Skin, our body's precious boundary

In my last writing, I shared about True Beauty. How it lives inside of us, & includes but is beyond the body. While loving our precious beings is the most important, healing, & powerful tool we’ll *ever* have in any circumstance {more on this is in my next writing}, doing what we can to help ourselves feel as good as we can is important too. This means we hold our bodies with reverence, just as they are, but also strive to bring them comfort & well-being by taking care of them. This will look very different for different people.

I spoke specifically about my journey with cystic acne & how my heart has grown to love that much more by having to navigate my skin’s painful, long-term, severe experience. Cystic acne has truly been my teacher, in a beautiful way. And while it is my deepest wish that you will love & hold compassion for yourself & your body & {{feel}} your worthiness as God’s child, I also want to uplift you in helping your skin feel as healthy as it can. So here are the things that have helped my skin to heal, after having experienced cystic acne for over 15 years. I am so grateful to say that I am now almost completely clear-skinned.

~ Celery juice on an empty belly every morning

~ Sleep

~ Allowing myself to pause, ask for help, & take pressure off myself

~ Making myself my own safe place, especially in times of fear, deep fatigue, & depression

~ Vitamins & minerals

~ Essential oils

~ Dry skin brushing

~ Facial massage using a roller

~ Making joy & freedom my first priorities in my food choices

~ Cold water therapy every morning

These are the *only* things I’ve ever seen make a change in my skin in all these years, aside from a period of time where I was on birth control as a teen {I would not recommend this route to heal skin} & when I was a fruitarian in my twenties, but that wasn’t sustainable or truly healthy for me with where I was at in my body & mind {more about this soon}.

Why is celery juice so miraculous for the body? Because it brings alkalinity to our over-acidic inner landscapes, is full of nourishing minerals, is astringent & cleansing by nature, & it binds to toxic build-up, helping it to break free & leave the body.

Here is more about the wonders of celery juice from Medical Medium ~

https://www.medicalmedium.com/medical-medium-celery-juice-movement.htm

Sleep is healing because it’s a time when our physical energy is most alive & available for our body’s needs. Sleep is an experience made specifically for our body’s cellular repair, among other things that our energetic bodies need {more on that in another post}.

Being gentle with our energy & aware that we can only do our best in each moment {& that “best” will constantly change} helps bring peace & surrender, which creates a healing state for our skin. This means being generously compassionate with ourselves always, but especially when deep, painful feelings move through.

Because of how depleted much of our soil is at this time on earth, our foods are no longer full of the vitamins & minerals we need to be healthy. Therefore, it’s easy to become deficient, even if we're eating the best foods for our well-being. This means high-quality supplementation is necessary in my view, and even more so if we're vegetarian & vegan {lifestyles that can be amazing for health when done properly but damaging otherwise}. Sometimes skin conditions can be so severe because of a deficiency our body is struggling with, so this is an important piece. Our bodies need ways to cleanse & surrender toxic material but they also need ways to build & strengthen their integrity. It’s a balance.

The essential oil that has been most helpful for my skin is Frankincense, used both internally in tiny amounts & externally diluted. I’ve also found relief using Tea Tree as a spot treatment.

Here is what DoTerra, the company that makes my favorite essential oils, has to say about their capacities ~

Frankincense: https://www.doterra.com/US/en/blog/spotlight-frankincense-oil

Tea Tree: https://www.doterra.com/US/en/blog/spotlight-tea-tree-oil

Dry skin brushing is healing because it stimulates new cell growth & the shedding of dead skin cells while also supporting the lymph in moving so it can properly do its job as an elimination channel.

Facial massage using a roller brings circulation & lymph stimulation to the face, so it has a deeper ability to heal & stay healthy.

For me, making joy & freedom my first priorities with my food choices has helped lighten my heart & body tremendously. Connecting with food in this heartfelt way has allowed me to relax & surrender my stress around what foods to eat/not to eat for healing my skin. This has helped me to truly be present with food & guide myself more consciously. Now, my healthy food choices come out of genuine desire & joy, not out of fear & stress. I do not live by any rigid food rules that are not life-giving anymore & I feel that has helped me to be in right relationship with food, & myself.

Lastly, using cold water at the end of a shower each morning can be healing because the temperature of the water stimulates the immune system & brings extra circulation to the body. I also find that I feel more alive, energetic, & present after immersing myself in cold water because it’s so refreshing. It has a strong way of bringing me right into my body for the day.

These habits have been blessings to me & I hope they can be to you too. But please keep in mind that every person {even if they have the “same” health condition as another} is unique with different needs, so these may work beautifully for you or you may need something else.

And that’s what I’m here for & love to do ~ to help you in hearing your body & the specific things it needs to be well.

May we all be happy, healthy, & free.