Take time out with our newest Forever products while using a simple mindfulness technique.
Any kind of stress, whether mental, emotional or physical, can trigger a particular biological response in the body—your shoulders tense, your head feels tight, your jaw can become clenched as your mind races. Typically, after the response occurs, your body should relax. Yet, this doesn’t always transpire. Too much constant stress can have negative effects on your long-term health, and it’s important to take intentional time to seek calm and relaxation.
With Forever, several amazing products can help you destress, even with just a 20-minute time out. Combine this with a simple mindfulness technique, and your body will become more tranquil.
A brilliant combination for a dedicated time of calm is using Forever Essential Oils, Forever’s Aloe Bio-Cellulose Mask and our newest product, Forever’s Aloe Liquid Soap.
Forever’s Aloe Liquid Soap
With a light foaming effect and delicate scent, Forever’s Aloe Liquid Soap creates a wonderful bubble bath experience. But this multi-purpose product doesn’t stop there, it can also be used as an all over body wash and a shampoo. Or soak your feet in a small tub of warm, sudsy water and Aloe Liquid Soap.
Bathing in the benefits of aloe and jojoba oil, Forever’s Aloe Liquid Soap also contains a prized oil for the skin. Argan comes from the Argan tree which is nicknamed the ‘Tree of Life’ and only found in the semi-deserts of Morocco. The tree stays lush in harsh, drought and chalk-like conditions, and is one of Morocco’s miraculous resources as the oil can only be harvested from its kernel for only three months out of the year.
It’s an oil that is non-greasy, fast absorbing and doesn’t clog the pores. With and abundance of vitamin E (3 times the amount of olive oil) and vitamin A, antioxidants and essential fatty acids, argan oil nourishes and protects all skins types as it helps your pH balance.
Forever Essential Oils
Using aromatherapy can energise you, encourage you to relax, clear your head, soothe tension, and help decrease stress responses depending on which oils you use.Using essential oils with a diffuser can assist us greatly in the process of achieving balance by aiding our ability to be present, encouraging a positive outlook, and reducing the impact of negative emotions. Forever has four fantastic scents to choose from that you can place in a diffuser or add a few drops onto cotton wool and inhale as you take intentional breaths.
Forever Essential Oils Peppermint is made with leaves harvested from the foothills of the Himalayas in India; The result is an essential oil that cools, refreshes, clears the mind and invigorates.
Forever Essential Oils Lavender is made with lavender grown and harvested in Bulgaria. High levels of linalyl acetate, a chain of carbon atoms which may promote a relaxing atmosphere with its fruity, sweet aroma which can soothe, relax, promoting a release of tension and rejuvenate.
Forever Essential Oils Lemon comes from lemons hand harvested and carefully cured from Argentina and California. This ensures the fruit is juicer and more aromatic, producing potent essential oil to refresh, energise, and invigorate with a sharp awareness and revitalise with a clean scent.
Forever Essential Oils Defense is a blend of seven of the highest quality therapeutic oils from six countries around the world. Clove bud and cinnamon bark oil from Madagascar, orange from the United States, frankincense from Somalia, rosemary from Hungary, eucalyptus citriodora oil from Australia and juniper berry from Nepal make up this powerful warm, citrus scent.
The best heat diffusers will use a very low heat (such as a candle) to give a milder, longer lasting aroma. In a bathroom, you either need a battery powered diffuser or candle diffuser that uses a tea light or other candle to gently heat the essential oil to promote diffusion into a room. You can also make your own room diffuser by taking ¼ cup of any unscented oil such as safflower or rapeseed in a small bowl and adding 20 to 25 drops of your favourite Forever Essential Oils.
Forever’s Aloe Bio-Cellulose Mask
The award-winning Aloe Bio-Cellulose Mask is super-hydrating formula which combines the power of aloe with seagrass, horse chestnut, green tea extract and coconut. The fibres are 1000 x thinner than human hair, and are moisture retentive, allowing the mask to fit tightly to the contours of your face and reach fine lines and wrinkles more effectively. Cooling and calming, it reduces the appearance of redness, bringing the power of a hydrating serum to your skin. It’s most effective to wear for at least 20 minutes as the mask actually breaks down into your skin after 15 minutes.
Every part is 100% compostable, and it is compatible with all skin types, and both my teens and my husband also love this mask as part of just taking time to relax and replenish.
Adding in a Mindfulness Technique
Though I love a tranquil guided meditation to relax, as a certified mindfulness coach, I found that there are many easy to remember techniques you can do almost anywhere that promotes calm.
The STOP Technique is a mindfulness-based practice designed to help you defuse stress in the moment and can complement while you practice self-care with Forever products.
Taking time to STOP can calm your mind, emotions and body, can help you gain perspective and determine the best possible action you can take next. Over time and with practice, this technique of responding becomes a habit and is easy to remember. Creating space in the day to pause and slow down a racing mind, and get back into the present moment has been incredibly helpful in reducing the negative effects of stress.
S = Stop
Stop what you’re doing right now, get in a comfortable position in a chair while you soak your feet in a tub or in a bubble bath filled with foamy Aloe Liquid Soap. Put on a Aloe Bio-Cellulose Mask and just relax.
T = Take
Take a few deep breaths. Maybe in through the nose initially for several long deep breaths (from the diaphragm/lower belly area), and then out through the mouth. With each exhalation, allow your body to soften a bit more. Breathe in and sense the breath coming in. Hold for five seconds. Breath out and sense the breath going out, then repeat the process five times. Allow your body to take the breath it needs in its natural rhythm of being alive. Place your favourite Forever Essential Oil in a candle diffuser near you or even place a few drops on a cotton wool pad in the tub’s corner where you can bring it close and inhale the rich scents as you breathe.
O = Observe
Observe if there’s any tension or tightness anywhere, especially in the face, jaw and shoulders. If you notice any of that, just allow it to soften. This is a perfect time to let the Aloe Bio-Cellulose Mask sink into your skin as you become aware of how you are feeling mentally and emotionally in this moment. Maybe it is a calm, or a restlessness/irritation, or maybe even a bit of sadness. We aren’t judging these emotions but accepting what comes our way in this set aside time, identify them, allow ourselves to feel them, and move on.
Continue to observe yourself physically and emotionally in this moment, just letting things be. It’s OK—the “o” of observe is just to allow us to be aware of our experience in the moment; physically, emotionally, and mentally. The moment we notice that our mind is off is a moment we’re present. Settle in, be aware of the fullness of your experience physically, emotionally, and mentally, and just let be in the moment.
P= Proceed
Proceed is just dropping the question of: “What’s most important for me to pay attention to right now?” or “What am I needing right now?” Allow whatever answer is there to simply and slowly arise. Proceed with that in this next moment. Maybe you need to take a few more deep breaths and then release some worries you have been pondering. Maybe you just need to sit with the sadness of loss for a few moments or take time to have gratitude for the things that are positive in your life.
This is a great act of self-care; take the final moment to acknowledge yourself for taking this time before you wrap up and go back into the routines of life.
Forever offers so many other amazing products for self-care and you add other products to complement these times of intentional calm. Whether it’s the Aloe Activator or Mask Powder combination, doing a foot scrub with Forever’s Smoothing Exfoliator, or adding extra hydration with Forever’s Aloe Propolis Crème, discover more of wonderful benefits of aloe on the skin while you take time out and unwind.
What are your tips for taking time out, and practicing mindfulness and self-care? Let us know in the comments below.
by Jeannie McGinnis – Forever UK
Find all the above mentioned products in my online store…
