Right now, I am reading Eat Beautiful by Wendy Rowe, a make-up artist. This book is beautiful and quick with great reference and a seasonal focus, everything I love in a book about what to eat. Lately, with all the sad feelings about my dog, my birthday, and the state of the world, my skin is not so subtlety telling me that something is off. My job is to bring more awareness and consciousness to the world - in my own small ways and I am constantly encouraging listening as a practice - one, that for me, has a steep learning curve. Though I consider my listening skills to underdeveloped within relationship, they are more developed in body and mind practices. I have learned to listen to and trust my body. My follow through once I receive the messages will be a lifelong practice. One that I am prepared to stay conscious of through out my life.
One way I can practice that follow through is by what I put into my body. Food, water - what I taste and smell (on somedays), but also what I see, hear, and feel.
Just as I clear my mind daily with meditation, I can clear my body so that my skin reflects that clarity; and love.
I want my skin to reflect all that I have going on inside - that which is nourishing, radiant, healthy, connected, and lovely. But for now, I see dryness, irritation, and depletion. Call it vanity if you will, but for me, its about a deeper way of being that enables and empowers me to live my life fully.
As we head into Spring know that ...
"your body will tell you what you need, but it doesn't scream, it whisper, try to listen."
Here a some things to consider that resonated with me from this book and that I am putting (and do put) into practice:
Digestion + Detox: our skin reflects the internal organ health of namely the digestive system (liver, colon, small intestines), when our skin is off, we can work to cleanse and restore balance via pre and probiotics and what we put into our mouths and bodies.
Stress + Food/Skin Saviors: Eat the rainbow and healthy fat, hydrate, eat an earlier lighter diner, getting outside, oil massage, daily routines .. all these things can have great benefit to our skin.
Seasonal Eating + Intermittent Fasting: our bodies are designed to be in harmony with Nature and the seasons. Eating in season is not only beneficial for our bodies and our planet, it also tastes better. Eating at specific times of day - like at noon, when our bodies produce the most bile (the alkaline substance in your body that makes digestion possible) and allowing the body to digest and rest like between meals and at night is hugely beneficial. When our bodies aren't working hard to digest what we consume, that energy can be converted to repair and healing. Bringing satiation through water between meals instead of little snacks here and there gives our bodies the opportunity to work they way they are intended to work.
Next week, I'm doing a Spring Skin Cleanse - for my face! Please do it with me. Look for me on Instagram - I'll be documenting here and there with recipes, diy treatments, and practices, etc. #springskincleanse2017