Go green this Easter by making your own naturally colored Easter eggs! 

Making your own egg colorings is fun, easy and economical.  Nearly any vegetable or herbal tea can be used to make beautifully colored Easter eggs, and kids will enjoy making the dyes as much as coloring the eggs! 

After hard-cooking (boiling) your eggs, simply place the eggs in a bowl with the desired natural dye.  The longer you let the eggs soak, the deeper and more vibrant the color will be.  To give your Easter eggs some extra flair, try drawing designs or writing inspiring words on the eggs with a crayon before placing the eggs in to the dye mixture. 

Here are a few color ideas to get you started:  

Red

• Boil the skins of a red onion in water
• Pomegranate juice
• Boil beets in water

Orange

Yellow

• Boil ground tumeric in water
• Boil lemon or orange skins in water
• Chamomile tea

Brown

• Coffee

Green

• Boil spinach leaves in water

Blue

• Canned blueberries (with juice)

Purple

• Grape juice

Violet

• Diluted purple grape juice
• Red Zinger Tea

Pink

• Juice from canned beets
• Cranberry juice
• Red grape juice

Thank you for joining us for Glen Ivy Hot Springs’ Winter Book Club.  This season, we journeyed within to meet, befriend and listen to our own selves, in order that we may learn to meet, befriend and listen to the world around us in a new and more compassionate way.  In Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, Mark Nepo shows us that becoming more attentive to the world around us requires becoming more attentive to ourselves, and learning to accept and honor all of the emotions and experiences that we carry within.

I hope that you enjoyed this season’s book selection.  Until next time, happy reading and warm water wishes…

Consider two phrases from this week’s reading: 

•  Modern culture tells us that we are entitled to a perfect, happy life.
•  All of our listening brings us home. 

Over the past six weeks, we’ve learned to still ourselves and go within – listening deeply to ourselves so that we can listen to the world around us.  Has this practice brought you home to yourself?  Along the way, have you questioned how you expect life to be, rather than accept how it is? 

The art of listening brings us into greater alignment with our authentic selves, and being more fully grounded in who we really are allows us to listen to others and who they really are. 

Has this book brought any deep revelations to you?  Have you found yourself surprised at what you heard when you went within and listened to yourself? 

Until next week,

Warm Water Wishes and Happy Reading.

The Glen Ivy Librarian

Our appearance, especially our skin, says so much about us. The “healthy glow” is a window to our inner health. The flush of our cheeks, brightness of our eyes, and the clarity of our complexion all show our vitality and youth. When we experience problems with our skin, we can become self-conscious about ourselves and our appearance. One of our very own Glen Ivy Hot Springs Massage Therapists, Erin, was seeking a solution to her lifelong skin care concerns. Erin was prone to break outs and deep pore congestion but found that most products to correct acne made her skin irritated and sensitive. Although Erin experienced some temporary relief, she had a difficult time finding a way to stop the cycle of breakouts from happening permanently. When planning for her wedding, Erin needed a skin care and makeup regimen that would allow her to be “bride beautiful” on her special day.

Erin was color matched to Jane Iredale Skin Care Makeup by one of our Glen Ivy Hot Springs Skin Care Specialist and began routinely wearing a mineral powder every day to work. Erin began seeing immediate improvement in her skin and was able to have the coverage she needed without causing additional breakouts. Jane Iredale mineral powder provided Erin with oil-free, chemical free and fragrance free makeup with a SPF of 20, which contains Zinc oxide, an anti-microbial ingredient that doesn’t harbor bacteria. Erin saw that she could finally wear make-up to work in her outdoor facility and be fully protected with a SPF she didn’t need to reapply throughout the day. Erin also enjoyed how easy Jane Iredale Skin Care Makeup was to apply; the minerals in the powder are micronized and provide sheer coverage. Erin was concealing her skin’s inflammation while treating it at the same time.  

On Erin’s wedding day she needed all day, all night coverage with staying power. She used Jane Iredale Glow Time Full Coverage Mineral BB Cream under her mineral powder to give herself flawless coverage and long lasting wear. The bride knew her photos and face would be perfect through the wedding service, tears of happiness and dancing the night away even without reapplication. Jane Iredale products are classified “Very Water Resistant”; lasting up to 40 minutes in warm running water and will not smudge or crease. Anti-inflammatory properties, like pomegranate sea algae allow for relief of redness and sensitivity. Erin loves sharing her Jane Iredale experience and the progress her skin has made, and wants others to enjoy benefits of skin care makeup as well.

The following products were applied by Erin herself on her wedding day, with no need for touch ups before these photos were taken. All products featured in the photos are available in the Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa Salon. Visit the Spa Salon today to be color matched by any of our licensed Estheticians and experience for yourself the union between Skin Care and Makeup, Jane Iredale!

• Smooth Affair Primer
• Glow Time Full Coverage BB Cream
• Finishing Powder
• Whisper Pressed Blush
• Champagne Eye Gloss Liquid Eye-Shadow
• Khaki Kraze Predded Eye Shadow
• Craving Lip Fixation Lip Stain and Gloss Duo

This week’s reading provides us the opportunity to see how others reflect back to us who we are:

I recognize each person I come across because I am each on any given day.  What matters is whether I shun those who bear my flaws or help them up; whether I turn away when this larger presence seems too strong or keep my birth-eyes open; whether I find a way to meet what is incomprehensible and somehow draw strength from it. 

Knowing that each person we encounter is somehow showing us parts of our own personalities can be a daunting realization, especially when applied to people who challenge us or who we just don’t like.  Are you able to bring to mind someone with whom you struggle, and then see how they are simply showing you parts of yourself that you wish were different?  Is your first reaction to this exercise, “No, that can’t be true”?

Nepo also makes reference to the meaning of the phrase, “I believe.”  These two simple words actually mean, “I give my heart to this.”  Are the things you say you believe in the things that you want to give your heart to?  The question seems simple at first, but time spent in quiet consideration may bring different insights. 

Next week we continue our journey within, so that we may be more present in listening to the world around us.

Until then,

Happy Reading & Warm Water Wishes,

The Glen Ivy Librarian

Current research studies are investigating what impact the heart’s electromagnetic field has in our physical and emotional health.  Researchers are looking at how the emotions impact the electromagnetic field, and how this in turn affects not only our bodies, but our mental health.  Initial results indicate that positive emotions may cause the heart to produce a different electromagnetic field than is produced by negative emotions.

To experience the effects that positive emotions have on the electromagnetic field produced by the heart, try this meditation:
Begin by sitting quietly.  Observe your breath for several minutes, and then bring your attention to your heart.  Visualize your heart surrounded by a warm, golden light.  You may feel your heart center begin to warm as you do this.  Next, recall a time when you felt truly grateful.  Begin to embrace this feeling of gratefulness.  Now feel gratefulness in your heart.  Breathe normally, while maintaining the feeling of gratefulness in your heart.  Continue for several minutes.  Try doing this meditation every day for two weeks and observe the effects in your body and life.

The title of this book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, leads us to believe that we will be learning tangible skills that allow us to be more present for others – to hear, understand and validate what others are communicating to us.  However, time and time again, the author leads us inward, to the quietness that lies within us.  This is a place that we often neglect, feeling it selfish to spend time with our own selves. 

This week’s reading selection is decidedly focused inward, to a place of confronting life’s confusion, wounds, twists, turns and prickly feelings.  It seems that if we are to learn to listen to the world around us, we must first be willing to listen to ourselves and our lives – but not only the parts that feel good. 

Take a moment to reflect on how you felt while reading these chapters.  Were you comfortable reading about the times that life doesn’t feel good, or did you want to put the book down or skip ahead to future chapters?  Think about this in relation to your life and how you handle challenging situations. 

Until next week,

Warm Water Wishes…

Week 4: Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

When preparing for Bow Pose visualize creating a physical bow with your body. The torso, belly, and low abdominals create the outer arch of the bow, while the legs and arms create the string. While laying on the belly, bend the knees so that the heels make their way towards the gluts. Take a deep inhale breath and start by reaching the right arm back towards the right foot. Grabbing the right foot, wrap the fingers around the top of the foot or ankle. Repeat this on the left side. Once both feet are firmly in your grip, breath into the belly and begin to kick the feet away from the gluts. Balance on the stomach while tightening those theoretical strings. The harder you kick, the deeper the bend in the arch. Hold here, kicking the legs away from the low back for 5-10 breaths, release and transition to Childs Pose to stretch out the spine. Relax in Childs Pose and then repeat Bow Pose. Enjoy opening the heart and lengthening the spine.

Learn more about the Bow Pose.

Medical studies support the idea that a regular meditation practice holds many benefits for the heart.  Research has shown that practicing meditation helps to lower blood pressure, decreases stress hormones in the bloodstream and reduces arterial wall thickness in individuals diagnosed with atherosclerosis, (a condition in which fat builds up in the interior walls of the arteries).  Additionally, studies have shown that people with heart disease who undertake a regular meditation practice experienced lower rates of heart attack and stroke then their non-meditating patients.

Try this heart-centered meditation to care for your heart and your health:
Sit quietly while observing your breath for several minutes.  Bring your attention to your heart center.  Breathe from your heart center – feel your breath moving in and out from the center of your heart.  Continue for several minutes, and then observe the effects.

This week’s reading guides us within, to a deep silence where we are able to listen to the rhythm of our own lives. On the road to our center – our authentic selves – it seems natural that we first encounter our broken places – the tender, unhealed spots where we still hold fear or anger. To truly discover the sweetness of life, we must journey to these places of vulnerability, and, if we are brave enough to listen to them, we will discover a new depth of living. As Nepo suggests, it is in facing death that we discover life:

…every trouble wants to draw the very best of you into the world.

The paradox of finding undeniable good in the most difficult life circumstances is a paradox that Nepo explores with kindness and a compassionate knowing. He talks freely of how nearly dying from cancer led him to a deeper connection with life. It is in facing death that Nepo discovered the connectedness of life; it was, in fact, the paradox of life and death that revealed universal oneness:

My inability to see clearly led me below my own conflicting opinions into the sea that holds all thoughts.

…And being in relationship with paradox is what leads us into transformation.

As you read these chapters, were you led to recall difficult times in your life that in the end brought you joy or a deeper understanding and connection with life? Were you able to explore this concept as a possibility while you were going through the difficulty of the situation, or was the revelation only in hindsight?

These chapters dealt primarily with embracing and listening to times in life that are challenging. How did you feel while reading this section? Was it uncomfortable? Were you able to listen to the thoughts and emotions that were being stirred within you?

We will continue reading and listening next week. Until then,

Warm Water Wishes,
The Glen Ivy Librarian