Hi Fieldhigh!
I've had exactly the same problems and have been experimenting around with hydrating my skin. Pure coconut oil only dries me out because I am in a cool dry climate. Jojoba oil by itself as well.

RGG's suggestion of rosehip oil works wonders for me, especially under all other creams/oils etc.

Wheatgrass juice spray also is excellent.

I've made my own magic moisturizer using cacao butter as a base and various other oils mixed into it, which I've found is excellent, especially avodaco oil. Hemp seed oil I find very nourishing also, but only mixed with avocado oil.

But the best thing I've found - hands down best - is drinking lots of water, some with a pinch of celtic sea salt and lemon in it.

I also firmly believe that if you won't eat it, you shouldn't put it on your skin. Skin absorbs everything into the blood stream, which is IMHO the same as eating it.

This is just my experience, but I relate to your issue with dry skin!

Hope this is food for thought,
cheers,
Niqi

 

YES YES YES!!!!!!!

I took photos. It was amazing! I've NEVER seen than before in all my years of moon-gazing!

She is smiling at us!


xxx's Niqi 

Me please!

xxx's Niqi

Brilliant thought!

I once read that putting lemon juice on your hands and wearing gloves to bed can help with ultra dry hands.

I know the feeling. I loathe dry hands. I find that just regularly putting something on does the trick, not just once a day but every hour or so.

Hope your hands juice up again!

xxx's Niqi

I'd never have believed this myself after a million years of yoga & meditation and etc, but I find my inner stillness by putting on my tap shoes and tapping my heart away.

Fortunately my dance class room doesn't have mirrors - my fellow tappers and I dance to how we feel and don't care about how we look (a bunch of middle aged and unfit tappers. whoohoo!!!)

Reggae is great for this, and I often find myself choreographing routines in my head when I hear music that moves me.

I suppose this is the result on being a mum of two little girls who are always on the go. Stillness comes from somewhere in the eye of the cyclone!!!

LOLOL!

xxx' s Niqi

Well, my skin has changed again. Sometimes I feel a bit like a snake, always shedding, always changing.

Soft, clear, smooth.  I wonder if it's the green blends I've introduced? I also found a more vegan friendly moisturizer and it's amazing.

The thread on enlightenment is really interesting right now. It's made me think back fondly about my own quest for 'enlightenment' and it made me think of the word itself;

en-
lighten-
ment-

It's like switching on a light. When the light comes on, we see more clearly. We may not always know what to do with that knowledge, but eventually we will.

This is what I know at this moment:
-I need my water. My body responds really well to 2 + litres of water a way.
-I need my green blends. They give me energy when I feel like exhausted c*r*a*p. My experiment here worked.
-Dairy is evil for my body. I've lost weight just stopping eating dairy. I no longer have mucous. If I feel congested, I know now that this is my response to anxiety, and not a -result of eating substances that are toxic to me
-I can make my choices and not get seduced by toxic foods, and toxic suggestions from other people.
-My skin needs loving vegan products; putting stuff on my skin that I would eat works.
-Fruit makes me happy, coconut makes me happy.
-I am not happy when someone tells me that my own personal feelings are wrong, invalid or not important. I'll feel my feelings anyway. I have a right to.

Looking at it, that's not bad. I'm rather happy with what I know about myself now.

Well done me!

 

This is a really esoteric interpretation of my aikido saying! I Love it!

What I took it to mean is that enlightenment is not going to change our every day lives. We still need to function on a day-to-day level to survive; feeding ourselves & our kids, keeping our homes clean & safe, keeping our bodies working, making enough to keep going.

Enlightenment, rather, brings a different attitude to the way you do these things. Part of our aikido training was to scrub toilets. This was a BIG eye opener for the boys in my 'class', but since I am a girly girl, I found this 'enlightened' attitude to housework quite funny.

Enlightenment may just mean that you don't mind scrubbing toilets, because it adds to the greater community benefit. You can scrub and sing, like Mary Poppins, whom I DO consider quite an enlightened being. Morticia Addams, too. Take a look at her attitude to life - she's one of the most lovely creations around. (YEs, I KNOW both these characters are fictional, but then again, we don't really know how 'realistic' the representations of long-dead gurus are either. They might be fictionalized through the lenses of their loving disciples. Nothing wrong with that, just love.)

Life goes on before and after enlightenment. Enlightenment doesn't always last. We are, after all, human with flexible human feelings. It's ok. We can become enlightened, it all goes kerplop sometime and then we can become enlightened again in a completely different manner.

Nothing is static.
Rather, enjoy the ride.
Feel the feelings. Nothing is worse than being numb.

XXXX's Niqi

chop wood & carry water ...!

[quote author=RawAussieAthlete link=topic=3991.msg94122#msg94122 d
Maybe cut back slightly on the quantity and you won't feel nauseous?
When you throw out the fibre you also throw out other good stuff like antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and various phytonutrients (plant nutrients).
[/quote]

Thanks! I sorta thought this might be the case, but will try cutting quantity. I hate not having the fibrous bits, they look at me with all the loving energy in them and cry 'don't throw me out, eat me! eat me!' LOLOLOLOL!

On to next experiment!

Thanks again, Niqi

My aikido teacher used to pass on this message (from his teacher)

before enlightenment, chop wood & carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood & carry water.

I love it!

 

Niqi

Decided to try juicing cucmber, expecting to hate it and would it make me gag?

NO WAY!

I loved it - I dusted off my juicer and decided that I will juice my greens for a while instead of blending them.

Blending greens so far has made me a little nauseous. But I never know what to do with the left over fibre - it seems like such a waste of good stuff!

Anyway - longwinded way of saying I'm munching on (slurping, perhaps??)
cucumber juice!

xxx's Niqi

I am a complete novice at making my own products.  I don't use a dehydrator ('cause I don't have one) but I do melt butters in warm water before I whip things into the butters.

I'm thinking, though, about the paw paw. I have no idea why, but I wonder if paw paw juice or paw paw oil (?? does this exist??)  would be a more viable option than dried paw paw? I've found in the past that macerating herbs in oil is difficult for me, and that these experimental herb infusions haven't really done the trick.

Just a thought though, and not meant to sway you at all. Experimenting with beauty products is so much fun...

!

xxx's Niqi

Thanks dear everyone.

The green juices are doing wonders. Little big princess is now back to her regular self. I think the living energies are BAACK!

We are all working a little more on smaller amounts of food. It really helps, I think. Even just keeping in mind and touching base with the body once in a while to ask it: are you really hungry? Are you just shifting food? Is that pain? Do you really need it? Are you thirsty? helps.

xxxx's
Niqi

I know what you mean about seeing the grime come off. Especially how it makes me feel like my skin is cleaner too! Crazy psychological  thingo or just liking to get the yukky dirt off? Dirt just makes the pimples & wrinkles grow IMHO!!!!

I've found that face cloths are good for washing the face - don't say 'well durh!!!' LOLOLOL!!!
 

Coconut oil still beats everything else I've tried for cleaning.

Thanks for posting more on this Sweetpea!

 

Niqi

Don't you just love the unconscious speaking? It always happens - as soon as I feel uplifted and unloaded and free, I get the flu.

ALWAYS!!!!! 

This time tonsilitis. Except I was born without tonsils, so never had tonsiliis before. Pain pain pain where tonsils should have been.

BUT NO MUCOUS! Wonderful result of having no rubbish in my system! NEVER has this happened before. Darned amazing.

But no energy.

My analyst pointed out the other day that my unconscious is speaking here - feeling the love and peace and one-ness with mother earth before a flu is my way of trying to nurture myself perhaps?

I really should listen to my body more.

How to learn this after decades of ignoring it and trying to 'master' it. (Comes of deciding to incarnate in a medical family. Who am I kidding, I really chose my own lessons here!!!)

I once had a friend who was a very firm environmentalist and went to a wedding once and walked out when she heard the bit in genesis where 'man has dominion over the earth and all that lives on it.'

I feel a bit like that with my body - all these years of trying to control my bod and not listening to her speak! (This is what happens when you have your formative years learning femininity in the 80s!!!  )

I really need to learn my own lesson ....

Do you ever feel dumb? I do, right now!!!! 

Time out time!

xxxx's
Niqi