Chatting About Chakras Part 2: The Utility Question

In my last post, I very briefly went over what the seven chakras are. Truly gaining a deep understanding of them seems, in my opinion, really hard to do.

I plan to revisit each chakra in more detail in future posts, but for now I’m going to focus on answering the question of whether or not an understanding of chakras is necessary or helpful for a good yoga practice.

Is it mystical malarkey or necessary knowledge?

Before I dive into answering this question, I’m going to answer another question that you may or may not be asking:

Why does this even matter?
Read more

Something New: Chatting About Chakras

I’m the type of person who needs things to be logical. I want facts, rationale and sensibility. I’m not great with emotions; I don’t find comfort in religion, and I’m often dismissive of things that come across as too spiritual or emotion-driven.

I’ve always cherished my logical brain and scoffed at people who allowed themselves to be spirited away by religion, astrology, healing energies and things like that.

And yet, here I am, gearing up to talk about chakras.

Why?

Because it has been pointed out to me on many occasions that I’m bad about throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

medieval woman throwing out bathwater with a baby in it
Me, dismissing things I know nothing about.

Read more

A Crash Course in Treating Bacne

We focus a lot on our faces and necks in the beauty community, but…we have a lot more skin to take care of.

No judgment from me if your body is neglected though because I’m pretty sure I’ll never have a full-body Glass-Cloud-Butter Skin Glow™.

man playing acoustic guitar
You know that John Mayer song “Your Body is a Wonderland”? There’s a little-known B-side track about me called “Your Body is a Wasteland.”

One thing I do focus on for my body is managing breakouts.

I get a LOT of questions about clearing up body breakouts, particularly back acne, or “bacne.” While my back may never be model-perfect, I’ve more or less figured out how to keep it and my other problem areas as clear as possible.

Today I shall impart this wisdom unto you, dear reader.

Read more

Beauty Gifts: DIY Body Scrub

Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk*

I’m all about NOT doing DIY skincare out of your kitchen for a lot of reasons, but I can definitely make an exception for one or two simple things.

The holidays are upon us (ready or not), so I figured that I’d share one of my favorite quickie recipes for making a cheap yet pretty gift that basically anyone will appreciate: a fragrant body scrub.

diy beauty

Read more

My Top 5 Winter Skincare Essentials

As mentioned in my previous post about ceramides, winter is coming. Even now, the air is drier and the temperatures are plummeting.

I love it.

The only thing I don’t love is the hassle of tweaking my skincare routine to accommodate the shifting weather. Unlike some lucky folks, I basically have to play a trial-and-error guessing game when it comes to figuring out what my skin will want each winter. I don’t have a set “winter routine.”

Like all important things in life, I just wing it. YOLO, man.

That being said, there are five things that I know I’ll need when it starts getting cold.

skincare essentials infographic
Read more