Your skin protects you from all sorts, helps regulate your temperature, is involved in vitamin D production, enables you to feel what you touch… it’s a complex organ. But caring for it doesn’t have to be complicated. Have you tried Balm Balm products – wonderful balms, bath and body oils, facial products and even eau de perfume? All organic, pure and simple.

We think your skin will love them. Because Balm Balm products are:

Healthy – good for you and good to others: 100% Organic (all ingredients certified Organic by The Soil Association) and 100% Natural. Not contaminated. Not tested on animals. The packaging is BPA-free, eco friendly, carbon neutral, from sustainable forests, and decorated in organic inks.

Pure – all ingredients are clearly stated in a short, manageable list. You’ll see, there are no hidden nasties, foreign substances which in time would over-burden or weaken your skin. All Balm Balm products are free from parabens, SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) and preservatives.

Multi-purpose – you can use a lip balm on your elbow and a face balm on your heels, if you want. Use them balms all over. All you need is one jar of your favourite balm. The essential oils add to the effects. The fragrance free balm is perfect for babies too.

What others think? Balm Balm have won several awards, starting with the Soil Association‘s Best Skincare Award for their Rose Geranium Face Balm. Judge Jo Fairley from the Beauty Bible said, ‘this one product may be all your skin needs’. It’s loved by celebrities and has recently found its way into The Pharmacy at Harrods.

In fact, it’s now finding its way onto Akana’s shelves – would you like to enjoy a massage treatment with an organic balm?

Balm Balm products make neat little gifts. Their packaging looks attractive, in green (fragrance free), pink (rose geranium) and blue (tea tree). The fragrance free balm is perfect for sensitive skin and babies. Rose geranium is great for wind chapped and gardening hands. Tea Tree essential oil is antibacterial and antiviral and can help clear up all sorts of little problems. We love the facial range too – the mini facial kit is a neat way to start. Even the included muslin cloth is organic! And there’s lots more…

For pure fragrance, check out Balm Balm’s single note eau de perfume: gentle organic grain alcohol plus pure essential oil. Use it on its own or have some fun combining and creating your individual scent. You can start with a little bag with 2 ml of each to find your favourites:

WHERE TO BUY? We stock several of the above products at Akana, just ask to see our selection at your next appointment. Alternatively, click here to buy online.

Images: Balm Balm

A nice bath and a face mask – familiar or times long forgotten, drowned into busy-ness?

I won’t ask when was the last time you had a bath. I know you wash. But we live in the age of showers, don’t we (and in this case I don’t mean this year’s British summer). How many of you have time to soak in the bath? And who makes time for face masks? I hope you do.

And if you don’t, and you can’t bear the thought of going through it, or perhaps aren’t even quite sure how to go about it, here’s how you can simplify the process: use treatment pads. They’re cut-out shapes for your face, drenched in product. Years ago I discovered SK-II and with it their hydrating Facial Treatment Mask. All you need to do is cleanse your face, open the pack which contains a cloth soaked in just the right amount of product, apply that to your face, glance at yourself in the mirror, and if you find the sight scary, keep out of everybody’s sight for 20 minutes… Then remove the cloth. This step I found a pain with other face masks, not with this one.

Easy? It is. SK-II also have a Signs Eye Mask which works on similar principles. These days, there are several products by other brands, made to be as straight forward. An quick review by Sali Hughes in the video below:

Does this sound self-indulgent to you? Well, you could always make it 45 minutes, half an hour… Or even just 15 minutes like the Thai Foot Massage taster treatments I’ll be offering at tomorrow’s An Evening for Fabulous Women, an event in aid of The Fountain Centre charity. I volunteered with The Fountain Centre a couple of years ago. It was around the same time that I started learning Thai Foot Massage (called ‘Thai Reflexology’ by some) and discovering how powerful foot treatments are.

Many clients who see me for Thai Foot Massage choose this treatment because it feels good. The other day I stumbled across an amusing, yet insightful quote by Robert Brault, ‘Massage is the only form of physical pleasure to which nature forgot to attach consequences’. On a serious note, what if treating our feet felt great for a reason? Even if we don’t always behave like it, we should have an innate, instinctive ability to seek out what’s good for us, things that help us survive, things that are good for our health.

Did you know that massage has been a branch of traditional Eastern medicine since ancient times, alongside other modalities like herbalism and meditation? There’s a lot of good in both Eastern and Western approaches. In our Western world, we get treatment when we’re not well, to recover our health. We’re very lucky to have Western treatments like life-saving surgeries. On the other hand, according to Eastern philosophy, you’d also have treatment while healthy, to remain healthy. Apparently in ancient China doctors were only paid when their patients were healthy!

While we can’t claim that enjoying a foot massage cures disease or illness, it might just strengthen us when subtle imbalances occur which perhaps would otherwise lead into illness one day. As a student of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, I find Eastern thinking gives many options for what we call prevention in the West.

So make a little time to enjoy giving your feet a treat, see for yourself whether it works for you. And if Eastern medicine concepts don’t make sense to you, simply consider the great job your feet are doing for you day after day. Give them something in return.

Breathing is life. It’s one of our most important functions. It’s more than acquiring oxygen for our body. Luckily, breath just faithfully happens in the background while we’re busy doing other things. You don’t need to do anything…

Don’t you? It’s not quite that simple. Have you thought about the quality of your breath? How important is it for you to feel good, energised and healthy? Have you caught yourself holding your breath while stressed, focusing on something? Have you noticed your breath turn shallow at times? Did that feel right?

In my Manual Lymph Drainage work, I explain to clients how deep breathing can help lymphatic flow. One of the techniques for the abdomen works with the client’s breath, belly expanding. But – surprise, surprise – sometimes the belly has forgotten how to expand.

When was the last time you took a deep breath? Stop for a moment, put your hands on your abdomen and breathe in, slowly. Feel it expand. Feel your chest expand. Feel your shoulders slowly rise and then fall. How does this feel?

When things are rolling too fast in life, try to stop for a moment and catch your breath.

11 Fascinating Facts about Breathing, by Amy Landry

by Wendy Fry

Laughing is contagious. In fact laughter is like osmosis as when we look onto each other’s eyes and hear and feel the vibrations of laughter it transfers from one person to another and creates a happydemic  and endorphins release into the body because we choose to laugh. We also take in more oxygen when we laugh so respiration and circulation are improved, the immune system gets a boost, stress and tensions are released, embarrassment flies out of the window, the release from laughing makes you look younger and feel more alive. It’s so good to laugh as it releases all sorts of emotional blocks as well as improving health and wellbeing.

I first became interested in finding new ways to improve people’s mental health after suffering from depression, anxiety and panic attacks in my early 30’s. Now 15 years on, my top tip to happiness is to ask myself, ‘what am i saying about this that makes me unhappy?’ Often it’s not the event (trigger) that makes us unhappy, sad or angry, it’s what we actually say to ourselves about the trigger that causes us restless nights, distress and anxiety. Our thinking can limit us as we often only focus on the fear and the worst possible outcome of our challenges. Just changing your perception and meaning about an event can give you peace and clarity. Half of what we worry about never comes true!

Laughter is a way of solving problems in a healthy way, when we laugh in stressful times it eases the burden. It’s like sitting at traffic lights when they are red, we can’t change the lights ourselves so why not laugh while you are waiting. Next time you have a challenge ask yourself, ‘what do I choose here, laughter or stress?’ Sometimes it may not be appropriate to laugh out loud so that’s where silent laughter comes in.

If you want to find more laugher in your life consider the following options:

• Practice laughing daily
• Listen to The Laughing Policeman (see YouTube video below)
• Find a picture that makes you laugh and look at it often
• Invite friends round for a laugh instead of a meal or drink
• Attend a Laughter Yoga workshop or class
• Laugh at every opportunity.

Laughter is only a breath away!

According to Wendy Fry ‘a laugh a day keeps the doctor away’. Wendy is a trained Laughter Yoga Leader and also offers Hypnotherapy, Coaching, NLP, EFT, Matrix Reimprinting and Reiki to support adults and teenagers let go of fear based thinking and become more positive. Wendy offers bespoke workshops to all kinds of groups, companies and charities so that you can learn laughter Yoga for yourself.

Laughter Yoga is a unique form of gentle aerobic exercise which incorporates fun exercises, clapping, gibberish, playfulness, chanting and of course lots of laughter, it’s GM Free, Caffeine Free, Sugar Free and has been known to seriously improve your health and wellbeing. You don’t even need a sense of humour to join in.

Wendy’s website: www.bepositive.me.uk             

Email: info@bepositive.me.uk