Change Your Routine

If you're feeling like your life or some aspect of your existence has stagnated, stopped, or is simply unclear ~ there are easy ways to work small shifts into your day.

As these small shifts add up, quantum leaps may occur!

It's a simple matter of not doing things the way you've "always" done them.

Some ideas:

• Try brushing your teeth with the opposite hand.
• Practice your yoga in the evening instead of the morning.
• Read fiction instead of non-fiction.
• Meet friends for ice cream instead of for cocktails.
• Go dancing instead of watching TV.
• Take the scenic route instead of the fastest way.
• Bathe instead of shower.
• Take the kids to the woods instead of to the beach.
• Kiss your partner when you wake up instead of as you're leaving for work.
• Shake your hips instead of standing still!

May your day be filled with joy and new learning!

Controlling Oily Hair

With the increased warmth of summertime, your skin may be producing excess oil, causing your lovely locks to be a bit limp.

Reducing the amount of fat in your diet will help to decrease oil production.

Here are a few other natural remedies to restore some body zing to your hair:

• Apply a strip of gauze or a sheet of 1-ply bathroom tissue to the base of your hairbrush, working it between the bristles, to absorb excess oil from the brush.
• Whisk an egg in a bowl and apply to your dry hair and scalp before shampooing. Allow the egg to dry before rinsing.
• Dissolve 1 Tbsp. of sea salt in a cup of milk and apply to your scalp. Leave on for up to 30 minutes, then shampoo out.
• After shampooing, rinse 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar through your hair. This will also increase the shine!
• After shampooing but before styling, apply witch hazel to your hairline with a cotton swab.
  

Avocados for Skin and Hair Care

Avocados are not only rich in potassium, B vitamins, and vitamins E and K, they also have the highest fiber content of any fruit.

Vitamin E helps keep your skin clear and glowing, and potassium and B vitamins keep your hair strong and shiny. But avocados can also be great for your skin and hair when placed directly on them!

Some crafty tips from the kitchen spa for using avocados in your regular beauty regimen:

• Scoop the flesh of an avocado and mix with one ripe banana. Apply to your freshly washed face and leave on for as long as you want. Great for regular to dry skin.
• For oily skin, mix ripe avocado with egg yolk, honey, and lemon juice. Apply to your skin and leave on for 15 minutes. Rinse well with warm water.
• Mix a ripe avocado with honey and coconut milk and apply to the ends of your hair as a masque. Leave on for 5-30 minutes, then rinse with warm water. Add an egg yolk for extra strengthening power!

May your days be delicious and beautiful.

Rose Quartz for Emotional Balance

This beautiful crystal, named for its soft pink color, contains properties of unconditional love for others and for one's self. It is believed to help balance the emotions while increasing self-esteem.

Rose quartz works by opening the heart chakra ~ the 4th chakra, the anahata chakra ~ enhancing your own openness to love in all forms: romantic, platonic, self love, family love, and love of animals, plants, and the Earth.

Using rose quartz can balance your emotions, allowing for inner peace, while creating space for compassion and forgiveness to blossom. It can help you let go of stored fear, anger, and resentment, replacing them with peace, harmony, and self-esteem.

Some tips for using rose quartz in your everyday life:

• Keep a small, heart-shaped rose quartz stone under your pillow when you sleep at night to encourage love in all of your relationships, but especially your romantic and sexual ones.
• Stash a rose quartz in your pocket when attending any meeting (business, family, etc.) that may be emotionally disruptive. The crystal will help keep your heart chakra open, allowing for more peace to flow through your communications.
  
• If your pet has been through a trauma, such as moving or illness, attach a rose quartz to his or her collar to allow for a peaceful release of fears and frightened emotions.
• If you don't have a crystal with you, simply visualize the healing energy of the rose quartz traveling across space and time to enter your heart. Allow the light to be soft and pink, and let the light of the crystal fill your entire body with love and peace.
• Place a stone in your view or hold one when you're talking on the phone. Visualize the crystal's love energy filling your heart and traveling through the phone lines to the person on the other end. Visualize their heart being filled with the same healing love energy from your rose quartz, and allow this energy to flow freely between you.

May your days be filled with love and peace.

In Praise of Strawberries

Often known as the first "official" fruit of the summer, strawberry season is going on right now! You may have noticed an abundance of these beautiful berries in stores or at the farmer's market recently. Follow your instincts and pick up a basket ~ not only do they look, smell, and taste spectacular when they're in season, but they are a wonderful treat for your body. One cup of strawberries has only 50 calories and packs as much vitamin C as an orange. They are also an excellent source of manganese, a trace mineral that activates enzymes used in metabolism, nutrient utilization, and even reproductive health. Some tips for getting the most out of this delicious red fruit this season:

• Don't wash strawberries before storing them. This ensures optimal freshness. Simply rinse them right before eating or cooking.
  
• Store strawberries in a sealed plastic bag, separated into layers with paper towels. They will keep for up to 3 days this way. Remove any soggy or molding berries before storing.
  
• Freeze strawberries for use in smoothies, so you don't need to add ice!
• Melt 16 ounces of antioxidant-rich dark chocolate in a double boiler. Using a toothpick, dip strawberries in the chocolate until coated and let cool. Your immune system and your pleasure system will thank you for it!

May your strawberry season be filled with healthy, delicious treats.

Staying True

We all like to believe we are living true to our selves. No one wants to admit they are living a lie! But how often have you found yourself in a life situation that you know, in your deepest soul, is not good for you, is filled with negative energy, is clearly off your path, or just simply doesn't feel right?

Staying true to yourself means doing one of the most daring things of all: confronting and overcoming fear. It's often fear that keeps us in the hollow, shallow places of our hearts.

Truthfulness to ourselves might hurt, but dishonesty to ourselves could be even more painful in the long run.

Some tips to help keep you in alignment with your truth:

• Notice how the situation feels in your body. Does it FEEL like the truth?
• Ask yourself what fears about the situation might be holding you back from seeing the truth. Write those fears in a journal and allow yourself to be brutally honest.
• Assess those fears. Rate them on a scale of one (not very fearful) to ten (the absolute worst) and tackle the most fearsome one on your list.
• Imagine a worst-case scenario. Determine how you will handle it if it happens.
• Once you have established how you'll handle the worst possible thing, recognize that it likely won't happen. Now move on to the next-worse thing, and all the way on up your list until you've reached your easiest fear.
  
• Know that you can handle any level of fear, and that you are within reaching distance of your truth.

Now, tell yourself the truth. Let it come out. Write it down. Say it out loud. Dance with it! Whatever the outcome, it is your truth. Resolve now to stay with your essence and allow the teachings of your truth to unfold.

May your life be truth-filled and full of positive light.

Yoga: A Pose a Day

If you're not a regular practitioner of yoga, it may be intimidating to start going to a weekly class. Even if you have had a regular practice in the past, it might be hard to stick to a schedule or to work in an entire 60- or 90-minute class into your day.

In my experience practicing and teaching yoga, students get the most benefit by incorporating small amounts of yoga on a regular basis, rather than one long class per week.

An easy way to do this is to resolve to do one yoga pose every day. That's right, just one. This way, you will keep yourself in the yoga flow without getting burned out or feeling like you "have to" make it to class or break out the full-length DVD.

Of course, more advanced poses like Upward Bow (Urdhva Dhanurasana) and Lotus (Padmasana) require "prerequisite" poses to warm up the muscles and strengthen the body ~ I would strongly recommend you do not jump right into an advanced pose without proper warm-up.

You may find that your body is calling out for:

• an inversion like Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
• a seated twist like Half Lord of the Fishes (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
• a restorative pose like Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Kirani)
• or another pose that you personally love and can do with relative ease.
  

Standing poses such as Warrior II and Triangle are great poses to use as breaks throughout your day.

If you're feeling more energetic, try moving on to one Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskara) per day.

Be careful, though ~ you may find yourself inspired to continue on to a full 90-minute practice!

May you remain flexible and flowing throughout your life.

Sandalwood Incense: Spiritually Cleansing

When using incense for cleansing rituals, many people gravitate toward sage, which is best known for its potent spiritual and energetic cleansing properties. But did you know that sandalwood incense can be a powerful cleanser, too?

Sandalwood incense originated in India and has been used since at least the 6th century, mentioned in early Sanskrit writings

The metaphysical aspects of sandalwood provide cleansing and purifying properties, and is known in Ayurvedic medicine to have a cooling effect on the circulatory system ~ a good thing to know for the upcoming summer days!

Sandalwood is also used as an aphrodisiac in rituals for sensual pleasure ~ and with the purifying effects of the scent, you can be sure those rituals are free of negative energy. Just pure love and pleasure!

It's also been said that sandalwood can help rejuvenate one's self from too much mental exertion, and can help dissolve emotional tension.

Some tips for incorporating sandalwood incense into your day:

• Burn sandalwood while relaxing in the bath. Visualize your body and soul being cleansed from the inside out.
• After an argument, forgiveness, and reconciliation, clear the lingering negative energy with the smoke from a bundle of sandalwood incense sticks. Be sure to let the smoke linger in the room's corners, where negative energy gravitates!
• Keep a small incense burner at your desk and burn a stick in the afternoon, when mental fatigue starts to set in.

May you be cleansed and refreshed in every way!

Water, the Elixir of Life

What better way to introduce this blog than by starting with a celebration of one of the most vital elements to holistic health ~ water!

Water not only cleanses and refreshes our physical bodies, but our energetic and spiritual bodies, as well. Clean water soaks up negative energies and restores our auras. Keeping a water element in your life at all times helps you to maintain a sense of flow with all of life, and keeps your spirit radiant!

Most people know that our bodies are made up of about 75% water. But did you know your lungs expel about 4 cups of water per day? Add in sweat from exercising or simply if you're a warmer person, and the diuretic effects of alcohol and caffeinated drinks, and it's easy to see how quickly we can become dehydrated.

Metaphysical teachers often suggest that deep meditation and heavy thinking can also dehydrate the body, so be sure to drink plenty of water when you're engaging your psyche and spirit, too.

A few great suggestions to take advantage of the powerful cleansing, healing, and nourishing benefits of water:

• Add sliced lemons to your water bottle. Lemon water has an alkalizing effect on the body, helping to restore your body's natural pH balance.
• Wash your hands in cold water after any particularly negative or ungrounding experience. Visualize the water cleansing away the negative energy and returning it to the earth to be recycled. Cold water helps to release the negative energy from your body's field.
  
• Sprinkle water along the floor of your doorways. This can help to soak up negative energy before it even has a chance to enter the room.
• Keep a small bowl of clean, fresh water at your desk to help soak up excessive electromagnetic energy surrounding your computer workstation.
• Place a glass of fresh water at the head of your bed each night to soak up any lingering negative effects of the day. Ask the dream angels to release all less-than-positive energy from your psyche while you sleep! Toss the water in the morning (or recycle it back to the earth in your garden).

May your journey of wellness be in the flow!