Tools of the Trade: Weleda's Arnica Massage Oil

Because my job involves rubbing hands and feet, I strive to make sure I only use products that I think are amazing. There are many different types of massage oils and lotions to choose from. My preference is to use oils and lotions that would be completely safe if a mother needed to tend to her baby or child immediately after a session.

One of my favorites is Weleda’s Arnica Massage Oil. Not knowing much about the company or the ingredients, I purchased a bottle from a midwife – trusting in her judgment of the product. Since then, I’ve learned some cool facts about Weleda, its ingredients, and their Arnica Massage Oil that make me very glad I trusted her.

The best part (you know, besides the peace that comes from knowing you aren’t putting any harmful chemicals into your skin) is that it is slightly warming. I have clients who say their skin feels slightly tingly after a rub with this oil.

I keep a tiny bottle of it in my kit at all times. It is a fail-safe fallback if I’m in a hurry and don’t have time to grab anything else. All of my clients love the fragrance and feel of this oil. I take it with me on trips to rub on my feet before I go to bed.

Ingredients: Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Fragrance (Parfum)*, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Betula Alba (Birch) Leaf Extract, Limonene*, Linalool*, Geraniol*, Coumarin*.
* from natural essential oils

Company Description: "soothing and warming skin care
Tired, aching muscles get immediate relief with this nourishing oil. It’s a soothing natural beauty treatment that deeply nourishes your skin as your body and mind relax.

When used in combination with massage, organic and wild-crafted arnica flower extract provides a soothing layer of warmth that unwinds your taxed and tight muscles to relieve stress. Organic sunflower seed and olive oils are easily tolerated and absorbed by your skin, restoring moisture and nourishment. Packed with vitamin E and essential fatty acids, they help soften and tone your skin. Essential oils of lavender and rosemary calm your mind while your skin soaks in soothing nourishment and your muscles get some potent and well-deserved replenishment. With body and mind nourished and relaxed, there’s no more room for tight, aching muscles in your naturally beautiful being."

Where to Buy: I order mine through my Frontier Wholesale Buying Club but I have also seen it at Target and my local health food store.
To Purchase Online: http://www.vitacost.com/Weleda-Arnica-Massage-Oil-3-4-fl-oz
(I’m a big fan of Vitacost and their $5 flat rate shipping)

Try New Things

It’s been about six years since I first saw Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me”. The content made a huge impression on me and since then, I’ve only eaten fast food twice. Seriously. I’ve heard about his show “30 Days” and the idea to try something for thirty days. Haven’t watched it. But I’ve read about it.

Even though I did not have a specific religious affiliation as a teenager, I participated in Lent because I liked the idea of a brief season of abstinence from something. I actually envied my friends who gave up Cokes (or any other sodas) or sugar or sitcoms.

Since then, I’ve tried all kinds of things. No meat. No sugar. Daily Yoga. Wearing only natural fibers. Not watching movies. It’s actually fun to think of new things to try. Some were easy. Some were pretty difficult. Some were rejected. Some stayed with me and have become a part of my lifestyle.

Right now, I’m avoiding grain. Mostly refined grains like bread and tortilla chips. I noticed that my afternoon “slump” was worse when I had eaten a sandwich for lunch. And most tortilla chips are not healthy anyway so I decided to go without them for a month so see how I feel. It hasn’t even been a week yet and I my energy in the afternoon seems to be much better.

It’s just an experiment so if I decide to eat a piece of bread I don’t beat myself up. I just note the physical changes and get back to it if I feel like it. It’s a stress free way to make positive changes.

Taking a break from the norm can be a very relaxing thing. Fun even. Give it a try. Start small. It doesn’t even have to be about food (that just happens to be a big subject for me). Take a different route to work. Sit in a different chair at dinner. Look at the world from a different perspective and just…relax…

As always, I thank you for reading this and I hope that you are inspired to go try something new. Please leave me a note or send me an email and tell me about what you tried and if it helped you relax. I’m always interested in stories and learning about how others relax. So until next time…relax!

Everybody Has One

I was standing in line at the grocery store on the Friday before Easter. Crazy busy. I had already purchased a grocery cart full of stuff but had to go back in because I forgot one thing. So I’m waiting in the express lane and the line is long and taking forever and the woman in front of me says, “Can you believe this crowd? You’d think people would plan ahead or something. I wouldn’t do my main shopping on Easter weekend ever.”

She had no idea that I had just been one of those people who did not plan ahead. I wasn’t offended. But it did remind me of all the times I’ve heard people say things like that. Then I thought of all the times I’ve thought things like that. Based on my observations of my tiny corner of the world, it sure seems like we do that a lot. By “that” I mean just share our negative opinions with anyone who will listen.

At this point you might be wondering how this information helps you relax. My suggestion today is to relax by letting go of those negative opinions of total strangers. It’s like soul clutter that you carry around with you. It serves no purpose and ends up dragging you down. We get stressed out over other people’s problems when I’m sure we have plenty of our own to deal with.

So today, I invite you to try to avoid those thoughts. Let your soul take a break from other people’s problems and the many ways you think they could change. Just let it go. My negative opinion of insensitive drivers is not going to help anyone. When I find that I’m carrying around some extra clutter I just take a deep breath and tell myself that this is not important to me. Then I think of something I love (like fresh cut flowers or martinis) and I just LET IT GO. Then I cap it off by thinking something positive about that exact situation (or person or whatever).

It doesn’t work every time. But it does work.

So grab a cup of tea (or a martini!), sit down right here and forget about everyone else’s problems for a while. Life is too short to carry around all that clutter.

As always, I thank you for taking the time to read this. Until next time…relax!

Forget the Formula

Stress reduction is tricky business. I mean that in a GOOD way. It’s a lesson I seem to learn over and over again.

I’m the type of person who loves formulas. I like to make schedules and organize projects. I love the peace that comes from boundaries. When it comes to my personal peace of mind, I want a formula that works EVERY time. I want to believe that the combination of Nag Champa incense, a comfy chair, and the sound of a gentle river will bring me back to sanity every time I feel unbalanced. But life just does not work that way.

To produce a beautiful flower garden, I cannot use the same formula every time they begin to show signs of distress. Sometimes they need more water. Sometimes they need less water. When it’s cold, they might need protection. When it’s warm, they might need some extra shade. You get the idea.

That’s how growth is. Different needs at different times. The same is true for relaxation.

TRY THIS: For one week, schedule some quiet time for yourself and every day, change it up a little bit. Stand instead sitting for meditation. Light a candle one day and then maybe add a few drops of essential oil in some warm water the next. The point is to avoid the formula. Pay attention to your mind and your body and do what seems the most relaxing.

That’s all for today! Thanks for taking a minute to read this and until my next post, I wish you a life of peace and tranquility.

5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Peace

1. STOP

When your day is running away from you and you feel upset and out of control, I invite you to try to just stop. If you can, find a place alone (the bathroom is an easy spot) and take at least five slow, deep breaths. Then think about your favorite place to be. Careful, don’t go wandering into “Oh, I wish I were there now’ self pity land. Just imagine yourself there. At peace and full of joy. Take five more slow, deep breaths and imagine that you are making all of your decisions from that peaceful place. Sometimes, just stepping away from the stress of your surroundings can help.

2. SLEEP

Get a full night’s rest. Do whatever you can to get plenty of sleep at night. I used to consider sleep a waste of time. In fact, when my five-year-old friend asked me what my super power would be if I could have one, without skipping a beat I answered, “To live without sleep.” All those beautiful hours wasted while I lie there…. But the truth is that our bodies need time to restore and repair cells, and our brains need a break from the noises of life to process the day’s events and memories. There are many articles online about how to get a better night’s sleep. Find a few that you think you can handle and try them.

3. WATER

Drink plenty of water. Avoid sugar drinks that tend to put your blood sugar levels on a roller coaster. This does not mean drink a gallon of water each day and throw out all of your other drinks (though it’s a smart move to discard everything in your refrigerator with high fructose corn syrup on the label…). Just try to make sure you drink more water than anything else. A dehydrated body is a stressed body.

4. GRATITUDE

When we are stressed to our perceived limits, we often forget to think positively about what is going on. My favorite way to get out of that kind of funk is to think about five things I’m grateful for. It’s a small course correction that can lead to more peaceful thinking. A better mood enhances creativity and problem solving as well, which further reduces your stress.

5. SMELL

Wherever I go, I take a small bottle of lavender essential oil and one of peppermint essential oil. They have many wonderful medicinal properties, but my favorite way to us them is to place a drop or two on my palm, rub my hands together and then inhale deeply. Lavender is very relaxing, and peppermint on the other hand is quite refreshing. If you aren’t interested in essential oils, then perhaps you could keep a scented candle in your desk drawer or a tiny bottle of perfume in your purse. Perhaps a sample-sized bottle of your favorite lotion to rub on your hands. The best kinds are the ones you can keep with you most of the time.

I LOVE FEET

There. I said it. It’s in the title and I won’t punch the delete key to take it back. Mostly because it’s true. I love what they say about people and I love to wash them and rub them and make people feel relaxed. Get this: I also love rubbing hands and shoulders and I LOVE to give back scratches. Really. I do.

Since I was very young, I’ve always had a desire to take care of people. I spent hours mixing baby powder and water and food coloring in my toy kitchen so I could rub them on my skin like my granny. Often, I would throw in some sweet smelling hand soap or a few drops of my sister’s discarded bottle of Baby Soft body splash.

When I tired of that, I would go smell all of my mother’s perfume bottles and figure out which were my favorites. As a teenager I developed a deep love for essential oils – for both their aromatherapy and their medicinal purposes. It all started with a small tin of Burt’s Bees Wise Woman Salve (they no longer sell it). Lavender. Ahhh. Still one of my all time favorites…

I used to take my tape cassette recorder and try to record the sound of the ocean while camping on the beach with my parents. When I was sick, I would ask my mother to bring my music boxes and I would play them over and over again until I fell asleep. Music and the sounds of nature have always soothed my soul.

At this point you might be thinking “Um. That’s sweet but why are you blogging about it?”

I’m blogging about it because the four elements above (touch, creative skin care, aromatherapy, and soothing sounds) are the seeds that were planted in my childhood that have grown into a dream come true for me. For many years, they have lain dormant in my soul. Waiting for the right moment for me to remember what I love.

I started my own business. My website reads:

Ginny Love Moore
Personal Stress Management
For Women Only

That’s what I do. I bring soothing sounds, relaxing fragrances, all-natural lotions, and two strong hands to women who are in need of a break from the stress of life. People actually pay me to do what I love. Told you I love feet!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Future posts will include relaxing stories and helpful tips on how to just relax. It’s easier than you might think. If you have minute, I invite you to check out my website to read more about what I do.

www.ginnylovemoore.com

Until my next post, I encourage you to take a deep breath and just relax…