Let’s be honest! Being your best and feeling your best also tends to involve looking your best.
“As within so without” is a famous saying by Hermes Trismegistus and considered a universal truth by many. In simple terms, your outer world reflects your inner life.
We also know that a healthy body from within, will create a healthy, and therefore, more beautiful appearance on the outside. Nutritious foods, exercise and fresh air gives us a healthy glow in our skin, right?
People tend to fairly easily take care of the physical issues connected with beauty and health, but often fail to tackle the emotional aspects. Our emotional state has equal effect on the state of our bodies, and we will do well, to give it the attention it requires.
We have put together our favourite beauty practices that give both our physical and emotional body their much-needed attention. While physical benefits are involved, they also allow for that precious time of self-reflection, self-love and perhaps even space for deep personal insights.
Dry Brushing
The benefits of dry brushing have been known for millennia. The ancient Egyptians, known as the pioneers of beauty rituals, Indian Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the Ancient Greeks and Romans have used dry brushing for its multiple health benefits.
Today the trend is booming again in the beauty industry, and for good reason. Benefits include stimulating the lymphatic system, exfoliating the skin, removing toxins and increasing circulation which in returns stimulates all aspects of healthy skin.
The practice involves brushing your skin surface with a relatively rough body brush. It is sooo lush and feels fantastic. The massage and gentle exfoliation, leaves your skin tingling and glowing. When your blood flow is stimulated, your whole body seems to come alive. It is one of my go-to activities when I take time for myself, followed by a shower and nourishing moisturiser if you fancy it.
Hair Brushing
Yes, brushing your hair properly can feel sooooo good. Most of us think of hair brushing as the simple act of detangling. But it is so much more than that and I learned this from two German ladies who founded “Haarweisheiten” (hair wisdom, translated). If you use the correct tools and methods, then brushing your hair becomes a ritual for super healthy hair. And this is how it was practiced before the insane amount of hair products came out. Massaging your scalp with your hairbrush stimulates blood flow, supports healthy hair growth, exfoliation of the scalp and deep relaxation of the mind. Using boar bristle brushes leaves your hair surface smooth, conditions and leaves your hair soft and shiny. When you’re done, your scalp will feel tingly and alive, and the stimulation of blood flow will give you a surge of ‘feel-good’ and energy. Seriously, try it.
Facial cupping
This is my most recent discovery and I cannot believe I had never heard about it before. You use specialised silicon cups to create suction on your skin to stimulate blood flow, tone muscles and encourage the skin to produce all the goodies that it needs for healthy, glowing skin. You can learn all about the correct tools and methods at the Facial Cupping Expert. Another one of those practices that leaves you feeling completely revived and uplifted from the inside out.
Beauty for Mind and Body
Slapping on a cream may have its benefits. But spending time with your body and activating its own resources, is a way of achieving health and beauty benefits, while simultaneously creating space for mindful introspection.
Therefore, you not only see results on the outside, but you are feeling the benefits from the inside out. You are also spending plenty of time with yourself, giving your mind some peace and quiet. Let’s face it, that is really the best beauty elixir you can give yourself.
