The pursuit of beautiful skin has helped me mature more wisely as I become more connected to my universe and environment.
When Pure + simple first opened in 2000, I found that classic esthetics and the extensive experience of my estheticians did not adequately help about a third of our clients be rid of their acne, rosacea or lined skin.
I believed the long term benefits of Natural Products for beautiful skin. So I hired a local teacher of Ayurveda, to become better at using natural skincare to solve our clients skin problems. We got that and more as we started to treat each client as an individual and not merely common skin problem.
Our success rate increased to almost 100% as we started to customize our solutions to the client’s unique characteristics both physical and psychological.
From the results both Kristen , my daughter and I invested in learning Ayurveda from Dr. Vivek Shanbhag. You can learn about Ayurveda and Skincare from a book that my daughter, Kristen Ma, wrote by going to http://www.pureandsimple.ca/
The following advice for Beautiful Skin is based on Ayurveda.
Feeling and looking your best is quite simple. Follow a diet, lifestyle and skincare + grooming routine that promotes good health. Each of us is unique, but there are basically three major routines we can choose from. Which one is best for us depends on the quality or type of energy flowing through us and in Ayurveda they are called Doshas. I will be writing about Ayurveda but if you are impatient see a summary of the Doshas at http://www.pureandsimple.ca/2005/files/products/ayurvedic.html
The following advice is general advice for those of us in our Vata years (over 40 years old). As we age we become more spirit (less physical) while it depends on from where we start. Our skin shows this by becoming thinner and dryer.
Vata’s strengths are in the emotional, spiritual and intuitive realm. Therefore we start to favour and benefit greatly from exercise that has a spiritual component. In my personal practice I have accepted my uniqueness and have left behind the guilt as I hear experts tell me that I need to do weight lifting or cardio. Every Morning I practice Chi Kung and Yoga.
Vatas can eat foods that are usually on the forbidden lists like red meat and carbs. But they need to avoid dry foods like popcorn and cold foods like ice cream. Another group are foods that promote gas like cabbage. But again that all depends on things like your base Dosha, the weather, what’s happening in your life and any imbalance in your health you are encountering. It sounds more complicated than it is. I find using Ayurveda in my life much like being a conductor in an orchestra.
Skincare for those of us Forty and Beyond needs to focus on keeping our skin moist and hydrated. Each morning skin needs to be cleansed gently. A hydrating serum packed nutrients should be applied to the face, neck and eye area. If the weather is dry and/or cold, most of us need to apply a fine layer of nourishing face oil. Then to keep the moisture in our skin cells we should apply a protective moisturizing cream. Men may prefer to leave out the oil, more because of personal preference than because of their skin’s needs.
To keep things simple you repeat it again at night.
To keep my mind body and spirit balance I have created a daily routine that I adjust according to the weather. For help in customizing your skincare and lifestyle routine go to http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8597&post=45067&uid=2455286407#post45067 where I discuss the weather and the effects on your Doshas and your Skin daily.
If you need help in discovering your Dosha, you can take the test in Kristen’s book, BEAUTY 2.0 or make an appointment with me or any of our skincare specialists. Go to http://www.pureandsimple.ca/2005/ for contact information
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
VANITY is good for YOU
At Pure + Simple, we use Ayurveda as one of the tools along with skincare science and holistic health to help clients attain the skin and look they want.
But as a client, Ayurveda is a great instrument to help you keep your skin beautiful while helping you feel more connected to your environment and yourself. I find it a great tool to keep my general health, mind body spirit, balanced.
In Ayurveda, nothing is innately right or wrong, good or bad. It depends. So our skincare advice for you at Pure + simple will not be the same as your fiend or your sister. It will not be the same in summer and winter and it may not be exactly the same day to day.
Our appearance has great impact on how we feel about aging. But not just in the end result of how we look to others.
Caring about your appearance includes caring for your skin. Skincare in turn supports a healthy youthful circulatory system which in turn maintains good health.
The circulatory system runs in the 3 layers of the skin. When one’s skin is dry the capillaries below become less elastic and function less efficiently to bring nutrition to cells and to remove cellular debris and toxins. Therefore being increasingly dry, pigmented and red skin affects the functioning of the circulatory system and the deterioration of the circulatory system results in drier skin.
Therefore VANITY can contribute to our wellbeing when we are wise and proactive. Keeping our skin moist will not only keep the surgeon’s knife at bay but it will also help us feel better. When capillaries function properly we feel the benefits of good blood flow. In the face it could mean better eye sight and better brain function. In the legs it could mean slimmer legs, less cellulite and dry skin.
So be vain and get moisturizing.
I will be discussing different strategies for keeping skin moist throughout the day and the year.
But as a client, Ayurveda is a great instrument to help you keep your skin beautiful while helping you feel more connected to your environment and yourself. I find it a great tool to keep my general health, mind body spirit, balanced.
In Ayurveda, nothing is innately right or wrong, good or bad. It depends. So our skincare advice for you at Pure + simple will not be the same as your fiend or your sister. It will not be the same in summer and winter and it may not be exactly the same day to day.
Our appearance has great impact on how we feel about aging. But not just in the end result of how we look to others.
Caring about your appearance includes caring for your skin. Skincare in turn supports a healthy youthful circulatory system which in turn maintains good health.
The circulatory system runs in the 3 layers of the skin. When one’s skin is dry the capillaries below become less elastic and function less efficiently to bring nutrition to cells and to remove cellular debris and toxins. Therefore being increasingly dry, pigmented and red skin affects the functioning of the circulatory system and the deterioration of the circulatory system results in drier skin.
Therefore VANITY can contribute to our wellbeing when we are wise and proactive. Keeping our skin moist will not only keep the surgeon’s knife at bay but it will also help us feel better. When capillaries function properly we feel the benefits of good blood flow. In the face it could mean better eye sight and better brain function. In the legs it could mean slimmer legs, less cellulite and dry skin.
So be vain and get moisturizing.
I will be discussing different strategies for keeping skin moist throughout the day and the year.
Friday, March 20, 2009
OUR METAMORPHOSIS
I invite you to leave behind the frenetic years of building, career and childrearing, to transform like a butterfly, a being of beauty, lightness and freedom.
We foolishly approach our middle age by engaging in "ANTI-AGING".
The fear of entering into a new stage in our life blinds us to the beautiful experience of the autumn of our life.
Simone de Beauvoir wisely titled a book of her later years, "When Things of the Spirit Come First".
In Ayurveda, the Vata Stage of our life is more spiritual.
The decline of our bodies can be complemented with the rise of our awareness of our connection to the universe. Wisdom gives us pleasure at all stages of our life.
I would like to share the unique experiences of my maturing friends and clients along with my own knowledge and experience. I hope they will enlighten you and that you will share your comments with us.
I will be discussing all sorts of issues that involve the maturing mind, body and spirit. There will be the joys of finally being the person we have always wanted to be along with healthy solutions for common physical concerns like cellulite, weakening eye sight, wrinkling skin.
I invite you to leave behind the frenetic years of building, career and childrearing, to transform like a butterfly, a being of beauty, lightness and freedom.
We foolishly approach our middle age by engaging in "ANTI-AGING".
The fear of entering into a new stage in our life blinds us to the beautiful experience of the autumn of our life.
Simone de Beauvoir wisely titled a book of her later years, "When Things of the Spirit Come First".
In Ayurveda, the Vata Stage of our life is more spiritual.
The decline of our bodies can be complemented with the rise of our awareness of our connection to the universe. Wisdom gives us pleasure at all stages of our life.
I would like to share the unique experiences of my maturing friends and clients along with my own knowledge and experience. I hope they will enlighten you and that you will share your comments with us.
I will be discussing all sorts of issues that involve the maturing mind, body and spirit. There will be the joys of finally being the person we have always wanted to be along with healthy solutions for common physical concerns like cellulite, weakening eye sight, wrinkling skin.