February begins on a number 2 in numerology. A number 2 is all about teamwork, service, love, friendship, patience, personal growth, learning, emotional balance, partnership, acceptance, peace, bonding, and mutual interest. On the negative it reflects shyness, timidity, fear, self-consciousness, drowning in detail and depression. However today in moonology the moon is waning. This suggests today’s number 2 is a great day to support clearing out the clutter of what’s not working well in partnerships. The vibe is there to support taking the steps to making change for the better to create the environment that supports abundance, health and wellbeing. I chose snails to reflect the energy for my day, this first day of Feb., as they symbolize tolerance and perseverance. My intent for these two qualities is to have them in response to having it for myself as decisions for change seem overwhelming, not to put up and shut up and stay with the status quo. It’s all about actions towards changing the conditions to be a better versions of self, not to fit into an unproductive and unhealthy situationship. It begins with the inner and immediate landscape.
Early in 2023 I was shown a technique to tighten my skin along the jawline and neck. I loved the results of this technique and how playful I felt while exercising this way. In the late summer months my focus of attention was distracted and after only two months I noticed a significant difference in the skin tone and felt sensory awareness in these areas. I began doing them this week and I am curious to see if my neck and jawline tighten as much as it did last year. When it tightened up the skin then it translated into my sensory awareness of my felt inner self image. It was a feeling of youthfulness that had been absent for a time. As the skin began to lose its tone over the fall there was a loss in this feeling quality of youthfulness. It was a more relaxed feeling without much sensory awareness. After only the second time this week the sensory awareness in these areas have heightened.
This experience has created an understanding on a subtle level of how one feels old or not depending upon the skin tonification. The pattern of exercise applies to the neck, jaw line and the up into the cheeks. Going upward into the cheeks was an addition of mine. I chose to do this due to my own TMJ tension and the research on it though my practice of Feldenkrais. In these pictures below I demonstrated soaking a towel in warm salted water, rolling it and the areas I use an upward tap on the neck and chin. On the cheeks I follow the same angle as my gaw and also tap using an upward flick. I continue this for approximately 3 minutes. The first time it is awkward however it become habitual when repeating it. I often have a salted water bath and on the days I don’t I use a bowl of warm water with salt and soak the towel. Below the pictures is a few seconds of video showing the upward flick that encourages the skin to tighten.
This picture below of Renee on the left was taken sometime in 2019 and the one on the right was on Dec 31st, ’23. You can see a brown mark that had formed on my cheek in the picture taken in 2019. I put it down to early aging due to the stress of raising teenagers on my own while working from home. This first picture was taken after they had left home when there was more time to focus on remedies to explore ways to remove this sign of early aging. I was interested in Sea Buckthorn and had been growing a couple of my own. One is pictured below. It ultimately was the oil that got rid of the last signs of it, which is shown in the later picture. Before investigating Sea Buckthorn infusions I had made many others using oil olive as a carrier and plants I grew in the yard, or gathered in the few block surrounding my home. A memory I have is of a coaching student of mine who had a large brown mark on their face and who suggested getting mine zapped with a laser of some sort. I had no interest as I knew the remedies I had been using would benefit all my facial and neck soft tissue. It wouldn’t be isolated to one spot which ultimately didn’t target the overall skin areas.
This past year I began exploring with coffee grounds as an exfoliator. I would infuse the grounds with a Canadian oil from a flower grown in Ontario called Camelina. This created possibly the most luxurious feeling I have ever had after using it. I use it to exfoliate my whole body.
I came across the combination of coffee grounds with Dead Sea minerals and Sea buckthorn oil, and knew I would like to have it on hand for those times when I couldn’t puth fresh ingredients together myself. I also wanted to experience the combination of ingredients. I found a higher level of salt, lesser amount of coffee grounds and good amount of oil in the combination. I will continue using this product combination on my face and neck, however will mix up my own recipe for the rest of my body. I have gotten used to a coarse ground of coffee and salt mineral that I quite enjoy. However I do recommend this product combination highly.
Over the past few days I have posted the first two tips for manifesting by taking conscious actions in the environment. One’s success can be viewed and experienced through their environmental influences. The environment landscape, or viewscape, can be unsettling or grounding. These tips can encourage one to cultivate awareness in their own home or work space. The third tip is pictured below followed by a downloadable pdf for you to explore at your leisure.
Water & salt for rejuvenation, clearing energy field and purification
The human body is 60 percent water. The human heart and brain is 73 percent water. The lungs are 83 percent water, the skin is 64 percent water, the muscles and kidneys are 79 percent and the bones are 31 percent. Seventy one percent of the earth is covered by water. Ninety seven percent of the water covering the earth is salt water. This writer experiences water as an element to balance and reconnect with self. Water is sacred. Why? We cannot survive without it. Salt is well known as a sacred element as well. It absorbs energies, positive and negative and softens the water. It has the similar influences on your body. Bathing in a warm salt infused bath is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself for rejuvenation; mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Years ago while on a holiday with the children I was drawn in to a booth with a woman who shared her age with me. It seemed unbelievable due to the quality of her skin, yet I took her at her word. She was crusty and the memories she shared could easily match the age range she said she was. The products in her booth originated from Dead Sea minerals. I have always taken care of my skin so after a treatment with her products I knew Dead Sea Salts was the real deal. It outshone all the products I had tried over the years.
I have since used it in making skin exfoliators, however, recently I discovered it’s benefits for bathing in. The minerals are excellent for ones skin and detoxing the body. It apparently has 10 times the minerals over other salts, some of which are sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, bromides and iodine. Soaking in a warm salted bath is one of the most effective ways to absorb vital minerals. It is known to be relaxing and soothing creating a deeper sense of well being.
How much salt in a soothing bath?
I have read the suggested amount of Dead Sea salt to add to the bath ranges from 1/2 a cup to 2 cups. I found 2 cups a bit much and have settled at approximately a cup. For an added luxury I add 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda. Both salt and baking soda are water softeners and in like it stimulates the same softening and relaxation in ones soft tissues. I often add 10 or so drops of lavender essential oils.
Here is an affiliate link to Dead Sea Bath Salt on Amazon:
Depending upon the levels of stress in those around me and their interactive experiences I will bathe in salt regularly. Some weeks it is 3 to 4 times. It seems to clear my energy field when stimulated by environmental influences which can cause confusion and a feeling to static. This bath will defuse it immediately. It is a self care routine I use with intention.
Length of time for receiving benefits?
Twenty minutes is my go to guide for the basic starting point. I usually go longer if I have the time, however the minimum in twenty minutes.
I alternate the salt I use in the bathe in due to the different minerals from their root origins on the earth. Two others I use regularly are:
Himalayan Pink Salt
Himalayan Pink Salt has a spectrum of more than 80 trace minerals and is one of the purest and naturally occurring salts. It is hand minded from the foot of the Himalayan hills and hand ground. This salt has the same benefits as Dead Sea salt such as reducing stress, inflammation and improving skin conditions. I follow the same routines as described in the Dead Sea salt element.
Here is an affiliate link to Himalayan Pink Salt Salt on Amazon:
I recently discovered Mediterranean due to its price point. I was attracted to the significant difference and did some research. It also has 80 plus mineral elements. It too creates a soothing and healing bath experience.
Here is an affiliate link to Mediterranean Sea Salt on Amazon:
I began lying on an acupressure mat and 1/2 bolster in late Dec ’23, for 20 minutes a day. Not for the faint hearted! When first laying down the sharp points are surprising and can be temporarily painful. However within minutes my back softened and the points no longer caused discomfort. The only time the points caused any temporary uncomfortable moments when lying on them was when shifting my weight. For example, bending my knees and standing my feet to put more pressure into the small of my back. I also raised my lower back and began putting bolster under neath for more pressure into shoulder blades and lower back. This mat is long enough to target the length of my spine beginning at the top of my shoulder blades and down to the bottom of my sacrum. With the 1/2 bolster I can apply the points to my neck.
I began to use this acupressure mat to test it for softening the muscles along my vertebrae from my neck down through my sacrum. As a Feldenkrais® Practitioner (since 2007) I am all too well aware of the common restrictions causing limited mobility through contraction of the muscles and soft tissue along the spine, ribs and into the pelvis. This restricts flexibility and limberness. that ultimately can cause injury and pain. What I wasn’t expecting was the increase in blood circulation when lying down on these points. It was immediate and the whole area warmed up. I quickly recognized the value in warming the organs up as well in these areas. Read more below on the benefits I have noticed in just a few days.
Here is an affiliate link to the same acupressure mat on Amazon:
Noticeable benefits of lying on acupressure mat in a few short days
Release of TMJ joints inn lower jaw with angling the 1/2 roller. This was unexpected and increased the benefits for me. I hold tension in my TMJ joints naturally and I could feel them let go and my jaw drop. Due to TMJ stress myself I have taught a workshop since 2007 on how to shift habitual patterns through the facial muscles, neck and shoulder muscles to lengthen and tonify them to increase the flexibility of the jaw. Feeling this deeper release was tremendously rewarding to experience. If for only this benefit I would recommend lying on an acupressure mat! Upcoming TMJ workshop in March ’24
Increase in vitality the first day after lying on the mat for 20 minutes. There was an inner vitality that emerged motivating more activity throughout the day. Luckily I have chosen the morning to test it out.
I have noticed a deeper quality in my sleep even through I have chosen to lay on the mat in the morning. The articles I have read mention an increase in sleep when lying on it at night. I am too active right to bed time to lay on it at this time, yet still seem to have the same benefits.
Each additional day I lay on the mat for twenty minutes I am noticing more benefits not immediately experienced. After a few days I began to notice a softening in my arm and leg muscles even though they are not on the mat. It seems to be coming from the ribs and vertebrae release. My fingers are more flexible and soft. The tightness around the bone has dissolved even through I haven’t actively focused upon functional movement patterns with them during this time.
Today I experienced increased points of energy release along my lower back, beginning in my sacrum. At the base of my sacram I sensed a release, a pulsation and warmth that immediately increased sensation in my lower extremities. I likened it to a release of a tight muscles or constriction blocking the energy in this region of the spine.
Generally overall I am experiencing a softening of tension through my whole body with increased sense of relaxation and wellbeing.
For all these benefits I am experiencing I would recommend trying an accupressure mat. Yes it may be uncomfortable for the first few days, however, that quickly disappears and the benefits outweigh the initial discomfort.
Here is an affiliate link to the same acupressure mat on Amazon:
Reflection of yin and yang balance (feminine and masculine energies)
Yesterday I shared an exercise to introduce a connection to mindful intention and action in one’s personal environment. It is the first tip of 31 created to cultivate somatic and mindful awareness.
In 2013 I wrote a little booklet to support an introduction for practicing techniques to ground and expand mindful connection using focused attention on the integration of intention with action. The purpose of these tips is to cultivate conscious awareness. One way you can bring your goals into reality is to consider these daily awareness techniques and actions to define your intention. Bring them alive by making time to manifest physical change in your living/working space. It takes a few minutes a day. Designed for slowing down and consciously pausing to reflect, notice and take actions. It is for creating your dreams and taking actions to make them happen that combines mindfulness and physical action to create your space of ‘success’. Each day for 31 days there is a short pattern or exercise to integrate in one’s environment to support change and connection!
Here is the second tip on day two for you to investigate and experience. Each January I follow this program to remind myself and reconnect to my space and things with intention and mindfulness.
Here is a pdf of exercise 2 for your enjoyment!
Leave a comment and share back how this exercise was for you. For me I felt pleased after doing this task that I have done numerous times before with no sense of joy, rather felt effort previously. The difference was the connection to my intention and purpose. It change the inner vibration in the action that began with a different mindset. My mind was refocused and the thought stories were of a higher vibration.
Inside Awareness Center for Integrative Somatic Learning 