With Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, I’m all about getting my skin prepped and ready for the summer. If you’ve ever wondered what is the best way to prepare your skin for summer months, try some of these tips:
• For skin, keeping your face clean is very important. Open your pores using good cleansing and exfoliating products or try a hot steam bath to help release any impurities and encourage the flow of good chi.
• This time of year it is important to shed your “Winter” skin. Just like a snake must shed its outer shell, it is very important that we too, shed the dry, rough, flaky skin of Winter. Exfoliating regularly helps to re-energize and rejuvenate the skin to reveal younger, healthier skin.
• With this new outward flow of energy and the process of Spring cleansing, both physically and mentally our bodies begin to “lighten”. It is important to set heavy-duty skin creams to the side, and find more lightweight products for the Summer.
• To stimulate the chi energy in your face, instead of rubbing your skin, try gently patting the skin on your face regularly.
• In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diet and food intake is based on the principle that humans are a part of nature. One way to align with nature is eating according to seasons, because just like the natural world fluctuates with seasonal changes, so do we. This is the time of year for growth and renewal. As it relates to diet, TCM suggests we should consume foods that help for easy transition into this season such as:
– Leafy green vegetables (spinach, kale, mustard greens, bok choi)
– Young plants (soy, chives, asparagus, peas)
– Sprouted beans and grains (mung bean sprouts, wheat grass)
– Flavorful herbs (mint, bitter melon)
– Light teas (mint, green, chrysanthemum, rosebud)
Remember, the greatest wealth is health!
