Inner and Outer beauty

food ingredients for beauty

It is not easy to feel beautiful in today’s world. All the subliminal messages we receive from the fashion industry and the media do not help. One of the messages being that we need to buy lots of beauty products to look beautiful. Truth is that beauty does not need to cost much. I have been using food products from the kitchen for my beauty routine, for many years now. I feel much more comfortable using food that I am willing to put inside my body, on my skin, rather than using a shop bought product from a jar.

About fifteen years ago, when I started noticing some lines around my eyes, I bought a jar of a very good quality eye cream. Needless to say it was quite expensive too. I got an infection on my eye lid soon after I started using it. My homeopath suggested using coconut oil to help clear the infection. The anti bacterial properties of the oil worked wonders. I liked using coconut oil so much that I have continued using it since then.

For moisturiser, I use coconut oil with a small amount of Rescue Remedy cream on my face. I use coconut oil on the rest of my body too. According to Ayurveda, Coconut oil is cooling, so I use it in warm weather. In cold weather I switch over to Sesame oil as it is warming.

For cleansing the face, I keep a mix of honey & ghee(clarified butter) in the bathroom. I add a little lemon juice or milk or yogurt or simply few drops of water to the mix to apply it on my face. I have an aloe vera plant near the bathroom. Sometimes I use the gel from a leaf too. I gently massage it in and wash it off in the shower.

For face mask, mashed banana or avocado works wonder for my skin which tends to be dry. For oily skin papaya can be very good.

Before I learnt Reiki, my hands used to be quite rough. I tried many different hand creams and nothing seemed to help. Then I remembered what my mother used to do when I was little – apply diluted Vegetable Glycerin on the hands. This seems to work the best and it is such an economical solution. I use either water for dilution and add a drop of Rose essential oil, or Rosewater. Glycerin is a preservative so plain water works very well too and the mix keeps for ages.

Another subliminal message being perpetuated by the fashion industry is to have a perfect body. I do not enjoy clothes shopping much as I come away feeling quite unhappy about my body. Is it just me or do most clothes in the shops these days seem to be designed for slim bodies! After a recent experience looking for a T Shirt that I could wear for practicing Yoga, that would not highlight all the imperfections in my body, I realised that I have a choice. I can either continue to feel shame about what I see as imperfections in my body. Or I can look for the gift in these seeming imperfections.

I know that my body is the home for my soul. So the body I have is perfect for what my soul needs to experience in this lifetime. As I learn to accept the body I have, I will be able to work with what my soul is longing for and feel good within myself. As I feel good about myself, I am at ease, I am relaxed. When I am at ease, it does not matter what I wear (within reason!). I feel beautiful from within and it reflects in my appearance.

Perhaps one aspect of beauty is the ability to see perfection in the seeming imperfections in my own body. I know that as I am able to see the beauty in all the seeming imperfections within me, it will help me to able to see the beauty in others too.

Feeling very grateful for my daily practice of Reiki and also for Soul Plan healing. These help me to be able to look more deeply at what is bothering me and work through it. I trust that these healing practices will help me to grow the ability to see beauty in myself, others and in life itself.

Also feeling very grateful to my mother from whom I learnt so much, especially for growing up with Ayurveda as a way of life.

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