clients and I Inevitably talk about food.

​We may be in the middle of sharing a recipe about pineapple upside down cake, and it somehow evolves into a discussion about health and nutrition.
I love exchanging ideas, our latest discoveries, and protocol regarding supplements and herbs, eating patterns, and food choices shared with passionate, motivating and inspiring vigor! I truly want to hear what makes someone feel better!
​

After all, the food we eat (pertaining to the root chakra of primal needs) is at the foundation of our existence! Stability in our emotional and spiritual states begins with the stability in our physical body. We can all relate to a time when our blood sugar dropped or we binged on junk food or skipped vegetables while traveling- the feeling was horrible and probably lead to blurry vision, mood swings, fatigue, bloating, constipation, irritability, sleep disturbance, or just an overall BLAH! feeling. These kinds of eating patterns and their not so positive effects, are not exactly ideal for creating strong positive energy for manifesting goals.
So, I always encourage an exchange of ideas and information about food for better health, because we all know it works. A Universal Law of sorts. High nutrition supports health, which supports well-being, which equates to happiness.

However, I have also heard some pretty radical approaches and veritably unhealthy habits that people have adopted, that might actually be undermining their health and well-being.  

Whether it’s from self diagnosed information found on the Internet or the latest detox or weight loss trend, there are many approaches that conflict with good health and are actually sabotaging to our equilibrium. Stabilizing nutritionally equates with better equanimity, less highs and lows, and a more even kilter emotional disposition from which to handle life. We know food, particularly sugar, effects our mood and behavior, so it behoves us to make wise food choices.

A classic example is a recent search I did on foods to boost energy. The internet brought up “Three Best Foods for Energy” and I thought only three?

That might be enough nutrition for a quick fix, but how do you sustain energy with just three foods? How do those foods work into your meal times? What about any underlying nutritional issues behind the search? The answer is more complex based on many factors. Finding answers and strategies to this kind of question is why people continually experiment with different foods, but at the core of one’s nutrition, I am going to suggest a guide to creating a solid foundation.

Mind, body, and spirit all flourish within a lifestyle of proper nutrition, and not a momentary fad or flurry of hype.


In this age of nutrition information overload much of this information comes out as misinformation, skewed perspectives and health beliefs and practices that aren’t always evidence based…and aren’t always good for health and well-being.


​Find out if your nutrition mind set needs a reset, for sound nutrition will optimize your success for change in all realms of your life. You might even think of your dietary approach as the first step of Self-Love.

Here are 10 things I’ve identified that are not sustainable over a long period of time:

  1. Reading success stories based on restriction, elimination and miracle cures can be convincing, especially with a before and after picture. Avoid being lured into a misinformation rabbit-hole by following recommendations that are not evidence-based.                
  2. Going vegan? You might work with a registered dietitian to learn what foods you need to get nutrients you need to avoid deficiencies. 
  3. “If only I could lose weight, then…” Weight loss doesn’t solve all problems.  But if you are carrying extra weight and are managing any risk factors for one or more health issues, losing weight can help.  Adopting healthful eating and regular movement leads to a leaner body.
  4. Processed foods are bad-right? Not so fast. Processed foods like canned tuna or frozen vegetables have simply been preserved for our convenience. Cheese and natural nut or seed butters are also processed foods. Eat less of the processed foods with a lot of added salt, saturated fat, added sugar and food additives. 
  5. If you’ve been avoiding carbs to lose weight, you might be eliminating your BFF—best friend FIBER! Science shows that eating enough fiber from fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes helps with weight loss.  Women should try to eat at least 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day, while men should aim for 30 to 38 grams a day.  
  6. Don’t be fooled into avoiding all white foods. Cauliflower, potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, parsnips, beans and yogurt have nutrients important for building protein, lowering cholesterol, and strengthening the immunity. Generalized statements are often easily shared and spread misinformation. 
  7. Plant based burgers CAN be better than beef burgers. However, some are made with coconut oil, which per tablespoon has 13 grams of saturated fat.  Be sure to read the label. Plant-based burgers made with coconut oil can have higher amounts of saturated fat than regular burgers. 
  8. Black and white, good and bad, right and wrong…micro-judging every food choice by unrealistic standards can be hurtful. Keep your eye on the long-term goal. Don’t have one? Find one. Ditch statements like “I was bad today…” and “I should…” and instead adopt a non-diet lifestyle. This means focusing on ongoing habits, not every diet behavior. 
  9. If protein has dominated the center of your plate or the scoop in your shake, you may be surprised to learn that all the amino acids we need for building and repairing muscle are in whole grains, legumes, starchy vegetables like potatoes and peas, nuts, seeds, and yes, fruits and vegetables! 
  10. A healthy lifestyle should be enjoyed. Over thinking your food and food behaviors can be oppressive.  If obeying your dieting rules means you can’t eat with others, you might want to lighten up.  Flexibility is the key to sustainability. 
Self-Love nutrition is a lifestyle of ongoing healthy habits and not an on- again off-again yo-yo of dieting and restricting. The first step is to eat fresh whole organic foods and minimally processed foods with as few ingredients as possible. Hydrate throughout the day with quality water. Science is showing it is more more beneficial to eat your calories earlier in the day and finish by early evening. Make choices that support your goals over time. Know you are moving in the right direction by accepting and loving your body now.

My latest approach has been to up the anti on the super foods I eat daily. I pre make these “condiments” to last a week or so and add them to soups, salads, salsas, protein, etc. They can also be frozen for later use, but don’t wait too long, the fresher your food the high the nutritional value.
Here are a few of my favorites:

ZINC BUTTER
This is really pumpkin seed butter, but the seeds are so high in zinc I think of it as zinc butter.

Grind 1/4 C. of pumpkin seeds in herb / coffee  grinder until fairly smooth. Place ground seeds in a small food processor and blend with a couple of tablespoons of your favorite oil. I use extra virgin olive oil or sesame seed oil. Add salt to taste. Celtic salt has the lowest sodium and mild taste. Scoop into a small condiment jar and finish within a week or so.

BASIL PESTO
I cannot eat garlic, but of course add it to your recipe, if you do. I take an entire box of basil and stuff it into a small food processor. Add salt to taste, lemon juice from 1/2-a whole lemon, a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and just  enough pumpkin seeds, to thicken it up and give structure, but not to dominate. Blend until fairly smooth. Scoop into a small condiment jar and use up with in a week or so.

GREEN CHILI VERDE
Broil 4 Pablano, 2 Anaheim, 1 Serrano, and 1 Jalapeno peppers in the oven - turning the peppers every 7 minutes until all sides are blistered.

Have a pyrex dish full of water cooling in the freezer with some ice cubes.

When peppers are done put the dish of ice water in the sink and put the peppers in the ice bath. Start to peel away the skin and seeds to clean the peppers.

Place clean peppers in a blender. Add at least 1 cup water or broth ( I make chicken broth ahead of time), a bunch of cilantro - stems and all, sometimes I add cleaned and chopped tomatillos, always ground cumin to taste. I use about 1-2 tsp cumin or more! Blend together adding as much liquid as necessary for the consistency you want to work with. Pour into a jar and have on hand for heating up with beans and cheese, on top of omelets and eggy dishes, addition to salad dressing, as a topper to protein dishes (like fish!), making rice, quinoa or lentils with a a 1/4 cup or more to taste.

Every culture has a reference to health pointing at fresh nutrition, low stress, body care like massages and hot baths, oils and botanicals, deep rest and hydration- the pillars of health. Why not embrace the lifestyle of feeling good- as they say in Thailand, “Sabai, sabai,” (feels so good!)




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Scorpion Pose In The Water

12/13/2021

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Aqua Yoga Sequence (click here)

Aqua Yoga is super low impact and ideal for people with joint pain. Improve your strength, flexibility, and range of motion with aqua yoga.

Water has a buoyant effect which the takes the pressure of a person's weight off the joints, alleviating pain or discomfort during exercising. The body bears less weight in the water, so the muscles are relaxed and therefore can be stretched and strengthened with less incidence of injury.

Who can benefit?
People with arthritis, hip and or knee replacements, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, muscular dystrophy, anxiety, depression, pre-natal, post-natal, post-surgery, people with difficulty balancing, sciatica, and beginners
as well as people who already have a regular practice.

No matter what you do in the pool, your body benefits from healthy movement. Your skin also improves with regular swimming, which not many people realize.

7 Benefits of swimming for your skin!
Improves Circulation
Gently Exfoliates
Prevents Acne
Removes Toxins
Heals Skin Cells
Removes Oils/Deep Cleansing
Encourages Moisturizer Use

Let's explore the massive backbend of Scorpion Pose with more ease in the water.

Are you ready to take the plunge?

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Are Bran Muffins The New Cupcake?

9/17/2021

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Only this craze fosters good looks, health, and well-being, really?
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Recipe

After a recent colonoscopy (TMI?) I was happy to find out my intestines were clear of polyps, lesions, cancer, Crohn’s Disease, and inflammation, but they did send me home with a few pamphlets. After all, the procedure was warranted by a host of mysterious digestive problems. A high fiber diet pamphlet seemed routine as a follow up, but as I read through it, I realized I was definitely falling short of the daily recommended 21-25 grams of fiber suggested per day for women (for men it is 30-38 grams).

People have figured out how to lose weight quickly with various dietetic approaches like KETO and other low carbohydrate diets, but are those diets sustainable? The lesser known health compromises attributed to high fat, high protein, low carb diets affect digestion and elimination- which equates to nutrition and detoxification.

Weight loss aside, I decided to start eating 20 plus grams of fiber a day and found it was quite strategic, like you really can’t put anything in your mouth unless it has good fiber content to meet the RDA and still manage your calories. I was easily motivated to give it a try since fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, absorbs large amounts of water which creates softer, bulkier poops reducing pressure against the wall of the colon promoting an easier passage of waste. Eliminating waste is the key word here, since I do believe in detoxing through diet.

Benefits listed in my pamphlet:
Fewer toxins in blood
More regular bowel movements
Fewer “bad” colon bacteria
More “good” colon bacteria
Better control of blood sugar
Lower risk of obesity
Healthier colon
Better immune function, which may reduce infections
Better absorption of calcium, which leads to stronger bones

This list appealed to me on every front. I have been diagnosed with osteopenia, I continually strive to eat a super food diet, and I’ve been dealing with a belly-weight gain that I can’t seem to budge- even with a carb reduction. It turns out, most Americans eat only 10-15 grams of fiber a day and, sure enough, that was me. As I started counting fiber, I quickly discovered the foods I could eat and made a simple list to count my fiber content per meal and refer back to. This made it easy to reach 20-25 grams a day as I was learning to create meals with enough fiber. In contrast to the American diet, the rural African diet is very rich in plant fiber- over 50 grams a day- and this speeds up the time to digest and expel wastes. For these rural Africans it takes one-third the time to digest and eliminate the foods they eat compared to people living in Western cultures. This may be the reason they suffer from fewer intestinal diseases than Westerners.

Intestinal problems like colon diverticulosis occurs when pockets (diverticuli) of tissue bulge out from the bowel wall due to increased pressure in bowel. The colon, or large intestine, begins in the lower right abdomen and forms a large question mark that ends in the rectum. The colon is packed with over 2000 different kinds of bacteria, many of which provide health benefits to the body. The most beneficial bacteria rely on plant fibers for their own good health. Having lots of “good” bacteria can reduce the number of cancer-causing substances in the colon.

This is why eating plant foods may help protect the colon.

Fiber is the part of the plant that the human body cannot digest and falls into two groups: insoluble and soluble. These two types of fiber are important for maintaining intestinal health, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing cholesterol, and controlling blood sugar. Insoluble fiber is indigestible and absorbs water producing larger softer stool and more regular bowel movements. This is important in preventing disorders such as constipation, hemorrhoids, and diverticulosis (the inflamed or infected version of diverticulitis) and at the same time aid in sweeping certain toxins and carcinogens out of the body.

Insoluble fiber examples:
Whole grains
Corn bran (including popcorn) Nuts and seeds
Most green veggies
Certain fruits (apple, oranges, bananas, avocado, tomato, kiwi)

Soluble fiber examples:
Oats, rye, barley
Legumes (peas, beans)
Fruits (berries, plums, apples, bananas, pears)
Most root veggies (potatoes, carrots)
Supplements like psyllium made from the husks of plants

Prebiotic fiber examples:
Many of these are high FODMAP, so cross check if you are following that diet or experiment with the FODMAP diet if you experience gas or bloating.
Asparagus
Yams
Garlic
Onions
Bananas
Leeks
Agave
Chicory
Wheat, rye, barley

Antioxidants are other substances in plant-based food that can help to prevent heart disease, eye problems, and some cancers.

The bowel really has a very simple job of removing some of the water from stool and shaping it for elimination. Without fiber there is not much to shape and the bowel wall stops “exercising” i.e. peristalsis and becomes flabby and week i.e. diverticulosis. A high fiber diet reduces pressure in the colon by increasing the bulk in the stool, giving the intestines something to shape/exercise and this can help reduce or even stop the development of diverticulosis or its complications (diverticulitis).

Heart disease is prominent in our culture, as well, and a high fiber diet can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. Oat fiber and psyllium, in particular, may help prevent some types of heart diseases.

Recent digestive issues prompted my colonoscopy, and I learned that IBS, disorders of the lower digestive system, is really a catch all term for a myriad of digestive issues, explained and otherwise. Digestion is quite particular to the individual and there are many factors that make for easy or difficult and painful digestion. Good and bad bacteria in the colon plays a critical role in this process. IBS is not technically a disease, but the inflammation and unwanted bacteria cause unpleasant symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea (or both alternately), bloating, abdominal pain and cramps. Acute episodes can be triggered by emotional stressors, tension, and anxiety, poor eating habits, and medications.

I follow a FODMAP diet and so it was easy to increase my fiber intake without creating the harmless gases that can cause bloating. If you increase your fiber and experience bloating I suggest researching a FODMAP diet.

FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly. Some people experience digestive distress after eating them. Symptoms include: Cramping.

After reading that pamphlet I started focusing on the highest fiber foods that I could tolerate and got inspired to make bran muffins and plan a day of fiber rich meals. Immediately, I felt 100 percent better! So to get you started...

You can make your own substitutions, but try not to eat too many at once, like someone I know...the original recipe is to the left and my alterations are to the right, simply based on what I had on hand. And even though I had raisins they are a high FODMAP food. No thanks.

​https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25224/classic-bran-muffins/

1 1⁄2 cups wheat bran --these are flakes in a clear bag •

1 cup buttermilk - I used plain kefir •

1⁄3 cup vegetable oil - I used raw coconut oil or ghee •

1 egg 
2⁄3 cup brown sugar - I used slightly less sugar. 1/2 C. + 1/2 of a 1/3 C. Organic sugar•

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract - out of vanilla I used Orange essential oil and my mom
used orange zest from a whole orange. I'm going to do that next time.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 cup raisins- instead I used chopped walnuts and 2 TBS of chopped fresh ginger.

Follow the directions otherwise. All ingredients are organic. I greased my muffin tin with the coconut oil and baked for closer to 10 minutes and then let them cool in the pan. They are so yummy  and 3.5 g fiber!!!!! I put them in the freezer and pull out 1 in the morning to have with my morning coffee. I use Barista Oat Milk and it has 2 g of fiber.

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And It Feels So Good!

6/13/2021

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After being temporarily closed, I am happy to announce Monsoon Nectar is open again and and celebrating!

I am grateful for all of the support and patience I have received this past year, particularly when I got Covid just a few months ago, this last April. Luckily, I had a very mild case, albeit heavy with fatigue and brain fog, and those of you that knew swooped in with love and support, soup and decongestants! I was truly humbled and felt so taken care of.

One of the best things to come out of these turbulent times has been the heightened awareness of the environment, our impact on it and our symbiotic relationship with it. 

Natural, organic, sustainable GREEN products and lifestyles are coming to the forefront as real solutions to better our relationship with nature, each other, and ourselves. And if feels so good!

For now, enjoy 10% off all Monsoon Nectar products and my gift of Green Tea Lip & Eye Balm and get ready for summer fun! 

This past year I have been busy formulating so look for new products to come, like a hyaluronic acid + seaweed serum for the face, a seaweed glazing gel for hair, and natural perfume will be launched soon.

Check out the new limited edition Aroma Beauty Bars in a Sampler Box. Each box contains 2 Aroma Beauty Bars: 
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Orange Crush Vitamin C
Indochine Gentle Exfoliant
Moisturizing Creamy Carrot Cake
Fougere Plus- (pronounced ‘foo-jair’ the 'j' a little soft – almost ‘foo-shair’)
Chypre- (shipr) 

Fougere and Chypre are an introduction to perfumery and a tip of the hat to the classic aromas that made Chanel and Coty the names they are today! The Aroma Beauty Bars I have of these two classics are quite floral and will appeal to those that like a perfumy smell.

However, the aromas of fougere and chypre are just a portal to the diverse world of plant essences that will be at your disposal for making your own bespoke perfume, a new service I will be offering soon.

So start thinking of your favorite natural scents: Citrus, Floral, Herbaceous, Camphoraceous, Minty, Resinous, Earthy, Woody, and Spicy and let’s make some magic!

​Marna Woo
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Failte! A Hundred Thousand Welcomes To Bath Culture Colorado Style

10/11/2020

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For pictures and text- click here! https://conta.cc/3nH6BiQ

The San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway beckons with an autumnal explosion of fall colors and a soak in the Lobster Pot. The lure of taking the waters inspired a last minute road trip to Colorado and it did not disappoint. In fact, I venture to guess it will be one of my most indelible memories. 

Beyond the anticipated road trip itself, were the box canyons, the springs, mountain tops, a CBD stop, recommended restaurants, hiking, wild animals, ski towns, Durango, and Mesa Verde National Park. Had Monument Valley been open we would have stopped there, too, yet it was still exciting to see a glimpse of the monument from the highway. Without much planning or initial research, our points of interest stacked up, so strategizing the time was essential. How to maximized a three night trip? Return home late on the fourth day and return the rental car the morning of the fifth. This gave us the ease at which we were able to do all of the above and more. Like wandering through the little towns, marveling at the light of early fall, and taking a million pictures every time we opened our eyes, for all around us was a constant, sensational, psychedelic beauty. And also not taking pictures, just breathing in clean clear air and being at one with big beautiful Gaia. These are the highlights of our hot springs journey with just enough detail to get you there and plenty of room for you to fill in the blanks and personalize your visit. An easy search of the area brings up all of the options.

Starting in Sedona, Arizona, we rented a car at 8 a.m. and my friend and I were on the road by 8:45 packed with 2 small coolers, 5 gallons of water, various shoes and small suitcases. Regarding the Southwest, I had been as far North as Lake Powell and Zion, but never Southern Colorado. Once, I had visited a friend in Denver back in the early 90’s, so I was excited to see something different in the state. Leaving Oak Creek Canyon and the pines of Flagstaff, we drove across a craggy, barren landscape through the dusty plains of Northeastern Arizona that gave way to long open vistas with lone spires that stood like stalagmites in the distance, jutting up into a misty pink atmosphere. In these long stretches of driving we talked about everything and nothing at all. I told a long forgotten story of someone I had met from Durango, a friend of a friend who had stopped in Sedona for the night. I remembered he said he was a bartender in Durango, maybe at a famous hotel. That was when I had first moved to Sedona, eight years ago, and I reminisced about what a fun night it had been. His name was Bailey.

We drove on. The two lane highway lead us through Kayenta and the Navajo Reservation, past Monument Valley and the Four Corners of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, and into the adorable town of Cortez, resplendent in 1950’s “Americana” Architecture and signage. Driving through, a mental note to eat at one of the authentic looking Mexican restaurants on the way back and within a few blocks we had counted four or five medicinal pharmacies. So, this is Colorado.

Suddenly, we were driving past blazing colors of yellow and yellow-green leaves cast in electric sunlight. Indeed the foliage had begun to change creating a visual vibration of color all around us and we realized we were there at the peak of the season! What a bonus as I realized I had no idea about fall time in Southern Colorado. 
Nestled into the dark green, shaggy pines and spruce, the aspens flickered phantasmagorical glints of light through cadmium yellow leaves as the sun dropped into the late afternoon sky. Unknowingly, we were entering the San Juan Skyway at the golden hour, an All-American Road and a component in the Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway System famous for it’s beauty. And it took our breath away. Truly. Gasping at every turn, we drove into the mountains and climbed higher and higher, past immaculate ranches and almost forgotten small towns, through forests already ablaze with an autumnal gold from the shorter days of sunlight and cooler temperatures. Straight up into the alpine trees, past deep forested gorges dense with spruce and aspens until we finally turned off the highway into the first box canyon, Telluride.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon and Telluride looked just like it did in a movie I had seen at the Sedona Film Festival a few years back. A documentary about how the town raised fifty million dollars to preserve open land from development. Kind of impressive which you felt driving in, a feeling of community and great pride - because it was so beautiful. Surreal, glowing light of yellow and green color therapy went straight to my brain as we oohed and awed our way through. Surrounded by high mountains, I later learned the area has 14 peaks that exceed 14,000 feet in altitude, and nearly all the area is above 6,000 feet. The few valleys and bordering foothills below about 8,000 or 9,000 feet are semiarid and have a growth of sagebrush and the tree line was distinct at an altitude of about 12,000 feet where only grasses and low bushes grow. We were on a “behold the beauty” high mixed with a little altitude giddiness!

As we drove in to the back of the box canyon we saw the mask mandate was prevalent, even on the street, and the businesses were operating in corralled areas on the sidewalk and through to-go windows. We parked by the city park and took a stroll through the trees. The park was full of locals and people like us. We stretched and walked a bit before driving back out to the highway. We were spending the night at a lodge in Ridgeway, an hour further down the two lane highway.

We pulled into town at dusk and the prospect of staying at our lodge, taking a hot tub and sauna, and dining in our room on the smorgasbord of goodies and Montepulciano wine we had brought with us was most appealing. Our room, 107, was on the first floor near the lobby, which made it easy to come and go. We settled in and slept well. The next morning we drove into town for pastries and coffee. Then a stop down Cannabis Row, as I referred to the many pharmacies along the street one right after the next . We chose Rocky Mountain Cannabis simply because it made me think of Rocky Mountain High and I had already been singing that lyric a few times throughout the day. I just couldn’t help myself. Rarely have I felt this high on nature and beauty…like the first time I went to Hawaii. After they buzzed us in the store, we bought some chocolate CBD wafers reportedly good for body aches and pains and, after leaving, decided to eat one as we drove to the hot springs, literally, a three minute drive down the road.

The springs were a delight! It was a good decision to combine a CBD edible with the healing therapies of deep heat, cold plunge, and sauna, the glorious Colorado sun. Clear blue skies made for idyllic heliotherapy or sunbathing on the lawn that was surrounded by fairy herb gardens and colorful flowers, a perfect respite before rotating through the circuit all over again. The other bathers were peaceful and quiet, but the mood was also friendly and I struck up a conversation with a woman that looked exactly like a client I knew back in Saint Louis. Like she was frozen in time, since she certainly wouldn’t look like that now. It was uncanny, but nice to think of my friend from so long ago. All the while, I was in was Bath Culture paradise! The CBD dissolved my low back pain and was strong enough to divide the wafer in half or even quarters in the future. We paid $22 dollars for 10 wafers that effectively could be 40 doses, 20, or 10 - a whole wafer being the strongest. 

The bath house had various ponds, but our trifecta was Lobster Pot, dry sauna, and cold plunge. One eleven and I’m in heaven! The Lobster Pot was the hottest pond registering 114 degrees in the sun and cooling off to 111 degrees in the evening. A few rounds of this intense contrast therapy and we took a break for lunch. 

The town square in Ridgeway is basically a grassy green park with moms and kids and a few blankets out on the lawn where people were playing guitar; where one can swing, tinkle a variety of xylophones, and the Uncompahgre River flows. We settled on a lunch spot across the street and while the waitress was seating us she commented that she liked my mask. I usually wear a hajibe but the classic mask was easier on the trip to get from point A to B and then take it off. I thanked her and added that my aunt had made it. Then she referenced her aunt from Oklahoma had made her some masks and I exclaimed my aunt was from Oklahoma! I don’t usually engage too much with servers at restaurants, so it was funny how this all transpired and our commonalities seemed to add up fast as we made our way to the table. My inquiry about the chicken fried steak further sealed our Oklahoma connection and as she left she announced her name was Bailey, if there was anything else we needed. Our ears pricked up and my friend and I laughed at the coincidence of it all.

When the moon started to rise, went back to the hot springs, back into the Lobster Pot. A group of 20 somethings beckoned us in scooting over to make room in the hot pot. We listened to their vacation banter. Two of the guys lived in Telluride and their childhood gal friends were visiting. They were young adults coming into their own. We joined in and we talked about the smoke and California, the fires, quarantine and masks. Barely touching on politics one of the guys gently summed it up, however, as the others were getting out, I don’t see why its such a big deal to wear a mask in the stores, but Its all about freedom and this is America.

Under the stars we had the Lobster Pot to ourselves as the white, almost full moon began to peek over the roof top.
The next morning we found a better coffee and on the cafe patio, I did a double take on a little girl that I seemed to recognize, yet didn’t know at all. I couldn’t place her but it seemed I had recently seen her somewhere. In fact, I gave her a light apology for staring at her under this pretext. When we went back to the hot springs, later that morning, she was there with her mom and I said hi, acknowledging that I had spoken to her at the coffee house. I eventually decided I had seen her in the Sinclair station standing in line to buy something, when we had stopped for gas a few days before on the reservation. Why do I keep seeing people I think I know? 

This time we were better prepared for the hot springs with just a robe and flip flops, a towel and water. The day before the scene had been quite busy for it had been locals day. In contrast, this morning the bath house was all but empty except for that mom, her little girl, and us. A difference that made the idea of of staying in one of the rooms or camping at the hot springs more palpable.

After a couple of rounds of hot and cold plunging we left. A late check out from our lodge and we headed to Ouray, the next box canyon and hot spring mecca on this scenic loop.

We drove up to Box Canyon Falls to the overlook of the gorge then drove back along the canyon floor exploring the the gravel roads and neighborhoods around the town. The San Juan mountains were huge earning the moniker Ouray is known for as the Switzerland Of America. The vibe was down to earth and liberal, quite different from the pristine ranches and roads of Ridgeway, where an unmistakeable conservative air blew softly in the breeze.
Eventually, we drove up and out of the canyon through Red Mountain Pass and I remembered a friend’s warning. I had to navigate towards the center line and dared not turn my gaze to the right as there was no shoulder but a shear drop off, no guard rail to catch a mistake. Oh, this must be what Andre was talking about…

Here, I started feeling the magnitude of the granite rock around us and words like Paleozoic, Jurassic and Pleistocene came to mind, geological events culminating in the Ice Age. Events that conjured images of the woolly mammoth and the saber tooth tiger ruling the land and the intensity of what it must have been like for early man to survive, a man like Thor, seminal to the modern day Colorado Mountain Man who is descendant of the Scandinavians, Irish, and Scottish immigrants that had pioneered and settled the area mining for gold and working the railroad. These were Celtic badasses and I thought of Bailey with his red beard and twinkling eyes.
We drove on through a corridor of gold and yellow with intermittent clusters of burnt orange leaves winding our way down the Million Dollar Highway. A picnic on the lawn at James Ranch Market satiated us for the rest of the day. 
We pulled into Durango at 5:30 p.m. and it was still quite warm in the 80s when we checked into our lodge, and our room number? 107. The whole journey was unfolding through synchronicities and coincidences like that. We went out to find the town was bustling in the warmth of the evening and after walking both sides of Main Street, and I started noticing almost every guy had a reddish beard. We ultimately settled on a patio seat at The Strater Hotel. We met our server on the sidewalk and behind her black mask her eyes caught mine with an unmistakable double take and she exclaimed, I’m sorry, but you look just like someone I know! She used to work here and you look exactly like her!

That’s what I’ve been telling everyone the last few days! We all laughed in unison. One drink and we went back to the lodge for a hot tub and an early night.
The next morning we found a delicious coffee house and walked along the Animas River Trail followed by breakfast at Jean Pierre’s. Think pistachio eclairs extraordinaire and live piano! Also the best classic Eggs Benedict I’ve ever had.
Just after noon we were on our way to Mesa Verde National Park. The expanse of the park was incredible and the colorful glow of the scrub oaks created a patchwork tapestry of red and orange autumn leaves. We saw a coyote on the trip and he seemed accustomed to seeing cars and people passing by, although the park was not crowded at all. Mesa Verde is immense and probably always feels comfortable to visit with a sense of having it to yourself. With our limited time, the ranger recommended we do the Mesa Top Loop where we saw the spectacular Square Tower House, Sun Temple, and various Pit Houses. At 8,500 feet in elevation we could see for miles to the next mountain ranges and beyond.

Looking through a telescope.

Indeed, we had lunch in Cortez and then headed back to Arizona. We drove into the setting sun which seemed befitting, the finale to our journey, the end just as awesome as the beginning when we drove up with the rising sun. Our timing with the light and the scenery had been spectacular and fortuitous without planning. We were so satisfied and as we drove on, a cloudless sky of light cast a dramatic perspective on the vast, craggy, barren land of the reservation and all those spaces in between out in the desert.
The sun was dropping low casting an orange alpenglow and the Harvest Moon rose up behind us. I watched it out the back window and then to the side of our car. We were an hour out of Flagstaff and almost home.

​Get In Touch With Your Skin With Bath Culture!
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The dark side of vaginal health products

6/18/2020

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​www.mic.com/p/the-dark-side-of-vaginal-health-products-18651391

By Melissa Pandika
Updated:
June 16, 2020

A plethora of new vaginal "health" products that claim to keep your vagina pretty, “fresh,” and healthy have emerged as of late, so much so that media outlets have declared V-care one of the biggest wellness trends of 2019. Fur sells oil for pubic hair and skin, while The Perfect V sells beauty sheets for your vulva. Lady Suite sells a probiotic cleanser. Plenty of other brands sell spritzes, washes, and wipes. Douches and wipes have been pushed on women for a while — but now, brands market these and similar products as “self-care.” Are all these vulvar and vaginal health products really necessary, though? And more importantly, are they safe?


Before this recent explosion of products, consumers posed the same question about douches, products that cleanse the vagina with water and other fluids. It turns out that many doctors advise against douching, since it can disrupt the delicate bacterial ecosystem in the vagina, which in turn maintains the acidic environment needed to prevent irritation and infection. Yet nearly one in five women ages 15 to 44 in the US douches, according to the Office on Women’s Health. Douching persists, as Timeline points out, thanks largely to the longstanding marketing strategy of cashing in on women’s insecurities — namely that their vaginas are smelly and gross.
Nearly a decade after Summer’s Eve drew criticism for employing this very tactic to market its feminine hygiene products, a new cadre of “intimate care” brands have emerged. Many distinguish their products from their older, mainstream counterparts through attractive, millennial-bait packaging, as well as the promise of gentle, naturally-derived, organic ingredients. They focus not only on cleansing, but also on pampering and beautifying — a means of feminist self-care. The Perfect V describes its offerings as “pure, indulgent pampering and love for your ‘V,” while “lady-owned” Lady Suite says it’s “dedicated to helping all ladies fall in love with their bodies” and wants to facilitate “a positive connection between you and your lady parts.”
But are these products really all that different from their predecessors who pandered to patriarchal expectations that women’s bodies constantly be groomed, fragrant, "pretty," and youthful? Experts still believe that their appeal is more so psychological than physical.
“As a general matter, there is no good evidence that women need these products,” says Stacy Lindau, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago, about douches, feminine wipes, or any variation of them. For the most part, vaginas and vulvas have evolved to function without their help. Think about the safeguards your other mucosal surfaces have in place, like your nose, which contains hair and mucus to trap germs, or your eyes, which produce tears to keep them lubricated. Your vagina works in a similar way, Lindau explains, with hair on the outside and mucus on the inside.
In fact, these products may even worsen vaginal health, and we have little evidence of their safety, Lindau tells Mic. Washes, soaps, sprays, and other products used to cleanse the vulva or vagina can irritate and break the skin, as well as cause inflammation that prevents bacteria, blood vessels, and nerves from maintaining an acidic environment in the vagina, she adds.
Several patients who have visited her with complaints of vaginal dryness and painful intercourse saw their symptoms improve after they stopped using feminine hygiene products. (She does note that there are some cases in which intimate care products may help, such as for women with breast cancer who have undergone therapy that lowers their estrogen levels. Since reduced estrogen levels can cause vaginal dryness, they may benefit from products that restore its moisture.)
“Any person with a vagina who might want to use these products should look at the ingredient list and ask themselves how many they can pronounce or recognize,” Lindau says. You should also ask yourself whether you would put these ingredients in other mucosal membranes, like your eyes or mouth. If the answer is no, then you probably shouldn’t put them in your vagina, either.
And unless you’ve had a hysterectomy, remember that the vagina connects to the cervix and uterus, and finally, the fallopian tubes, which enter the abdominal cavity — meaning that “we’re putting chemicals into a body part that allows them to essentially travel to the inner cavity of the body,” Lindau says. The abdominal cavity, in turn, houses many other organs, and there’s a chance that douching may carry germs into that cavity.
Many of the newer intimate care products are advertised as “pH-balanced,” which may make you think they won’t throw off your vagina’s pH, but Lindau says that they may still contain ingredients that cause irritation. There’s also no strong evidence to suggest that probiotics — typically live, beneficial bacteria — will restore a healthy bacterial ecosystem in the vagina. Although researchers are trying to understand the human microbiome, “we’re not at the point where we can take early scientific discoveries and translate them to a recommendation.”
So, what are some proven ways to stay healthy down there? First, consider embracing your bush. Lindau says that pubic hair plays an important role in maintaining vulvar and vaginal health. Second, “let your body do its job,” Lindau says. “Avoid soaps, sprays, oils, and creams to the vulva and vaginal area unless there’s a very good reason.” Mucus already expels discharge, blood, and semen from the vagina.
Lastly, body odor is normal, Lindau says. The beneficial bacteria in the body naturally produce some odor. Using soaps and other odor-eliminating products could destroy beneficial bacteria and cause an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. If your vagina smells like baby powder and roses, you’ve probably killed important bacteria that help keep it healthy. A fishy scent or other strong odor may point to a problem, though, especially if you’re also experiencing issues such as itching or discharge, according to the Mayo Clinic. See a doctor if you’re worried about vaginal odor, rather than try to mask or remove it with an intimate care product.
To Lindau, these self-care-gone-south products speak to a larger, problematic obsession with hygiene — “where women feel that they need to use cleansing products in order to be sexually active or to be appealing.” Even if you’re drawn to these products mainly for the wellness they promise, you’ll probably have more luck finding it elsewhere.
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Winter Solstice Retreat: Manifesting With The Moon

12/7/2019

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Meditation: Divine Soul Connection

11/17/2019

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Meditation and yoga are more popular today than ever and whether you choose a practice of yoga, which includes meditation or just meditation alone, it’s inspiring to learn how accessible meditation really is and the physical benefits that go along with the practice.

Meditation,  from Latin word meditatio meaning "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder, is a practice where an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Classic meditation techniques focus the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity. The term meditation was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as dhyāna in Hinduism and Buddhism, and comes from the Sanskrit root dhyai, meaning to contemplate or meditate.

Meditation has been practiced since antiquity in numerous religious traditions, yet as a yoga practitioner and teacher, I know meditation as the seventh limb in the eightfold path to self-realization and enlightenment described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Each limb is to be practiced sequentially as one step prepares the practitioner for the next moving from forgetfulness to illumination, from unhealthy to health, from sadness to happiness, from constriction to happiness. Practicing the limbs of yoga foster the idea that impurity is destroyed and the radiance of  wisdom (jnana) leads to discernment (viveka).
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The eight limbs of yoga are: yama (self restraint), niyama (right observance), asana (right alignment), pranayama (regulation of breath), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (free attention). Dhyana, or meditation, evolves out of the previous limb of dharana, or concentration, where the controlled mind that is gained through pratyahara (sense withdrawal) gives rise to our ability to intensify our attention on a single point. 
When this concentration is prolonged through an uninterrupted flow, it becomes dhyana. In dharana, we experience release, expansion quietness and peace, freeing us from attachment. This freedom results in the indifference to the joys of pleasure or the sorrows of pain. The repeated continuation, or uninterrupted stream of that one point of focus is called absorption in meditation (dhyana). Not to be confused by Sanscrit words, but rather decipher that mediation comes out of a process of preparing the mind for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness and to develop your inherent potential.
Meditation may be used to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, thereby increasing peace, perception, self-concept, and well-being. Continual scientific research aims to define the possible health effects on our psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular systems along with other effects on brain and immune function.
For these reasons, meditation attracts not only spiritual seekers on the road to enlightenment, but anyone looking to explore different ways of being- through physiological changes in the body that create more joy, more happiness, and more ease in daily life. Meditation helps to cultivate the middle path by increasing and enhancing one’s ability to allow, tolerate, and observe the complex world and relationships around them without attaching one’s self or an expectation or outcome to any person or event.

In the 1970s, Herbert Benson, MD, a researcher at Harvard University Medical School, coined the term “relaxation response" after conducting research on people who practiced transcendental meditation. The relaxation response, in Benson’s words, is “an opposite, involuntary response that causes a reduction in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system”, the fight or flight response. Studies on the relaxation response have documented the following short-term benefits to the nervous system:                                                                                                                                    
Lower blood pressure / Improved circulation / Lower heart rate
Less perspiration
Slower respiratory rate    
Lower blood cortisol levels
More feelings of well-being                                                                                                                                         
Scientifically, meditation has been proven to:
  •     Decrease anxiety
  •     Improve cognitive thinking                                                                                                             
  •     Ease stress by activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System
  •     Increase oxygenation of the body through deeper breathing                                         
  •     Moderate digestion
  •     Stimulate the relaxation response
  •     Increase mental and physical flexibility
  •     Stabilize emotions by increasing the grey matter in your brain which is responsible for muscle control,          seeing, hearing emotions, and speech.
Whether you come to meditation through the philosophy and practice of yoga or meditation as the practice in and of itself, you are embarking on a great self exploration of your mind and body. 

K.I.S.S Principle

Simplified, meditation is an approach to training the mind and training implies practice. The idea of meditating can be quite intimidating and even unfathomable for a beginner to sit for long periods of time and think of nothing. The easiest way to approach meditating is to keep it simple and straightforward by focusing on the breath- creating a fixed point of concentration and not go for the distance. Quality over quantity is the idea and sitting for 5-10 minutes to start with is an accessible approach.  Focus and concentration is challenging, so start by meditating for only a few minutes and then work up to longer periods of time. Concentration meditation involves focusing on a single point like the breath, repeating a single word or mantra, trataka ( i.e. staring at a candle flame), listening to a repetitive gong, or counting beads on a mala. The trick to meditation is each time you notice your mind wandering, you draw yourself back and refocus your awareness on the chosen object of attention. As thoughts arise let them pass by like clouds in the sky.  Know that even the most proficient meditators do this. This is the practice and in this process your ability to concentrate improves.

Another variation is mindfulness meditation which encourages the practitioner to observe wandering thoughts as they drift through the mind without passing judgement or labeling. Here the intention is not to get involved, but to be aware of each mental direction as it appears. Mindfulness meditation reveals how your thoughts and feelings tend to move in particular patterns. Through this process you can become more aware of the tendency to quickly judge an experience as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant and with practice, an inner balance develops, so as not to be driven by your perceived “likes” and “dislikes”.

Various techniques make meditation easier to embrace and takes the pressure off of what is seemingly the impossible or daunting for a beginner. One of my favorite meditation techniques is the cultivation of compassion which involves envisioning negative events and recasting them in a positive light by transforming them through compassion. I also subscribe to moving meditation techniques, such as tai chi, qigong, and walking meditation, especially accessible to a beginner because intrinsically and physiologically one is balancing the brain with each swing of the opposite arm in movement with the opposite step hence working across the center line of the body and balancing the left and right brain hemispheres. The balancing effect is readily calming to the mind clearing way for concentration.                                                                                       

However, the purpose of meditation is not to achieve benefits, but to simply to be present. The goal of meditation is no goal, but rather to defragment your thoughts so you can step back and make sense of them with a clearer prospective. In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate benefit of meditation is liberation of the mind from attachment to things it cannot control, such as external circumstances or strong internal emotions. The liberated or “enlightened” practitioner no longer needlessly follows desires or clings to experiences, but instead maintains a calm mind and sense of inner harmony. Meditation is said to increase the blood flow to the brain and “rewire the circuity” of the brain. In the movie What The Bleep Do We Know, science showed the more we repeat the same thought patterns in our mind the stronger those brain synapses become. Sort of like the more chocolate you eat, the more chocolate you crave. Meditation invites us to strengthen positive feel good neurological pathways and weaken or break the cycle of negatives disruptive patterns.
How To Start
  • Taking your “seat” and have a timer with a gentle alarm (like on your phone).
  • Find a conducive environment that is peaceful, quiet, dimly lit where you won’t be distracted or disturbed for fifteen minutes or so. Use a blanket or shawl if you are chilly and make sure you are not hungry or have a full stomach because digestion can be distracting.
  • Sit upright on any firm pillow. A zafu, or meditation pillow, is a round, firm pillow helpful to sitting upright. Or you can sit in a chair that supports an upright position. Slumping can be distracting and cause you to loose focus. Alternatively, you can lie down, if you can avoid falling asleep.
  • Start your timer for 3-5 minutes and settle in. Close your eyes. If you choose to lie down you might enjoy an eye pillow over your eyes.
  • Take a few slow deep breaths in through the nose and out the mouth. Now allow an easy breath, not to make it anything other than it is. Come into body awareness by focusing your attention on your breath. Follow your breath moving in through your throat into your lungs and back again. Notice the rise and fall of your belly, the rise and fall of your chest. Expanding on the inhale and gently contracting on the exhale. The mind tends to wander on the out breath, which is something to keep in mind. When your mind does wanders, simply bring your awareness or “attention muscle” back to your breath.
  • Remember not to judge or chastise yourself. Go easy on yourself. The greatest mediators all experience the mind wandering, so don’t overthink or analyze the process.
  • Maintain this meditation for 2-3 minutes by continually bringing your awareness back to your breath. Do this until the timer chimes. That’s it! Take a few stretches.
  • As you continue to practice, try it for longer periods of time like 5-10 minutes. Use a timer so you don’t have to think about it and can completely immerse yourself in the experience.
  • If you have particular difficulty concentrating follow the above steps and try counting. Count your breaths until you reach five, and then start over again.
  • Regularity is key to building mindfulness with a shorter daily practice being more effective than a once in a while longer sit. Meditating 10 minutes a day is better than mediating for an hour once a week.
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There is an old adage, where the mind goes the body follows and the attention you give to the things around you sends energy to those things: conversations, events, ideas. Most of the time we are thinking of multiple things at once which creates a kind of chaos in the mind. Meditation highlights your breath and in turn exercises your attention to focus on one thing, clearing the mind of scattered thinking, increasing your mind’s concentration and awareness, and in turn creating a cascade of effects in the body for peace, calm, and equanimity.
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What To Expect By Using A Shampoo Bar

11/9/2019

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Limited Edition Aroma Beauty Bars
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Sassafras and Orange Crush + C
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Bergamot + Rose and Indochine
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Beyond Shampoo Bar Samples
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Before Beyond Shampoo and Beyond Shampoo Bar: dry and frizzy
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After: 1 month later my hair is smooth and manageable.

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Shampoo only air dry
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Shampoo only blow dry
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Shampoo and Beyond Conditioner blow dry bangs only
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Shampoo and leave-in Beyond Conditioner, no touching for compact  air dry
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Shampoo, brush Chakra Aroma Moisturizer through hair, air dry
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Shampoo, blow dry, gloss with Dream Cream 
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Shampoo, blow dry bangs only, scrunch Dream Cream into hair, air dry
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Shampoo, ribbon Dream Cream through damp hair, air dry
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Shampoo, air dry
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Shampoo, leave-in Beyond Conditioner, air dry
Beauty Bar Neutral Cleanser is a multi purpose bar for face, body, hair , and shaving. Whether you are new to using natural and organic products on your body, or you are a long time devotee to the original apothecary of herbs and botanicals for body care, using a shampoo bar is a very different experience to the commercial, mainstream fare that most of us grew up with.

Having ditched the slippery shine, plastic-y feeling, fragrance, and scalp irritation of conventional shampoos a long time ago, I have to remember how different the experience is so that you know what to expect.

Beauty Bar Neutral Cleanser, Aroma Beauty Bars, and Beyond Shampoo Bar are all made with natural and organic ingredients and are completely biodegradable. That means after a few minutes the lather will break down into nothing after its cleansing action is done. Rinsing the shampoo is immediate and you won’t see a big foamy residue in the tub. Void of the silicones and synthetic ingredients that create an artificial “silkiness” and “shine”, my shampoo bars cleanse and condition your hair with natural botanicals, oils, and butters. That being said, those are the conditioning qualities that are left behind once the cleansing lather has done it’s job.


Chemical ingredients like Dimethicone, Methicone, Amodimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Dimethiconol (ingredients ending in “cone”) coat the hair with a plastic like barrier to create a temporary silky/shiny effect. Big sudsing action accompanies these ingredients to distribute this coating evenly, but this actually impedes nutrients and conditioning from absorbing into the hair and skin.

If you are used to using shampoos with big sudsing action and fragrance (synthetic aromas that make the liver work double time to detox) you are set up for a transition period that I want you to be aware of. Once you stop the fake “shine” you will reveal hair that is thirsty for real moisture and nourishment.

Remember how everyone said you have to switch your shampoo every once in a while because it doesn’t work anymore? Well, that’s because it was never really caring for your hair in the first place and after a few months of coating your hair in synthetic glossing agents the hair starts to freak out underneath all of that “plastic” with brittle and frizzy characteristics.

Britta Aragon sums it up beautifully in her blog, describing how that artificial coating on the outside of skin and hair causes several issues:
  • It traps everything under it—including bacteria, sebum, and impurities—which could lead to increased breakouts and blackheads in the skin and on the scalp.
  • The coating action actually prevents the skin from performing its normal activities—like sweating, temperature regulating, sloughing off dead skin cells, etc.
  • Prolonged exposure to dimethicone can actually increase skin irritation, due to the coating property and because dimethicone is listed as a possible skin and eye irritant.
  • Those with sensitive or reactive skin are at risk of an allergic reaction to dimethicone.
  • On top of all this, dimethicone is a non-biodegradable chemical—bad for the environment.
She goes on to describe how using these types of ingredients on your skin/hair can actually exacerbate skin aging by inhibiting skin’s natural processes, creating a dependency on the coating product, disrupting the skin’s own hydrating processes, which in the end increases dryness, making fine lines and wrinkles more noticeable- or in the case of your hair, dry and frizzy with possible breakage. The coating properties may increase breakouts, particularly if you’re susceptible to acne, which will lead to scars and older-looking skin and irritating bumps on the scalp. Without nourishing the health and vitality of the skin and hair, aging take its toll.

The Transition Period
Monsoon Nectar relies on oils (essential oils, fixed oils, butters) and botanicals to cleanse, nourish and condition the hair and scalp. Our skin secretes a natural moisturizer called sebum and these oils are most similar to our sebum and are readily absorbed and utilized.

Once you reveal the true condition of your hair it might take a little time to rejuvenate your locks, but trust the process. Just like any health regimen it might take a few weeks to see  big results, but immediate changes will be taking place.

Think about how oils break down oils. If there is a gummy sticky glue-like mess you want to clean up, soap and water doesn’t work, because oil and water don’t mix. Using an oil breaks down that substance (oils mix with oils) and removal is easy. On a less extreme level that is how oils are great cleanser for the hair, scalp, and skin. Using high nutrient oils and botanicals imparts rejuvenating qualities in this process.

Gone are the days of a big foamy lather with the hair piled up on the head- that is only going to create tangles and stress on the hair when using a natural shampoo bar.
  • Brush your hair out before you shampoo. This is stimulating to the scalp and distributes your natural sebum from the scalp down the hair shaft. We loose 80-120 hairs a day and brushing usually captures this hair so you don’t see it all over the house or at the bottom of the drain.
  • Removing snarls and tangles before you shampoo ensures better distribution of your shampoo bar lather.
  • Remember, your scalp is an extension of your complexion, so focus on your scalp for cleansing.
  • Since the shampoo bar is loaded with moisturizing oils you can monitor this conditioning, or lessen it, depending on your application.

If you want a heavier finish with a more smoothing and conditioning action, massage your shampoo bar directly on the scalp. Distribute the lather by targeting the sides of the head, the top and the back. For long hair you might slide the shampoo bar down the hair a few times. Put the bar down and massage the lather and distribute evenly over your scalp and then finger comb or squeeze the lather down your hair. Keep your hair organized in a downward direction and not bundled up in tangles. The initial, foamy lather will start to biodegrade immediately, so squeeze the lather down your hair right away. As the lather disappears nourishing oils and butters are what is left behind on the hair. This will feel very different and you might think your hair feels waxy or greasy. Trust the process.

If you desire a light finish, lather the shampoo bar in your hands first and then apply to your scalp and hair following the directions above.

Try both versions above without conditioning your hair afterwards. Air dry or blow-dry and feel the effect.

On a different occasion, shampoo and then follow with a conditioner. Make sure you follow up with a natural product, like Beyond Condition, as to not reintroduce chemicals and synthetics that won’t be compatible with natural oils- a conventional conditioner full of chemicals and synthetics will not feel compatible.

Trust the process and try the shampoo bar first with out conditioning afterwards. On another occasion, use the shampoo bar and then use Beyond Condition afterwards in the shower. Experiment with air drying and then blow-drying. Compare the effects and results.

Hair that is thicker, thinner, textured, curly or straight will all react differently, so know your options for a fuller finish or a sleeker finish:
  • Shampoo. Rinse. Comb out. Air dry or blow-dry.
  • Shampoo. Rinse. Apply Beyond Conditioner. Rinse. Air dry or blow-dry.
  • Shampoo. Rinse. Comb out. Apply and leave-in Beyond Conditioner to towel dried hair. Air dry or blow-dry.
  • Shampoo. Rinse. Comb out and towel dry hair. Apply one of the Chakra Aroma Moisturizers as a serum on damp hair. Comb through hair and condition. Air dry or blow-dry. Experiment with a light and heavy application.
  • Shampoo. Rinse. Comb out and towel dry hair. Apply a soft butter, like Dream Cream, to comb out hair and condition. Air dry or blow-dry.
  • Shampoo. Comb out. Air dry or blow-dry. Then glaze dry hair with one of the Chakra Aroma Moisturizers or Dream Cream. Start mid hair strand and lightly apply moisturizer down and through hair. Your hands are like a tool, so distribute the moisturizer evenly on the front and back of your hands and lightly whisk your hands through your hair. You can always add more so start with a light application. If your scalp feels dry, massage your fingertips over your scalp after you have applied oil to hair. This is only a residual amount, so your hair will not look greasy. Mindful of your hairline.

Oils and butters will eventually weigh down your hair, so alternate with Beyond Shampoo when necessary. I do not use a shampoo bar every day. Once you see and feel the effects on your hair, you'll know when to use it according to the desired look you want to achieve.

My mantra Get In Touch With Your Skin! resounds here in the process of getting in touch with your hair and scalp by working your products differently. Different combinations of products and application techniques give you a variety of effects depending on your mood and look you are going for. Either way your hair will be bouncy and clean, rejuvenated and nourished for strength and shine- the hallmarks of healthy hair and scalp.


< Check out the various effects you can get with the different combinations of shampooing with a shampoo bar and conditioning your hair by rinsing the conditioner out or leaving the conditioner in your hair, scrunching your conditioner in or smoothing it with a brush, 
blow drying or air drying, finishing with a serum or a butter.

Think of all of this moisturizing as a styling product to smooth and condition your locks! Experiment with a light or heavy application to easily style and manipulate your hair  for your look and mood! 

I gave up sticky, smelly, gummy gels, sprays, and hair styling products a long time ago for the natural feel and shine of healthy happy hair.


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Skin Deep And Beyond Aromatherapy Facial

10/14/2019

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A Monsoon Nectar Aromatherapy Facial merges beauty and the healing arts to impart your skin with a radiant glow and reset your sense of joy, comfort, and ease.

​Aromatherapy, the combination of aroma- meaning scent or smell and therapy- meaning treatment, is concerned with the psychological and physical health of the individual on a holistic mind, body, and spirit level. Natural aromas from essential oils are the basis for aromatherapy which we experience through our olfactory system, our sense of smell. Another word for our sense of smell is olfaction which affects the limbic system of the brain, our feel good mood center. Involved in sensory perception, motor function, and olfaction, the limbic system is also responsible for controlling various other functions in the body including interpreting emotional responses, storing memories, and regulating hormones.

Limbic system structures are involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival such as fear and anger. The limbic system is also involved in feelings of pleasure that are related to our survival, such as those experienced from eating and sex. The limbic system influences both the peripheral nervous system and the endocrine system.
Regina Bailey ThoughtCo.com

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I like to think of aromatherapy as a portal, since it can evoke memory and influence our mood and behavior. Likewise, it can be repelling and indicate a caution or warning to our surroundings and environment. One of the most powerful of the five main senses, our sense of smell guides us through a complex process between sensory organs, nerves, and the brain making our olfactory system remarkable in detecting, identifying, and perceiving molecules in the air and therefore, closely related to our sense of taste.

​Through the ages evidence shows that essential oils have been used by civilizations for medicinal, therapeutic, spiritual, ritualistic, culinary, hygienic and cosmetic purposes to support good health and treat ailments. The Egyptians were known for massaging their bodies with fragrant oils after bathing, while the Greeks used the oils medicinally and cosmetically. However, the practice of burning incense as a mood enhancer for harmony and balance dates back to China, where the oldest surviving medical book (dated around 2700 BC) was found to contain information on over 300 plants. As plant remedies were discovered, different methods of extraction evolved from burning/smoke, infusion in an oil, the process of distillation, and chemical extraction. An Egyptian papyrus dated around 1555 BC depicts infused oils and herbal preparations for spiritual, medicinal, mummification, fragrant and cosmetic uses. Egyptians are acknowledged, in fact, to have coined the term perfume from the Latin per fumum which translates as through the smoke.

The term aromatherapy only came about in the 2oth century, in a 1928 article written by French chemist Rene`- Maurice Gattefosse`. In the article, he describes accidentally burning his hand in his science lab, then randomly dunking his hand in a vat of lavender oil and how rapidly the burn healed. Gattefosse` went on to write a book that was translated into English called Gattefosse`s Aromatherapy, which is still in print and widely read today.

​Pleasure is potent healer and, naturally, we are attracted to aromas and experiences that make us feel good, which is why an Aromatherapy Facial is one of the best ways to reset your mind, body, and spirit.
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The Aromatherapy Facial that I offer combines ayurvedic principles with modern cosmetology to create a truly sensational and pleasurable experience during your sedona spa retreat. My signature skin care Monsoon Nectar Chakra Aroma Skin Care is formulated with essential oils and botanicals from the main aroma categories below:

Citrus - fresh, clean, refreshing, inspiring- think lemon, orange, and grapefruit.
Floral - flowery, soothing- think lavender, geranium, chamomile, and rose.
Herbaceous - herbal, energizing- think oregano, thyme, rosemary, clary sage.
Spicy - not hot, but spices of fall and winter, grounding- think nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamon.
Woody - grounding, soothing, stabilizing- think sandalwood, fir, cedarwood, cypress, juniper.
Earthy - more masculine- think patchouli, vetiver, angelica.
Resinous - reflective, grounding, inspiring- think frankincense, myrrh.
Camphoraceous - unmistakably heady scent that is strongly aromatic, energizing- think tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint.

​Essential oils are known to soothe the skin and make it glow, maintaining moisture and radiance. They have a small molecular weight allowing them to penetrate deep on the surface of the skin. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties in the oils alleviate redness and irritation in the skin, while healing properties make essential oils ideal for use in facials.


The PROCESS:
1. The facial begins with oil cleansing and massage using essential oils that are mixed into a carrier oil. This is a pre cleanse step that softens congestion, absorbs dirt on the skin, and sets the mood for relaxation.

2. Deep cleansing involves removing the oil and debris from the skin with a foamy cleanser.

3. Steaming the skin swells the pores to further release congestion and debris. A few drops of an essential oil in the facial steamer produce a variety of effects such as:
  • Tea tree – for clogged pores, colds, sore throat, acne, whiteheads and blackheads.
  • Lemon oil – oily skin, blemishes, skin brightening, allergies
  • Lavender oil – soothing skin, beautifying skin, blemishes
  • Peppermint oil/Eucalyptus oil – clogged nose & sinuses, sore throat, difficulty breathing, allergies, headache, migraine, colds & cough
  • Geranium oil – skin beautifier, treats hormonal & cystic acne, clogged pores, oily skin, dry skin

4. During the 5-10 minute steaming process a hand and arm massage is given.

5. Exfoliate to remove dead skin cells and make the skin smoother and more receptive to moisturizing and nutrients.

6. Massage to exercise and relax muscles in the decollate, shoulders, neck and face. Stimulates detoxifying and regenerating.

7. Masking the skin is customized to further draw out impurities, impart vitamins, and/or hydrate and moisturize the skin.

8. Final moisturizing to plump and protect the skin against pollution and environmental elements. A hydrated cell is a defensive cell.

The BENEFITS:
  • Brighten to remedy a tired and dull complexion.
  • Sooth and potentially treat acute or chronic skin conditions.
  • Treat clogged pores and diminish appearance of large pores.
  • Control oiliness.
  • Relax the senses / mind.
  • Hydrate and restore moisturize to dry skin.
  • Exfoliate to reveal a smoother, more youthful appearance.
  • Revitalize and rejuvenate mature skin.
  • Heal skin burns.
  • Detoxify skin.
  • Reduce puffiness around eye.
  • Slough off dead skin.
  • Soften and prevent fine lines and wrinkles..
  • Stimulates circulation and the natural healing capabilities of your skin.

How often to get an Aromatherapy Facial? Cellular turnover, or cell renewal factor, refers to the constant shedding of skin cells and the subsequent replacement of new, younger cells coming to the surface. This process takes place every 28-40 days. When the new cell makes it’s way up from the stratum germinativum, deepest layer of the epidermis, it eventually reaches the uppermost layer of the epidermis called the stratum corneum. Here the cell has become rough, dry, and flaky and is sloughed off. As we age this whole process called desquamation slows down. Finding the right amount of exfoliating and nourishing the skin is the secret to a smooth youthful appearance. Once a month or at least once a season is the ideal frequency to give your skin professional attention from an esthetician, particularly in more arid environments like Sedona, Arizona. Refresh and renew with an Aromatherapy Facial during your Sedona spa retreat and get in touch with your skin!
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