opt for a body wash

Many harsh soaps deplete natural fats from the epidermis - this weakens the skin, allowing toxins and bacteria to invade. Opt for a natural body wash on our delicate skins.

Personally speaking i love this body wash by via botanica. i rave about how it leaves my skin soft and refreshed. it's a botanical based cleanser that contains aloe leaf juice, lavender flower water and chamomille so it cleanses without drying my skin. it also stimulates and delights my senses to kick start my day!

Comes in lavender, vanilla orange and invigorating mint
Shop body wash at De-Stress Essentials
$11.95

You might also like to try these great picks too:
Sharon Bolton Pearly Perfumed Body Wash
Bonicca Organic Spa Bath & Shower Gel
Bonicca Organic Foaming Spa Hand & Body Wash

artful weekend

for some downtime this weekend hubby and i went to the chalk painting festival called the i madonnari held at the santa barbara mission. i'll let the art speak for itself.

nature's candy

look at these strawberries! click on the high resolution photo and you can see their perfect beauty up close. i took the photo probably so you can get closer to almost smell and eat them. too bad the internet can't do that yet. usually i don't have the luxury of time to snap photos of what i eat, download, upload them, resize them, crop them in photoshop, and talk about them! i couldn't resist.

would love to say i grew them but i've tried in the past and those pesky snails kept at them. i just don't have that green thumb like my father does. he lives on the east coast and grows the largest squash i've EVER seen. he uses the seeds from the best squash of the crop for next year's planting. it's admirable how he's so efficient with the land in the relatively short summers in virginia. but the tomatoes, japanese string beans, japanese eggplants, okra, etc is the best i've tasted, seriously. my mom has alot to do with that too since as a team, she does wonders in the kitchen with the harvested crop.

i buy these organically grown strawberries at the farmer's market buying about 8 baskets at a time, eat about 3 baskets then freeze the others for refreshing fruit smoothies. otherwise i'd pay $3.90 a smoothie at blender's in the grass or jamba juice, the 2 main smoothie places in town. they're good too but as much as i like a smoothie made for me, $4 does add up.

so here my simple delicious fruit smoothie recipe:
orange juice (from fresh oranges or in carton)
banannas
strawberries
ice (if not using frozen strawberries)
real fruit brand peach sorbet (optional)

blend them all together.

sweet + juicy = strawberries + pop them in your mouth = nature's candy.

beat stress by filling your life with passion and purpose

seriously, one of the most stressful things in life is doing something that goes against the grain of what you were meant to do, staying at a job you meagerly get through each day while your spirit suffers. very stressful. here's a book written by 2 savvy women that provides inspiration and motivation to get going on your heart's desire. i love how i the book they point out that we launch in a different way than man and for different reasons.

the book is called 'ladies who launch' and i've been devouring it up to the last pages. it's about women embracing entrepreneurship and creativity as lifestyle. alas. if you haven't come across it yet and have been wanting to launch a project or business, this book will provide you the inspiration and tools to move forward. it has business schools seriously taking note.

'click' it up at amazon.com
Ladies Who Launch: Embracing Entrepreneurship & Creativity as a Lifestyle

maria
a lady who launches

Special offer on aromatherapy wrist rests on ladies who launch

heart spray for your travels

Speaking of this busy travel weekend, consider Buddha Nose Heart Spray for a deep sense of calm while on the road or at the airport. A little spritz will nurture your spirit and open your awareness to love and connectedness... and we all could use this when travelling doesn't go as smoothly as we had planned.

safe and joyous travels to you!

Buddha Nose at De-Stress Essentials

Hooping it Up

Here I am (center) getting my hoop groove on. Veronika is an amazing hooper (top left). An onlooker turned hooper (top right). My sister visiting from Maryland and Candice my niece from SLO, Kabir with 2 hoops and hubby Brett (bottom photo) even got his groove on. Pretty good for a programmer. A lady walking her aussie shepperd who hadn't picked up a hoop in 30 years and a Santa Cruz couple just walking by was celebrating their anniversary came in to hoop with us.

We had a great time at one of my favorite spots to watch the sunset, Shoreline Park. Shared tricks, hooped to the beautiful scenery with seagulls flying above, island and harbor views. Next hooping will be each Wednesday at Alice Keck Park 5:45 till sunset by the Koi pond, Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara NewsPress

SB Hula Hoop Meetup calendar

hula hooping in the park - tonight

Quick reminder to come hula hoop with us in the park tonight. Creative play to de-stress your day!

More details at Meetup.

Shoreline Park at 6pm
Santa Barbara, CA

Sponsored by
De-Stress Essentials

Beyonce and Charlize Theron Hoop For Health (April 2007)

In the UK, the Bolton News reports that hooping "is the latest contraption shown to work wonders on your waist and tummy muscles. Beyonce and Charlize Theron swear by it which means, if the celebs say yes, then so do we. Swivelling and twirling is the ultimate exercise for a trimmer, slimmer midriff." In the article personal trainer Lucy Brown notes, "...Hooping certainly burns calories, and specifically works the hips and obliques - love handles. Try enacting what you used to get up to as a child, and weight loss is guaranteed - it's tiring being a kid!"

How to Live Less Stressfully - 11 simple tips

I love the simplicity of these tips from Loving and Leaving the Good Life, by Helen Nearing (Chelsea Green, 1993)

Helen Nearing is a great pioneer of simple living. She offers eleven wonderfully wise tips for living not only a less stressful life, but for living in a more connected and organic way.

Here are her simple principles for Living the Good Life:

1. Do the best you can, whatever arises.

2. Be at peace with yourself.

3. Find a job you enjoy.

4. Live in simple conditions; housing, food, clothing; get rid of clutter.

5. Contact nature every day; feel the earth under your feet.

6. Take physical exercise through hard work; through gardening or walking.

7. Don’t worry; live one day at a time.

8. Share something every day with someone else; if you live alone, write someone; give something away; help someone else somehow.

9. Take time to wonder at life and the world; see some humor in life where you can.

10. Observe the one life in all things.

11. Be kind to the creatures.

organic spa magazine

i've been eyeing this magazine for a while online. organic spa magazine just launched and released their first issue! it's beautiful, cover to cover. enjoyed their articles on inspired places for green getaways around the world. gives me warm fuzzies to read a spa magazine based on spirit, sustainablility and soul. you can read the entire interactive magazine online. truly a green magazine.

that should be it from me this friday so have a great weekend!
maria

remember to send any comments my way... maria@destressessentials.com or reply to post.

creative self-expression

i'm always interested in improving my writing. i'd like to find one on how to write shorter blog posts though!

last night i took an interactive writing workshop called 'writing your life into being'. i loved it. the teacher read from various books - political, spiritual, literature, poetry - then we wrote our thoughts on a given word, for example truth, success, and freedom. what surprising clarity these 2-4 min writing exercises brought me. the 2 hrs went by too quickly. they call this a state of flow when time passes when immersed in something delicious.

no matter who we are and what our profession is, we are born creative. so makes sense that we crave self-expression as adults when we have little of it in our busy task heavy lives. though we create it in whatever form it takes on for you -- through clothing, dialogue, crafts, music, cooking, art, whatever. it's important to find our own voice and clarify our own visions. i think no matter how left brained we are we can exercise the other half of that muscle and bring balance through tuning into our highest creative powers. we can transform our lives and our minds into a healthier state. so squeeze in creative play or creative self-expression if it's not in your daily agenda. it will make for a more stress-free, happier person.

next week's interactive writing exercises will be about 'joy'. can hardly wait!

creating a soulful space

"It's not houses I love, it's the life I live in them".

- coco chanel

Love that quote. Rings so true for me. My first home outside of group living was a 650 sq. ft. studio in alexandria, va with a view of the main street, duke street which ended at the potomac river. nothing fancy at all, it was near 2 major beltways leading into dc and heading to southern, va and if you cross over another bridge you'll be in maryland. needless to say, it was prime location for all sorts of activity yet it felt like a castle to me!

my studio amongst all the other apts in that mid-rise building was an oasis of tranquility. i loved who i was becoming in that studio and the tranformation of empty space to a haven i looked forward to stepping into after a long day at work (PBS Online) and cavorting around the city. everything had its place. books were the center of that sacred living space. A $10 poster print of picasso's portrait de dora mar i bought from ikea was that one truly inspiring piece seen from every spot in my apt. She totally resonated with me during that time in my life. Every place since then i've made a sacred space i can safely retreat to.

if your home (gigantic, mid, small sized) isn't yet that inspiring place for you to step into, start small with one room where you can have a sense of well-being. most likely you're paying a good-sized mortgage or rent, if so why not create a surrounding that you look forward to reatreating to and that reflects your spirited personality.

Your bedroom is a great place to start. Hopefully so, you spend at least 8 hrs/day in there. Having a tight budget or no budget at all allows us to get even more creative. hint hint you won't run to pottery barn to get the space everyone else and their catalog showroom has.

I started off with what i call zen green paint (got at san luis paints locally but can get at home depot too) which sets the tone to tranquility. Then add some photos that resonate good feeling energy, an outdoor scenery painting or print, throw in some accessories with your vibe, throw some fabrics around the room/bed/chair/side table, place a soy candle by the bedside along with inspiring reading material to end your day, invest in some high thread count cotton bedsheets, and add a light with a dimmer switch to set a relaxed tone. Leave out the TV, computers and electronics and you'll soon find yourself looking forward to your oasis of calm and a surrounding that nurtures your soul. And ahhhh the wonderful side-effect.... a restful sleep.

word play

words at play...
stressed spelled backwards is desserts

nap like you're a child again

yesterday i took a big fat guilt free nap, the one where the couch fabric gets etched into my face and drool runs down my mouth and i wake up wondering where i am. i love it! i love how it re-charges me and makes my skin glow too.

so today it got me thinking how we seem to glorify people who sacrifice sleep. we glorify the "super woman". when my husband brett calls me that i'm not sure to accept that as a compliment but i do anyway. it makes me think to slow down and care for myself. what am i in a hurry for? i'll really never get 'it' all done. the pressure is on myself. so me, who runs a store on relaxation and wellness, am learning to relax and pace myself in this exciting life. napping definitely helps me slow down, listen to my tired body and it helps put some perspective on life. sometimes the answers are that easy.

as i'm typing muse, the napping queen, is by my foot snoozing away. we could all learn from our furry friends.

let's sing the praises to napping!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a picture of my sister who has been a mother for 21 yrs. See what motherhood does to a woman!? Here she's taking a break from being mom and loving this role as well.


Photo was taken during her last visit where we toured the Santa Ynez Valley wine country.

Good times and rough times, she and her daughter are tight; that's a mother's love. Can't get between that. Happy mother's day to my sister and our (giggly) mom who raised 4 grown ups kids and still cooks each of our favorite filipino dish when we visit... ahhh a mother's love.

We're off to take our 4-legged furry child to the beach!

italian spa reviews by melissa

Our Glow! newsletter feature writer Melissa of Spa Defined will be coming back from her whirlwind spa trip to Italy and we welcome her back home to Santa Babrara!

If you're not reading this from a spa in italy and feel like escaping virtually to a glorious destination, read Melissa's blog for her spa reviews of Tuscany and Positano spas. Yes, it's tough luxuriating in italian spas being pampered, energized, relaxed, healed and detoxed. Sometimes that's just what a girl has to do ;-)

'live life laughing' eggplant

my laughter buddy laura and i swapped gifts on the last day of Dr. Kataria's laughter yoga teacher training seminar. i gave her one of my soy candles as my symbolic gesture to illuminate the light within her and i'm now the new owner of this beautiful eggplant which reads 'live life laughing'. check out laura's eggplant owner's gallery.

yogic breathing exercises

i survived the dreadful part II number crunching and financial mgmt yesterday. so to quickly counter balance that type of stress, I practiced yogic breathing exercises as i was taught during laughter yoga training. pranayama, a sanskrit word for life energy force, combined with laughter exercises expands like energy to help bring more oxygen to my body which rejuventes and brings me more energy to do more number crunching! Even being aware of my new inner spirit of laughter helped me through yesterday despite that left brain challenge. it has now become my new daily exercise i look forward to and to bring into my community. if you're an area resident and interested in expanding laughter yoga with me, pls contact me. email: maria@destressessentials.com or use contact form. I'd like to hear from you.

i also realized when i woke up how much i miss those early morning meditations, breathing exercises and the comraderie of new connections. the experience with dr. kataria and friends left a huge imprint in my laughing joyful heart. i think back to experiences that really push my limits... didn't think laughing could bring so many benefits to mind and body and spirit (and left me feeling exhausted and exhilirated), but this is something that really pushed me away from my comfort zone and yearning for more out of the box experiences. so july as a birthday present to myself i'm off to an iyengar conference and yoga training. here's to pushing our limits together!

reminder reminder...
be the first initial member of santa barbara hula hoop group... tues, may 22 6pm hula hoop in the park. hula hoop meetup group.

see your light

My friend shared this Light Movie with me and now I want to share it with the world! It's beautiful. It's about your light. Click here to watch it.

you can always share your thoughts by emailing me: maria@destressessentials.com or use form on website to contact us.

natural beaty product review - organic fiji

For green body care fans out there, Organic Fiji was listed in iVllage's top 6 favorite natural beauty product lines:

"The brainchild of a California businessman, Organic Fiji promotes the vitamin-rich, natural healing and moisturizing properties of 100 percent certified organic coconut oil. With one of the world's only certified organic coconut plantations, the company uses an ancient Fijian recipe for its soaps. Its facial products protect the skin with natural antioxidants, and the company is committed to clean, humane and healthy environmental practices."

- Eileen Sutton

Click here to watch video on de-stress essentials

shop de-stress essentials for 100% certified organic coconut oil body care by organic fiji

full article on ivillage

tuesday feels like monday

it's so funny i'm gone for a week and today feels like monday and monday felt like sunday. since i abandoned a 'normal' routine when left the 9-5 working world and started on this journey early last year, dates/times are not as important as what i do with the days given to me. i work much longer hours but it's work that my creative spirit guides me to do and it's worth the long days.

after coming back from the retreat i felt totally refreshed! sunday my husband and i and sabrina in towe drove north of our home and spent the day fixing up minor things around the house we're selling. it's about an hr north of here on the coast and it goes on the market tomorrow! and today my book keeper came over and we tackled financials i've been putting off. ahhhh. wonderful feeling of forward movement.

then i got a wonderful email from a woman going through an entrepreneurship program at WEV and commented on how she was inspired by my business plan as part of her curriculum. funny how good things start happening when i have a positive refreshed perspective. i love the saying that goes 'if you change your routine, you change your perspective'.

here's to retreats + laughter + yoga + friendship!

HA HA HA
Yours in laughter,

Maria
Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher


p.s. the hoop group play date has changed to tuesday, may 22. click here for details/sign up.

laughter yoga experience

saturday i came back from an incredible week of laughter yoga. i had no idea what to expect prior to arriving. my heart guides me to strange places and i'm always better for it. well, i learned i still have alot of laughter in me, that i can laugh for no reason at all, that i don't need jokes to laugh, that laughing for 10 min is like excerising for 30 min and that laughing reduces stress and brings more oxygen to the body and brain therefore increasing our energy and levels of enthusiasm.

In addition to the laughter excerises, laughter mediations and guided meditations, i learned about the inner spirit of laughter from dr. kataria, the founder of laughter yoga and more than being our trainer for the week. i really felt my physical, emotional and mental self was stronger than when i came into the retreat. my husband even noticed the difference. i leave you with something i came away with from dr. kataria, it's an old concept from ayurveda that says that the body is like a house and in your house there are 5 rooms of work/life balance. if one of these rooms is dirty then there is imbalance. care for the rooms if there's imbalance.

the 5 rooms are:
1 - self: know who you are
2 - family: have connections with you biological family
3 - work: life doesn't begin and end with work
4- social: connect with other people, volunteer, social, neighbors, etc
5- spiritual: have your higher force working within you

"Life has no meaning, we put meaning into life"
- Dr. Madan Kataria

water bottle alternative

In April's blog post i wrote about my needing improvement on using less plastic water bottles. So here's my friend Jim's take on the whole drinking water out of plastic water bottles alternative that are delivered to the store by gas-guzzling trucks. whew that was a mouth full. He said the following and I quote him...

I had this same dilemma last year and did some research. I now do a two-step process:

1) I take ordinary SB tap water and run it through a Brita filter. Then ..

2) I take the Brita filtered water and run it through a ceramic filter made by a company called Doulton

The water is significantly better tasting than after passing through just the Brita filter. It tastes even better if put in the refrigerator but perhaps that is cheating a little.

I use the stand-alone gravity fed stainless steel model. Here is the link:

http://doultonusa.com/HTML%20pages/portable_systems.htm

Thanks Jim!

World Laughter Day!

ha ha ha

I had the honor of spending the most incredible and inspiring week of my life at a week long laughter yoga training/spiritual retreat with the man who started this laughter phenomenon movement, Dr. Madan Kataria a medical doctor from India who started his first laughter club in a park in Mumbai India with only 5 people and has now grown to a 5,000 clubs in over 55 countries! I'll write more on my experiences later but today go out and laugh... for no reason at all. Check out this page for more on this laughter movement and where to celebrate it with others in your city.

ha ha ha,
maria

click here to find a laughter club in your area

The best blush to use is laughter: It puts roses in your cheeks and in your soul.
-Linda Knight