Peach lotion is delicious and easy to make. All you need is 20 fl. Oz of Almond oil, and 3 oz of Beeswax Essence of Rose, 16 fl oz. of rosewater. The rosewater is made by adding dried rose petals to water, soaking them for 3 days and then strain and removes the petals. You can use your bathtub or a pan to mix it up. Heat the wax and oil in a non-metal pot until the wax is dissolved. Metal pots have been shown to release toxic metals that can be harmful to your skin and should be avoided when making cosmetics. Glass or porcelain is ideal. Remove from the heat and mix in the rose water. You can add some rose essence oil at this time if you desire a stronger rose scent. Beat the lotion until its creamy and cold, and pour into a container and store away. You can use this lotion as a makeup remover. It will soother and moisturize dry and normal skin.

If you want to make a lotion that is not as creamy then all you need is 1 peach, 4 drops tincture of Benzoin, 2oz of coconut or almond oil, and 1 or 2 drops of orange oil. Grab the peach and wash, drain, mash and strain the juice by using cheesecloth. Add the 4 drops of Benzoin, the coconut oil and orange oil. Beat it all together until it’s nice a fluffy then pour into a container. It will make about 4 oz. of lotion. Store it in the refrigerator so that it can last longer without spoilage. Use and apply on skin whenever you’re in need of some moisture.

Another great lotion to make is a ginger lotion that has enough spice to wake all of your senses up. You will need 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, 2 tsp of light sesame oil, 2 tsp of apricot oil, and 2 tsp of vitamin E oil and ½ cup of cocoa butter. Preheat the oven to its lowest temp. While you grate the ginger small enough to where it’s 1/8 tsp of ginger juice. Squeeze the juice out of the ginger over a bowl then add all of the ingredients. Melt the cocoa butter before adding it in the bowl. Blend it all together and store it in a container. Add any essential oil for a scented treat. Vanilla, almond, or even lavender is great essential oils. Play around with it and find which one sends your senses into ecstasy. It’s good enough to eat but is made for your skin.

Decades ago the two sexes seemed to have very well defined roles in life.  The man went to work and brought home the money to support his family, and the woman stayed at home and worked at taking care of the family’s non-financial needs.  This division of labor seemed to flow naturally and worked out pretty good for a long time.  Everybody felt taken care of and it seemed that whatever job stress came with each job, the person responsible for that job, was endowed by nature to handle it with ease.

We have come a long way baby.  But did we end up going a long way in the wrong direction?  Now men and women work to support their families that seem as differently defined as the roles of the men and women themselves.  All this change came with the idea that men and women were not living equally full lives, and that women had just as much of a right to work and earn money as men did.  The pioneers for this movement also argued that women were no different than men and should be treated just like a man.  There may have been a better a way to fight for equality as human beings when you take into consideration that not all women appreciate being treated as or compared to men.

Interestingly enough women’s lives were transformed in more ways than they could have ever imagined in the spirit of this revolution.  Men decided that if the women wanted to do their jobs, they could have them.  Now the trend is constantly morphing, seeing men become more and more comfortable with staying at home, and being a stay at home dad, or house husband.  Even when there is no kids to be a stay at home dad to, men are starting to take on the role of homemaker.

Although it is thought by some to not be politically correct to say so, some women will agree that a man’s strength and power is being tragically wasted on his running of a vacuum cleaner around the house.   A tragedy that becomes even more gruesome when the man, does not, expend any of his muscular strength on anything, even to clean the home he is supposedly making.

Now the women, who are with these new age homemaking men, are starting to see cracks spring up all over the theory that men and women are the same.  Women want their men to look and act like men, and they just want to tell their men to go back to work.

The menstrual cycle is the body’s way of getting rid of things it no longer needs. The menstrual cycle gets rid of the uterus lining every month renewing it month by month. The uterus is an eliminative channel along with the kidneys, liver, colon, skin and lungs. This sixth eliminative channel is the reason why women generally outlive men by 7 years.

Menstruation comes from the Latin word mensis (month) which related to the Greek word mene meaning moon. It reflects the moon by the fact that it also takes 28 days to revolve around the earth. Some people believe that women naturally ovulated with the full moon and menstruated with the new moon. Artificial light has altered the influence of the moon and a woman’s cycle. Studies have also shown that bright light exposure in the mornings promoted more regular cycles.

Contraceptives should be looked at a little closer before you decide to use them. They haven’t had enough time to get accurate results on long term effects. With movies like Children of men it wouldn’t be surprising to find that women become sterile later in the future. The way that evolution works should also be considered. The body adapts over time. By taking contraceptives you subconsciously telling the body that having a menstrual cycle and being fertile is unnecessary and over time could affect your daughter’s ability to conceive. Again there hasn’t been enough time that passed since the invention of contraceptives to have accurate results on these theories. I personally have decided to stay away from being a scientist’s guinea pig.

The menstruation period may be frowned upon by many but I feel it should be welcomed. It shows good health and fertility of some sort. It is also a sign of femininity and a life force. It is the time to reinvent your self and cleanse physically and mentally. A balance and nutritious diet will keep your PMS symptoms at a minimum. PMS is the way your body lashes out while it’s getting rid of extra toxins. The better you eat the least amount of toxins your body will need to get rid of during your cycle. Fruits are a girls best friend

We all know we need our beauty sleep. Why and how sleeping makes us beautiful may not be known to us during the first half of our lives, but as we get older, we begin understanding exactly how they are related. When our bodies are sleeping our cells are repairing themselves. Our skin is even more receptive to creams and beauty products while we sleep. Getting about eight hours of shut eye per night helps keep our brains alert, and possibly, the most beautifying thing about sleep is that it helps stabilize our moods.

It takes work to be beautiful, is one of those sayings that is true, but not in the obvious way. All the time and money in the world spent on make-up or primping, will not deliver you to hottie status.  If you are not well hydrated, or are deficient in vitamins and minerals your body needs, it will show on your face.

It has been recommended that the average person drink 64 ounces of water per day. The older a person is the quicker they can become dehydrated. Usually once the body feels thirst, it is a sign that it is already dehydrated. The most healthy choice for hydration is water. Dehydration’s toll on a person’s looks range from wrinkled skin, dry eyes, fatigue, and dry and brittle hair. Drinking more water is one of the easiest and quickest ways to feel better in seconds.

Nothing says beauty like vitality and energy. The biggest group of vitamins is the B vitamins. They help the body make energy. These vitamins also help the body to release the energy when we need it the most. They make red blood cells which carry oxygen to the body. Soft glowing skin, thick lush hair, shiny bright eyes, flushed dewy skin, strong nails, tell us that this process is taking place within us. Our bodies cannot make the vitamins so we need to eat the foods that contain them.

Beauty is translated differently for each and every person. The common standard of beauty is sometimes synthetic and contrived. But the true radiance of a body at it’s full healthy potential cannot be denied.

We are in the age of self-help, counseling, therapy, and the problems are just getting worse. We are a society of stress. We have taken on too much work, too many activities, and we make too many excuses for why we don’t fully care for ourselves, inside or out. We have taken and accepted excuses over power and love.

We have lost focus. With a focus of strength and a controlled view of ourselves, our lives, and the things around us, we can take back control and claim ourselves once again. When you implement focus into your life you are adjusting to a level of stabilization inside yourself. You are allowing self-commitment and self-resolve to become a focal point.  Commitment creates the excitement and the will to focus.

The basic idea is that when you are stressed, doubtful, or fearful, all you have to do is find your focus, your focal point, and your inner balance will follow. Everyone of us has a different underlying strength of focus and the fun part is finding your best suited focal point. When you have decided that it is time to bring focus back into your settings then the journey of discovery will begin.

First you must give-in. By accepting that you are ready to start over, then you release any denial, and you can begin to fully focus. You will need to see the importance of focus and accept that as well. In your mind, go through a list of ‘good’ emotions. Love, trust, joy, happiness, bliss, etc. Feel each emotion and pick two or three that resonate most highly with you personally.  The ones that ring your heart bells are your focal points. You will use these as your focus.

When times of stress and fear approach throughout your day take your focal point emotions and feel them. Associate times of happiness with your focal emotions to make them more powerful. When times of trial arise take your resonating feeling in love and bring them to your heart’s center. Use this focus of love to answer your uncertainty. You ca n even use this type of focus to answer questions. When you can call upon these good feelings at need you have mastered your focus. You must practice this art of finding your good feelings and utilize them in your everyday activities. Focus brings faith.

You can usually make your exfoliates and scrubs with things that are just laying around in your kitchen. Sugar and salts is usually the main ingredient to any facial/body scrub. One of my favorite home made scrubs is made by mixing three drops of pure peppermint essential oil, 2 tbsp ground rice and juice of half a lime. You can buy any essential oil at a whole foods or Chamberlains natural food store. The peppermint gives you a nice cooling effect that makes you feel very refreshed.  The acid from the lemon has a toning effect on skin and the ground rice is what scrubs against the dead skin. If you don’t care for peppermint then lavender is another nice essential oil.

Lavender comes from the Latin root (lavare) “to wash”. It was used in baths to purify the body and spirit. It is also known as an anti-depressant. It’s a natural remedy for stress, anxiety and unstable moods. It has calming and relaxing effects on the body. By spraying it on your pillow before bed, it can help you relax and go to sleep easier. Eucalyptus has a very close effect. The main active ingredient in eucalyptus oil is “eucalyptol” which is a strong germicidal and disinfectant. It also lowers blood sugar and helps relieve fevers and bronchial congestion. It’s often used to relieve nerve, muscle and joint pains. Eucalyptus is also good for the mind by alleviating stress, and mental fatigue.

 Another exfoliate I love making is made out of oatmeal. All you need is a few drops of orange essential oil, 2 tbsp bran, 2 tbsp finely ground oatmeal, and 1 tsp of lemon juice. It’s sweet and has a wonderfully clean smell! This one is not suitable for sensitive skins though so be careful. The acids may be too much for your face. Body skin is tougher than the skin on your face so you will notice that they’re a little coarser. You can make a body mask by mixing 1 1/2 tsp dried juniper berries, 8 fresh strawberries, and 2 to 4 tbsp ginger root, peeled and grated. Mash all the berries together and apply it mostly on your limbs. Then rinse off with warm water and wash cloth. You can also just brush your skin which helps with ridding your body from dead skin cells while opening clogged pores and detoxifying your body which improves your lymphatic system. Try these easy to make exfoliates and don’t be scared to try different essential oils. Each of them has a different benefit to your body! Enjoy newer fresher skin!

One popular Pilates exercise you can do at home is called The Hundred.  This is a type of modified crunch designed to strengthen the core muscles.  Lie on an exercise mat on your back with your toes pointed.  Anchor your shoulder blades, and “zip and hollow” your abdominal muscles.  Tuck your chin down onto your chest, and lift your head and shoulders up from the mat so that you’re looking toward your stomach.  Keeping your legs straight, raise them about 2 inches from the floor, and raise your arms to about a 45 degree angle.  “Pump” your arms up and down about 6 to 8 inches, inhaling for 5 beats and then exhaling for 5 beats, for a total of 100 beats.  Unless you’re already very fit, start slowly and work your way up to 100 beats.

The next exercise is the Roll Up, and you begin in the same basic position as before – lying on your exercise mat on your back, toes pointed, shoulder blades anchored, and abdominal muscles zipped and hollowed.  Your arms should be extended above your head and resting on the floor.  As you inhale, point your toes upward, bring your arms upward, and tuck your chin to your chest.  Keep moving and as you exhale, roll your spine up off the mat and stretch forward until your head is touching your knees.  Inhale again as you begin to reverse your position, beginning to exhale about half way through so that you have fully exhaled by the time you have returned to the starting position.  Try to work your way up to 6 repetitions of this exercise.

Angel Arms is a good warm up exercise, as well as an exercise that can improve your posture and give your arms and shoulders a greater range of motion.  Lie on your back on your exercise mat, with your back in a neutral, naturally curved position.  Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor, and keep your arms down by your side.  While inhaling, sweep your arms straight out to the side and up, as if you were making the wings of a snow angel, keeping the movement in your arms and shoulders.  Exhale as your bring your arms back down to your sides.  This exercise should be done slowly, with proper focus and control.

Finally, The Swan exercise provides an excellent counterpoint to The Hundred and the Roll Up.  Lie on your stomach on the mat with your arms close to your body.  Bending your elbows, bring your hands up under your shoulders.  Using your abdominal muscles, pull your belly button up toward your back and try to keep your abdominal muscles in this position throughout the exercise.  As you inhale, press against the mat with your forearms and hands, stretching and lengthening your spine as you arc upwards.  Then, exhale as you slowly return to the starting position.  Think of yourself as raising and lowering one vertebra at a time, and perform this exercise three to five times.

Besides losing weight and obtaining a fit body the objection of exercising should be to break a sweat! Sweating is the body’s way of cooling down. It’s a physiological function just like breathing and digestion. Perspiration is perfectly healthy. It’s actually recommended that you break a sweat daily by a form of exercise to induce sweating. Without sweating your body can not absorb moisture. Instead you will expel most of the liquid through urination. Your body will stay de-hydrated and it can cause complications like muscle cramps, dizziness, and heat stroke. Most people don’t like sweating because of the odor that comes with it. America turned to deodorants and antiperspirants to get rid of the embarrassment. Not knowing the difference between the two, people are doing themselves harm with out even knowing it.

An antiperspirant is a product that goes under the arm to stop sweating. It blocks the pores so that there’s no sweat and no odor. Sweating does not cause odor, it’s the bacteria that grows under the arm from it being moist. Deodorant slows the growth of the bacteria but does not stop sweating. You have to be careful with some products; some may contain aluminum which has been suspected to cause some breast cancers. You can make natural deodorants by mixing baking soda and cornstarch. You then apply it to your arm pit. If you prefer a liquid deodorant then you can get herbs like sage rosemary mint or coriander and make a tea. Dilute it with mineral water and add essential oils like lavender or eucalyptus to get the anti-bacterial effect and a wonderful smell. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of making it then go to a whole foods near you. They have a whole isle dedicated to natural products. They’re a little pricey but worth every penny. Dr. Bronnon’s magic soap is a perfect example. You can wash your face, body, and hair. You can also use it to shave! Four products in one! You may need to apply the deodorants more than once a day but it’s worth not catching a disease from the side effects of an aluminum containing product.