Supernatural Botanicals

Here are five great selections to give to yourself, or a friend this holiday season.  Everyone loves a great read, and more so, everyone starts to think about ways to improve their life this time of year (think New Year’s resolutions!)  Here are a few of my favorites.   Extra points if you can turn someone on to the love of reading.  One of these great books will get a non-book-reader headed in the right direction. 

   Quiet Mind by David Kundtz.   More than a meditation book, Quiet Mind is a series of reflections that can illuminate every aspect of life. It offers readers guidance on using the moments between activities, which the author calls “stillpoints”.  As opportunities to focus on becoming more fully awake to who they are. “These times are the ‘spaces in between’ the events of your life,” writes Kundtz, “spaces often lost, or worse, filled with anxiety. And these spaces in between are just waiting to bring you the calmness and clarity that an over-demanding schedule steals from you.” A welcome respite for anyone whose gear shift is perpetually in overdrive, Quiet Mind is an invitation to rest, find peace, awaken, and remember. It offers deceptively simple wisdom to help readers sharpen their senses and make room for life.

    Instant Karma by Barbara Ann Kipfer.  Help others. Help yourself. Be a better person, and make the world a better place. Using the wisdom of the East to instruct and inspire, INSTANT KARMA is a universe of things a reader can do, right now, to accumulate good karma. And, like pennies going into a piggy bank, each is a seemingly little thing-but feed the bank day after day and feel it grow richer and happier.  Created by Barbara Ann Kipfer, the author whose books-including 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, 8,789 Words of Wisdom, and The Wish List-have 1.2 million copies in print, INSTANT KARMA is a compulsive, densely packed, chunky little book of 10,000 or so suggestions, wishes, thoughts, and the occasional heartening quotation.

   It’s Up to You by Karen Casey.  It’s Up to You invites readers to do three simple things: meditate, pay attention, and make choices to change their lives–for a few minutes each morning and evening, one principle a week for twelve weeks. As we reflect on Casey’s insight into the insidious ways we create misery or drama, try to impose will, and suffer needlessly, and as we follow her gentle prompts to make different choices, we begin to see that we can change just about anything in our lives by taking these small steps. Nothing could be simpler, and nothing could be more effective. Or as Karen Casey puts it, “Progress is guaranteed. Perfection isn’t expected.”

   Easy Green Living by Renee Loux.  We are what we eat, but we also are what we use to clean our homes, pamper our skin, and decorate our rooms, according to Renée Loux, accomplished raw food chef, award-winning author, and host of Fine Living TV’s Easy Being Green. In her new book, Easy Green Living, she applies her whole-foods philosophy to home, garden, and beauty routines.  Renée Loux demonstrates that being green at home is easy, affordable, and better in every sense of the word. She discusses the daily choices we face that can keep the home, personal care, and beauty routines free of toxins. She exposes the dirt on cleaning products and common hazardous ingredients and reveals her recommendations for greener options, including her “Green Thumb Guides” for choosing non-toxic, eco-smart, and human-friendly products. Peppered with compelling and inspiring facts, Easy Green Living is full of “5 Step” lists, products and recipes for green cleaning, helpful charts, safer choices for every room, and inspirational advice so we can save the planet–one cleaning spritz at a time.

  The Girls’ Guide To Building A Million-Dollar Business by Susan Wilson Solovic.  Featuring interviews with daring, powerhouse women like Gayle Martz, President & CEO, Sherpa’s Pet Trading Company, and Taryn Rose of Taryn Rose International, Solovic offers frank advice and hard-won lessons including:
-Taking emotions out of the workplace.
-Make business decisions based on what is best for the company, not on your personal feelings.
-Thinking big and bold.
-Believe that you can be successful and be willing to announce your intentions to the world.
-Managing for growth.
-Hire the right people and discover the best ways to keep them.
-Never being afraid to take a chance.
-Boost profits by taking financial risks.

Inspiring and unflinching, The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business shows women that not only do they have the power to earn more money and control their financial destinies – they deserve to.

1.  Pomegranate and Grapefruit Face and Body Bar.

   2.  Island Coconut Face and Body Bar.

   3.  Supernatural Botanicals Grapefruit Body Butter.

   4.  Supernatural Botanicals Sore Muscle Soak Bath Salts.

   5.  Supernatural Botanicals Bolivian Bath Salts

These are our top five sellers at Supernatural Botanicals for December thus far.  Trending is a difficult thing to capture.  We knew that Pomegranate and Grapefruit would sell well in December, but the Island Coconut threw a bit of surprise in the mix.  Many of our Island Coconut lovers are repeat customers.  I must admit, it’s really one of my favorites as well.  The smell is intoxicatingly tropical.  Aromatherapy at its finest! 

Our Face and Body Spa Bars are all natural, eco-friendly, and perfect for anyone who wants to get back to basics in their skincare.  Essential oils make the soaps pop to life with beautiful aromatherapeutic scents.   A soap that’s good for your skin….now there’s a concept!   Also, case-study proven not to cause breakouts. 

Our Body Butters are amazing!  I rave about these a lot because they simply deseve the praise.  It only takes one use and you’ll know what all the talk is about.  Our special non-greasy formula makes this a must have for beautiful, sexy skin.  It deeply moisturizes skin and is packed with skin-loving ingredients.  Cool packaging allows you to slip one in your purse for on the go moisture anytime. 

Our Bath Salts/Sea Salts are wildly popular this time of year….they relive stress!   A nice long soak with bath salts will detox your body, while drenching your skin with beneficial essential oils. 

As always, Supernatural Botanicals greatly appreciates your business.  Your feedback helps us to create the products you love.  Keep the emails coming.  For more information, visit our website at http://www.supernaturalbotanicals.com/.  To contact us, email Info@SupernaturalBotanicals.com. 

What exactly is aromatherapy?  Aromatherapy is the practice of using volatile plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological and physical well-being.  Essential oils, the pure essence of a plant, have been found to provide both psychological and physical benefits when used correctly and safely, from mood elevating to healing. 

   Lavender:  Lavender is used for stress or sleep.  The aroma of lavender has been known to calm and relax the mind.  Lavender has additionally been used for:  Acne, allergies, anxiety, asthma, athlete’s foot, bruises, burns, chicken pox, colic, cuts, cystitis, depression, headeache, earache, oily skin, and vertigo. 

   Grapefruit:  Grapefruit is thought to sharpen mental acuity, stimulate thought, and create a cheerful balance.   Grapefruit essential oil is also very beneficial to oily skin, improves complexion, and helps with cellulitis and water retention.  Not to mention, it smells delicious!

   Orange:  Similar to Grapefruit’s benefits, orange essential oil stimulates the mind, evokes a cheerful mood and happiness, and smells amazing.  Orange essential oils are also thought to aid in digestion and clear oily skin.

   Ylang Ylang has a beautiful sweet, slightly fruity fragrance.  It has also been used to treat anxiety, depression, frigidity, hypertension, palpatations, and stress. 

    Rose essential oil immediately takes you to that place of calm.  Beautiful floral scent.  Rose oil has been used therapeutically to treat depression, eczema, stress, frigidity, and menopause symptoms. 

Put some thought behind the scents you choose.  They do much more than make you smell amazing.  They create balance, and submurge you in a zen-like state. 

As you well know, I’m into fitness.  This, too, is one of my things.  My preference for instructors has changed over time.  I’ve grown to love really tough instructors that push and push and push you.  I’ll try any fitness routine out there, still dying to try gravity-defying yoga, but I continue to love a handful of favorites. 

   Kathy Smith:  Kathy is an old-school favorite.  She’s tough and pushes you hard.  She also has some great choreography that make the workouts fun and even more challenging.  She also comes out with new routines all the time, and each one is better than the one before. 

   Billy Blanks:  Teaches hard core calisthenics like a drill sargent.  No mercy.  Whatsoever.  You are tired and drained at the end of this workout.  However, you are tight and fit the next day.  Amazing results.  Hard work, but amazing results.

   David Weck:  David Weck is the creator of the Bosu Ball (Bosu stands for both sides up/both sides utilized.)  If you haven’t played around on a Bosu ball, you are in for a real workout treat.  You fight to keep your balance, and that works all those small and large muscles, giving you a great lower body and core workout.  There are also exercises for upper body and abs.  If you can get your hands on a David Weck DVD, you’re in for a treat.  Try not to get too side tracked….he’s super good-looking.   I’ve had a Bosu ball for about four years now, and my glutes and thighs are so happy about that fact.

  Yoga Booty Ballet:  Okay, stay with me here.  Sounds crazy, but it works.  These routines combine cardio/strength/yoga into one workout.  And we are talking heart rates in the 170s, so these ladies mean business.  I always get a great workout with these DVDs.  You’ll wake up the next day feeling like a truck ran over your mid section….and that’s exactly what you’re looking for.  That feeling leads to results!

  Bodies In Motion with Gilad Janklowicz:  My boy Gilad is such a staple in the fitness industry.  I’ve been working out with him since 1989.   He has the physique of a god.  Amazing!  He’s also one that will push and push and push you into exhaustion.  You can call him the postman because he delivers!  You can watch (and record) him daily on Fit TV.   I love his New Bodies In Motion workout.  It’s a compilation of many different routines he has done, all rolled into one fab workout. 

And remember, you can try all of these for free at your local library.   Grab a handful of workout DVDs and see who you like. 

Six.  I have six subscriptions to different magazines.  I also borrow at least 25 others per month from the library.  I’m really into periodicals because I love the constant surge of information.  I’m the kind who likes to know at least a little bit about everything that comes my way.  Beyond that, magazine advertising keeps you current on what’s hot.   Here are a few of my favorites. 

   Prevention magazine.  It was years ago I found an article in this magazine about Jorge Cruise’s exercise program.  It kick started my fitness into high gear, and I’ve never been the same.  In theory, this magazine is responsible for the size of my jeans today.  Thank you!!!   Great articles on health, fitness, diet, and overall well-being. 

   Shape magazine.  Whether you workout or not, Shape magazine will get your mind going in the right direction.  Excellent health and fitness articles, trend-tracking, girly-slant.  Great stuff. 

   Self magazine.  I really love the random facts throughout this magazine.  Every issue has a section of “did you know” type of facts.  Very interesting.  Very motivating.  Much like Shape, but different features.  Both are equally great, in my opinion. 

   Domino magazine.  This magazine is sensory overload, a design-lovers dream.  Fantastic design ideas from interior to jewelry to clothing to beauty.  Retro-cool.  Excellent articles.  Girly-girl stamp of approval.

   Real Simple magazine.  Real Simple is about making life easier.  It’s like Martha, simplified.  Ways to make your life easier and more beautiful.  Fun how-to sections, great party ideas, current ads. 

     Enjoy a bowl of berries:  Top super-food, blueberry, is rich in antioxidants.  Reservatrol helps to repair damage done by free radicals (unstable molecules produced as a result of stress) and pterostilbene regulates blood sugar levels, inhibiting the release of stress hormones.  And they keep better than another berries. 

     Have a cup of tea:  A study in 2006 found that those who drank black tea’s blend of antioxidant ingredients recovered more quickly from the effects of stress than those who did not, and felt more relaxed up to 50 minutes later.  A study at King’s College in London showed that drinking around three cups a day enhances mental performance.

   Enjoy Coffee:  As well as boosting mental acuity, a 2006 report found that 1-2 cups a day of coffee relieves liver stress, supporting the liver’s detox functions and helping stabilize blood sugar.  It may also relax the muscles, ease pain, and cut the risk of heart disease and stroke. 

   Munch on apricots  Eat a handful of dried apricots every day.  These are a good source of potassium, which helps to control blood pressure. 

   Red grapes:  Keep a stash to repair damage caused by free radicals.  The skins contain the antioxidant reservatrol, which accounts for the benefits of red wine.