Mind
Beautiful
From increased self-love
to more self-acceptance,
becoming mindful
offers us a range of
inner benefits. LIZ
GR AY investigates why
incorporating mindfulness
into our beauty routine
can help us become our
most radiant selves.A
T
YOU’LL OWN IT
In the words of celebrated style
icon Coco Chanel, “Beauty begins
the moment you decide to be
yourself.” For some of us, this
may present a challenge. Deciding
to be yourself requires conscious
habitation of your body, and
that requires self-acceptance.
“Self-acceptance can be achieved
by mindfulness meditation and
loving-kindness meditation,” says
Srini Pillay, M.D., Assistant Professor
of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School. “Mindful attention to
emotions involves not judging, but
observing your emotions when they
arise. This can lower your brain’s
emotional response to anxiety and
distress. It effectively ‘calms down’
your amygdala.” [Part of the limbic
system in the brain that drives
response and memory of emotions,
especially fear.]
Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Jessica
Moncrieff-Boyd, authors of The
Secrets of Mindful Beauty ($25.25,
Skyhorse Publishing) feel that too
many of our beauty routines are
fraught with anxiety, self-criticism,stress and even self-loathing. “There
is a way to look and feel better, and
that’s where mindfulness comes in,”
they write. Mindfulness can decrease
our self-consciousness, so that we
become less worried by what others
think of what we say or do, or how we
look. It helps silence the critical voice
inside and facilitates the development
of self-compassion. Mindfulness
doesn’t just ground us; it allows us to
see things from a new perspective.”To be mindful is to appreciate the
moment, to slow down and to pay
attention with purpose. Acknowledging
the thoughts that arise while directing
awareness with intention, acceptance and
most importantly, without judgement.
When we combine mindfulness
practices with beauty, we bring
awareness to what we deem beautiful
and learn to communicate with ourselves
in an entirely non-judgemental way.
But that’s not all. Mindful beauty also
encompasses self-care, loving kindness
and nourishing our bodies, minds and
souls with purpose. Mindful beauty
spans through the foods we choose to
eat and the thoughts we think, to the
permission we grant ourselves to relax
and be pampered. And then there are the
direct beauty benefits that mindfulness
meditation itself offers and the anti-
ageing sequences it turns on, simply by
partaking. Here, we’ve outlined five of
our favourite reasons – from a beauty
standpoint – to get present.TRY THIS:
“There are a number of ways to tune
in to our present experience, and one
of these ways is using our senses of
sight, smell, sound, touch and taste,”
continue Reid Boyd and Moncrieff-Boyd.
“Beauty and self-care activities such as
skin care or applying make-up can be
done mindfully, engaging all our senses.”
Choose a beautifully fragranced body
lotion or oil and set aside 10 minutes
each day to massage it into your skin
from top to toe. As you apply, be
present, bring your awareness to your
body and, most importantly, observe
without judgement.
Pure Fiji Coconut
Infusion Hydrating
Body Lotion
$44.95, purefiji.comANH
LOVES68 | AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HEALTH naturalhealthmag.com.auBODY & BEAUTY