I was so happy today to open up my November issue of American Salon magazine and find a recommendation for David Wolfe’s book Eating for Beauty in the Life Support section.
I’m happy because I’m a fan of David Wolfe’s and because I’m glad to see my industry peers taking an interest in a healthy lifestyle.
As a hairstylist/entrepeneur myself, I know how easy it is to fall into unhealthy habits seemingly out of necessity: long hours, double booking and even traveling can make it difficult to take care of ourselves. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Slowly but surely I’m seeing my industry realize that taking care of ourselves will give us healthier, happier and even longer careers.
I remember when I worked at another salon I had brought in my usual raw foods: salad for lunch and some grapes for snacking on during the day. The owner of the salon saw me eating my grapes and said they were going to McD******, would I like some “real food”? I told her no thank you while thinking I AM eating the real food.
It seems to have taken awhile, but considering how far I’ve come, and how far I’ve seen my industry come since I first got into it, we are finally paying attention to the power of healthier choices.
I hope everyone who reads American Salon will feel inclined to pick up David Wolfe’s book. They will be all the better for it 
I almost always have a smoothie as my first meal of the day and it usually consists of many veggies and fruits. Though they usually taste good, once in a while I make one that tastes a little strange, but that’s okay, I drink it more for the nutrition than for the taste. Today, however, I decided to keep my smoothie a bit simpler (fruit and veggie-wise) and it was so creamy and delicious, I might have to make it a bit more often.
By the way…I rotate the greens I put in my smoothies and last week I was using mustard greens and something else I never heard of. They both made all my smoothies taste weird no matter how much I tried to cover up the greens.
Also, I had made a commitment to myself to go as close to 100% raw as possible today, but then forgot and threw a bit of rice milk in my smoothie. But I don’t mind rice milk…I make it more for my husband to have on his cereals and stuff and it adds great texture and flavor to a smoothie. I just make rice milk with brown rice and filtered water with a dash of vanilla extract, a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and a bit of honey or agave nectar. Although…I also love the taste and texture of sunflower seed milk, so I could have done without the rice milk in this.
So today’s Creamy Breakfast Smoothie:
app. 1/2 cup rice milk
app. 1/2 cup filtered water
2 bananas (1 was frozen)
2 handfuls of spinach
1 tbsp. golden flax seeds
1 palm full raw sunflower seeds
pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
dash of vanilla extract
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
dash of honey (could have done without that…it was almost too sweet)
Unfortunately, it was so good I drank it faster than I normally would
Do you speak with awareness? Are you aware of your thoughts, or do they just run around in your mind wreaking havoc without you realizing it?
Hopefully you’ve noticed that what you think, feel and speak makes a lot of difference in what you manifest. It happens whether you’re aware of it or not. I say, better to be aware of it so you have control and life doesn’t just happen to you.
A lot of our thinking and our feelings are based on incorrect programming from our past. The false beliefs that result are just that…false. Are you your beliefs? No. But we tend to think we are. If life isn’t going the way we would like, it’s because we are disconnected from our own divine source. But instead of believing that, we’re conditioned to believe everything is going wrong because we don’t deserve things to go right. Instead of looking at reality for what it is, we look at it from a perspective of lack…we don’t have whatever it is we want (incidentally, creating more lack because in seeing what we don’t have, we will always “want” it).
Instead of letting our thoughts spiral out of control, at least try to realize this: All incidents in our past are just that…individual incidents. They are disconnected. Whether the incident is positive or negative, we tend to string them together - all the negative incidents get strung together and we believe we are destined to fail because “nothing I ever do works out” or all the positive incidents get strung together and we’re always chasing happiness.
Release the tendency to string everything together and you’ll likely find those old beliefs falling away. When you begin creating new beliefs, amazing things can happen as a result of your new thoughts and feelings. So make life happen instead of letting life happen to you by being careful what you feel, think and say.
Lately I’ve been noticing some dissension within the healthy lifestyle internet community. There seems to be this belief amongst some that people shouldn’t be making money in the business of health.
The reason I don’t understand is because we should all be living in abundance and that includes our health, wealth and relationships. When we care enough about ourselves to explore a healthy lifestyle, including those who live or who aspire toward raw, living foods, we naturally gravitate toward abundance.
So how is it one can take charge of their bodies and health, yet fail to see the significance of an abundant life? Doesn’t abundance include wealth? Prosperity? Of course it does! Why do so many think that those who make a living in the health, raw food, superfood, life coaching, spiritual and teaching industries shouldn’t be able to make a living, or better yet, prosper? We should all be coming from a place where there is no poverty mentality. We should be glad to help those whose livelihood helps us because by supporting them, they can help us and everybody else more. How can it be otherwise?
The more we prosper, the more we can contribute to the greater good for everybody concerned. Really, there’s enough to go around.
Wow! I’ve had so much going on that I didn’t realize it’s been ten days since I’ve blogged last. Time can really get away from you when you’re in the flow.
I have to say, I’ve heard that term, or its variation, “going with the flow”, but I just heard it again and this time I had that “aha” moment…you know the kind I’m talking about. If you’ve been following Kevin Gianni’s Rawkathon, you might have seen or heard David Wolfe’s interview. He was talking about “being in the flow” versus “being in the now”. Like, what does “being in the now” mean? Good point.
“Here’s a moment”.
“Here’s another moment”.
“Here’s yet another moment”.
It’s silly, right? It’s impossible to be in the moment. Much easier to be in the flow. You know you’re in the flow when you start noticing the synchronicities. Everything falls into place much easier.
I like how David Wolfe calls it “the Divine Flow”.
That’s where I’m at right now. In the Divine Flow.
Some people just seem to glow from the inside out and if you’re like me, you’d prefer to use cosmetic products that carry that glow outward.
This post is coming from my point of view as a hairstylist, and as such, you have to realize that in my industry, there are many products in use that create beautiful locks of hair, glowing skin, awesome nails and on and on. But at what price? Of course there are some “less harmful” products in the professional market, and awareness about their use is increasing, but there are more out there that some of us would rather not use. Although I can’t avoid all these products in my business, I do often recommend to my clients that they try natural products at home once in a while.
So here goes my list of most often recommended products and/or treatments:
For hair…
1. In my opinion, nothing puts some shine into the hair and feeds it better than extra virgin olive oil. This is probably my most recommended treatment at home. Just put some in clean hair, wrap your hair in warm, moist towels and relax for 10 minutes. Shampoo a couple times and your hair will be glistening. If you don’t want to get the oil on your towels, you can wrap your hair in plastic wrap first, or better yet, recycle a plastic grocery bag
2. I’ve used extra-strong coffee to give my hair shine and just a touch of color. Just brew some REALLY strong coffee, let it cool, plug the sink and keep pouring the coffee over your clean hair. Use a cup or bowl to dip back into the coffee that went into the sink. The same thing can be done with black tea. I think it goes without saying this is for brunettes. If you’re blonde, try chamomile tea. Really!
3. Give yourself or somebody else a soothing scalp and neck massage with some pure essential oils mixed with jojoba oil. I use this at my salon as an extra treat for my clients. Try a mix of lavender and peppermint to help release a headache, or try some clary sage, marjoram and lavender for an extra relaxing massage. I’ve also used tea tree and peppermint for an invigorating massage and it helps relieve dry, itchy scalps, especially in the winter months. Most importantly, be sure to use good quality essential oils to benefit from the aromatherapeutic value inherent in the plants. Also, jojoba, although having the same consistency as oil, is not actually an oil, but a waxy substance similar to our own skin’s natural sebum, which is why I use it for scalp massages.
For face and skin…
1. If you have dry skin, avocado is excellent for moisturizing. I just mash it up and rub it on my face, relax for a few minutes and rinse. Afterward it’s incredibly soft. I don’t do this one often as my face isn’t that dry. I prefer the honey mask below.
2. Honey is also excellent for the face. Especially beneficial for acne-prone skin as honey is a natural antibiotic. Better for skin on the oily to normal side. For more oily skin, mix it with a bit of lemon juice. Let it sit for five or ten minutes and rinse.
3. Make a simple sugar scrub for your hands to remove dry, flaky skin. Just put some sugar in a small bowl, and add some lemon juice till it makes a paste. Apply to your hands and scrub. Rinse. Your hands will be soft and smooth.
4. You can also make a body scrub by using sugar and extra virgin olive oil. You can also add your favorite essential oils. Apply in the shower and rinse. I use this as a treat for my clients’ hands before a manicure.
I’ve had great results from these and I have more I’ll post later. I hope you give some of these a try.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “a flexible body equals a flexible mind” or some variation of it. Think of the meaning behind that statement. What does it mean to you?
Here’s what it means to me:
Physically - keep yourself limber, flexible. Stretch. Up and down. Whether through hatha yoga or some simple stretching. Doesn’t matter. Keep everything moving. The body wasn’t made to be idle.
Neither was the mind. Keep learning. Embrace challenges as opportunities. Never tire of the wonders of the Universe. Always know it’s magic and you’ll always be surrounded by magic.
XOXO
Today I’m going to share one of my favorite meditation techniques. It isn’t the only one, by any means, but it’s the one I use when I need to quickly enter into an alpha state (for which you can train yourself into a shortcut…we’ll go into that later) and I also use this before I go to sleep to program what I want to work on while I sleep (more on that later, also).
I call this Countdown into Alpha.
You’ll be visualizing the colors of the chakras…red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. If it helps, you can also visualize the location of the chakras if you’re familiar with them. If not, don’t worry about that for now. It’s enough to see the colors.
First, get into a comfortable sitting position with your spine straight. You can also lie down, but if you’re tired, you may fall asleep.
Close your eyes. Start by taking a slow, deep breath through the nose. Exhale slowly through the mouth. Breathe like this three times but on the third time, hold the breath before exhaling. Now return to normal breath.
Relax every part of your body, beginning at the feet, moving up through the legs, through the tummy and back, through the shoulders, your arms, your hands. Relax your neck and your jaw. Relax your eyes.
When you inhale, visualize the color red. Keep visualizing a vibrant red as you breathe, feeling it pulsating all around you. Hold onto the color red for as many breaths as you like until you see the color become orange. Keep visualizing orange as you breathe until it becomes yellow. Pulsating, vibrant yellow changes to green. Feel the green surrounding you as you breathe. Breathe in the green. Notice the green changing to blue. Lovely, light blue, blue as turquoise. The blue dances around you as it changes into indigo. Indigo as the midnight sky. Feel the indigo shift and pulse as it becomes violet. Languish in the violet for a few moments.
Now, slowly count backward from ten. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. You’re now in your alpha state. Enjoy it. You’re fully awake and aware of your surroundings, but relaxed.
While you’re in alpha is a good time to work on things. Go into alpha whenever you’re looking for a solution to a problem. Ask questions, and listen for the answer while your mind is quiet. If you do the Countdown into Alpha meditation before you go to sleep, you can tell yourself to reveal answers during your dreaming state, you can tell yourself you’ll remember them, as well as tell yourself you will wake up refreshed and energetic. You can work on healing yourself and others while in alpha. You can work on manifestation.
To come out of alpha, simply count up from one to ten and slowly open your eyes. I usually say a short, sweet prayer of gratitude before opening my eyes.
Once you’ve become accustomed to how it feels to be in alpha, you can train yourself to instantly experience alpha in a pinch. I don’t like to use it as a substitute, but when I need to say, manifest a parking spot, I can do it You can too:
After you’ve gone into alpha by relaxing and counting down, you can create some sort of gesture to quickly take you into alpha without having to devote time for visualizing and counting down. For example, pull on your earlobe, touch the tips of your fingers with your thumbs, or whatever you can come up with. Any simple gesture will do, so long as it’s discreet. I’m sure you don’t want to do some elaborate gesturing ritual while standing in line at the grocery store.
Try it. I’m sure you’ll come up with your own visualizing techniques for the colors eventually. Please let me know how you do or what’s worked better for you.
Aside from my usual green smoothie today, I had this delicious snack:
All fruits were frozen
Banana
Mango
Pineapple
Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
Raw Sunflower Seeds
Raw Pumpkin Seeds
Filtered Water
Creamy yummy goodness.
In case you can’t tell, I love smoothies. I love making them and drinking them. I like to cram a lot of veggies and/or fruits into a smoothie to pack as much nutrition into one drink as possible. Because I don’t like to eat food for my first meal of the day, a smoothie is much easier for me to get down. Also, I’m not a big eater, so there’s no way I could possibly EAT as much food as I can get into one smoothie.
Usually I make green smoothies, but occasionally I like to make a smoothie that’s still more nutritious than snacking on junk food, but satisfies my tastebuds just for the sake of it.
A good one for that is my Pina-Colada Smoothie:
Frozen banana
Frozen pineapple
Rice milk
Hemp seeds and/or flax seeds
Organic extra-virgin coconut oil
Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
That reminds me…I have a couple more sweet-tooth-satifsfying smoothies that taste like milk shakes, only MUCH healthier. I’ll post those soon!
