Bach Original Flower Remedies has just released Rescue Cream to help soothe & heal your stressed out skin.  It contains six Bach Flower Essences developed by Dr. Bach to moisturize & heal dry, rough skin which then restores it back to its natural good condition.

Click on the link below for a chance to win a basket full of Bach products.

http://rescuecreamcontest.com

xo,

b

photo image:  rescue cream

Post from: Aging Fabulous

The entire staff greets you and offers you a beverage once you’ve checked in.  Everyone who enters gavert/atelier is treated like a celebrity for the day!

Nagomi Hair Spa you ask…Co-owners Stuart Gavert and Cody Kusakabe have brought this fabulous hair & scalp treatment over from Japan called Anma Shiatsu.  It is a combination of kneading, pressing, grasping, pulling, tapping and stretching to move energy in the body and to promote balance and restore health.  Anma Shiatsu will relieve eye strain, headaches, improve concentration, relieve physical & mental fatigue, stress & muscular tension. This service combines relaxation with hair treatment and a full scalp massage.  It’s main purpose is to stop the aging clock by doing all of the above.  And I can tell you first hand that it rocked…I felt so calm…like I was single again…no kids…no worries…get the picture…my stress level was at an all time low!

I had the pleasure of Yuki, a very skilled Japanese hair stylist and recently trained in the art of scalp massage, to work his magic on my ever tense head.  He started with acupressure and then applied essential oils to my scalp.  Then a healing shampoo was applied & rinsed. I was half asleep when Yuki continued pampering my head with a hair treatment and steam shampoo.  Hot towels were also applied for an added bonus of relaxation.  But here’s the kicker girls…Yuki massaged my arms & hands while my hair was absorbing an edible smelling conditioner…meow…I felt like a Persian cat basking in the sun on a lazy summer afternoon.

Yuki working his magic…

Then I was carted off to Matthew’s chair downstairs who worked his magic on my hair.  He skillfully blew it out and made my skin tingle!  My hair was shiny and lustrous for 3 days.  I usually have to wash it every other day so I was happy.

Stuart recommends “Anma” scalp treatment twice a month to maintain good health and to promote hair growth.  A treatment is $95 for an hour session.

Call today to book your “Anma” treatment at the new Nagomi Hair Spa located in the upstairs loft at gavert/atelier.  Start aging backwards now…(310) 858-7898

xo,

b

image credit:  beauty style watch

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I was at a display at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and looked into one of their (quite expensive) magnifying mirrors. It was a 15X mirror. What I saw – shocking!!!

I had hairs in places I never new. I could not believe the two small hairs that I had by my upper lip that I must have missed waxing. I really had some messy mascara marks under my eyes that were not noticeable in a standard mirror. And don’t get me started on my eyebrows – the eyebrows that I thought were finely tweezed. Ugh.

My dilemma. Do I buy one of these better magnifying mirrors to constantly scare myself and become obsessed with every little imperfection? Or move on and think that no one really sees me that close up, so who cares?

Post from: Aging Fabulous

The definition of Aromatherapy from Wikipedia:

Aromatherapy is the treatment or prevention of disease by use of essential oils. Two basic mechanisms are offered to explain the purported effects. One is the influence of aroma on the brain, especially the limbic system through the olfactory system. The other is the direct pharmacological effects of the essential oils^[1]. While precise knowledge of the synergy between the body and aromatic oils is often claimed by aromatherapists, the efficacy of aromatherapy remains to be proven. However, some preliminary clinical studies show positive effects. ^{[2] [3]}

Do you believe in Aromatherapy?

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Actually, more of an upper cheek area, my puffiness is usually talked about as my Pufferbugs. The term actually came form me complaining about my puffy eyes and/or the bags under my eyes. Well, my daughter was very young, and she must have heard part of the conversation and didn’t quite understand what I was talking about. All I remember is her asking me where my pufferbugs were, and the term has stuck. She is the one who points them out to me on occasion, and when the kids see me with a mask on, or applying an eye treatment, they ask if my pufferbugs have come out. Unfortunately, the pufferbugs have been rearing their ugly face more often than not lately.

I think I am pretty much exhausted and have not been taking care of myself – I will definitely admit it. With four kids home from school for the summer taking a new job position that is keeping me quite busy on the computer, and a husband who was in the hospital most of last week with a nasty staph infection – pufferbugs are what I get.

I honestly have never used specific puffiness reducing products, as a quick mask, deep moisturization, a little hydration and rest usually takes care of them. But I am on the lookout for a product to fit into my daily routine that will hopefully cut down on the pufferbugs rearing their ugly bags everyday.

I am looking for tried and true eye products that have worked for you that have battled under-eye puffiness yourself, so please let me know in the comments so I can give some a try.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Victoria suggests that as this really is a life style change, the best way to bring the changes to your life is by starting small and setting aside a few minutes each day. This way you can focus fully on one activity that invokes all of your senses, so the benefits can be seen and felt immediately.

The following are Victoria’s tips below for spending one week, just one week, appreciating the most basic things in life.

Day One – Start your week cherishing the gift of sight by spending as many moments as you can silently looking at the beauty that nature holds. Watch a bird take flight, the breeze roll a leaf around in its grasp, or the clouds drift by lazily, and behold the wonder of it all.

Day Two – Celebrate the gift of hearing on day two through listening to your favorite song, to your child tell you a story or simply to the song in the breeze; if you say nothing and only listen, you should be able to hear your inner voice telling you what you really need.

Day Three – Embrace the gift of smell on day three by making a pot of coffee, even if you don’t drink it! Squeeze fresh lemons and oranges on a gray day or wrap yourself in laundry straight from the dryer. Visit a florist and smell every flower until you’ve chosen a bouquet that suits your soul.

Day Four – Treasure your taste buds by cooking a fabulous and healthy meal on day four. Fill your plate with brightly colored vegetables, and add a sprig of mint to cleanse your palate between courses, and let the flavors take you to the place you most desire to be.

Day Five – And finally, appreciate your ability to feel things by celebrating the gift of touch. Wrap a warm blanket around you, or place a cold cloth to the back of your neck. Hold the hand of someone you love, or take a long, warm bath and when you get out, stroke your skin with a luxurious moisturizer.

Try it and see the wonders “whole health” living can do for you. More of Victoria’s tips, and her great skin care products (review of the Reclaim line coming soon) visit PrincipalSecret.com.

Post from: Aging Fabulous

Unfortunately, stress can not only wreck havoc on our day to day activities, but stress is detrimental to our health.

Short-term (acute) stress can keep you awake at night and make you feel irritable and edgy. High stress levels over a long period of time (chronic stress) can cause serious health problems such as high blood pressure, and it can weaken your immune system and make it difficult for your body to fight disease. Stress is linked to health conditions such as depression and heart disease. via Healthwise.org

In my ongoing effort to find the perfect stress relieving techniques, I realize that I have different methods for different situations. I recently asked a few friends what they do to relieve stress, and my answers included everything from simply lighting a candle, to taking a nap, and even one friend admits to going on shopping sprees when she feels most stressed.

What de-stresses you?

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I was equally thrilled when I saw this recent article on Yahoo! from HealthDay News:

Yoga’s postures, controlled breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by anxiety or depression, a new study shows.

Brain scans of yoga practitioners showed a healthy boost in levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) immediately after a one-hour yoga session. Low brain levels of GABA are associated with anxiety and depression, the researchers said.

“I am quite sure that this is the first study that’s shown that there’s a real, measurable change in a major neurotransmitter with a behavioral intervention such as yoga,” said lead researcher Dr. Chris Streeter, assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine.

She believes yoga could prove a useful tool to help people battling depression and anxiety disorders. “We’re not advocating that they chuck their medication, but I would advise that they could use it as an adjunct and see how they are doing,” Streeter said.

Her team published its findings in the May issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

In the study, the Boston researchers used high-tech magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to gauge levels of GABA in the brains of eight long-time yoga practitioners and 11 non-practitioners. The participants were healthy, and none was diagnosed with a major psychiatric condition.

Brain scans were taken before the beginning of the experiment. Then, the yoga group was asked to engage in the meditative practice for 60 minutes, while the non-yoga group simply read. The researchers then re-scanned each participant’s brain, looking specifically at GABA levels.

“We showed a 27 percent increase in the brain GABA levels of those doing yoga — a really significant increase,” Streeter said. No such change was noted in the non-practitioners who had just read.

She said the style or school of yoga practiced didn’t seem to matter. “We had hatha, ashtanga, bikram, vinyasa, and kripalu” practitioners included in the yoga group, Streeter said, “and many had been trained in several different schools.”

According to Streeter, “this all gives us one of the mechanisms by which yoga may be having a beneficial effect. There could be other mechanisms.”

But another expert pointed to what he considered flaws in the research.

Zindel Segal, chairman of psychotherapy and a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, has for years studied the use of behavioral interventions to alleviate psychological woes.

He said the Boston researchers were to be commended for using brain scan imaging technologies to investigate the effectiveness of these techniques. But he questioned why the yoga group was simply compared to a sedentary reading group and not to another movement-based group.

“Exercise itself may have some effects on GABA, so I think in this study, you’d really want that comparison,” he said. Including such a control group would make it clear that it was yoga and not just an hour of physical exertion that was responsible for the brain changes.

He also pointed out that all of the people in the study were mentally healthy, and clinical depression and anxiety disorders involve more than the “daily fluctuations in stress and tension” that healthy individuals are prone to.

“We know that yoga can have a profound effect” on smoothing out life’s daily ups and downs, Segal said. “But so does working out on a Stairmaster for an hour.”

Segal also questioned the role of GABA in depression. While it may play a role in anxiety disorders, “GABA is not one of the main neurotransmitters that seems to be a part of the depression story,” he said. Other neurochemicals — most notably serotonin — play much bigger roles in the disorder, he said.

None of this means that the study’s findings are without merit, Segal said. “In fact,” he said, “we have a program called ‘mindfulness-based cognitive therapy,’ where we do use yoga, as well as mindfulness meditation,” as therapeutic tools. Streeter’s findings “suggest the need for more study of these practices,” he said.

Streeter agreed that her study is probably just a beginning.

“I think what’s important about this study is that it shows that by using really cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, we can measure real changes in the brain with behavioral interventions — changes that are similar to those that we see with pharmacologic treatments,” she said.

I am hoping that Yoga relaxes my mind while it strengthens my body. And if it helps ease a bit of anxiety – that would be a great benefit too!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I should be excited, jumping for joy. I know that there is a party in the works. I just don’t know if it is tonight or tomorrow. I should be on top of the world.

Instead, I feel uneasy. Perhaps, a bit depressed over the fact that I am entering into a new era of life. I usually think that when you get to a certain point in life, that age is just a number.

So why is it bothering me so much?

Have you had this happen when reaching a milestone birthday, and if so, how did you deal with it?

I am feeling O-L-D!!!

Post from: Aging Fabulous

I have an appointment tomorrow. And while nothing can ever get me over the shame of “spreading them” just to get my down yonder regions in tip top shape, I can at least go in knowing that I won’t be going home in pain, with itching or redness.

Last year I discovered Pre-Kini, and I am telling you, it has saved me from so much pain. I apply Pre-Kini right before I leave for my appointment, and add on another layer as soon as I reach the Salon. The gel dries quickly, and is good to go in about 15 – 20 minutes.

Don’t go it alone ever again. Pre-Kini beats any of the products my waxer has tried on me in the past.

Look for Pre-Kini at your local drugstore or mass retailer. The 2 oz. tube sells for $14.00. And the tube, when used regularly, should last you the year.  My tube from last year just ran out!

Post from: Aging Fabulous