I thought I would mix it up a little and talk about self care with regards to your skin. Right now, with the mercury at an all time low, the heat at an all time high, and with frequent handwashing to prevent infections your skin can be in a pretty sad state. Did you know your skin is responsible for 1/4 of your body’s detoxification each day? The skin eliminates acid wastes through your sweat glands and in total eliminates~ 2 lbs of waste each day. Because the skin is a way for the body to get rid of toxins, it makes sense that you would want to help it along. Dry skin brushing is a great way to do this; you get rid of scaly leather skin and your skin can breathe. That’s right your skin can breathe- it inhales oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. It is a living breathing organism. Dry skin brushing moves lymph (brings the cells nutrients and removes their waste), improves circulation, stimulates your immune system, is good for your nervous system and makes your skin softer and more touch worthy when you are snuggled under a mountain of covers with your significant other.

To dry skin brush all you need is a natural -bristle brush found at your local health food store; a loofah sponge could also be used in a pinch. Make sure the handle is long enough so you can reach all the areas on your body but short enough so that is it easy to manuever. You want to do long upward strokes starting from your toes to your heart. Do not brush away from the heart rather always towards it.  Feel free to brush in circular motions in places that need more attention. Tackle your cellulite to help with removal of wastes. Avoid areas of your skin where it is thinner or any area where the skin has been compromised (cuts, abrasions, eczema, psoriasis, acne, etc.). Don’t forget the bottom of your feet which never see the light of day in winter (it’s too cold!). If you are a super star, exercise first thing in the am before you start skin brushing. (I am not unless we are talking summer. I exercise after work or in the afternoon in the winter). Exercise supports your elimination through your sweat glands so you promote more detoxification all around. Brush your skin before you have a bath or shower. Varying the temperature if you are having a shower will support your immune system. Be in the hot stream for 3 minutes and then turn on the cold stream (brace yourself) for 3o seconds- 1 minute. Do this three to five times and end on cold. This is therapeutic hydrotherapy and it promotes detoxification and stimulates circulation as well.  After your water treatment, be sure and apply lotion afterwards. Just make sure it is a natural lotion fit for a king or queen. Check out your local health food store for a selection worthy of your application.

So many people are in a state of compensation these days. People sometimes come to me on a laundry list of supplements and when I see that; the question arises are they in a state of compensation? The more out of balance that they are, the more they must compensate or find things that artificially prop them up and allow them to still function in their daily life. The supportive therapies may be buying them some time, allowing them to temporarily compensate but they are not making the individual well. They exist moreso as a crutch. They compensate with various crutches because they are not living in alignment in their life. Because they aren’t living in alignment, they spend tremendous amounts of energy and resources to compensate, for this state of imbalance. They keep adding more and more things, in order to compensate. They hope that by adding the latest new particular kind of support that they will find a way to be in balance.

Other people compensate by directing much of their energy to obsessive vigilance to how they live their life and I have certainly been guilty of that. A set of rules must be followed to ensure the individual stays as healthy as possible. A diet that is very strict and regimented must be eaten without any insults. They are afraid to err in any way with their diet because they fear the negative consequences of such an action. These individuals may need to eat ‘like God’ in order to increase their vital force, when in reality, if they lived their life aligning their own personal will with divine will, this would not be so necessary. You would still choose to eat high vibration food because you understand how energy transference works, however, you wouldn’t be required to have so many rules about what you must do to stay in balance. It is important to respect yourself and do what you know you need to do in order to thrive, but try not to be excessively rigid about it. Your body is designed to be a self healing organism. It is not necessary to control everything in your world to ensure good health.

There are more spiritually congruent ways to strengthen and support your container. Living in alignment is one way to strengthen and support your body in your life. Many individuals in a state of compensation have not created a life for themselves that is in alignment to them. Their lives may be successful, perhaps, from an egotistical point of view but how much does this truly satisfy them at their core? In order to make the amount of money that they do, they are thrown so off balance, in their life that their health starts to be affected. The cliché, money does not buy happiness is a true statement. If the money comes at the expense of yourself, then that is not the optimal path of abundance for you. You need to know who you are and design a life that allows you to be who you are. This path brought about by living in alignment automatically leads to better health and vitality.

Tap more into the spring of well being, that naturally flows in your life, and the less you will have to rely on such compensatory mechanisms to keep you healthy. For people that are not in alignment, the image I get is sand running through cheesecloth. You are pouring all these supportive therapies into a system that is not able to take it in. It doesn’t have the container to take up the supportive substances. The container is too porous. There are too many external influences having an effect on the container. The vibration required to hold such substances in the container is missing. Every cell needs to come into alignment in order to take the material in.

Your container, which is your physical body, is strengthened by the food you take into your system. To hold your cells at the highest frequency possible, the food with the highest vibration must be taken in. Focusing on a whole foods diet supports optimal health. For instance, foods that are fresh such as organic fruits and vegetables, have more life energy in them, than foods that have been sitting on the shelves such as canned produce or processed food which has been sitting in a package. Cooking whole foods from scratch requires a little more effort on your part, but the energy received by taking this food in, perpetuates and sustains the vibration that you are intending in your body. If you are in a higher vibration to begin with, you are less likely to resonate with low energy food. How often do people attend a yoga class and then go to the drive-in at Macdonald’s? I would hasten to say rarely. The vibration brought about by doing yoga is not in resonance with Macdonald’s. The vibration brought about by doing yoga is more in resonance with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.

Every cell also needs a suitable degree of hydration required to sustain a higher vibration. Your energy will subtly drop when you begin to feel a slight degree of dehydration in your body. Water is the most important fluid that you can take into your body; pure H2O. Get in touch with how much water you need to feel you are at your best. By paying attention to these subtle clues that your body gives you, you can start to realize how it is that you need to live to be in alignment with your physical body.
Strengthen the container of your heart. If you come from your heart center, you are definitely living in alignment. Find out what you love to do. If your heart sings with joy when you are doing something, note that, and do more of ‘that’. If you blossom from the heart, you can be sure that whatever seeds have sprouted will be coming from rich, fertile soil. Your heart is where your passion lies and where your love force originates. You can be sure, that the source of these beautiful flowers, if coming from your core essence, your unique beauty, will be received by the world; when the blossoms seed, these seeds will be carried by the wind to areas that need these particular flowers to be growing. The soil that is ripe for the planting of these seeds will take them in, hold them in a safe, protective place where they are free to take root and grow. What are you most passionate about? Loving what you do is synonymous with you living in alignment. How can you give back? When you live in alignment with who you are you will hear your inner voice directing your actions from a place of service…

So, be aware of the ways in which you are compensating and ask yourself what needs to happen for you to be in more harmony and balance with yourself…

One thing that I do on New year’s is set my intentions for the upcoming year with regards to mind, body, spirit. Intentions feel less rigid than resolutions and can be revisited from time to time or expanded upon throughout the year…Starting with your mind, what could you intend for the new year? My intention is to stay focused on what I want and when my mind wants to tell me otherwise, when it is goes into fear and doubt, I remind myself that I have control of where I direct my thoughts and bring myself back to that positive place versus what I don’t want. I intend to be more clear in my life so that I am acting from a place of clarity versus confusion. Sometimes you don’t ask for what you want and hence it does not manifest. You need to spend the time to get clear on what you want. Consistency and persistence is key for me with regards to my goals. I want to trust more and believe that the universe is on my side supporting me to be the best that I can be. In terms of my body, I want to eat more variety in my diet. Every time I go grocery shopping I intend to put something in my cart that I don’t typically eat (eg. figs). That way I get more exposure to phytonutrients. I want to make all my sauces from scratch as they taste far better than store bought sauces if you take the time to make them. Gabriel Cousins book Conscious Eating is a good resource. I want to try different recipes and expand my culinary skills this year. I intend to continue drinking green smoothies daily and eat a more alkaline diet. I will emphasize good self care daily – regular exercise, H20, whole foods diet, sleep, breathing. I want to focus more on my skin – regular skin brushing to help with circulation/detox and moisturizing to restore. In terms of spirit, I commit to a daily spiritual practice -30 minutes- meditation and setting intentions for my day in the morning and a nightly spritual practice where I review my day (how did I do today – did I stay on track?, was I kind and loving for the most part or was my ego running the show?), prayers for myself and others and gratitude for the blessings I received that day. I want to open my heart more to the people around me and tell them how I feel about them on a regular basis. I want to continue to stay open to life, saying yes to new adventures and challenging my fears. These are a few of my intentions for the upcoming year. What are some of yours?