SEA BUCKTHORN BERRY

Just a very quick heads up to say check out the next new super fruit - Sea Buckthorn Berry. It is a very tasty nutrious drink and the seed oil is great for the skin. My favorite site for information is www.sibubeauty.com. It is especially interesting to us as their Sea Buckthorn is grown on the Tibetan Plateau and part of the company profits goes to help Tibetans in exile.

Going to Miami soon!

This week we are busy preparing to go the International Congress of Esthetics in Miami that runs April 10th-12th. We will be on the green carpet as an organic products exhibitor and I will be hosting a round table on Natural Healing in the spa setting on the Monday 2-3pm. Many thanks to the vision of Christele De La Hay for holding this vision for our industry and more power to the Green Spa Network for gathering so much "how to" information for us all so we can all gradually be greener. Look out for featured Green Spas in LNE all this year. These great articles honor the Green Spa ground breakers and are a feast of simple, cost effective ideas for any spa seeking to be greener.

We are looking forward to meeting up with the LNE and Dermascope staff at the show who have become like family in a strange way over the years, our beautiful translator, Angeles, our south east trainer Tracy who has been working hard setting up programs for us in Jensen Beach after the show (check the website for details) and all our show friends that we see rarely but so appreciate.

So what will be new for us at the show?

We have new Kansa Vataki bowls with beautiful wooden handles. We are excited to show what they can do to lift the face and energize the facial tissue as well as cool and calm the whole body when used on the feet.

We have updated our DVD covers and they look great!

We have a new ubtan to sample. We have discontinued the sandalwood as the sandalwood tree is endangered and takes 50 years to grow. We think we will use lavender instead. Come and smell for yourself.

AND

We have some new slogans that e hope will make the connection between Tibetan and Indian ayurveda stronger. We are not afraid to share as always we what this stuff to be available to everyone. Here they are......

Diamond Way Ayurveda - Customized treatments for ageless beauty and longevity from the ancient healing traditions of India and Tibet.

Ayurveda - hundreds of ways to love the skin you are in!

Relax your Unlimited Mind - Vitalize your Vata.

Allow kindness to kindle your Spontaneous Joy, Power up your Pitta.

Cherish your Rainbow Body, Revel in your Kapha.

and Turn your Lights on with Marma.

That's it for now. Hopefully see you at the show.

Trends for Beauty from Within.

I was just at the Natural Products West Show down in Anaheim. I actually went to work for dear friends, Eve and Tom Neuhaus, owners of Sweet Earth Chocolates - a local, organic, fair trade artisan chocolate company. Should you ever need excellent custom recipes or custom packaging for short runs these are the people to contact (www.sweetearthchocolates.com). If you ever thought chocolate was not HUGE just watch health nuts grab it vegan, sugar free or NOT. I spent five hours solid cutting samples to keep the mini confection cups full for those culinary delight seekers.

So, Thursday I helped them in the new comers tent then Friday I attended the show. It was huge, exciting and very noisy. The vast majority of the booths were natural food of one sort or other with smaller sections for natural body care. Mostly the big natural retail companies were exhibiting - Weleda, Kiss My Face along with a few great small specialty businesses. We all loved Volcanic Minerals Inc, a northern California company that has great mineral water to drink or use with custom aromas as a spritz and GREAT live mud. I found the best natural beeswax products - www.BeeRescued.com. It worked like a miracle on the eczema I get when I over extend. Mountain Rose Herbals, the source of many of our organic oils had a beautiful and very classy booth. I discovered the owners are English like me. Then the most unusual find, an Icelandic company with the most beautiful Neti pots and Prana Mats. An organic mat with multiple eco-plastic lotus flower massagers to be like a modern day bed of nails. Really extraordinary. See www.advaitalifestyle.com.

The main message seemed to be "Beauty from Within". Not surprising with so many food exhibits, but refreshing. Ayurveda has always called the skin the cream of rasa, meaning the product of our blood quality, which is directly related to what we eat and how well we digest. So once again these ancient teachings are being recognised as truth. The main new foods for the skin were super juice drinks of various sorts. I got the chance to try purple carrot juice - which tasted like pomegranate, fig juice - very like prune juice, both from Smart Juice and sea buckthorn juice - a delicious orangey, tropical flavor made from yellow berries grown in baron parts of the Himalaya. Please check out www.sibubeauty.com. We know it as a skin care ingredient, now you can drink it AND it is delightful. It goes straight to the top of my Spa Treats list.

Natural Hormones

I like many of my friends are at that stage in life when we are experiencing the wonders of peri and full on menopause. Though very hard for some it has been known to be completely plain sailing for others.

As questions come up about hormone replacement natural or otherwise I wanted to link readers with a very useful piece I just discovered on the web. It is on a wonderful site called Women to Women. I must have signed up at some point as I get their emails. Check out this article. www.womentowomen.com/menopause/ayurvedictreatmentformenopause.aspx

Ayurvedic Approach to Acne

A number of clients have asked what to do about skin breakouts or even severe acne so I wanted to take this chance to offer all the advise I have given over the years in one place. Basically, we suggest our pitta face oil and using the rose ubtan as a gentle cleanser. Neither should cause further congestion or breakouts. Be gentle on your skin and take things step by step. Diamond Way Ayurveda skin products are generally soothing but are not designed for major skin problems. We refer clients to friends in the Ayurveda community for that specialty. For those with deeper problems we suggest the following information and products with contact information.........

Ayurvedic Theory

Ayurveda teaches that a major cause of breakouts on the skin is due to our blood becoming overloaded with toxins from incomplete digestion and elimination. Skin is called the cream of rasa (the fluid in which the red blood cells are suspended). Toxins float to the top and pore out the sin when they are not able to pass out through the channel of normal elimination. So it then only makes sense to pay heed to what you eat, how you eat and think about taking some herbs that help digestion and gentle detoxification. In terms of diet many of the foods that elevate the pitta dosha can be a problem for those with skin problems. These include chocolate, coffee, anything with caffeine in it, white sugar, hot spices, red meats and shell fish, as well as heavier fats and nut butters. Try to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables especially greens and whole grains. Raw foods could be a path to consider as a stronger cleansing start or a polarity diet. Try to sit and eat calmly, eat at regualr times and with people that make you feel happy. Also take time to go to the bathroom. For reliable herbal support check out www.banyanbotanicals.com. If you hit acne on their search tool you will find three herbal formulas. I suggest you start with trying "Blood Cleanse". Triphala which is not on this page is a good addition too. We like the triphala formular produced by Michael Tierra check www.planetaryherbals.com to source that. Diamond Way Ayurveda will have a triphala Tincture once again in the near future. All these herbal formulas are non habit forming and fine to be taken on going. Be sure to check contraindications on the websites by clicking on the picture of the product.

Skin Care
Of course most people think of something topical. Here the action is two fold, cleanse and sooth. There are also herbal formulars that work directly on the skin. Sarada has a pimple formula that has been one of their star products for years. It is available through Banyan Botanicals too on the same page as the blood cleanser but you can find more information on their website www.saradausa.com.
Some people find unrefined coconut oil to be very soothing after a herbal skin wash. A little goes a long, long way. One of the cheapest and best sources is www.mountainroseherbs.com. Our Pitta face oil also is great for soothing too. One of the simplest remedies I've witnessed being effective is white vinegar. Just dab it on with clean cotton pad night and morning. My guess is it changes the pH of the skin and makes it an unfriendly environment for bacteria that flourish in the toxins being excreted on the skin.

I would love to hear from anyone that tries any of these approaches so do please call 805 543 9291 or blog and let us know what works for you.

DIET DIET DIET

Yes, the neti pot did do the trick and I find I am breathing better and as a result feeling calmer and clearer. But what I really want to share about is something much more serious.

As I think I have said before I have become a secret ted.com fan. This week on the advise of National Public Radio I checked out the new presentation by Jamie Oliver. For those of you that don't know him, he too is British. He is actually from the next county to me - Essex. He was raised in a pub that served great food. Following in his family's foot steps the BBC has made him a famous chef. I knew since he has young children himself that he was working on getting better school dinners for English kids but I did not know he now has a TV show here and is working with Mrs Obama with her work on obesity. And that is what I want to talk about.

I had no idea that two thirds of American adults and 15% of our children are obese or over weight.

That every 18 minutes 4 Americans die from a diet related disease.

That the standard American diet is thought to be shortening the life expectancy of our children by as much as 10 years.

That the top three killer diseases are diet related.

That obescity and associated health problems accounts for 10% of the national health care bill and it is projected to be double that in the next ten years.

That fewer and fewer people can actually cook and many don't have mothers or grandmothers that cook either.

Most people are surviving on industrialized food that is full of too much fat, salt, sugur and chemicals.

Most kindergarten children cannot recognise or name vegetables.

So here is the question for the spa industry. Do seriously over weight people come to the spa? If there will be more big people in future will we accomodate them with bigger tables and specialized treaments or could be become part of the cure.

This could be as simple as sharing the sats I've mentioned.

Serving fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks.

Encouraging staff to eat well.

Offering recipes or community pot lucks.

Diet is basic not only to good health but good skin. More about that next week.

Happy New Year

You probably know this Sunday is Valentine's Day, February 14th, but did you know that it is also Tibetan New Year? We will be entering into the year of the Metal Tiger a time that promises to be full of big changes, social upheaval, drama, tension and unpredictability. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. We wish everyone happiness and good health this year and ask you to share whatever good you have with others. Family and community is going to be more and more important inthe days ahead so be sure to take time for both. Remember........

"A thousand candles can be lighted from one single candle, yet the life of that one candle is never shortened. Happiness is never decreased by being shared." BUDDHA