I had the good fortune to meet a really cool and enthusiastic woman a few days ago at an information session about healthy skin products. I am fascinated by this sort of thing, especially as we continue to learn that many products we grew up with and trusted may be linked to ill health effects and even cancer. I think it is so important to be educated about what goes into the products we use on ourselves and babies, why they are used and what it means from a health perspective. Jean is a total expert on all this stuff and revitalized my already pretty vigilant stance on being chemical free.

In addition to providing an amazing service of educating all of us about the risks and benefits of certain ingredients, Jean was providing samples of a really cool line of skin care called ARBONNE.

I happily sniffed, applied, ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the deliciously rich creams and their yummy light fragrances and of course I jumped at the chance to take home a few samples

The baby care line is great. I truly wish I had known about this product when my kids were babies. I searched really hard for stuff like this without ever really finding something that nailed it like these did.

My kids tried and loved everything–it was fun how excited they were about the cute simple drawings on the packaging. The hair & body wash lathers super well and washes off easily-so important when rinsing a squirmy baby! The lotion is non-greasy, goes on smoothly and absorbed easily. My son exclaimed “It feels soft!” The herbal diaper rash cream is awesome. My daughter only wears diapers at night but still get irritated from time to time. I put a small amount of the cream on before bed and the little bit of pink she had was all gone by the morning. Something every mom wants. It also is not crazy thick or weirdly oily like different creams I’ve tried. And I’ve tried lots. It’s been rainy so I haven’t tried the sunscreen yet, but another mom told me it works really well and offer great protection.

Jean was also nice enough to let me try some anti-aging creams. They are truly luxurious. I personally don’t follow a very comprehensive skin care regimen but I definitely fell in love with the eye cream and the facial wash -two thing I am super picky about.

Want to learn more? Here’s Jean’s Bio:
Jean Warnock is on a mission to empower women to recognize their best selves by nourishing mind,
body, and spirit. She believes that every single soul on this green earth has a personal blueprint to
wellness and wants to help you discover it!

You can check out the skincare products Jean recommends at jeanwarnock.myarbonne.com. She openly welcomes all questions and would love hear from you!

You really can practice at homemyyogaonline / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It’s ok if you have tried before. Stopped and started again. There is no limit on how many times you can try, and you don’t need to start up where you left off. Whether you once had a daily practice of 60-90 minutes or have just decided you wanted to try to practice at home, here are the basics you need to get on your mat and start feeling great.

First you need some space, not just physical space but emotional space, a feeling of readiness and willingness, and space in your day.

The physical space is the easiest. I’ve had various degrees of ideal spaces to practice in my different homes, now my space isn’t ideal. It’s cluttered with toys and doesn’t overlook mountains and rivers or other inspiring scenery, but it works. Some mornings there is about a million little legos on my would be sacred yoga space, but I just move over a bit, and practice amongst the creativity and exploration that took place the day before and some how didn’t get picked up. It’s not a big deal really, and most importantly it’s not a deal breaker. I still practice.

Emotional space, can be simple. Decide to get out of your own way. Ignore the excuses. The excuses won’t go away but your relationship to them can. Emotions can also be attached to expectations, wanting to practice a certain way, for a certain amount of time to achieve a certain outcome. Just thinking about all that can leave you feeling wiped out and uninspired. Let the actual practice lead the way, create simple daily actions, which will create good vibes. Eventually, maybe immediately, maybe not, those good vibes and positive associations will drive you and you’ll forget the other more external goals. Your practice will be your practice and it’ll be wonderfully simple.

OK, now to manage the time issue. We all are busy-busy all the time. But you aren’t going to let this silly fact of life stop you. What I suggest is plan to do some yoga postures for about 7 minutes. You know you can do that. Just try to do what comes to mind, what feels good for 7 minutes. Include a 1 minute savasana at the end. Start here and see if over time 7 minutes becomes a little longer. Just give yourself the chance to do yoga for 7 minutes. I chronically avoided my daily practice because it wasn’t going to be long enough, until I started just trying to go for 7 minutes, and it’s gotten up to about 20 minutes. It means I wake up a little earlier, and some mornings it is still just 7 minutes but it’s enough, and I feel motivated to keep it up and miss if it I ever don’t get the chance to practice –which happens, but doesn’t stop the practice.