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Miriam Carl, Clinical Aromatherapist

Summer Recipes: Artichokes

6/27/2016

16 Comments

 
I'm excited to introduce you to Myrthe Noordegraaf, our newest guest blogger!
Born Dutch, living French, Myrthe is living a simple life at the beautiful French countryside.

​I hope you enjoy her musings and photography (pictured below ) . . .
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For the first time in my own garden !
Artichokes are beautiful, healthy, easy to cook and a pleasure to eat.
No need to say that it's one of my favorite vegetables.

How to cook​ :
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Cook or steam them until the outer leaves can easily be pulled off.
Cooking : +/- 45 minutes in a large pot of boiling water
Steaming : +/- 15 minutes

How to eat :

​Take one leave at the time, dip it in a vinaigrette (mixture of vinegar, oil, mustard) and eat the little fleshy part. 
Keep on doing this until the leaves become thinner. You can eat them or pull them of.

To reach the heart remove the hairy part (inedible). 
​Put some vinaigrette on the heart and enjoy !

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Bon appétit,

​Myrthe
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"L'Art de vivre is to take time to enjoy small simple things." More than 15 years ago, Myrthe chose France as her home. Today she shares flashes out of her daily life and inspiration with you at www.myrthe.fr
16 Comments

Natural Winter Skin Care

12/3/2015

8 Comments

 
I'm so excited to introduce you to our newest guest blogger, Camille Leinbach.
Camille is an holistic skincare expert and owner of Autumn Moon Aesthetics.
​I hope you enjoy her insights!
Winter scene with snow and berries.
When the winter’s glorious chill sets in, it often brings about a new set of skin care concerns. When the temperature begins to drop, spending more time in indoor forced-air heat can quickly dehydrate your skin. Going outside into the cold causes skin to quickly lose moisture to the air. It is a recipe for dry, itchy, flaky, unhappy skin.

Here are a few tips to keep your skin naturally healthy and moisturized in cold weather:
​
  • Drink plenty of water, coconut water and herbal teas to help keep your skin hydrated. Eat plenty of fruits and veggies to also increase hydration in your body.
  • Try to avoid caffeinated drinks, as they dry out your skin. If you must have your coffee in the morning (and, believe me, I understand!), drink an extra glass of water for each cup.
  • Try to avoid alcohol, as it also dehydrates your skin.
  • When headed outside, cover your skin as much as possible with clothing. Cover any areas of exposed skin with a thick, natural lotion to prevent moisture loss.
  • Apply lip balm frequently throughout the day, especially before you go outside.
  • Keep baths and showers short and warm (not hot). Hot water dries skin out by stripping your skin of its natural oils. 
  • Gently exfoliate dry skin with a brush, loofah or exfoliating gloves prior to getting into the bath or shower. Dry, flaky skin needs to be removed from the surface of skin to allow products to work more effectively. Be SUPER gentle if your skin is overly sensitive, and perform this treatment only a few times a week.
  • Avoid cleansing your entire body every day, especially with a foaming soap or body wash, as they can strip your skin of precious oils. Skip a day of sudsing, or wash only those most important bits daily.
  • Try replacing your regular body wash with 1 part honey to 1 part oil (jojoba or coconut is lovely) a few times a week in place of your regular body cleanser. You can also wash damp skin with a simple body scrub made of a bit of oil added to organic sugar to make a paste.
  • Apply oils and lotions immediately after showering or bathing, while your skin is still damp, to capture moisture and seal it into your skin.
  • Layer your products to protect skin from loss of precious moisture to the elements - start with a layer of oil, followed by a rich lotion or body butter.
Golden honey
Helpful Ingredients for Dry Skin:
​
  • Oils like olive, coconut, hazelnut, grapeseed, jojoba, sesame and sunflower work to replace lost moisture, while being easily absorbed into skin.
  • Humectants like honey and vegetable glycerin help to pull moisture from the air into your skin.
  • Oils like rosehip seed and carrot seed help to increase cell regeneration, repairing damaged tissues.
  • Products containing beeswax add a breathable, protective layer to skin that helps to retain moisture.
  • Products containing aromatic essential oils like helichrysum, patchouli, lavender, ylang ylang and sandalwood help to soothe and heal dry, itchy skin. Gilded Camellia™, an aromatic facial oil available in the Autumn Moon Etsy Boutique, is ideal for supporting healthy, moist skin.
  • Aloe soothes, heals and stops itching. Look for 100% pure aloe, as many packaged aloe products actually contain fillers, dyes and added fragrances.
  • Herbs like calendula, chamomile and lavender are soothing, healing and anti-inflammatory for dry, irritated skin. A nice oil infused with these plants is a great treat for dry skin.
  • Herbs like rose, licorice, marshmallow and chickweed are cooling and demulcent (they form a soothing, protective layer on dry skin). Try using an infusion of one or more of these in place of your usual toner. Keep your infusion refrigerated and use within 48 hours for freshness.
Roses and vanilla in oil
I hope this offers some easy, helpful ways to hydrate, repair and protect your skin during these upcoming months. 

​Stay cozy, warm and soft!

Camille
Camille Leinbach

​Camille Leinbach, owner of Autumn Moon Aesthetics, is a holistic aesthetician, aromatherapist and herbalist with over 15 years experience in the skin care industry. Visit her at www.plantglamour.com for more natural skin care tips and artisan botanical skin care and cosmetics.
8 Comments

Caring for Your Self and Soul

12/6/2014

5 Comments

 
I am so excited to introduce you to our newest guest blogger, Heather Shafer. 
Heather is an Authentic Living Coach. 
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Hey Beautiful Souls!

I am happy to be here sharing with you on this lovely site!

How are you supporting (and I mean by actions and practices, not money!) yourself right now? Are you finding it hard to answer? What about if I asked you how you are supporting others right now? I bet you would have a much easier time coming up with responses, right?!

In order to show up and be our best selves in any area of our lives, we need to give ourselves some support. This support can come in a variety of ways (some of them being signing up for that class, creating a bit of a schedule for our days, clearing space for what we really love and are inspired by -physically or mentally).

For today, though, let’s explore Self and Soul Care as a way to support ourselves. Ultimately, only you can decide what really nourishes your body, mind, and soul. However, I would love to share some ideas to get you started.

Self-Care:

1) Engage in your Self-Care "Basics." Get plenty of water (your body will often signal when you are not getting near enough). Eat nourishing food and move your body a little!

2) Dive a little deeper with self-care. Take a little extra time for body and face care (lotion, essential oils, dry brushing etc..)

3) Create space to savor the little pleasures you really enjoy. (Reading a book or magazine, sipping a cup of tea, lighting a candle).

Soul Care:

1) Journal. It does not have to be complicated, heart pouring out all the time long entries. There is no wrong way to do this. Create a list or a brain dump, or respond to the following prompts: 


  • Right now I need…
  • I am feeling…
  • I would love to…

Capture bits of what is present in your heart and life right now. 


2) Create. Self Expression of some kind is a beautiful part of having a Soul Care Practice. My favorites happen to be visual journaling (you need very few supplies - a journal, glue stick, a pen, and a few magazines). Look for images and words that inspire you and glue them down. I also like snapping pictures with my phone of the everyday sacred (your cup of tea, details of the ones you love, bits of beauty - even in the chaos).

3) Creating Soul Notes. Start noticing what little tugs and cravings are coming up for you. Write them down in your journal or on a post-it. Create a space to gather these notes which are clues, requests, and messages from your soul. 

4) Connect to something or someone that really inspires you and feeds your soul. Maybe it's in a book, a video, blog post. Maybe it's in a song. Maybe it's in a place of worship or in nature. 


What does Self and Soul Care look and feel like to you? What will you create space for to do so? 

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered
Heather


Heather Shafer //  Toliveinspired
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5 Comments

Healing Places ~ Part 1

4/27/2014

6 Comments

 
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Inside the Alhambra. Granada, Spain.

I asked a few of my friends and loved ones about their favorite healing places.
This is one of the responses I received. 


Written by Elle North // drawingwithin.com


I pretty much came out of the womb with a strange and strong desire to learn and speak Spanish. I learned how to read in English at an early age, and remember exactly where the learn-to-speak Spanish books where in my library when I was about 4 years old. I would listen to Spanish cassettes. I would watch the Spanish channel on TV. You could say I was obsessed.

My path to Spanish was a long one: I didn't take my first Spanish class until high school at age 14. It was my favorite class. Fast forward to my college orientation: I happened to be in the right place at the right time and randomly took an unplanned Spanish test. I placed in the Advanced level, and decided to take one Spanish course a semester, which lead me to an unexpected Spanish major, and the opportunity to study abroad in Granada, Spain.

I was absolutely elated to be able to go to Granada, even though I had never heard of it before. Granada is the home of the Alhambra, a fortress-turned-palace that was built in 889. When you search for photos of Granada, the Alhambra is inevitably what you will see. When I finally arrived in Spain, the Alhambra greeted me. It sits upon one of the many hills of Granada, overlooking a sea of white houses where the scent of olive oil hangs in the air almost constantly.  Surrounding the Alhambra is perhaps the only woods-type area in the whole city, which fueled my longings for New England autumn while I was studying there. As frequently as I could, I would walk to the Alhambra, hike up the hills, walk around its walls, go into all of the parts that were open access as much as possible. I'd bring my sketchbook, draw the slants and curves of architecture, the gathering of people, the tiny houses in the hillside. I'd listen to music on my portable CD player, PJ Harvey's Is This Desire album was pretty much  my soundtrack for the trip.

One day at the Alhambra that sticks out in my mind is when I was sitting on a wall with my best friend (she came along with me to Spain), listening to PJ Harvey, enjoying the crisp November air. I felt so alive, so at peace, so at home.  I felt like this was an important place. We stayed there for hours, my friend and I, watching people, drawing, writing poems, listening, chatting, sipping tea. I was so happy to be in this place, absorbing the culture, learning about not only Spain and the language but also myself. On this day in particular, I found a small heart shaped rock. I knew this heart rock was important: I knew it signified love, a true love. At the time, I was dating someone who was still living in the States...and when I saw this heart shaped rock, I knew it wasn't for him. We broke up soon after I returned home.

Exactly four years after this event, on November 1, 2008, I found myself back at the Alhambra with the man of my dreams. We had met that February, and before March came along we decided to travel to Spain together so that I could go back to this place that was so dear to my heart. When we arrived in Granada together, we set our bags down at our hostel and took a walk to the Alhambra. We walked around the surrounding woods and walls, and made plans to return in a couple of days. On our return, we toured the entire structure. At closing time, we wandered out into an area surrounded by a low wall, overlooking the surrounding villages. The place where I found the heart rock. On a bench, the same bench I had drawn on that day four years ago (I have the drawing saved in a sketchbook), my love asked me to sit down. He got down on one knee, and proposed to me. I had no idea it was coming, that this would be the place that love would speak to me in this way. The place where I had found the heart shape rock almost exactly 4 years before (I looked back at my sketchbook, which was dated 11-6, so less than week's difference).  

Since that day in 2008, I have not been able to return to the Alhambra physically...but I do mentally, all of the time. It fills my senses: I can smell the dust and olive oil, feel the heat of the sun and the dry wind, see the beige, white, rust, and olive colors that swim there, feel the sand on that wall that I would sit on, and hear the chatter of people who would sit on those benches, eating tomato sandwiches. And there, I feel complete. I feel at home. I feel healed and fulfilled. I will go back, sit on that wall and sit on that bench. I will be with my love, and we will just sit together, enjoying the feeling of being together.


Written by Elle North // drawingwithin.com

Do you have a story about your favorite healing place? 
Feel free to email it to me at miriam.carl@yahoo.com
I may decide to feature it on Part 2 of this series!

6 Comments
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