Lisa Eldridge - a Spa on long flights

This is the first video of Lisa Eldridge I watched. In this one she explains how she treats herself with a sort of spa on a long flight. 

I used to love flying and always found it thrilling to get on planes when I was in my twenties. Now, when I fly from Japan to Germany and back once a year, I just feel exhausted and at the end feel and look like a dried out zucchini. 

I'm a very self-conscious person and in the first few minutes into the video I wasn't too sure I'd feel comfortable enough to start putting different creams and lotions on my face and hands with lots of other passengers around me possibly wondering what I'm doing. But Lisa Eldridge has a way to make you think "Screw the others! This is about YOU!" 

And ultimately that's why I put this post in the Lifestyle section; I believe it's important to take care of yourself, to treat yourself, not to care about what others think and make the most of your time and enjoy yourself. 

Also, I love using small samples and smelling good and putting on big sleeping masks. I really want to get one just like Lisa's. You can also learn about other products she uses and the fact that she mentions affordable and less affordable goods is also a bonus.

Last but not least, I like this woman and her video styles. She is very natural, self-confident but not in an annoying way that makes you feel like a loser when you watch her, and she presents herself well. She is a natural beauty though and looks good WITH and WITHOUT make-up on. I'll definitely try to bring one of my colorful lipstick with and put that on in order to distract from the rest of my face. But that's just me. 

Maybe you'll treat yourself with a mini-spa on your next flight. Who knows?

You can find out more about Lisa Eldridge by clicking here. 

I'm a Kapha! And what are you?

One of my dear friends is currently doing an Ayurveda course.

Below is a very quick explanation from the web for anyone who is not familiar with this topic.

"Ayurvedic medicine (“Ayurveda” for short) is one of the world's oldest holistic (“whole-body”) healing systems. ... It's based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. Its main goal is to promote good health, not fight disease."

My friend recommended me to do a quiz from a website called Banyan Botanicals, which helps you determine your ayuverdic constitution.

It’s important to understand that Ayurveda consists of five elements:

Ether/space, air, fire, water, and earth. In which proportion these elements exist in each individual person is being stated by the doshas “Vata”, “Pitta”, and “Kapha”.

The quiz or test is there to make you see which of the three doshas is your dominant one.

There are two different tests

One is called Vikriti, which shows you your CURRENT state, the other one is called Pakriti and that’s the one that shows your original (natural) state.

After taking the tests one can see how far apart from each other both doshas are and the goal is to bring you back to your balance.

I was quite intrigued by all this when my friend talked about what she had learned in her course so far. Ayurvedic medicine makes sense to me and after I took the test, I was quite impressed by the detailed information you get on what your current state is (the one you should do first, if I remember correctly), what impact it has on my health condition and my moods, what kind of lifestyle or diet suits me and what kind of food I should avoid, and so on.

I’ve also taken the Pakriti test a few days ago and I can’t wait to talk to my friend about all the results. Talking to a (soon-to-be) licensed person about my dosha will help clarify things. 

Holistic medicine

As I believe that western medicine makes the mistake not to look at the human body as a whole I hope to see holistic medicine be more part of our daily lives so we can be more in tune with ourselves. That’s why I’d like to share Banyan Botanicals’ link with you.

Due to the fact that my friend spoke passionately about her course and that she introduced me to this site with a sense of responsibility, I’d like to forward that feeling and I hope that you take the time to read a little bit about this topic and do the tests in a rather quiet time.

Before you start ...

Click here to take the Vikriti test. You can find the Pakriti test on the same website but I would recommend to not do both on the same day just because it's a lot of information. Also, when you do the Pakriti test try to remember how you felt around the time you were a teenager rather than answering the questions from your current point of state. 

I've already started implementing some of the things recommended to my type.

Be good to yourself! :-)  

Jo Malone - lifestyle in the form of scents

I use Emirates every time I visit home and on my last flight I came to listen to one of their interview series’, in which Jo Malone, the founder of two fragrance brands, talked a little bit about her story. 

I had played with the thought of buying her English Pear & Freesia fragrance for over two months and had lurked around a Jo Malone shop here in Osaka like a strained cat for quite a while but couldn’t bring myself to pay that much money for a 100 ml bottle. 

Each scent is connected to a story and you'll find that the name and scent truly resembles that story.

I love the elegant unisex bottles, the straightforwardness of each fragrance. There is no “wanna-be-cute or -sexy”. It's simply classic! 

Some of my friends loved the famous fragrances after I showed them some samples, other friends couldn’t really connect with them. To me Jo Malone fragrances are pure natural scents that make me feel like I was born with that scent rather than just wearing it on for that day. 

After listening to her story, I knew that I wanted to have one of her fragrances more than ever, just because I felt drawn to her story, in which she explains how having dyslexia made her teenage life very difficult, and how for that reason she came to find her talent for smells. Her nose became her strongest weapon, and now, at the age of 53, she is known for being the “niche fragrance pioneer” with her Jo Malone London and Jo Loves fragrance lines as being her two babies. What seems important to this incredible woman is how every person has a chance to redefine him/herself and her story is a wonderful example for that. 

Rachel Felder from Financial Review wrote an article about her, which - in case you want to read a little more about Jo Malone - I have included as a link here. In it she mentions the newly published autobiography Jo Malone: My Story by Simon & Schuster. 

By the way, I thought “screw it, I’m worth it!” and bought English Pear & Freesia in Dubai at the duty-free shop. It stays on me the whole day and makes me feel fresh and pretty. I don’t regret having spend that money one bit.

Blogilates

Now that I've started working out at the gym (as you can read in my post under "me busy with …" I take having a healthy, strong body more and more serious. 

At the beginning I can't say I was into Cassey Ho and her Blogilates website because I found her a little overwhelming, to be honest. But over time I got used her way and now I really appreciate her energy, optimism, hard work, and her commitment. 

Blogilates is a well structured website, and her videos show quality and effort! 

In this post I would like to introduce her website and recommend her if you want to start with exercises at home on a regular basis. 

And here is one of her cardio workout videos. I think it's a perfect example for how well Cassey bonds with her audience and followers by throwing in a personal story, how she is trying to be more than just an online fitness instructor who just shows you the right moves to get your dream abs because she cares about deeper messages. And last but not least she makes sure you don't give up, you do it right, and feel taken care of!

Treat yourself

As I wrote in my other post, I was baking bread with a friend of mine at her place when the bell rang. She answered the door and half a minute later she walked in with a big smile on her face and a small package. 

She was excited to open the box like a little girl on Christmas Day.

In it was this:

She explained that she had subscribed to My Little Box and that each month she was getting a little box full of small surprises as a way to treat yourself. I was hooked up. 

The idea is brilliant because who doesn't like to receive a little surprising gift with well-chosen cute items on a regular basis? I also love the quality of their website.