The skin care ritual – love the Spa

Be happy:  the principal thing in this world is to keep ones soul aloft. 

                                                                     – Gustav Flaubert

inside of collage box 2011

One of my favorite things to do is go to the spa.  I have been a spa going girl since my twenties when I discovered hot tubs.

When I lived in San Francisco, ages ago, there were two spas that I liked. One was called Finnila’s, it was a Swedish spa. It had this big open steam room and they gave you a cup of salt to rub on your skin.  A friend told me about it and one day not feeling well I went there, I felt better when I left.  I loved it.  Little did I know this would become one of my favorite things to do. It had a women’s side and men’s side.  The entry fee was like $12.00,inexpensive.

I don’t remember feeling modest about taking my clothes off, they gave you towels. Maybe you wore your towel in the sauna. 

Then I found a Japanese spa called the Kabuki Spa, also inexpensive, like twelve dollars as well.  It was heaven.  They had these little cabinets that you got into like a module to steam in.  I learned how to scrub my skin by watching the women there.  My skin became so clean and soft, I was hooked on this type of skin care.  So I would go once a month or so. 

This ritual of bathing became very important to me.  I would deep condition my hair, scrub my skin, soak, and relax.  I found this to be a deeply relaxing and spiritual experience.

It took me out of my world and helped me begin to develop some centeredness (I had a lot of stuff to work on).

I have tried places that were fancy or big or outdoors, but what I like is the feeling of safety in a women’s spa.  Sometimes it is a place for a conversation about things one isn’t comfortable sharing.  Sometimes it is a place for spiritual healing and physical healing.  It helps me connect to my inner self, it gives me a change to slow down.

I call it a sanctuary from the everyday craziness we as women deal with.  Working, raising our families, dealing with situations that require finesse: life situations can take it out of us.  Having a place to restore the energy spent or creating a space to unwind and relax, is very important.

Going there is one of the best things I do to take care of myself.  It is something I enjoy. When I come out I feel refreshed and ready for a good nights sleep and to deal with my stuff.

collage 2011

Everybody is different, and the routine I follow at the spa might not work for someone else.  One thing I think many people don’t realize is that our skin is our biggest recepticle for removing waste from our system, along with our kidney and liver. It’s important to keep our skin clean and having a place to sweat out toxins in our systems is healthy. I am a big believer in preventative care. 

Any things I can do to help my body be healthy I do to the best of my ability.

Not that I have always paid attention to my body. There were times when I didn’t. I paid dearly for it.  I used to get asmatic bronchitis.  Talk about not listening!! My lungs would spasm and I couldn’t breath or talk or cry.  I am still working on healing myself from that.  I had to take steroids, breathe from two inhalers and an antibiotic.  It was terrible.  I missed work and was told if I didn’t get better I would be put in the hospital.  My reflection is that life really sucked for me at that time.  I was so stressed out by all the stuff happening to me, I was not eating well, I was pushing myself to stay hopeful when I was scared, I was angry and I wasn’t safe.

I promised myself I would figure out how to heal myself once I got better.  I did succomb to the illness one more time, before I got it together.

Also, having children is time consuming and stressful: all that giving and cleaning and caring and problem solving.  Mom’s should have at least one day every couple of weeks to unwind and recharge.  I remember that I didn’t do so much for myself when my son’s were small, I was with them all the time.

One of my little tricks when they were little was to do a spa in my bathroom.

collage 2011

I made a scrub mixture of salt, cornmeal and olive oil plus a scent. I would mix this all together and give myself a good scrub in the shower(my skin felt baby soft afterwards).  This is one of my favorite recipes for skin care.  IT DOES NOT GO ON YOUR FACE. The face is an entirely separate entity and must be treated a little more kindly.  That depends on the type of skin you have.  BUT I highly recommend aloe vera gel for everybody’s face.  It’s good for your skin, I use it every day before moisturizing.

Everyone can use a little healing, centering time it helps us to be happy.