Supernatural Botanicals

It’s Spa Week around the nation.  Find the perfect spa to meet your needs.  Never had a spa treatment before?  What better week than this week, Spa Week, to get started.

Meditation.  It’s a beautiful thing.  Now hang on, don’t grab your latte and go running for the door just yet.

Meditation, perhaps to your surprise, is not only reserved for the deep-thinking, tree-hugging, granola-eating individuals of the world.  And those of us who practice meditation regularly, we have all been on that side of the fence at one point, too.  Many of us have thought it was too new-agey or down right flaky, that is, until we tried it.

Meditation can be simply sitting in a quiet room, concentrating on your breath slowly in and out, for no longer than a minute.  Yes, even one minute can bring great benefits to your life.  Consider the wonderful benefits below, then contemplate at least one minute of time just for yourself today.  After all, you’ll never know until you try..so dig right into the concept of taking a minute of  “me” time and start to notice how you feel.  Who knows, you just might have a craving for granola afterward!

Here are just a few of the hundreds of benefits meditation offers:

Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.

Psychological Benefits:

1- Builds self-confidence.
2- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behavior
3- Resolve phobias & fears
4- Helps control own thoughts
5- Helps with focus & concentration
6- Increase creativity
7- Increased brain wave coherence
8- Improved learning ability and memory
9- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation
10- Increased emotional stability

Spiritual Benefits:

1- Helps keep things in perspective
2- Provides peace of mind, happiness
3- Helps you discover your purpose
4- Increased self-actualization
5- Increased compassion
6- Growing wisdom
7- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
8- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
9- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
10- Increased acceptance of one’s self

Did you know that anxiety causes an upsurge in stress hormones that can worsen acne or other skin conditions?

If you skin is prone to breakouts and rashes, it’s time to check your body/mind/soul meter.

It’s scientifically proven that stress can cause skin eruptions and even make you susceptible to deadly  diseases.

If this is happening to you, put yourself on your to-do list and get serious about about having some downtime doing something that relaxes you (yoga or Pilates is so good for this.)  After all, your beauty is at risk here, girlfriend.

This is one of my favorite yoga stretches, albeit, one of the hardest stretches.  It’s an amazing hip opener.  If you are a woman, you should be able to bend down further than the man in this video.  We are just programed to be more flexible than men, so go down as far as you can…and breathe into it.  Just when you feel like you can’t take it another second, take a deep breath and breathe again.  Try to stay in the pose for a full 30 seconds.  The more you breathe, the more you’ll feel your hips relax. 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i0d78nx2DY

Not an aerobics fan?  Consider this:  Aerobic exercise not only burns calories, but also curbs cravings.  Researchers at the University of Chile Clinical Hospital reported that people who ran or biked for 20 minutes three times per week for 10 weeks had reduced appetites due to increased levels of neurotrophic factor (a protein in the brain that may suppress hunger) from the workout sessions compared with when they were sedentary.  Rev up your cardio routine and rein in your snack attacks. 

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You may also like these blog posts:

Gilad Express Workouts

Bikram (hot) Yoga

Mall Food

The happiest people on earth?  Among them are folks from Copenhagen, Denmark.  Look at the amazing way they live.  After watching this, Copenhagen is definitely on my bucket list.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg-vkW8Wk2A

   Quote:  “Great style is a natural byproduct of a healthy sense of self.”  ….Dan Ho, Dan Ho Show on FitTV. 

Terminology:  Organic Cotton (and why we should use it.)  Organically grown cotton is not treated with pesticides, herbicides, or petroleum based fertilizers, nor does it use genetically engineered seed.  In the United States, Egypt, India, and other countries, farmers are raising cotton organically, without the use of costly, often ineffective and dangerous chemicals.Look at labels and buy organic when given the option.   Tres eco-chic!

“When you go from hot to cold water, it creates an oxygenating effect and stimulates the lymphatic system.  We call this Contrast Therapy at Canyon Ranch, but you can do it at home.  First, soak in a hot bath for 20 minutes.  All your veins swell in the heat.  Then step into a cool shower, which constricts the veins, so you can get a kind of pipe-cleaning effect as the blood pumps harder and flushes out all the toxins.  It’s very cleansing.”   …Charlotte Prescott, Canyon Ranch

Terminology:

Vegetarian:  A vegetarian is an individual who chooses, for health, environmental, ethical, or religious reasons to abstain from the consumption of animal flesh, including poultry and fish. 

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian:  A lacto-ovo vegetarian eats no flesh, but consumes dairy (lacto) and eggs (ovo). 

Vegan:  A vegan (pronounced VEE-gun) is an individual who chooses to abstain from the consumption of all animal products.  While vegetarians avoid flesh foods, vegans also avoid dairy and eggs as well as fur, leather, and other goods that cause suffering to animals.