HeyMonicaB: A Blooming Resource on Ayurveda

Ah, wrinkles. We try so hard to avoid them, don’t we. In Ayurveda we can read the entire body on the face! Depending on where the wrinkles are, we can see where imbalances lie in the body. A face that has lived a life of laughter, love, and nourishment is quite different from a face that is stressed, worries, and angry. Right? You’ve seen them – think of faces. Some are bright, some are dull. Some you want to stare at and some scare the bejeezes out of you. Emotions manifest in our body and our face reflects our body. Therefore it is true that our faces reflect our emotions.

Vata skin will be the first to wrinkle because their skin is dry and thin. Think about the earth when it’s dry…it cracks. Same with our skin. Vatas have are like an emotional rollercoaster and they tend to race ahead and worry a LOT. They will get the lines across their forehead first and next in line would be crows feet.

Pitta skin will not wrinkle as fast because they have oilier skin. They will likely have crows feet first because they are constantly thinking and squinting. Pitta rules the eyes and if the eyes get “burnt out” (from pitta fire) this person will need glasses or contacts. So, they squint, analyze, criticize and disect what’s in front of them. Pittas are the folks who see sun damage first.

Kapha skin has sort of everlasting youth and doesn’t wrinkle very easily. Their skin is thick, oily, and resistant to most crud in the atmosphere. Kaphas are very mentally sound and they don’t get stressed or shaken by negative emotions as often as vata and pitta. Because their mind stays steady, so does their body, and therefore so does their skin. Lucky are the kaphas!

I have some light crows feet although I think they were worse like two years ago. I don’t know if they are from squinting at a computer screen or from laughing a lot. Probably both. I also have light horizontal lines on my forehead from worry (I like to worry. It’s annoying). Other signals are the two vertical lines between the eyebrows, which reflect deep seated anger or frustration. For more information on goodies like this, Absolute Beauty by Pratima Raichur has all you could ever want to know about skin care. I am completely in love with that book.

Here are some tips to help avoid wrinkles, hooray!
• Yoga inversions. Plough pose, shoulder stand, handstand, headstand, feet up the wall. All great for blood circulation and reducing wrinkles. It works! I’ve seen it on my own face!
• Eat well. What you eat turns into your physical body. Garbage in, garbage out.
• Put good stuff on your skin. Your skin eats too so spend some money on it. I love these products from Simply Divine Botanicals – my skincare line of choice!
• Almond oil for crows feet. I do this nightly when it’s really dry outside. Apply a little bit with your ring finger and stroke from the outside of the eye and trace right along the cheek bone. Do these strokes (one direction only) for about 30 seconds and then hit the sack.
• Almond oil over the eyebrows. Start from the inner eyebrows, trace the brow bone (press firm & go slow) to the corner. Releases tension!
• Give yourself a natural face-lift. It’s a really simple technique but works wonders to liven skin!
• Breathe. For goodness sakes, please breathe away that tension.
• Stop smoking and drinking too much booze. Enuf said.
• Call me and let me practice facial massage on you :D

Let us also remember that while we can do everything in our power to avoid it, we will eventually get wrinkles. It’s just gonna happen at some point, but it’s kind of a beautiful think because in a way, it’s a map of your life. Make sure to fill it with laughter, enjoyment, serenity, good rest, healthy breath, a career you love, good food, and most of all GREAT LOVE because everyone will see it on your face. mmwwaaaah! xo